This Week's State Department Blog RoundUp

I have to start out by reiterating the slow move east's comment that these Weekly State Blog Roundups take a lot of work! A big round of applause to A Daring Adventure for putting these roundups together in the past.

The big news this week is that Muttering Behind the Hardline decided to hang up the spurs for a while. We will miss you and hope to read more from you soon.

And we were very happy that I’ll take mine… to Go, please! decided to continue on…

A common theme this week and for more weeks to come is PCSing or summer travel. Is it summer yet? Not officially, but it sure feels like it in Kolkata, India.

Traveling and enjoying the good weather was:

the slow move east said farewell to D.C. and revealed her most precious Esmerelda;

Foreign Service Specialist was allowed back home in Thailand;

Diplodocus is having readjustment pains;

Minnesota Gal explored beautiful Cebu. Her adventures around Manila make me want to put the post on our “must bid” list;

 there’s sand in my latte enjoyed “ghost” cheese and other delights in Turkey;

 the world we live in described their recent travel to Eilat and an explosive experience;

from the back of beyond described her recent visit with friends New Orleans;

A Daring Adventure enjoyed the Washington D.C. Zoo;

Moppyseed Puffin went on two field trips around D.C.;

SassAndSweet enjoyed her recent trip to D.C.;

and Cyberbones went camping with the Cub Scouts;

Prepping for the big PCS were:

Find out how Email from the Embassy lost 30lbs in one day!;

The Perlman Update was able to sell (and buy!) some things before PCSing;

and Beyond the cornfields was moving to Miami - now its Bangladesh, but does their UAB know?

Enjoying the simpler things in life were:

Life is a bowl of cherries and Lack of Tacos decided to make juice;

place2place is enjoying the dandelions;

Lindsey Mae and company enjoyed peanut butter pancakes;

at post continues to treat us to unusual shopping adventures around the world;

Tuk & Tam is enjoying her recent change of perspective on her mother’s blankets;

and well, not really enjoying and not simple at all, but Life After Jerusalem is still experiencing her EER;

The last few A-100 classes and aspiring Foreign Service are full of active bloggers:

travel orders describes the extra-curricular classes at FSI;

The B Files received her security clearance in three months! Congratulations!;

Fawda Munathema added some additional thoughts to The Hegemonist’s legendary post on the Foreign Service application process;

and Something edited this way comes was able to get a lot of things done.

And in the Now for Something Completely Different Category:

Even though EF’M: The Life of an FSO Spouse wrote about the heat in Hermosillo, it is the photos of Tiffany’s teeth cleaning that I can't get out of my mind;

Diplopundit reported on the Principal Officer's at Consulate Fukuoka performance as Meriken Omaru in a Kabuki play;

and The Skeptical Bureaucrat reveals that the Ambassador from Zimbabwe heckled Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson, at a gala event.

And finally, awards of the week so that I can use some alliteration:

This week’s Best Bawdy Banter award goes to Hick/Hitchhiker/...Diplomat for his pictorial essay “Angles.”;

The Hilarious Health Happening goes to NP Worldview for her hilarious post on the dialogue with post drivers as she examines them for high blood pressure;

The Totally Terrific Tour award goes to You Can Call Me Al since he got an insider tour of the White House;

and the Deeply Definitely Defining Domicile award goes to EF'M: The Life of an FSO Spouse as he pondered “Home is Where…?”

Next week’s Weekly State Department Roundup will be hosted at Wife-Mommy-Woman. Sign up for your turn at A Daring Adventure.

Enjoy!


Image from The World That We Live In