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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.

Heading to Yunnan

The wedding party was a blast but many people couldn't attend because of the crazy amounts of rain in Changzhou lately as well as in other parts of China.  Campus was flooded in many areas and I heard storms and heavy drops pounding on the roof of my house for days.  I'm going to write about my birthday party and the Chinese wedding bonanza when I am back in Changzhou, however, as it involves quite a few pictures.  Right now Sean and I are in Yunnan and I am using the Gmail à Blogger function which is limited in what you can post. We'll see how it works.

 

Daniel flew in from Xinjiang on Thursday night and it was so great to see him and catch up.  Saturday afternoon we three traveled together to Shanghai where Daniel got a hotel room in preparation to fly back to the U.S. in a day or two and Sean and I got a late-night flight to Kunming.  The trip from the apartments to the main gate to catch a cab was not at all fun as it involved wading through shin high water filled with who-knows-what.  We covered ourselves in rain ponchos or in Daniel's case, a garbage bag.

 

When we arrived at the airport we were sad to see a board full of red "delayed" or "cancelled" signs because of the heavy rains – it was out of control.  Fortunately our flight was only delayed about a half an hour and we reached Kunming at around 1 in the morning very tired and ready to sleep.  We took a cab to a hostel in the center of town called the "Hump Hostel".  It was recommended to Sean by many Frisbee players and had a great central location.  The only downfall to the place is that it's super noisy at night – at least they give you free earplugs when you check in.  Other than that we have enjoyed this place immensely; there's great food, a fun atmosphere (every room is booked) and the staff is very helpful in giving you directions to places in and around Kunming.  The weather is dry and clear and we are already feeling relaxed and ready to enjoy a couple of weeks of exploring Southwest China.

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    Sarah Sanderson
    I am currently in Mandarin language training as a new diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. Sean and I depart for Wuhan, China in November 2019 for my first tour in consular affairs.
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