U.S. Foreign Service Officer headed to Wuhan, China

The mission of a U.S. diplomat in the Foreign Service is to promote peace, support prosperity, and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.S. abroad. The work that diplomats do has an impact on the world as they serve at one of any of the more than 270 embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions in The Americas, Africa, Europe and Eurasia, East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.

The duties of a Consular Officer include to provide emergency and non-emergency services to American citizens and protect our borders through the proper adjudication of visas to foreign nationals and passports to American citizens. We adjudicate immigrant and non-immigrant visas, facilitate adoptions, help evacuate Americans, combat fraud, and fight human trafficking. Consular Officers touch people’s lives in important ways, often reassuring families in crisis. They face many situations which require quick thinking under stress and develop and use a wide range of skills, from managing resources and conducting public outreach to assisting Americans in distress.

My speech

Every year all of the foreign teachers have to give a speech during the Foreign Language Festival which lasts for a few weeks. One of us gives a talk each week about any topic we want relating to Western Culture. So far, Ariana has talked about "The Evolution of Freaks and Geeks" and last night I spoke about "East meets West: Cultural Differences." Click the link if you want to see how my speech was advertised on the school's website.

Since I had taught a Western culture class last semester, this speech was pretty fun and easy. I just went over some pictures that represented some key differences and added in a few more of my own. I've shown these pictures before in a previous blog post.

The students seemed to like the discussion and were particularly intrigued by the pictures of Western food, tanning salons/beds, and the type and cost of Chinese food in America. To be honest, I think they were more interested in the introduction of my hometown and family than anything else because I showed a lot of pictures.

Next week David is talking about Kung Fu in America, then Sean will talk on Baseball and American football and Jordan will finish the lecture series up with the view of men and women in the U.S.A. Should be interesting!

Tonight we had English Corner and many students that attended had also gone to my speech the night before. When I asked if they liked it these were the responses I got (not surprisingly):

"You could have shown a lot more pictures of you and Sean together. We are interested in this."
"We want to hear about your wedding."
"You should have sang a song. We all want to hear you sing."
"Maybe you could have talked more about why Americans don't have to study a second language like we Chinese do."

I'll keep these in mind for next time . . .

Cultural differences speech

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

1 Comment

Julie Zwart on May 13, 2011 at 7:03 PM

Hi Sarah,
This is Julie Zwart, Amy's sister. Your mom ran into Amy the other week at church and gave her your blog address, which she passed on to me. I enjoy reading about your experiences in China and find that I can relate-- I'm teaching at a university in Hangzhou, and also have a mosquito infestation problem. I have a blog too, but don't write nearly as often as you. It you're interested: www.thisredlife.wordpress.com
Take care, and enjoy the rest of your time in China!
-Julie

Wanderlust

In Mandarin: 旅遊癮 (lǚyóu yǐn)

According to my Mandarin teacher, the term 'wanderlust' can best be translated as 'a travel addiction or craving'. In the above translation, 'yǐn' has several meanings such as 'a strong impulse', 'a longing', or 'a desire'.

U.S. Foreign Service Officer headed to Wuhan, China

My speech

1 Comment