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.

Bahia Time

Latin America is known for being loose and flexible with fixed meeting and appointment times and the northeastern part of Brazil is no different. Bahia is particularly notorious for being lax about timeliness. I've been told over and over again while I've been here that everything moves in "Bahia time" which means that life is seriously chilled out and everything moves at a slow pace. Our first morning here when our director was supposed to pick us up at 9:00 for a city tour and shopping, she showed up at 10:30. This is totally fine, normal and accepted as part of daily life. Even though I've taught about this in classes at OSU, it still blows my mind.

Bahia time occurs at work as well. Today was our first day at the university and we were cautioned by many professors and students that: 1. The semester doesn't always start when it should 2. Classes never start on time 3. Most students come very late or not at all 4. Sometimes the students or professors go on strike 5. It's normal for the university to take an extra impromptu Monday or Friday off for a long weekend especially if there is a holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday 6. They aren't really sure when our English classes will start but we were assured that it will be one of these days or weeks (last year the Fulbrighters didn't actually start until April). It's also common to hear phrases like, "You're working too hard!" or "You need to take some time off and go to the beach." It's a radically different lifestyle than what I'm used to.

Bahia also has a natural phenomenon called a sea breeze. At certain times of the day strong winds from right off the ocean blow through the neighborhood and flood our apartment with a humid salty mist. It's very refreshing but also, apparently, very bad for electronics. Everyone here keeps ipods, computers, cameras etc. in plastic bags all the time or else the sea breeze causes serious damage. On my first night here, both my digital watch and digital alarm clocked stopped working. Looks like the nature of this city itself is going to force me to be on Bahia time whether I like it or not.

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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

Bahia Time

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