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.

Bay of Islands

Since we were taking such a long road trip, Sean and I knew we wouldn't be able to afford to do a pricey activity every day so we chose our top five. One of the top things we wanted to do was get out on the water to see the Bay of Islands. The Bay of Islands is about an hour south of Doubtless Bay, where we were staying with Annette. When we passed through the Bay of Islands the first time, we stopped and did a little research as to how we wanted to see the islands. We decided on a day of sailing and booked our spot on the "Gungha II" for a couple of days later.

Sean and I know absolutely nothing about sailing but were definitely up for giving it a go. When we arrived bright and early on the wharf, the captain said that we would be joined by two other tourists giving us a total crew number of 5. He said that he hoped we were up for doing some work because with the size and number of sails that our yacht had he couldn't do it alone. Sailing turned out to be a little more work than we had anticipated and the learning curve was a bit steep as the spring day was quite windy.

After morning hot drinks we motored out into deeper waters and then raised the sails. Along with us were a Dutch tourist and a German tourist, both about our age. Sean ended up doing most of the muscle work and we eventually figured out it was because of the complications of the sailing terms and the language barriers in German and Dutch. I steered the boat for most of the day and at times it was all I could do to keep it going straight when the wind picked up and it felt like we were going to turn over.

We stopped for lunch and a hike on an isolated beach and the captain told us stories of his past sailing adventures. The way back was a bit easier because we were slightly more familiar with moving the boat in different directions and controlling the speed. I would try and use the proper words like 'tacking' and 'jibing' but I really don't know what I'm talking about. It was all I could do to try and follow the directions in real time over the adrenaline and noise of the wind.

At the end of the day we were sore, tired and sunburnt but happy that we had tried sailing and seen a lot of the Bay of Islands. Sean did comment, however, that "We just paid money to help a guy go sailing for the day." Good point, Sean. Good point.

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

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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

Bay of Islands

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