On May 24, 1924, the Rogers Act established a professional United States Foreign Service—a distinct group of nonpartisan public servants dedicated to advancing America’s interests and values abroad. Today, the Foreign Service has expanded into a global network of 16,000 professionals from every state in the nation, serving as America’s eyes and ears on the…
2022!
Haven’t posted in a while but have been up to a decent amount. First off, happy new year from Cambodia! We stayed at The One resort on Koh Rong Samloem Island. What a great little get away. Ana and I really enjoyed it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rob Joswiak (@robjoswiak)…
Social Menace
Been traveling around the country with my new beautiful wife (wedding post coming soon) for almost a month now. The one thing that has hit me is that social media and the 24/7 news cycle is a complete menace on our psyche and society. We are not solving our problems by consistently knowing what is…
Pack Out
So we usually get two days to have our stuff packed up and moved out. It is neither a glamorous nor fun process but one very integral to the FSO way of life. I did a quick video to give you an idea of what it looks like. These were some of my finals days…
Veteran’s Day
“We want them to come home and be OK.” Gary Sinise with some powerful words about our veterans as we celebrate their service today. I must admit as both a current diplomat and veteran that I think the service of foreign service officers, peace corps members and those working in the field for USAID is…
Always representing America
Happy Memorial Day everyone! One thing to always remember in this line of work: You are always representing America!
Road trip!
Been meaning to write but life happens as you know. Been taking a lot of weekend trips but not this weekend so here are some pics of recent trips. Three Amigos. We essentially drove around the big lake here in the south of Rio Grande do Sol (the state I live in). Ya know just…
The universe is smiling upon me
I have had a string of serendipitous events that I have to share. First off, the morning of pack out I awoke to my clock on the wall that had stopped dead on midnight. The battery had expired my last night in the condo. It was a sign to say as if: your time is…
Medo e esperança
Life is but a journey best done not in a hurry but the emotions of late, a total flurry A gamble of everything known as I set my life’s tone I still feel completely prone. Brazil. Just saying it excites as an antithesis that also incites. Soon I shall go now if I could only…
Language domination and a quick Obrigado to you
Portuguese is dominating me! Everyday I am in intense training with an instructor (sometimes two) and two other students. I also am in the lab for a minimum of an hour working on bettering my grasp of the language plus at-least another hour of homework each night. Getting to proficiency in 26 weeks is no…
Swearing in, area studies, and meeting a legend
Time is flying by and I am not doing a great job of updating this blog. But in the last month I was sworn in as a Foreign Service Officer by Ambassador Tom Shannon (who was the acting Secretary of State while Sec. Tillerson was awaiting Senate confirmation), done area studies to include Brazilian studies…
Flag Day
This is the day anyone who starts this journey, waits for. An NFL draft is the only thing I can equate it to. Minus all the money of course. But before I write about the flag portion of this day, I have to say this day started out with us taking a trip to Langley,…
A-100 & New SecState
Just popping in to say that A-100 is a rewarding and intense training program for new diplomats. I suggest for those who get selected, to realize that the first 6 weeks are very busy. Many nights I am reading, studying or doing homework. But it is totally worth it. Flag day is less than a…
Where could I go?
People ask me all the time: Where do you want to go? My pre-A 100 answer is anywhere! I am literally worldwide qualified and approaching it that way. Here is a Map of where I could go! (This is a map of worldwide U.S. Diplomatic Posts, Missions, and Department of State Facilities. To be able…
Welcome to my blog
Welcome to my website. Special thanks goes out to Taylor Hillman for designing this site and helping me along the way. I plan to blog as I being my career as a U.S. Diplomat. Feel free to reach out or leave comments. Thanks for reading.