Life After Jerusalem

You Will Be Missed

I'll just throw this out there:Don't Go!Apparently Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman is planning to retire.I have never gotten to work for him, but in the interactions I have had with him, I have come to like him a lot.When I first joined the State Department, he went to dinner with all of us who had been assigned to NEA. He had been Consul General in Jerusalem, so I was particularly interested in hearing what he had to say.When I ran into him in the Departmen

Pagan Churches and an Island Escape

So those people who make three-day weekends are seriously on to something!This was the first full weekend I have had off in a while, so I took an extra day and M and I headed to Saaremaa, Estonia's largest island. It wasn't my first time there, but the last time was in November when I did a quick out and back to speak at our American Corner there. I literally saw nothing of the island.So this trip, we spent the whole long weekend there and it was just what doctor ordered! And we planned our trip

What Makes a Blog an FS Blog?

What makes a blog a Foreign Service blog?For that matter, what makes a person part of the Foreign Service family?There are some for whom the definition is less expansive than it is for me.One of my friends, Jen over at The Dinoia Family has apparently been removed from the State Department's blogroll. Her blog isn't FS enough. Specifically, she apparently talks too much about her health issues.Obviously, I think that is absurd.No one has ever questioned whether my blog was a Foreign Service blog