Hello and welcome, I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. A podcast meant for sharing thoughts, stories, enjoying idiomatic phrases and words in general. You can read along; the transcription is in the description of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Today, Trash Can Diplomacy.

First quarter of 2017 was closing and I was ready to change my life, again. I was nervous and worried I wouldn’t be up to the task. I had been hired, phase one was accomplished. I remember pulling up to the offices and wondering about all the experiences I was about to have. That was the year of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that lasted 20 seconds, and the devastation last ...