Oct 84 min
3-Week TDY in Dushanbe
I just went to Tajikistan—a country I never imagined visiting. I couldn’t even locate it on a map—the “stans” have always been a bit of a...
Sep 153 min
Tandem bidding 3
Uh-oh, it’s almost time to move on again! As much as I enjoy living in Mumbai, every Foreign Service tour meets its inevitable end. We...
Sep 66 min
Bucharest highlights & lowlights
Need a random city trip recommendation? How about Bucharest! Having confused Bucharest with Budapest and Belgrade all my life, Romania’s...
Jul 63 min
Promoted and leaning in
So, I’m a manager now! I’m still posted in Mumbai for another year, but my job here has changed dramatically. Bottom line: no more visa...
Jun 24 min
Maldives Getaway
BLUF: this was the best five-day vacation ever! Though the Maldives were never on my list of must-see destinations. There was something...
Apr 303 min
50 Work Outfits Challenge
Dressing for work has become somewhat of a hobby. My bright blazers rarely go unnoticed by my colleagues and I’ve been asked more than...
Apr 248 min
6-Week Marathon Journey (Part 3)
Final installment! Here are Part 1 and Part 2. Race Day The NN Rotterdam marathon 2024 started at 10:00 AM for elite runners, and at...
Apr 205 min
6-Week Marathon Journey (Part 2)
While consistent and thorough training obviously matters, a big part of running long distance is getting into the right mental state of...
Apr 1710 min
6-Week Marathon Journey (Part 1)
Oops, I did it again! My second full marathon is officially on the books. It felt like a mission impossible, but I managed. This is a...
Apr 134 min
Sri Lanka Trip
We just spent our spring family vacation in Sri Lanka: nine days of beach, hills, and cities. Our first stop after landing in Colombo was...
Mar 285 min
Getting my scuba diving certification
Last week I took a week long trip with my family to Sri Lanka. We stayed in several places (Colombo, Unawatuna beach, Ella, Kandy) but my...
Feb 245 min
11 Running Principles I Swear By
To celebrate 15 years of running, completing 3 half marathons in 2024 so far, and not having knee pain anymore, I’m making a list of my...
Feb 174 min
Fear of change
I recently started intermittent fasting. It’s partially an experiment (my husband is really into health and nutrition) and partially due...
Feb 104 min
Working in a visa mill
Mumbai has one of the biggest U.S. consular sections in the world and is referred to as a “visa mill” among officers. So far, I’ve...
Feb 35 min
TDY in Kolkata
Kolkata is India’s third largest city, located in the northeast of India near the border with Bangladesh. I should have checked a map or...
Feb 19 min
Why I love running and 21k (half marathon) is the perfect distance
This weekend I completed a half marathon in exactly two hours. Is that a good time? Depends, I guess. Objectively speaking it’s a good,...
Jan 252 min
I’m in a book
I would lie if I said I hadn’t thought about turning this blog into a book somehow. But as much as I’d like the idea of being an “author”...
Jan 223 min
Daily annoyances, Indian edition.
It took me a year and half to come up with enough annoyances to write about, which makes Indians—in my estimation—less annoying than some...
Jan 83 min
The few countries I still want to see
There are about 200 countries in the world, but it recently occurred to me that visiting about 40 of them might be more than enough—I’m...
Jan 23 min
100 things that made my year in 2023
2023 was a fine year overall. It felt like a year of progress professionally, and generally life was good in India. I celebrated ten...
Dec 30, 20234 min
What it takes to look good as a woman
I love fashion. And to create a good “look” I feel like I also have to do something about my hair and face, because that’s part it. But I...
Dec 19, 20235 min
Where is home?
Home is where the heart is, of course. Home is where my own little family is. This is something I rarely question. Not that I don’t think...
Dec 12, 20233 min
The ultimate travel wardrobe + packing list
Packing all the right things can be hard. When I travel I want to be comfortable, prepared for any type of weather, look good… and pack...
Dec 5, 20233 min
Chennai cyclone: a Foreign Service moment
So I just flew from Mumbai to Chennai for a one-week work exchange. It’s the kind of thing the State Department offers (when finances...
Dec 3, 20233 min
Nobody cares about you
Retired diplomats and diplomats on their way out of the Foreign Service have mentioned to me that the State Department doesn’t really...
