Well, after weeks of republican infighting in the House and only hours to spare before what seemed like a certainty, cooler heads prevailed and both chambers and the President signed off on a 45 day continuing resolution, kicking the can to mid-November and avoiding a government shutdown. Whenever the government shuts down because congress cannot
Well, I have a little bit of egg on my face. Nearly 2 months after I was assigned to Peshawar, Pakistan, my career development officer called and gave me an option to serve in a different Special Incentive Post, and I am happy to announce I will now be moving to Rangoon, Burma (Yangon, Myanmar)
Wow, what a month for anniversaries. Our nation’s birthday, this blog’s birthday, and this month my family celebrated one year of living in Nouakchott. How has it already been a year? After seemingly just arriving, my family finds ourselves as one of the more established families at post. We have crested past the halfway point
How difficult is it to get time away from the job if you are the only provider at the embassy? If you are new, is accruing paid leave difficult? A few people have asked me this, and this was something I also asked folks before I onboarded. Simply stated: It is not difficult to get
Several folks have asked me recently what my “day to day” work life is like, and I realized that even before I arrived to post, but had completed orientation, this was a huge black hole of knowledge for me too. I think most folks coming from the private sector are focused on patient volumes and
Has it really been 2 years? This past week marked 2 years since I started this blog, documenting my journey through the belly of the Foreign Service. Holy moly. At the time I was living in West Texas, working as a hospitalist, and 6 months away from receiving a job offer to join. Since then
I learned this past month where I will be headed, and am so excited to announce I will be taking a solo assignment to Peshawar, Pakistan. Choosing to do a solo post might seem like a strange decision, and a few months ago I would have never entertained it, but ultimately my wife and I
I feel like I have been highlighting a lot of the cool benefits joining the Foreign Service entails, and this week adds to that. The Bureau of Medical Services has a mentorship program where new providers are paired with a like minded more senior provider, who they can go to for questions, career advice, and
One of the things Foreign Service folks love to talk about at just about every social gathering or event you attend is previous assignments, future assignments, and bidding. Everyone always seems to have one foot halfway out the door even though they still have a significant amount of time in the place they currently are.
One of my favorite things about working the the Foreign Service is the opportunity to do things on behalf of my country but not necessarily related to medical work. Case and point, this past month I was given the opportunity to represent our country as an election observer for the national elections Mauritania had on
