About

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Daniela and I am a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) with the U.S. Department of State, or in other words a U.S. Diplomat. My husband, Paul, used to also be an FSO but decided he no longer wants to be a diplomat and left the State Department as of March, 2020. So we used to be a tandem (when both spouses are FSOs) but we are not anymore. We have two kids, Nia and Max. Join us on this amazing Foreign Service journey. 

My first post was a consular job in New Delhi, India. We were already in India because that was Paul's second post in the Foreign Service. There was an open consular position in New Delhi on my first bid list and I had already taken ConGen (consular training) and Hindi, so I was able to fill it immediately and we were able to serve together.

My second post was a General Services Officer (GSO) in Addis Ababa, Ethopia. Getting posted together with my husband the second time around was tricky. When you are a tandem, the more junior officer (in our case - me) becomes the lead bidder and the more senior has to follow. So I got my job in Addis and Paul had to figure out how to get there too. He kept bidding and lobbying for a job in Addis for more than a year after I got my assignment. He didn't get one. Not in Addis anyhow, which sometimes happens with tandems. But he did get a job. In Washington, D.C. It was a public diplomacy job related to Africa, and after some hard-core negotiations, he was able to work out an arrangement, which allowed him to telecommute from Addis, and we got to keep the family together.

Paul's fourth post was GSO in Sofia, Bulgaria. I had extended in Addis, to make sure our daughter didn't have to leave in the middle of a school year, so our tours were a year off. He went to Sofia with the kids and I stayed in Addis to finish my assignment. We were separated for about a year, which was hard. Eventually, I also got a job in Sofia as a political officer and followed them there. 

Paul's next and final assignment in the Foreign Service was an Economic job in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia starting in the summer of 2019. I still had a year left in my assignment in Sofia, so we had to separate again. He and our daughter were going to go to Riyadh and our son and I would stay in Sofia to finish my assignment there. Just as Paul and Nia left Bulgaria, Riyadh reached out to me and said they had an urgent Financial Management job to fill. They knew my husband was headed there and asked if I wanted the job. I was going to look for a job in Riyadh anyway but was not ready yet. My father had just passed a couple of months earlier in Bulgaria and I had decided that being there for another year was going to let me spend time with my mother and support her in her grief (and process my own). The Riyadh job offer changed my calculus. It meant we could cut our separation to a few months instead of a year. So I took it and curtailed my job in Sofia. Doing that on a short notice was immensely challenging. I actually accepted the job while on vacation in the U.S. Paul went from the U.S. to Riyadh with both kids so they can start school in time. I had to go back to Bulgaria, transition out of my job, sell our two cars and a bunch of stuff we no longer needed, pack out and leave in a couple of weeks - very stressful.  Then had to go to Home Leave alone in the US, which was weird but I couldn't get it waived. I also needed training for my new job which was not available when I was transitioning, so I had to go to Riyadh for three weeks and then back to the U.S. for three months of training before finally arriving at post permanently. It was exhausting but it's done.

Why I blog?

• to keep family and friends updated on our trials and tribulations - life in the Foreign Service has its highs and lows.
• because I get to be my own editor - and I can break those AP and State Department style guide rules all day long, if I want to. So liberating, ha?
• because it gives me an opportunity to vent, which helps me deal with the craziness or as a friend puts it "I write because it's cheaper than therapy."

What does Tuk&Tam mean?
Tuk&Tam means Here&There in Bulgarian. I picked that name in honor of my family and my native Bulgaria. It was also the most popular name in the very unscientific voting process I used to come up with a name for the blog. If you don't like the name, blame my Facebook friends.

Why not blog in Bulgarian?
It is my native language, after all and yes, I did consider doing that because my family knows little/no English and didn't want to rob my biggest fans of the joy of reading my gems. But in the end I decided that English made more sense because my husband's family is substantially larger than mine and almost all of our friends know English. I will have to keep my family updated on what's going on with us via Facebook, which they love anyway because they get to watch the kids' antics.

What to expect from this blog?

• I will probably be writing a few times a month. I don't see myself doing it daily but there may be a flurry of activity here and there.
• I will more than likely subject you to digressions, parenthetical statements, and the occasional end-of-the-sentence preposition. 'Cause that's how I roll. If that's not to your liking, this blog may not be for you. Don't say I didn't warn you.
• I will post pictures and the occasional video of what's happening to/around us.
• My "partners in crime," Paul, Nia and Max, will make frequent appearances and I will include their comments as we go along.
• I will need your comments to keep my sanity, so don't be shy.
• The views and opinions expressed on this blog are mine and not those of the Foreign Service/State Department.

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Thank you for stopping by and enjoy!