Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Where do we go? Where do we go now? - Guns N' Roses

Inspired by Girl in the Rain, I decided to make a map of where I'd been, and where I'd like to go by using this site.

First, where I've been. 



Africa - None
Americas - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, United States, Uruguay
Asia - India, Nepal
Pacific - New Zealand
Europe - Belarus, Czech, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom

27 countries seems like a lot, until you start comparing it to other people in the Foreign Service.  Still, it's a good start. 

About ten years ago, I made a list of other countries I'd like to visit.  I came up with about 40 or so.  I included Alaska and Bay of Fundy as their own countries, 'cause it was my list, and I made the rules.

When I think of places I'd like to go with the Foreign Service, the list gets much bigger.  I'm a pretty outgoing traveler, but there's no way I'm going to go to Libya by myself.  However, with the assistance of the State Dept., I'd go just about anywhere.  I took a quick look through the map and decided that I'd be happy to get posted to any one of these places.  These were impulse decisions.  I'm sure there are many more I'd be happy to get posted to, so I reserve the right to change my mind at any point.

I left Afghanistan and Iraq off the list.  The State Dept. doesn't send FSO's there for their first tour.  I think it's a wise policy.  I'm not opposed to going to those places, but I'd like to get my FSO feet under me in a non-war zone first.  The State Dept. doesn't count Pakistan as a war-zone, but I do, so I left it off the list for now.




Africa - Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia
Americas - Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Greenland, Grenada, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela
Asia - Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen
Pacific - Australia, New Zealand
Europe - Croatia, Czech, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine