I swear

At long last, the orientation class is finished. It's been a long, intensive six weeks of lectures, field trips and exercises, all illustrated ad nauseam with Powerpoint slides, but as of this afternoon the 167th A-100 class is officially over. The culmination of our introduction to the Foreign Service and the U.S. State Department came with the swearing-in ceremony, which was held in the Dean Acheson Auditorium in the Harry S Truman Building. Here are a few photos:

 Before the start of the ceremony

Standing up when my name was announced

The keynote speaker was Patrick F. Kennedy, the Under Secretary of State for Management

The oath that we took at the end of the ceremony

The class photo. The official pictures were taken moments earlier - this shot was taken by my wife when the guests were given permission to click away. The woman seated third from right in the front row is Ambassador Carol Rodley, our class mentor. Yours truly is the grinning cue ball raising his left hand in the very back row on the right. 

Another family photo, taken at the conclusion of the afternoon's festivities

Following the end of the swearing-in ceremony, we returned home, whereupon I got out of my monkey suit and into something far more comfortable. We then went out to celebrate at the Dogfish Head Alehouse, where the 90 Minute India Pale Ale went down very well at the end of this very hot, very humid but very satisfying day:

What follows will be roughly six months of consular and Mandarin Chinese training before our scheduled February departure date for Shanghai 上海. It's going to be a lot, hot and busy summer.

Shanghaied

I'm sure you all recognize this flag. Today was the day the members of my A-100 class received their first assignments in a ceremony at the Foreign Service Institute, and this was the flag given to me when my name was called. To be more specific, I'm being posted to our consulate in Shanghai 上海 for a position in the consular section. It's a two-year tour that begins next February, and between now and then I'll be undergoing various trainings, including a 21-week course beginning in September that will try to bring my poor Mandarin skills up to something approaching snuff. In other words, I've got a lot of work ahead of me!

Both my wife and daughter were overjoyed to hear the announcement. Amber, in particular, was so happy to hear the news that she started singing the National Flag Anthem...of the Republic of China 中華民國, aka Taiwan. My little girl has already been given her first lesson in the pitfalls of international geopolitics.

Diplomatic faux pas aside, everyone was satisfied with way things turned out today, myself included. Going to China had not been a high priority for me when I entered the Foreign Service, but once the first bid list came out, and the importance of attaining proficiency in Mandarin in terms of career development became apparent, the available Chinese postings quickly catapulted to the top of my list of preferences. So it looks like I left Taiwan to move back to the United States in order to prepare for an eventual move to China. I don't see any ironies here - do you?