Last month I was able to take a short but rewarding trip to Laos, splitting the time between Vientiane and Luang Prabang. It ended up being one of those trips that feels both busy and restorative, part work, part exploration, and part appreciation for a country that seems on the cusp of real change. For
Last month brought some news I’d been waiting a long time to receive: I was tenured by the Foreign Service Specialist Selection Board. If you’re wondering what exactly tenure is, you’re not alone. When I first joined the Foreign Service, I mostly associated the word with ancient college professors, people who could say something completely
One of the quiet highlights of the end of the past year was getting to return home to El Paso for the holidays, from late November into December. There is something grounding about being back in familiar places, especially after spending so much time overseas. Unlike when I visited over the end of Summer and
As another year comes to a close, I want to wish everyone a very happy New Year. For many of us, 2025 was not an easy year. It demanded flexibility, patience, and a willingness to adapt to uncertainty (important traits if you want to be in the FS). For those already serving overseas, it reinforced
With Myanmar on the cusp of their first elections since the 2021 Military Coup, I thought it would be a good opportunity to provide a brief recent history on Myanmar. While I assume most people reading this blog have some sense of where Myanmar is, whenever I am back home and tell people where I
I realize recently a lot of my posts have been more ethereal and less about my day to day life. A few readers asked me how I have been doing, where I am going next, and how are things in Myanmar, so I thought I would share. I have been posted to Myanmar for about
I always get asked by friends or family on all sides of the political spectrum how I could work for the government under X or Y President. In my three and a half years in the Foreign Service, I’ve learned that one of the most misunderstood parts of government work is neutrality. People often assume
I’ve been in the Foreign Service for three and a half years — just long enough to have settled into the rhythm of this strange, rewarding career, but not long enough to have lived through a government shutdown. Until now. Before this week, shutdowns were something I’d only read about in the news or heard
Being a government employee comes with plenty of stereotypes—job security, decent benefits, stable pay. But if you’ve ever actually worked for the federal government, you know that “stability” is a fragile illusion (this year more than ever). Nothing makes that clearer than a government shutdown, which always seems to be looming over our heads. On
Last month, I got to return to the U.S. for Home Leave, a congressionally mandated form of leave diplomats get at the end of assignments, or after serving a year in many danger posts. It’s meant to allow diplomats to kiss the soil of the motherland and reacclimate to their own country after being away
