A Week (or so) in the Life

Every time I travel home, I realize that many people have absolutely no idea what diplomats do. Our jobs are not as concrete as building cars, working in a rolling mill plant, managing a bank, or nursing. My life and career are constantly changing. Career wise, the changes from administration to administration can be significant (you might have noticed some differences between the Obama and Trump administrations, for example) and my assignment changes every two to three years. On the life front, my wife and I (and for the past few years our daughter) have moved so many times, flying, packing, unpacking, etc. By my count, I have moved 19 times since February 5, 1997.

New Middletown, OH; Lackland AFB, TX; Sheppard AFB, TX; RAF Fairford, UK; Camp Darby, Italy; Mountain Home AFB, ID; Lynn Haven, FL; Blacksburg, VA; College Park, MD; Greenbelt, MD; Maputo, Mozambique; Arlington, VA; Greenbelt, MD; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Falls Church, VA; Greenbelt, MD;  Kabul, Afghanistan; Arlington, VA; Helsinki, Finland, and in 2020, who knows where…

Diplomacy is anything but a life of stability filled with cocktail parties. It’s the type of career where you can have your long-awaited vacation cancelled your first day at the beach because of a presidential visit announcement. Or you might wait out a rocket attack at a neighboring embassy over beers, sauna, and laughs. Or speak on the floor of the UN. Or jump into the frozen Baltic or eat really bizarre food (sorry Mr. Zimmern). Or speak on TV or in front of hundreds of people in a foreign language that you know you are butchering. Or spend a year separated from your spouse. Or work for weeks on end without a paycheck because of a shutdown. Or publicly defend policies with which you might vehemently disagree. Or foster relationships between the United States and countries around the world that will transcend generations. Or really make a difference in someone’s life with a visa issuance or an American citizen service. Or promote human rights, diversity, religious freedom, freedom of the press, transparency, democracy, and all of those values we hold so dear. Or bond with lifelong friends from every state and background who share your love of country.

This career is not an ordinary one, so for this blog post I thought I would highlight a week in the life (inspired by one of Lennon’s best tunes, a Day in the Life). 

Monday, May 6, Rovaniemi, Finland

I have worked on organizing Secretary of State Pompeo’s speech “Looking North: Sharpening America’s Arctic Policy” for almost two weeks. May 6 was the big day (“wheels down”) when the Secretary’s plane with United States of America painted on the side in blue and white landed near the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, Finland. My “wheels down” in Rovaniemi was May 2, the day after the Finnish holiday of Vappu. For 13-15+ hours per day, I worked with my team and our Finnish hosts on finalizing and inviting the guest list of 200 high-level contacts, procuring broadcast capabilities, purchasing backdrops, overseeing the setup, procuring a shuttle service for guest access to the secure facility, coordinating with security and media, and preparing the podium, and U.S. and Finnish flags (thanks team for ironing those). 

The Department did not clear the speech invite until about 48 hours before the event (a Friday after a holiday), so we spent a lot of time reaching out to individual guests and countries to ensure the broadest possible representation. In addition to high-level contacts and media, we also wanted to invite the official delegations of each Arctic Council Member State (a.k.a 1+11, or the Minister plus 11, from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the USA), but we could not get the delegation lists from our Finnish partners at the MFA or from the Arctic Council because of the EU’s GDPR.  

With my neck on the line for the speech, my greatest concern was an empty room. We had around 150 RSVPs, with 208 chairs and a press riser in the back. I arrived at the site early to introduce my team of five to the site and maybe to take chairs out of the room.

WRONG! We had a massive turnout. Moments before the Secretary took the stage, I had stacks of chairs on my shoulders to accommodate the overflow crowd of maybe 250+. I also asked some very highly placed people to move in order to seat the bigger wigs in the right spots, including the Finnish Foreign Minister’s delegation.

The Secretary gave his speech, had two interviews with Finnish media, and then his bilateral meeting or bilat with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. And I still had a job and paycheck at the end of the day (we have a budgetJ).

Work hard, play hard is a common mantra. Rovaniemi was purely the former, but I did enjoy a few short walks to the river, a brief stop to Santa's Village at Arctic Circle (including Eleanor Roosevelt's cabin from 1950), and tasty local reindeer pizza and beer.

Pizza with reindeer. Yum. 

Roosevelt Cabin, 1950 with T.J. Grubisha

The Arctic Circle with T.J. Grubisha

Tuesday, May 7, Rovaniemi - Helsinki, Finland

The Secretary started his official day in a bilat with Finnish Foreign Minister Soini and continued into bilats with a couple of other Foreign Ministers, followed by the “family photo.” 

After an incredibly stressful couple of weeks prepping for the speech, the day's press officer duties were a breeze. I spent some time with the “traveling press” who came in with the Secretary, including a very funny journalist from NBC I had met in Kabul when I worked the Secretary John Kerry and President Ghani joint press conference.

I took off for the airport for my flight to Helsinki as soon as the Arctic Council Ministerial started. At the airport, I struck up a conversation with the Secretary’s contracted teleprompter operator, who was on his way to Bangkok for another gig. We bonded over love of travel in Africa and similar family stories. 

