A few family members and now one reader have asked me if there have been any pleasant surprises to this lifestyle. Although we are still early in this journey, roughly a year in, there have indeed been a few things that have been nice aspects to this lifestyle that we didn’t really account for or
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
Shortly after I received my 2nd tour bid list last week, my wife and I discussed our priorities, and in short order returned the list back to the powers that be. I am not one to go back and forth over things, and I hate second guessing, so once the ball was in our court,
This past week was an exciting one. Exactly one year to the day I learned I would be heading to Mauritania, I received my official bid list for my next assignment in Summer 2024. This marks a pretty big change from how the cycle went down last time when I was in orientation. Back then,
For the first time in a while, I have a break in travel and have been enjoying the routine of being at post for a bit. This month marks the beginning of the heavy transfer season that happens every summer in the Foreign Service. What this basically means is a large portion of the American
A reader recently reached out asking me if there was anything from my perspective as a trailing spouse that causes stress that I would not have necessarily experienced in my life before the Foreign Service. The answer is a BIG yes: Driving and the unknown. Right off the bat, I really hate driving or being
Paris is hard. There’s a common joke in the Foreign Service that people serving in Paris often complain about the difficulty of living there, only to be met by rolled eyes or a scornful look. After navigating the RER with some large pieces of luggage and two young kids, I can confirm, Paris is hard.
As I mentioned last week, the entirety of the State Department medical world descended on central Florida last month for a continuing education conference. Seeing as how they conveniently located us 10 minutes away from Disney World and my youngest sister lives 45 minutes away in Daytona, I seized the opportunity to take my family
Without a doubt, one of the coolest things the Bureau of Medical Services does for all its nurses and providers is run an annual continuing medical education conference (CME). Aside from the pandemic, it is always in person, and it typically rotates between a domestic location and a foreign one. Last month happened to be
