90 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL LOCAL LENS BY TREVOR HUBLIN n HANOI, VIETNAM August is a month of storms in Hanoi, and pedestrians are often caught in afternoon cloudbursts. But, as always, there are fish to be caught! Local anglers do not even wait for the final raindrops to clear before casting their lines in Tay Ho Lake. Riding home from the embassy right after a big thunderstorm, I came upon this sight. The clouds had just passed, the sun was coming out, and the fisherman’s silhouette against the city skyline was just right. n Trevor Hublin, an FSO with USAID and former USAID representative to AFSA, is a deputy office director at U.S. Embassy Hanoi. He joined the Foreign Service in 2009 and has served in Kabul, Colombo, Addis Ababa, San Salvador, and Washington, D.C. He took this photo with his iPhone 12 on Aug. 6, 2023. In the months since, Hublin is happy to report, the U.S. and Vietnam have upgraded their bilateral relationship to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.” Please submit your favorite, recent photograph to be considered for Local Lens. Images must be high resolution (at least 300 dpi at 8” x 10”, or 1 MB or larger) and must not be in print elsewhere. Include a short description of the scene/event as well as your name, brief biodata, and the type of camera used. Send to locallens@afsa.org.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=