Welcoming country

Asked about the individual experience of being an American in Bulgaria, McEldowney says "it’s great".

"It is great because this is a country and these are people who are very open, and very welcoming of Americans, of American culture, and so it is a place that has a positive and warm approach to both official Americans and private Americans, but it is also great because it is a place that needs and wants American assistance, American advice, American co-operation and support. So when you look at what makes work meaningful, what makes life meaningful, is doing important things, making a positive contribution, helping make a place on this planet of ours better for the people who inhabit it, I know that, and I can share with you, it’s not just American embassy does a lot of things that are intended to be good, and there are some things that the US government has done here that I am very proud of, that have touched people’s lives in real ways. I would mention institutions like the American University in Bulgaria in Blagoevgrad, the American College of Sofia, as well as the Anglo-American School which is slightly different but I would still put it in that category; these are institutions that are the premier educational institutions in this country, that we set up to help Bulgaria and help Bulgarians, and really is touching their lives.

"We also have the Peace Corps, which does incredibly important things. But also, the Americans who are here, whether as diplomats or businessmen or NGOs, bring with them an American mindset and outlook that has touched the people in their personal lives, and whether it is Americans playing American football, or doing volunteer projects like cleaning up garbage in South Park – you know, the American Chamber of Commerce partnered with us, we did a Volunteer Day, got over 1000 people all across the country, doing all kinds of things, painting park benches, repairing senior citizens’ homes."

For herself, McEldowney – who will leave in the autumn to take up the post of principal deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs – says: " It’s been a fun and fascinating and rewarding year for me. I told you I was frustrated and impatient about corruption, and I’m impatient for all the right reasons, in wanting good progress, but I don’t leave pessimistic. I leave confident that the right things can and will happen here, but there is a great deal of hard work to be done".