Fourth of July

The life of a Foreign Service Officer ain't bad. You get local holidays off, US holidays, and in the case of holidays like the Fourth of July, you get paid to go party. This year, we have three parties, and the biggest was at the Ambassador's house yesterday.

Since Ambassador Mary Ourisman is from Texas, she thought it'd be nice to have a country western themed party. That meant loads and loads of beef brisket, beef burgers, and hot dogs. We washed that down with Budweiser, Sam Adams, and rum punch. We even had a flag of Texas.



I wasn't invited just for the free food. No, I had the great responsibility of handing out glo-necklaces and baseball caps. For this, I dragooned Graham (pictured) and his brothers Craig and Simon. They're the kids of the DCM (deputy ambassador) and they work at consular section of the embassy.

I've already spilled rum on my shirt.



A picture of the receiving line at the beginning of the festivities. The people standing by the doors are the most junior Foreign Service Officers, who are on "push/pull" duty. Basically, they pull people away from the Ambassador if they're talking for too long. Apparently, FSOs receive several days of push/pull training in A100 class, including a full-scale mock party. Such is the importance of protocol in the State Department.



Ambassador Ourisman is pushing sixty but still looks gorgeous. She's posing with the five Marine security guards who protect our embassy. There are just enough of them to guard the place 24/7. These guys are basically kids my age (or younger, even), but tough as hell. One FSO tells of the time he was in Jeddah when the consulate there was invaded by dozens of terrorists armed with machine guns. Six marine security guards killed all but two of them without suffering a single scratch. One of my jobs next week is to play the bad guy during their training exercises. Apparently it's tons of fun but I do it at my own risk.



After all the guests had left, the Ambassador and three of us from the embassy sat by her pool and drank awesome rosé. Mmm mmm. I also got to chat for about twenty minutes with the Ambassador.

She asked if there was any one thing I wanted to get out this internship and I replied that I would love to travel in her private jet when she goes to Antigua or Dominica. She's going to think about it.