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.

(knock, knock) Housekeeping!

A few things I learned today:

Being a housekeeper is harder than it looks and there's an overwhelming amount of things to remember

This job is ridiculously physically demanding (the girl who trained me today was a Brazilian gym teacher here to travel and learn English and she DOMINATED those rooms while I dripped sweat and tried to keep up)

It's all about the details (i.e. the 60+ ways to fold toilet paper and kleenex tips, bed sheets, washcloths, towels etc. etc.)

You can tell a lot about a 'guest' from being in their hotel room for 30 minutes

Nobody leaves a tip

The more you "personalize" your room, the higher point score you get from your supervisor/inspector (seriously, how am I going to compete with the girl who makes the Kiwi birds out of towels??)

The other housekeeping 'team members' are from all over the world. Today I worked with a Maori Kiwi, Chilean, Argentinian, Brazilian, Japanese, Swede, Chinese, Korean, Brit and Vietnamese. They are all here to: travel, learn English, party, hike, ski and gain residence.

Everybody who works at this particular hotel is extremely good-looking. Even Sean commented on the fact that they must hire based on looks because it's like working amongst a bunch of runway models (guys included). Note to self - attempt some make-up tomorrow.

Read More 5 comments | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

5 comments

Sloan on February 16, 2012 at 12:04 PM

Awwww! They hired you on your runway looks Sarah! Keep rocking it!!
Anonymous on February 16, 2012 at 3:11 PM

Sa, the best way to complete with the girl who makes kiwi birds out of her towels is... learn how to make kiwi birds (or maybe cootie catchers) out of your towels. d
Sarah Sanderson on February 17, 2012 at 2:28 AM

Sloan - haha, yeah I wish. They hired me because I can speak fluent English =)
Corrie and Phil on February 22, 2012 at 8:58 PM

You were hired amongst the beauties. That should make you feel good. :)

What an exciting adventure. I enjoy following along! :)
Anonymous on March 1, 2012 at 1:58 PM

They want everything to look good, and that includes their staff!! That doesn't bode well for the chubby lady with the big nose though...

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

(knock, knock) Housekeeping!

5 comments