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.
Flag Day during A-100 is so named for the ceremonial handing out of flags. Most people call it Handshake Day thereafter; assignment notifications for second tour and beyond come by email.
Whatever you call it, I think it’s one of the most exhilarating moments in a Foreign Service career. In directed, entry-level bidding I had Flag/Handshake Days where I had no clue what flag I was going to get. Due to having to rank dozens of posts, it was anyone’s guess what would shake out and the flag was a total surprise (like my directed assignments to Tashkent and Canberra).
And I’ve had mid-level bidding Handshake Days where I knew I was on at least one shortlist. But I couldn’t narrow a handshake down further and did not know for certain until the email hit my inbox (like with Ciudad Juárez and Rangoon).
And I even had an assignment where I’d received a Bureau Leading Candidate email (from the Office of Children’s Issues in Washington, DC). Therefore, when the handshake came there was no surprise, but a sense of relief and finality.
With Sarajevo, I found out in stages of increasing excitement and cross-my-fingers anticipation.
The first week of December 2025, I had my interview with Sarajevo’s DCM and incumbent consular chief. I had notified them in advance that I was hospitalized and a little banged up, but still preferred to meet on camera if they were amenable.
It was a terrific conversation. A day or two later, the DCM informed me via email that I was on post’s shortlist. I was thrilled. But unable to jump for joy or even walk, I stared out the window with a grin and dared to hope. Sometime later I learned the number of people on the shortlist, but I still didn’t know where I ranked. The difference between first and second can make… all the difference.
Fast forward to the third week of January 2026. V and I were sitting down for lunch on the infamous Train Street in Hanoi, Vietnam. As we enjoyed cold beers and awaited our meals, an email from the Bureau of Consular Affairs hit my inbox about six hours before predicted: a Bureau Leading Candidate (BLC) email for the consular chief position in Sarajevo!
I briefly lost my mind but was constrained again from jumping for joy by my reliance on a walker and the extremely close proximity of the train tracks to the patio.
The three days between expected BLC announcements and Handshake Day caused me a little conundrum. I felt so lucky to have gotten Sarajevo, I really feared it slipping away somehow. What if I publicly announced we were going to Sarajevo, and then the handshake fell through, or never arrived? I’d heard of such horror stories.
The chances of that seemed low, but the possibility gave me pause. Some people would say that until you are actually paneled and have the TMONE assignment notification in your cable queue, not to count your chickens.
But in general, it’s the handshake email that clinches the job. The purpose of the BLC is for a bureau to socialize the idea of the handshake before it comes, to try and align bidders with vacancies and confirm that a bidder is still interested in a position. This makes Handshake Day easier for bureaus by helping avoid mismatches, declined handshakes, and scrambles to capture the next-ranked shortlisted candidate before they accept another handshake. The BLC isn’t necessarily license for a bidder to go crowing about their next job… that isn’t theirs yet.
So V and I, as previously agreed, said nothing to anyone about the BLC. This was made easier by the fact that we were traveling around Hanoi vs. being in our everyday lives. Had I been in the office when I received the BLC, it is unlikely I could have restrained myself from telling my boss for three days (or even three hours).
Handshake Day found us in our next destination: the Vietnamese coastal city of Da Nang, enjoying dinner on our second evening there. I checked my phone uncharacteristically often, knowing it was Handshake Day and already approaching 8:00 p.m.
At a certain point, V excused himself to the restroom. Literally the minute he was gone, Washington business hours started and the email hit. I could tell from the subject line preview before even opening the email that my BLC dreams had come true. And I had to sit at the table by myself smiling and freaking out on the inside for several minutes until he returned.
I sent a message in the family WhatsApp chat and A called approximately 10 seconds later, also freaking out. She said her fiancé was already Googling flights to Sarajevo! I reminded her we wouldn’t arrive until August 2027 and we all laughed.
The January handshake — in addition to already happy January trips to Singapore and Vietnam — was a terrific way to start 2026 after an objectively very difficult 2025. It was such a pleasure to know that — after 12 years in the Foreign Service and a whopping 22 years after closing my Peace Corps Volunteer service in Macedonia — I had finally managed to get us pointed back towards the Balkans, towards our second home.
Now that we are — shockingly — about 2.5 months from the end of our tour in Burma, the inevitable wheels of another permanent change of station (PCS) move are starting to turn. I explained the timeline and details to prepare for an overseas-to-overseas PCS move several years ago, probably better and more thoroughly than I could now.
But at least for now, I’ve started the ball rolling. Today I submitted what’s known as a TMTWO, or “request for orders.” I outlined everything that must happen to move us and our household from Rangoon to Sarajevo via a year of language training in Virginia. I won’t be able to make too many actual arrangements until I receive orders. But knowing where we are going to be all the way to 2030 in this career is such a gift and putting the ball in the Department’s court today felt really good.
Collecting Postcards 