My Foreign Service Life

Season 2 will be out Feb 17th! Watch the feed for more life in the Foreign Service.

In this episode Christine talks about the party life of Kinshasa along with kids school, pets, and R&R. This is the final episode of season 1--watch this space for season 2 

Christine and Derald attempt to climb the Rwenzori Mountains with some friends and encounter small prop planes, malaria, altitude-induced euphoria, and the would-be final resting place of one Californian.

In this episode we get a look at what living through an economic collapse looks like, and the connection between campaign finance and ambassadorship.

In this episode, we learn the advantages of the French school system as young Gabe gets an invitation to the Dictator's house. Not knowing it was an invitation that should have been refused, Christine and family head over for a party.

In this episode, Christine and family move to a new post in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). She gets into how schools worked for diplomatic expats and the pain of moving throughout your childhood when email wasn't a thing.

Christine learns that living in a small community of expat means if you mess up, it affects everyone. And this was the 80's so a VCR was involved.

Though Christine absconded to Africa a single woman with a small child, she left Burundi married. She talks about the effort to navigate the Burundi matrimonial system as well as building a family as an ex-pat.

Spending the first weekend on post partying has it's consequences! Choices were made, bosses were encountered, and we all learn about Duty Officers. In this episode Christine has a wild weekend on her first weekend on post and was not prepared to get home.

Christine's first day in Bujumbura was hectic and filled with surprises, especially for someone not used to the bonuses of a hardship post. In this episode Christine discusses the perks of going to a small post, hardship posts, and feeling fancy.

Arriving at her first diplomatic post in Bujumbura, Burundi, Christine didn't know what to expect and it lead to some misunderstandings. Welcome to Africa!

Getting the call that you are going to a country you've never heard of is an adventure for sure. So is living in a world where you have to find an atlas to figure out where that country is. Oh, the 80's. In this episode Christine talks about the expectations of those in Brooksville, FL, upon the news of her imminent travel to Africa.

Despite thirteen months of waiting, weeks of invasive tests, and a hiring freeze, Christine finally gets the call she's been waiting for - to join the Foreign Service. But first she had to answer an important question: Where would she least like to go? She discusses her first assignment in the Foreign Service and how that process works, as well as how little she knew about Africa and the futu...

Join Christine in the beginning of her journey as she moves to Bujumbura, Burundi at 27, single, with a young child. Learning the ropes of the Service, being on post, and navigating a new country.