A common expression in government work is don’t spend too much time hugging the government, because the government won’t hug you back. Basically, don’t kill yourself for your job, because at the end of the day, the government doesn’t see an individual, they see a replaceable position. Very early on in my time in Nouakchott
With my tour in Mauritania over, I have had some time to digest my experiences, and figured this would be a good opportunity to write about my thoughts and impressions of the country while it is still fresh. I want to be clear, as with every post on this blog, the thoughts here are my
Short and sweet this week as we are actually PCSing from Nouakchott back home to the U.S., where I will start my congressionally mandated home leave, and the girls resettle into our Texas home. I’ll cover my thoughts on the end of my first tour in another post, but let me just say that it
A little over a week ago concluded the annual exercise all Foreign Service employees get to partake in, the Employee Evaluation Reports (aka EERs). I wrote about it last year here, but the just of it is you get to write a narrative of all your great accomplishments over the preceding year known as a
In astrophysics, the event horizon is the point around a black hole that not even light itself can escape. It’s essentially the point where there is no turning back. That’s how I feel the last few weeks at post is. In less than a month, the family and I will be leaving Mauritania, and as
One aspect of my time in Mauritania that was so foreign to me when I first arrived but now a happy fixture of my day is the call to prayer. In Islam, the call to prayer (Adhan) is recited from mosques 5 times a day. The first prayer is early morning before sunrise and called
Hachi Machi! So much to do with such little time. The final month before our PCS sort of feels like being in a small room with the walls closing in. With Angeli back home, successfully navigating her re-entry into the medical field, I have been coordinating pack outs, play dates, and work functions, doing my
It’s a weird experience closing out my first tour, preparing to arrive in my second tour, but also having to prepare and research for my 3rd tour. Typically in the Foreign Service, bidding is done in 2 or 3 year cycles, depending on how long your next assignment will be. Each country is assigned a
Short and sweet this week. Recently I was doing our monthly radio check when I started thinking about how weird this now routine activity was when I first moved to Mauritania. A radio check isn’t making sure my 90’s boom box can still pump out tunes, it’s a test performed in missions around the world
