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.

Halloween fun

Persimmons and apples decorated in the produce section of our local market - my first thought was, how long did that take!?

Very typical of Japan - a holiday trash sorting crew in style

Halloween in Tokyo is slowly catching on though it's nothing compared to the level of hype and tradition in the U.S. On any given day in Tokyo you can find people in costumes so it's not that surprising that the holiday is gaining momentum and popularity. We had a Halloween-filled weekend and spent it walking around the center of the city checking out the costumed masses, making Halloween cupcakes and cookies and eating squid ink pasta (Sean's idea) to celebrate the day.

Halloween dinner of squid ink pasta with shrimp and asparagus

We spent Saturday night with Sean's ultimate frisbee team who dressed up to do a Halloween bar crawl at a tiny, little-known station in Tokyo. We had a lot of fun traipsing from bar to bar, trying different beers and wowing people with our costumes. The team even had a tiny pumpkin carved with the kanji of their team name "Kuru". Naturally, since it was a Japanese bar crawl, everything was very organized. We had little cards with places for stamps at each place. Once we filled in four stamps we won prizes which were bottles of craft beers that we could take home. The next day we received an email from the Doyles in Holland with a picture of Sean's dad in his holiday getup at work. I can see where Sean's love for Halloween and costumes in general comes from . . .

Mr. Doyle enjoying Halloween at Herman Miller

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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

Halloween fun

1 Comment