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.

Tokyo life post thesis

On May 15 I handed in my thesis feeling very sleep-deprived but also very relieved. The process was very lonely, long and I got sick of staring at a screen and being in my own head. I don't know how people who have to write a dissertation do it. All in all, my thesis ended up being 135 pages and about 50,000 words. I don't envy anyone who has to read it and rumor has it on this campus that nobody (not even the committee members) really does anyway.

Since May 15, I've been sleeping, celebrating, relaxing and trying to outline a few things for the future. I recently found out that I received a scholarship to attend one of the University of Geneva's summer school programs called "Higher Education in Emergencies" which is two weeks of learning how to make online, open source educational resources for refugees. I leave Tokyo on June 16 and fly to Switzerland, have summer school for two weeks and then fly back to Tokyo on July 1. I'll be back in Japan just for a couple of days to get my final paycheck and transcripts from the university, turn in my apartment keys, pick up my luggage and fly back to the States during the first week of July. I'm excited to go to Geneva as I've never been there before and it will be interesting to do something practical and hands-on instead of writing a thesis that nobody will ever read.

This week is my last big week before things really start to chill out. I have my MA defense on Thursday, which I'm not expecting to be fun. I'm the last graduate student to have the defense so it's hard to watch everyone else finish while I'm still waiting nervously. Saturday is the ICU Rotary Peace Seminar during which we all have 25 minutes to present our research, give thanks to our Rotarian donors and share our future plans. The event is a big one and I'm already getting anxious about public speaking in front of so many people. The day is a long one with a party at the end of it and I'm grateful that I'm the 3rd person to speak (out of ten).

Farewell party #1 with some of my favorite people who I've met here

The farewell parties have started, which is hard to believe and it's made me realize how many relationships I've formed here and how much these friends have helped me grow, change and learn about Japan. It's going to be very difficult to leave and I have no doubt that Sean and I will be back one day.

Read More 2 comments | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

Thesis-ing

In exactly one week I have to hand in my MA thesis and I still have a ways to go on it. I really enjoyed doing the research for it because I learned a lot and had a really good time talking to and meeting different professors and students. However, actually sitting down to write page after page is lonely, isolating, and repetitive. Academic writing feels dry and boring - I want to inject feeling and emotion into everything but I fear my adviser will just roll his eyes and tell me to save that for Rotary speeches. The attention to detail is massive - the formatting, the citations, the table of contents, the appendices . . . it goes on and on for, let's be honest, something that nobody will ever read. I'm chalking it up to an exercise in self-discipline, patience, and academic writing practice.

Naturally, the weather these past few weeks has been perfect - sunny and in the 70s with a slight breeze. I've been avoiding other graduate students because they inevitably say that they're finished and already handed it in, which is not at all helpful. Interestingly, absolutely everything besides sitting down to write has become instantly more attractive and I look forward to doing things like cleaning, cooking, laundry and dishes, it's absurd. The process feels like trying to eat an elephant with a fork and makes me think of Ann Lamont's book/story, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, one of my favorite books of all time:

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. [It] was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said. 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

So, with the windows open and with all my avian friends chirping away and having the time of their lives in the gorgeous springtime weather, I'm going to stop writing this blog post and start taking it bird by bird.

Also, these memes have helped:

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

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'.