about

Hi, we are Dina and Peter— two Californians who somehow found ourselves working for the U.S. State Department for eight overseas assignments–moving from place to place–a title chosen by our daughter who was nine-years-old when we started this in 2006.

For our first assignment, we were surprised to find ourselves in West Africa. We went from Niamey, Niger to Moscow, followed by Bucharest, Kyiv, and Muscat, Oman. Recently in London for three years, we are now in Morocco.

I do whatever they tell me to do in a special projects position for the embassy, and Peter runs the medical unit.

This blog began when I wrote posts on my desktop computer, oftentimes off of a generator, and pre-iPhone–I had to get all the photos off my “big camera.” My blog host collapsed a while ago, so I’ve gathered up this story (and hopefully the photos when I get them all linked up) and once again PCS’d (that’s State Department speak for “moved”) my life to a new spot.

You’ll find: transatlantic cruise adventures with two dogs, that time I got my MFA in painting in Bucharest at age 50, parent-teacher conferences in languages we didn’t speak, Peter’s tales from the medical unit, reasons I cried in London and didn’t want to leave, and us, embracing the unknown, moving to a new country we’d mostly never been to, over and over again.

If you’re someone who has ever moved overseas, thought about moving overseas, or simply enjoys watching someone else try to navigate the world with a paintbrush in one hand and a dog leash in the other while mispronouncing metro stops—you’re in the right place.

Wherever YOU currently find yourself, thanks for reading.

I’m always at dlbernardin@gmail.com