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.

Couch Surfing

I've written about couch surfing before but I want to touch on it one more time as it's been such a big (and unexpected) part of my time in Brazil. For those of you who don't know, Couch Surfing is a relatively new program designed to connect travelers with locals willing to open their home and share their time. All it takes is setting up a profile on the internet site and then responding to "couch requests" about whether you have the time and space to host other backpackers from around the world traveling through your city.

Before Sean arrived and while I was on my own, I hosted a lot of different people and had a fantastic time. It was not only fun to show them around my neighborhood and take them to some of my favorite places (even to UESC a few times!) but it is fascinating to listen to their experiences too. Most couch surfers choose to stay in others' homes to save money, but many do it because they want to meet new people and have a personal connection to the place where they are visiting. So far, I've only ever had very positive experiences and have found my guests to be very grateful, generous, easygoing and a lot of fun to hang out with.

This week, Sean and I are hosting two Swiss guys in their 30s who are traveling around South America for a year. One of them is a teacher and the other is a banker. They are both very into Muay Thai fighting and will spend the next three months training in Thailand. What fascinates me the most is that they can speak: English, German, French, Spanish and Thai (!!) and don't seem to think anything of it.

We have been enjoying our time with them because they have been so easy to be around and are extremely grateful and generous. On our first night, they took us out for caipirinhas and then we came home after work last night to a steak dinner complete with wine, potatoes and salad. Tonight I think we are going to make something else together and then play card games. We've been sharing a lot of travel stories and experiences and it has been refreshing, inspiring and very entertaining to meet and hang out with new people. Couch Surfing: just do it!

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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

Couch Surfing

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