Missing Myanmar

Late September into Early October gave me a wonderful opportunity to visit the U.S. for work as well as take some time to see my family after being away for two months. To kick things off, I flew from Yangon to Las Vegas (via Seoul) for our annual continuing medical education conference. MED puts these

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Can Foreign Service Employees Vote?

It’s election season and recently I got a very interesting question that asked if Foreign Service employees can vote. This apparently stemmed from an incorrect news report from a major U.S. news outlet that claimed State Department employees, specifically diplomats, not being allowed to vote. The answer is: yes, diplomats, State Department employees, and federal

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Foreign Service Hiring Process

I still get frequent questions about the Foreign Service hiring process so thought I would post an update to one of my very first posts over 3 years ago, detailing that process. This has been updated slightly, but otherwise the government moves pretty slowly, so not much has changed. There is a page here that

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Continuing Resolution

I’ve chatted throughout my 3+ years blogging about some of the annoying things about working in the Foreign Service, but I think at this point the most annoying aspect of the job is the never ending “will they” “won’t they” back and forth between congress passing a budget. In a perfect world, Congress should pass

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Electric Vehicle Paradise?

By far one of the biggest surprises I had waiting for me when I arrived to Yangon was the sheer number of electric vehicles on the road. The overwhelming majority of them being of Chinese origin. Most people think of California or Norway when they imagine a place with high EV utilization, but Myanmar? Yup.

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Walking about

One of the best parts about my job in Yangon is I actually can walk to and from work everyday. My apartment is on a not too crowded street and is just a little over a mile walking distance from the Embassy. As you can see, Yangon is a VERY green city with lush trees

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A Kyat about money.

The currency in Myanmar is called the Kyat (pronounced “chat”), and it has been on a rollercoaster of inflation over the last year. Initially pegged at about 2000Kyat to the dollar, local banks are now offering an exchange rate of 6000kyat to the dollar, a 300% increase. The highest denomination note seen below is a

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Burmese Days

An appropriate title now that I have been in Myanmar (Burma) for a bit, and also a great book by George Orwell. As I am find myself getting settled in to my new surroundings, housing, and neighborhood, it’s hard not to compare the country and assignment to Mauritania. Obviously they are two different places on

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Sticking Around

This time of year is supposed to be bidding season for me, where I would be deciding where to go for my 3rd assignment, but after getting the kids settled back into the U.S., and really enjoying the work and country here in Myanmar, we decided to extend my time here an extra year. This

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