John and I thoroughly enjoyed binging on the latest season of “The Diplomat” this week. Friends often ask me if the show is like real Foreign Service life. It’s not. Most ambassadors don’t live in palaces (although a few do!) and host breakfast for staff each morning. They also don’t write their own talking points and press releases, and they are not sampling pies on the day of the 4th of July part (there would usually be a food committee who worked with donors months in advance). But the show gets enough stuff right and has enough “lingo” in it to make it fun for us to watch. I’ve been happy that Keri Russell has been supportive of Foreign Service Officers in interviews.
Two diplomats have been on my mind this week. One friend is in Kiev on a one-year tour, and she and I chatted for a couple of hours this week. She lives in a hotel room because security on the ground can’t support apartments or residences in the city. That means no kitchen (not even a microwave) and living in one room. A few embassy staff have “apartments” attached to the hotel that sound like long-stay hotel rooms, but at least they have a kitchen. My friend talked about the time she spends hunkered down either in the hallway or in the basement during the Russian attacks, and how the sleep deprivation is real. Then she gets up and is back at work in the office like any other day.
Another friend is posted in another country, and her husband had a horrible accident this week. Luckily the country where she is has medical care but we are holding our breath to see what the prognosis is. This is a couple we’ve known since we joined the Foreign Service almost twenty years ago, and the husband is one of the nicest guys on the planet. It’s bad enough to have medical issues in the U.S., but when you’re on a different continent it’s even worse. We’re holding them and their children in our thoughts.
Nothing too exciting happened this week. I finished “This Monster of a Land” and “The Things We Never Say” by Elizabeth Strout — thanks to Joan for both of those suggestions. I enjoyed them both. I’m currently reading the very light “The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife” by Anna Johnston, recommended by my friend Lea.