Wednesday, May 8, Helsinki, Finland

After weeks of endless work and six days in Rovaniemi, I finally made it HOME! I stayed home to take care of my daughter, who was sick. I missed her and my wife so much. During her nap, I tried to catch up on the some of the 600 or so emails I missed while I focused exclusively on the Secretary of State visit.

Thursday, May 9, Helsinki

Claire is feeling better, so it’s off to the office. Today, I had the honor of introducing New York University Professor Eric Klinenberg https://www.ericklinenberg.com/ for his presentation on “Shared Spaces: Shared Values” at the Think Corner at the University of Helsinki. We partnered with the City of Helsinki to invite Eric for presentations at Helsinki’s fabulous new $120 million central library “Oodi” and at the University. His 20 minute presentations focused on the need for societies to invest in “social infrastructure” like parks, schools, and libraries that foster cohesive, resilient societies.  Fascinating! I can’t wait to get his book Palaces for the People. After his presentation, I moderated (very lightly) a great public discussion between Eric and several prominent Finns working in urban planning, landscape architecture, and library science.

Friday, May 10, Helsinki

Email etiquette. I absolutely hate it when people send emails like, “hey, I sent this email to you last week, could you respond please…” Don't you? 

   

Today, I hosted an amazing group of kids from around Finland (16-18 year olds) who will go to the United States for our six-week Future Leaders exchange program. They will stay with American families in the DC area and participate in a broad range of programs, including seminars on leadership, active citizenship, etc… 15 Americans will also travel to Finland as part of the U.S. Embassy and Finnish government-funded program. These kids are the future of the transatlantic relationship. I spoke to the audience of students, alumni, and parents about the goals and importance of this exchange program, as well as my experiences working with exchanges. The program will be a life changer for some of them.

Saturday and Sunday, May 11 and 12

A weekend off. Yay!!! And just in time for Mother’s Day weekend. I pre-ordered a delicious cake at Levain https://www.levain.fi/ in my neighborhood and picked up flowers, steaks, and a bottle of Moet. The earnings reports of quintessential Finnish brands Marimekko and Makia might be ok next month too. 

Monday, May 13

I traveled to the University of Helsinki to give a presentation to a high school class of 30 or so about American federalism, focusing on the constitution, 10^th amendment, and the role of the states in elections, education, the justice system (death penalty), and several other areas. Many people around the world, including in our own country, don’t understand the very important role of the states, particularly in domestic policy.

One of the most active students was one of our Future Leaders, who is off to Takoma Park, MD in a few weeks. 

Tuesday, May 14

Today was a busy one. I started the morning by speaking to a group of Finnish Fulbright scholars and students, who will travel to the states in the near future. I talked about the Centennial of U.S.-Finnish relations, the 70th anniversary of ASLA-Fulbright, and our high expectations for them as cultural ambassadors and leading researchers and academics. I will meet the incoming American cohort in the fall.

2019 is the centennial of U.S.-Finnish diplomatic relations. I am delighted that we hit more than 100 Fulbright grantees this year (reportedly our highest number since the 1960s), which is symbolic of the  extraordinary value that the United States and Finland place in the program. Named after Arkansas Senator Fulbright, the Fulbright program is one of our flagship exchanges. Fulbright believed in the power of the program (and exchanges more broadly) to promote mutual understanding between the United States and countries around the world. The program has produced heads of state, Pulitzer Prize winners, and Nobel Laureates, including Finland’s Bengt Holmström. Leading scholars and students from Finland and the United States participate in the program, expanding transatlantic networks of research and discourse across the spectrum.

In the evening, I attended the Fulbright Finland Award Ceremony at Helsinki’s beautiful City Hall, with remarks by the Fulbright CEO, Deputy Mayor, Finland’s Ambassador to the United States, and our Ambassador.

Wednesday, May 15

A class of 15 and a teacher from Helsinki Media School came to the U.S. Embassy for a discussion on the U.S. political system, led by the chief of our Political and Economic section and me. Last August, the Helsinki Media School hosted former Congressmen Tom Davis (R-VA) and Martin Frost (D-TX) for an interview on the U.S. mid-term elections, which was ultimately released publicly.

This visit focused on a robust discussion on careers in diplomacy, American federalism, the visa waiver program, the U.S.-China relationship, and a host of other topics. A really incredible group! I can’t wait to see them again.

Thursday, May 16

A few months ago I participated in an essay panel for high school students sponsored by our friends and partners at SAM Finland https://samsuomi.fi/ . For the past 39 years, SAM has sponsored this competition with English teachers across Finland. Students submit essays in English on a range of topics.

Today we gathered to honor the winner, the finalists, and the teachers and families from around Finland who are churning out such tremendous written scholarship.

I opened the session and posed for photos with the group and our partners at SAM and a representative from Iceland Air, who provided the winner with an 800 Euro voucher for a trip to the United States.

With SAM's Lena Grenat and English teacher of the year Anne Kaustio

The Finnish education system is really a marvel. Maybe I will write about that some other time. 

__

So, there it is, a week or so in the life.

*Needless to say, the views expressed here are my own.