Month: May 2026

Foreign Service, Burma, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Sixth Tour Bidding: Postscript

by pennypostcard • May 29, 2026 • 2 Comments

In January, while V and I were on R&R in Vietnam, I received the excellent news that my assignment following the end of my tour in Rangoon would be as consular chief in Sarajevo. I could not have been happier, as Sarajevo had been my top choice during bidding the previous fall.

After receiving the handshake, I wrote here on the blog that I would tell the story of how it went down; four months on, I am finally getting around to that.

Burma, Foreign Service, Leadership & Work Culture, Travel, U.S.

Year in Review: 2025 Blog Stats and Recap

by pennypostcard • May 28, 2026 • 1 Comment

I have both been writing this post for months and procrastinating finishing it. I normally publish my annual recap and blog stats in January, or at least earlier in the year.

But I hesitated to relive the personal and professional difficulties I experienced in 2025. A stressful international move, a life-threatening accident, family illness, job insecurity, work-related chaos, and policy whiplash were all lowlights in 2025. It’s a lot of work to dig through it all and think about how to organize and convey the details in a way that’s interesting to people aside from me.

Upon reflection, though, in characteristic form, I decided that feels like all the more reason to write this post — even if it took me a while to find the words, and even if no one else particularly notices whether I keep up what has quietly become an annual tradition. I would notice. And as the memories slowly fade around the edges, I think in the future I would regret letting a year like this pass without summary.

Burma, Foreign Service

Before the Tipping Point

by pennypostcard • May 25, 2026 • 0 Comments

March felt like something of an in-between point on this tour: past the halfway mark, but still before it was time to worry about another PCS move.

The weather carried the feeling of a perpetual lazy summer. I was no longer struggling with a walker or wheelchair, and spent much of my time focused on physical therapy. I was endlessly grateful to have regained some mobility and freedom.

We were done with our January and February trips to Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, and soon it would be time for our big April R&R trip back to the United States. But for the moment, it was simply good to be at home.

Burma, Foreign Service

A Rolling Portrait: Yangon Circular Railway

by pennypostcard • May 16, 2026 • 0 Comments

In March, the embassy’s Community Liaison Office (CLO) organized a weekend day trip to ride the Yangon Circular Railway.

Often called the “Circle Line,” the train travels on an approximately 28-mile (45 km) loop track around the city. It is supposed to be one of the most atmospheric and socially revealing railways in Southeast Asia. It’s not only a commuter railway and a relic of British colonial infrastructure, but also an informal street market, a lifeline for people who need to travel inexpensively, and a beautiful way to understand how the city is laid out.

Foreign Service, Travel

Finally, Bangkok for Tourism

by pennypostcard • May 14, 2026 • 0 Comments

One of the amazing delights of serving a tour in Rangoon is its proximity — via a one-hour flight — to Bangkok. Similarly to how we viewed the southern Kazakh city of Shymkent (located within driving distance of my first posting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan), Bangkok offers shopping, international cuisine, real banking and medical care. It’s also a genuine reprieve from the stresses of Rangoon, such as burning garbage and electrical outages.

On our prior trips to Bangkok, we have been most interested in what it offers that isn’t otherwise available to us. With that said, Bangkok is a world city with plenty of things that make it special and worth visiting, not just in comparison to Rangoon but independently. In February we finally took that kind of trip to Bangkok.

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