{"id":6774,"date":"2022-09-18T08:11:16","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T12:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/?p=6774"},"modified":"2022-09-18T08:11:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T12:11:16","slug":"testing-my-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/?p=6774","title":{"rendered":"Testing my limits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had three representation events to attend this week, which were fruitful and enjoyable but severely tested the limits of my introverted self! Wednesday night was a welcome event for our new DCM; Thursday was a public affairs event; and Friday afternoon was for consular contacts. The public affairs event was for alumni of student exchange programs – it was fun to see so many young, smart kids who had gone on transformative adventures via Fulbright programs to the United States. I talked at length to a young electrical engineering student who had gone to Fayetteville, Arkansas – he just raved about Arkansas and how much he loved it there and wanted to return to visit. At the DCM\u2019s event, John and I spent a long time talking with a retired Exxon exec who was fascinating. And during the consular event, I visited with representatives of airlines, the head of the morgue, the head of the tourist police, and others who work with us to help U.S. citizens abroad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of the events were held at the Ambassador\u2019s residence, the Palacio Bosch<\/a>, an enormous and beautiful palace on the national historic register. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the consular event on Friday, John took me to a nice dinner in Palermo where I had a yummy crown of cauliflower. When I got home, I jumped on a video chat with two State Department friends: Jim in DC and Cathy in Calgary. We laughed and talked for two hours until I got too sleepy to talk any longer – it was great to catch up with them! I also had a fun chat with Ann, Pam, and Jackie last Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday I walked until my legs were about to drop – to Palermo to meet Lea for brunch after her yoga class, then home again with some shopping along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
With my work bestie Lea at Palacio Bosch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had three representation events to attend this week, which were fruitful and enjoyable but severely tested the limits of my introverted self! Wednesday night was a welcome event for our new DCM; Thursday was a public affairs event; and Friday afternoon was for consular contacts. The public affairs event was for alumni of student […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6774"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6774"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6778,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6774\/revisions\/6778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}