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
Has it really been two years? April 11th marked the 2 year anniversary to my swearing into the Foreign Service. Moving into that Arlington apartment for a few months feels so long ago. Look at that freshly sworn in face (and note the Warhammer book in the background). Sworn in during the death throws of
What sort of banking do you use when living abroad? Don’t foreign transaction fees add up? Are your credit/debit cards even useful abroad? Easily one of the most common question I have been asked by newly hired providers, and in general one of the most common questions you see repeatedly on the FS Subreddit. Several
A pretty common question I get asked by friends, family, and readers is what level of airfare accommodation the U.S. government provides. The answer can be complex. The simplest answer is the U.S. government will pay for the cheapest unrestricted economy class tickets. These tickets whenever possible must also be in compliance with the “Fly
Like other parts of the Sahel, Mauritania is a society where larger women are considered more beautiful. Part of this is rooted in the belief that it is a status symbol of wealth to have a spouse that is larger as it means you can afford to feed them well. A man with multiple wives
I just wrapped up a nearly 3 week visit to the U.S., with part of it involving some training for work. When the powers that be offered a class for us to understand our procurement system better, and how to maintain our complex medical inventories, I pounced at the opportunity. With the embassy trying to
How has educating your children in the Foreign Service been thus far, are the schools decent, and do you have to pay for their education abroad? This is a pretty complex question to answer just because there are so many variables that go into education, even domestically, so it can be particularly amplified abroad. Just
As I have noted in the previous weeks, my assignment to Pakistan was changed to Burma for summer of 2024. Although I was looking forward to moving to Peshawar, I am elated to be moving to Rangoon next summer. The food, the pagodas, the colonial architecture, the people. Rangoon is probably one of the last
A country with two names, both seemingly correct, but it all depends on who you are talking to. The same applies to the largest city, which also goes by two names, Rangoon/Yangon. The name Burma has been used in some variety since the 18th century colonial period, and both Burma and Myanmar are an ethnonym
