musings

One of the hardest things to figure out is what is legit to post online and what is not. The general rule I tend to use is that if I’ve got to ask myself whether I should or shouldn’t post, I don’t. This might be overkill, but better safe than sorry, and I’ll know more where that line is, the longer I’m in the Service.

Shoes

Why am I blogging about shoes?

Well, it’s not just a piece of leather, suede, plant-based, or man-made materials that shod your feet. They can be iconic, witty, gorgeous, hideous, comfortable, and painful. And they are a bit more important than I thought to a FSO’s job.

In the Foreign Service, we are considered to be generalists, jack-of-all trades, etc. And with that moniker, comes the job, which means that we can be called to do anything and everything as the need arises. So, if you need to sprint up and down the length of Incheon International Airport so you can meet the visitor who’s itinerary you are in charge of, you better have comfortable, well-padded, shoes.

Of course, never having thought that I would be sprinting up and down Incheon airport, praying that I would be able to meet up with my visitor, I was not wearing the said comfy shoes. Instead, I was wearing a pair of lovely maroon suede, 3″, Mary Jane style heels. Which, in a normal trip to the airport would be fantastic and just fine. This case, 3 blisters the size of Kansas (actually, 1-2cms), smaller areas rubbed raw, and all joints in my legs serious questioning my sanity and sense of judgement.

That said, my visitors (Yes, I’ve been here 3 weeks and this shoe business happened twice) were never the wiser of the behind the scene nuttiness and were apparently quite happy with my planning and organization skills.

Lesson learned. Keep the smile on your face, go above and beyond the requirements and you’ll be rewarded, and get better shoes. Yes, I bought out a chunk of Rockport’s inventory in Itaewon, 5 pairs of shoes this week. Screw the blisters and the like; this is a career investment. 🙂

To my Orientation instructors:

I’ve got a car. Will be getting a PDA
Overtime? Normal.
Visitors? Check!
Demarches, cables, meets and greets. Yup. all the time.

It’s a rush. I’m writing this on a break from transcribing notes from earlier in the day. Schedule is unpredictable, and am very glad that I was able to see my family before the storm (figurative) hit, work wise. Currently, I’m on my third set of delegation/visitors/POC stuff in under three weeks. Sets 2 and 3 overlap, which makes for mind-spinning schedules upon schedules upon schedules. Pretty energizing stuff. 😛

The drinking from the fire hose continues, long after we’ve left your immediate merry sphere of influence. I’m treading water.

The first week

Was pretty freakin’ amazing!

This past week was my first week as a Political officer in Embassy Seoul. The first thing I learned was the inherent uncertainty in the job. Walking into the Political section to meet my colleagues for the first time, I’m told that I’m being moved to the external section. Apparently there was a shake up of the three incoming political officers and their positions. Totally cool with me – the portfolio in both external and internal was excellent, and I would have been happy with either. In fact, this move ended up being great, as I had a 1 week overlap with my predecessor in the job, so I was able to pick her brain, shadow her, and go through my first demarches, interviews, etc, and get feedback. Such a great entry into my first posting, seriously! It took a bit of the edge of the “trial by fire” nature of the job.

Paperwork, of course, was everywhere and is actually still continuing. There are a LOT of stuff to take care of coming to post, and it never fails to amaze me how streamlined Embassy Seoul has made to make the process as painless as possible. This could have been a complete mess, but it has been entirely the opposite, from getting my badge/ID to dealing with random internet and household problems, very efficient and prompt.

And that gets to the one part of living here that’s new to me; living on Yongsan base. Embassy Seoul has the distinction of being the only posting where you live on a military base. It was logistical sense; the base is in prime location, at the heart of Seoul, and is already leased by the US government. However, it creates a slight disconnect, as living on base is very similiar to living in a US suburb, when you go on and off base. I’ve never lived on a military base, or really spent much time on one, so I’m getting used to the whole rules and regs of it. There are a lot of conviences, and the base housing is pretty spacious, especially for me, when I’ve spent my time in studio/1-bedroom apts or sharing a house with other students.

Just a hint to all the A-100 grads who are working their first 4th of July party: Wear comfortable shoes! My feet were killing me after standing for 4 hours.

This job is amazing. I’m exhilarated with the opportunity that’s in front of me, and what the position is asking of me. Indeed, uncertainty is happiness.