Dispatches From the Department - 5

Alongside language training, when we are assigned to a new country we undergo weekly area studies classes, largely taught by adjunct faculty from the many D.C.-based universities, overseen by one area PhD expert in the field. These once-a-week sessions can be quite good. For example, last week saw a 2 hour presentation and Q&A session with the Sri Lankan DCM (Deputy Chief of Mission, i.e. Vice-Ambassador or, to be more precise, the XO to the CO, if an Embassy was a naval vessel)about Sri Lanka's 2009 victory over the Tamil Tigers, after 30 years of open warfare.

During this session, at a break, I got to know my tablemates. One young woman struck me in particular, as she looked intensely, and beautifully Indian.

Me: ...so, Islamabad. I'm in Urdu right now, and will head out to post in early November. You?

Her: [City in South Asia], for two years.

Me: Interesting. I had a former colleague who was there for three years. He loved it, but as a consular officer, he got to hate American mountain climbers. They have this distressing tendency to die in one's consular district.

Her: Oh, yeah. Believe me, that's the first thing people tell me. "Hope you like trips to the morgue!"

Me: Is this your first post or your second?

Her: Second, I'm just out of London. Which was intense. I've never worked such long hours. We rarely left the embassy before 9. It was a tough 2 years.

Me: Did people mistake you for a local often? I mean, I lived in London for a bit, and I must admit that if I saw you on the Tube, I would assume you were a local and not American.

Her: All the time. Gave me an interesting perspective.

Me: I've found that helpful, often times at parties you will hear things you weren't supposed to. Most people in Vienna figured me for British.

Her: I can see that. Yeah.

Me: Where you from?

Her: India...

Me: ...no, from here.

Her: Texas. Austin.

Me: Your parents immigrated?

Her: Yes, from India to Texas.

Me: My mom immigrated from Northern Ireland. To Los Angeles.

Her: Yeah, I was mistaken for a local all the time in London.

Me: Well, that's understandable, there are a lot of South Asians there.

Her: (with intense bitterness and an accusing glare) Yeah, there are certainly a lot more people that look like me in London than in the State Department.

Me: (wondering at the White guilt trip and where it came from) Well, presumably when your parents made the decision to immigrate from India to Texas they were aware that there is a European-American majority in Texas and most American institutions.

Surprisingly, we didn't talk the rest of the session.


NOTES:

I apologize for my recent drive-by posting. I am simply pressed for time these days. To address a few points quickly:

-- When I noted that I would not use any inside info in these posts, that wasn't meant to imply that you would expect or even ask for such a thing. That was intended for official readers, who sometimes track Department blogging posts for actionable violations of blogging policy.

-- Thanks to aridog for the warm welcome back.

-- A late happy b-day to Lady Red!