Nov 10, 20235 min
100 things you didn’t know about me
At my current Post, new colleagues have to share “one interesting fact” about themselves when they introduce themselves. I noticed most...
Oct 10, 20235 min
Thoughts on India & the Environment
Who doesn’t worry about the environment these days? It’s been an emerging issue for so long and I very much grew up with it. My mother...
Oct 3, 20235 min
Mumbai: one year in
It’s our one year anniversary living in Mumbai. The city really grew on me. There’s so much to do here, time flies! We decided early on...
Aug 20, 20233 min
Comprehensive Health Checkup
India is one of those places where healthcare costs are a tiny fraction of US prices—even if you go to the really good (Harvard educated,...
Jul 7, 20234 min
Three birthdays and a wedding anniversary
Spring is always busy at my place. My husband, daughter and I have birthdays within one month of each other, and our wedding anniversary...
Jun 23, 20234 min
Kid life in Mumbai
When I ask my kids if they like living in Mumbai they find it hard to answer. They still miss their neighborhood friends in Germany and...
Jun 17, 20233 min
Two types of diplomats
What diplomats do? Well, there are two types of diplomats... Never DC'ers Those who try to avoid serving a tour in Washington at all...
Jun 10, 20238 min
What makes a good diplomat?
I ponder that question sometimes, for different reasons. Sometimes because I wonder what else I would be doing if I weren’t a diplomat....
May 13, 20232 min
Keri Russel is wrong
There’s a new Netflix show that will almost certainly be watched by all diplomats; the one where Keri Russell is Ambassador to London and...
May 3, 20232 min
Dharavi
Dharavi is one of the biggest ‘slums’ (now a politically incorrect word) in Asia, population one million. Orangi Town in Karachi has more...
Apr 30, 20234 min
Munnar tea plantations
Increasingly, I’m doubling down on a travel strategy that involves staying in a single place for at least five days, or a week if...
Mar 21, 20234 min
Andaman/Havelock island
I just returned from a week in tropical island paradise: Havelock, which is part of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, which is part of...
Feb 14, 20233 min
The Surge
For the past month, I’ve been part of coordinating a massive visa surge in Mumbai. The demand for visas here is enormous, and because of...
Feb 6, 20233 min
Goa and chill
I’m feeling very spoilt as I’m looking at my winter calendar. No more long cold months like I had in Berlin, Washington, Armenia and the...
Feb 1, 20233 min
Lollapalooza Mumbai
Last weekend I went to a major music festival for this first time in... forever? It was the first edition of Lollapalooza in Mumbai and...
Jan 25, 20234 min
Book club India
I joined another book club! I think at every diplomatic post so far I've had the chance to join one and this is the third time I did. I...
Jan 15, 20233 min
Tata marathon in Mumbai
The past week has been all about the Tata race, where in ran a half marathon today along with 55,000 other runners. It’s the largest run...
Jan 9, 20233 min
Is Mumbai really “the New York of India”?
I’ve been living in Mumbai for about six months now and I feel ready to make a bit of a pro-cons list. It’s only a subjective snapshot in...
Jan 2, 20232 min
Tenure!
I became a tenured Foreign Service Officer this month! It was unexpected, which made it all the more sweet. It was the first year I was...
Dec 6, 20224 min
Playing cricket and running races in Mumbai
I’m not really a sporty person. I don’t enjoy repetitive activities or making myself physically uncomfortable and besides I’m too short,...
Nov 5, 20222 min
Venturing out further: Udaipur
After sightseeing in Mumbai, a weekend getaway in Lonavola and a work trip to Delhi, we wanted something even more adventurous for our...
Oct 25, 20225 min
Diwali & representational events
The week before Diwali was an exceptionally busy week at work. I was on regular duty at the consulate but all the work had to be crammed...
Sep 30, 20224 min
FastCon in New Delhi
Last weekend I finally felt like India embraced me, and I was hugging it right back. I spent a weekend in India’s capital for work and...
Sep 20, 20223 min
Weekend trip to Lonavala
Since arriving in Mumbai a month ago I've had a lot of days off: Labor Day of course, but also Indian holidays like the Ganesh Chaturthi,...
Sep 3, 20222 min
Cultural Mumbai
One of the most repeated cliches about Mumbai is that it’s “an assault on the senses.” It’s true that none of the serene, polished images...
