More than a decade ago, Phuong Thao Hong was a student at Decatur High School and a student commissioner for the City of Federal Way who helped with the development of Celebration Park.

Now she is a diplomat — a member of the U.S. Department of State working as a foreign service officer.

She is back for a short visit after serving two years in Taipei, Taiwan, and another two years at the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai. She is speaking with Federal Way City Council members and staff about joining the Department of State.

“I am between tours right now,” Hong said. “Getting re-Americanized. I am enjoying Costco and Starbucks.”

Although the staff laughed at the “re-Americanized” comment, Hong was serious in that all state diplomats must go through that time before taking on another assignment.

“It’s wonderful to be back in Federal Way,” Hong said on July 28. “The state department is always recruiting.”

Hong underwent quite a bit of training before beginning her first tour, which was a dream come true for the former Federal Way resident, she said.

Some of the most important training was learning a new language. Hong spent about 8 months learning Mandarin Chinese.

“We all learned Mandarin,” she said. “It’s such a world language now.”

During her most recent tour in China, Hong helped many Americans deal with the swine flu, or H1N1. China has a quarantine rule currently: All temperatures are taken upon arrival, and anyone with a fever, along with those several rows surrounding, are taken into a seven-hour quarantine. If a passenger is found to have H1N1, then the entire plane load is put into the quarantine.

Hong said when she left, there was 500 Americans in quarantine.

“It’s nice for them to know my office is there,” she said.

Council member Mike Park asked if she planned on one day being a U.S. ambassador.

“It’s a tough job being an ambassador,” Hong answered.

“Something tells me you would be good at that,” council member Dini Dulcos said.

Hong leaves this fall to continue training as an economic officer before her next tour. She has already had some experience in this sector — she served in part as an economic officer in Shanghai, analyzing the East China shipping industry and monitoring the Shanghai banking sector.