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.

Quick trip to South Korea

Jenni and I on the early bus

Last night, another graduate student and I hopped on a redeye flight to Seoul to spend the rest of the week and weekend at an education conference with many other students and faculty from the International Christian University's education department. The title of the event is the "International Conference on Education Research" (ICER) and it's held at the Seoul National University. Last year, many of us submitted proposals to be able to present and also received some grant money to help with the funding of the trip.

Icy green noodles - not my favorite

Jenni and I arrived in Incheon Airport at about 4:30 in the morning and caught the first bus to the university. From there we took a cab to our hotel and promptly crashed until about noon. We attempted to get some lunch, but without language skills we ended up with bowls of cold noodles, eggs and ice cubes and then walked to the convention center where we listened to the opening session of the conference.

Posing on campus

After spending a few hours at a cafe on campus working on our presentations for the next day, we joined the rest of the ICU group for a Korean BBQ dinner. Fortunately, some of the faculty are Korean and they not only helped us with what we should order but also how to cook and eat everything. Korean BBQ is delicious and I remember how impressed I was with it last time Sean and I were in the country. There's heaps of tiny side dishes and sauces which are combined with cooked pork and fresh lettuce leaves into bite-sized wraps of goodness. After buying some plug adaptors at the nearest convenience store, we headed back to the hotel for more work on our presentations and additional catch-up on sleep.

Impressive BBQ spread

Being in Seoul is kind of surreal; in many ways it feels like being in Tokyo except that I can't speak any of the language or read any of the writing. The other two things that I noticed right away is that this country actually has trash cans everywhere (and they aren't separated into many categories) and that it's not nearly as expensive as Japan. What a relief!

How to eat Korean BBQ

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

0 comments

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

Quick trip to South Korea

0 comments