What was going through your mind?

Sure.

So before I started as a foreign service officer, what we call a direct hire U.S. government officer, et cetera, I actually was a contractor for the U.S. government for about two years in Ukraine, working at our embassy and That really exposed me to the ins and outs, and this is just before 9-11, of what the U.S. does overseas at an embassy and how I could potentially support.

But as a contractor, my role was somewhat more limited and unique in that sense.

And it also meant maybe I was less prepared or less trained up, so to speak, than when I became a foreign service officer and a career officer.

So that let me know that particularly being exposed to the late 90s Ukraine, still sort of in that post-Soviet transition period.

And at that time, I hadn't really taken any Russian lessons.

But if all the things that you've done talk to me tell me a story about why it was the resilience that you have that carried you through