Author: Den Hoopingarner

But not on purpose.

The snowstorm cancelled my family’s flight to DC. My wife and sons talked about it, and decided screw it, they were driving to DC. So they drove down. It took them 11 hours, but they made it. Barely.

The Flag Day ceremony started at 3:30. I figured that they would arrive in plenty of time. Evan and I were in constant text message contact, he would update me with their current position, and the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) that their GPS was giving.

The ETA was always about 2:45 pm. That gave us plenty of time, I figured. We could meet up in the cafeteria, then walk to the ceremony room together. No drama, right?

GPS systems lie about ETAs.

My fellow trainees are very supportive. We’ve become close over the last five weeks of training. As I met many of their family members in the hallway before the event, everyone assured me that “they’ll make it.”

I got more and more anxious as 2:45 turned into 3:00, then 3:05, then 3:10.

Finally, I couldn’t wait by the visitor’s center any more; I had to go into the room where the Flag Day ceremony was held, and find my seat.

Evan texted me that they got lost, and the GPS stopped giving them useful directions.

See what I mean about GPS systems being liars?

I figured that they would miss the ceremony, but that I would catch up with them later.

So I sat down, and waited for the ceremony to start.

Just when we were about to get started, my wife and kids walked in, right in front of me. I ran up to hug them, and the room exploded with clapping and cheers.

It felt like the end of a romantic comedy movie, when the couple is finally reunited (there was no sound track, though). It was great.

So the ceremony was a big success, and there was no drama. Except mine. No one cried except me. I never thought that I would be the source of Flag Day drama, but you never expect what life actually throws at you.

Oh, and I got my first choice of post: Shenyang, China. More about that later.

Today is Flag Day. This is the day that we are “distributed” around the world. The ceremony happens in the afternoon. We will all gather together, and one by one, we will receive our post assignment.

Yesterday, because of the snowstorm, the government was closed. That was our second snow day. Today the government is open, but with a two-hour delay. Again, our second two-hour delay.

The schedule for the training program is very tight, with a lot of information squeezed in. Losing two whole days plus four hours was a challenge, because instead of dropping the sessions that we missed, the coordinators re-worked the schedule to fit all those sessions back in. That meant fewer and shorter breaks, and longer days for the last few weeks of the course.

We are all relieved that the government was not closed today, because that would have postponed Flag Day until next week. Despite the chaos of reworking the schedule, at least we will get some closure today.

My family planned to fly to DC to attend, but their flight was cancelled due to weather. So they are driving down. They spent last night in Ohio, and will make it to DC just in time for the ceremony.

Life is good.

Foreign Service officers are diplomats, and as representatives of the United States government, we will be expected to defend the policies of our government. This can happen in official contacts such as at meetings or press conferences, or in informal contexts such as cocktail parties or even while out shopping.

Forget for a moment the fact that we will have to defend policies that we may not necessarily agree with. That’s a whole other conversation. We have to remember that the job we signed up for is to represent the government. There is a channel for us to advocate for changes to government policy, but in public, our job is to represent the official policy of the United States government.

Sometimes, people in foreign countries take the opportunity to interact with a U.S. official to complain about our government’s policies. As you can imagine, often these questions carry behind them a great deal of emotion, often anger. One of the skills that a Foreign Service officer must have is the ability to respond to these angry questions diplomatically and accurately.

This is as hard as it seems. When someone asks you to your face: “why is America at war with Islam?” it’s hard not to give an emotional answer.

This is why we have training called “composure under fire.” One person is in the hot seat, playing the part of a Foreign Service officer, and the rest of us played the part of hostile foreign nationals. We got to ask a lot of tough questions, trying to get a rise out of the foreign service officer. The Foreign Service officer, of course, tried to respond to the questions call me, and to guide the conversation in a positive direction.

At any time in our working life, we have to expect that our words are being recorded, and in the age of social media and the 24 hour news cycle, we have to expect that any poor choice of words or emotional outburst will wind up on the news before we have the chance to return to the embassy. Recent news reports illustrate this fact.

Today we had round two of composure under fire. We had a different coach this time, and he was tougher than the first coach. It was not enjoyable, but it was very useful. We got feedback on the content of our responses, as well as body language, word choice, eye contact, and general demeanor.

I can’t say that I feel prepared to face a room full of hostile reporters, but I feel a little more prepared to respond to the tough questions. I guess this is something that only comes with a lot of practice.

I now have a lot more respect for people like press secretaries and corporate spokespeople, who have to face this kind of tough questioning all the time.

A lot of people in the class are sick. There is a bad cold going around. When eight-seven people spend the entire day crowded into a small room, sitting very close to each other, disease spreads easily.

There is a Chinese trick to fight off a cold: as soon as you start to feel the symptoms, you drink a tea made from ginger root and brown sugar. You have to drink it quickly, while it’s hot. The ginger is very spicy, maybe it’s a combination of that and the hot temperature that stops the infection from making you sick. If you do this early enough, you can nip the cold in the bud.

I did the ginger tea trick last week, when I started to feel a scratchy throat, and it seems to have knocked the cold out. I’m also taking lots of Vitamin C, staying hydrated, getting sleep, and exercising. With luck, those things will keep me healthy.

Fingers crossed.

Most of our training happens at a special training center in Arlington, Virginia. Occasionally, we go to other locations. Today, we are spending the entire day at “Main State,” the main State Department building in Washington, D.C., in a district called “Foggy Bottom.”

We will attend area studies lectures from experts and officials who are responsible for the world areas.

We are also learning State Department protocol. When a VIP enters the room to speak, everyone is to stand and applaud as the person enters. What’s a VIP? Anyone at the Assistant Secretary level and up.

I’m planning to do a lot of standing and applauding today. It’s interesting and exciting to listen to people who are directly involved in creating and implementing U.S. foreign policy.