Saturday, February 14, 2015



Flag Day was yesterday! This is the State Department's informal ceremony notifying new Foreign Service officers of their first posting. I got one of my top choices: Bamako, Mali! My parents and some good friends were there to cheer me on, which was fantastic! 

I will go through seven months of intensive French language training (starting 2/23), followed by a few months of area studies and management training. Then, in December, I'll be off to live and work as a diplomat and management officer for the Embassy there. More on the job itself once I find out!

My schedule is pretty constant, but my plan is to try to find the odd 3-day weekend to visit family and friends as much as possible.

I'm terribly excited about this new career and first posting, and look forward to sharing it with you, readers, whoever you may be, every step of the way. If you've got any questions, any at all, send'm my way. I've probably got many of the same ones, to be honest, but hopefully many things will become clearer in the next ten months! 

Another note about Flag Day: my colleagues nominated me for the Glenn Munroe award, which is named for a past Foreign Service Officer. The description is: "Glenn was a firm believer in the importance of 'esprit de corps.'  He also believed that 'service' was the operative word in Foreign Service, and was committed to serving his country."
--Z



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