You say goodbye, I say hello

The greatest thing about the foreign service lifestyle is getting to meet so many people you otherwise wouldn’t. You make friends with those you would otherwise never have met. Sometimes you meet people at just the right time, and you know you’ll always be friends. You have just the right amount of things in common. Just the right mix. The support to make a difficult time pass easier, and good times more enjoyable.

The most awful thing about our lifestyle, is that for every one of these Hellos, for every one of these new friends we welcome into our hearts, there is a corresponding  Goodbye, looming in the distance. I don’t know how, but we get through it. The price we pay for every friend we make is to have another little piece of our heart taken away and beating at a distance. We tell ourselves it is okay, because one day we’ll visit and find that tiny piece of ourselves in tact, ready to be close again. BUT, as much as we can logically prepare ourselves, saying goodbye still hurts.

This week I said goodbye to my friend, who have now returned to England. He had become like my own little brother and I already miss him terribly. I smile at the Hello that brought him into my life, and gave me a taste of true friendship again. I want to go to England. Don’t want to say goodbye, I just want to say hello.

It's Beatles that sounds in my mind with their:

Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello!

My pieces around the world keep adding up to a lot of heart already, and it is growing all the time.

The first Dhakanniversary

One of the most frequent questions I receive is how – really how – did you come up with the idea of joining the Foreign Service. What prompted the switch? Was this a last ditch attempt to avoid growing up? Was it to satiate my vagabonding dreams?

Until recently, I never contemplated a post explaining why I chose to quit my old job and lifestyle and take onto the unknown, dragging a wife and two kids along. As the one-year anniversary of our arrival in Dhaka rolls into view, more and more people have asked me what catalyzed the decision to take that first step. Most make the natural assumption that, weighted down by a boring-filled existence, I got burned out and looked for a way out.

When I was still in middle school, I became obsessed with traveling the world. I seriously dreamed of becoming a navy officer. That was the only trade that would guarantee an escape from a closed communist system. It took a very hard stance from my mom to squash those intentions. If the stubborn roots of this career switch can be traced to one thing in my life, those dreams are it.

And so here I am in Dhaka, one year into my first assignment. I am a happier and more relaxed person than I ever been, with thousands of stories and pictures from some of the most fascinating places on earth. I have come to love Asia more than I ever expected, from the street food to the people to the millions of small, quirky things that make each and every day a smile-inducing adventure. The overriding feeling is that all of this – the dirt, the many mountains to climb and people to meet and all the glorious food – just feels right. How lucky is that???

One year anniversary

This week I celebrated one year since I joined the Foreign Service. And what a year this has been!

Left peaceful Michigan, made a stop in beautiful DC and ended up in sunny Bangladesh.

As a newcomer in the Foreign Service the questions I found most annoying are also the ones the most often asked:

"Tell me, what is this Foreign Service, is it like the French Foreign Legion?"

While I might look a little bit like Jean Claude Van Damme, I never owned a white cap and getting one is not on my to do list yet.

"Tell me, what is this Foreign Service, is it like the CIA?"

This one is by far the trickiest. Whoever is asking it already knows the answer, so it is not even worth trying to argue. Yes, I am sort of a 007, but I can't show my gun, dude! Sorry about that. And yes, my shoes can turn into a weapon on top of being a listening device.

The Foreign Service is a very low-key organization, that is why only few people have any idea what we are or do. The only time any attention is paid to us is when there's a catastrophe overseas, like the killing in Libya. Otherwise, Americans really don't care very much, as long as other countries do things the way we want them to.  Also, unlike the military, the Foreign Service has no political clout like the military does. We have no political clout or domestic constituency, we have no uniforms and no one knows what we're doing out in Dhaka or Katmandu or wherever the hell we are.

And yet we are America's other “army”. Often misunderstood, misperceived, and, sometimes maligned. But our "fight" affects the everyday lives of all Americans, their safety, security, ability to travel and communicate with people in other countries, their employment and prosperity. And yes, I can  hold my head high when I think I am part of it.

Even harder, saying good bye to my parents

I will always love my mother…Today I find myself very frustrated with my lack of eloquence, because despite trying and again, I simply cannot put into words all the things I really want to say. I want to share her many great qualities, and to capture her essence with my sentences. I have concluded perhaps it is simply not possible for me to use mere words to describe all that I want to say about my mother. Given that, I apologize in advance for perhaps not doing her justice with my somewhat simple sounding words.
First, I wanted to list all the wonderful qualities of my mom. I wanted to share her brilliance, her smile, her wisdom, her perpetual neatness, her sense of responsibility, her total sense of sacrifice. Two things about her that truly fill my heart and mind is how much she loves me and how much she cares about me.
My mom was one person I could always count on. She single handed raised both my brother and I, with many sacrifices along the way. She always pushed me to be a better person. Saying good bye to her and to my step father is extremely difficult, as they have always dreamed of spending their retirement years close to children and grandchildren. They were so happy just being around us. And now, we are packing and moving away! However, I know that she wants me to be happy!

Saying good bye

We always thought that it would be very hard to say goodbye ... and it was hard. Yet we considered ourselves fortunate to have met so many special people ... that it made saying goodbye so hard!



We will miss everybody dearly and we will remember them fondly. Although we may be separated by time and distance in the interim, nothing will diminish the important role that our Michigan friends and family  have and always will play in our lives. We wish all of them the best and hoped to keep in touch, and who knows, maybe they would visit us in Africa, South America or Asia, or wherever we might be.

The party we threw was the best we ever had. And my brother surprised us by coming announced from Alabama on a very short notice.

My Ursus soccer teammates!

Foreign Service Hiring Process

My agency, USAID  uses the Foreign Service classification system. The USAID Foreign Service Officers are not required to take the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT)., but after that the process is somehow similar to the State Department.

For me it all began on their website, which is filled with all sorts of information about the Foreign Service,  the different positions and the current open position. You can apply for an open position, it requires you write multiple answers to questions on experience related to several skills.

If you are selected, somebody will contact you and invite you for an interview in Washington DC. There are three components in the Oral Assessment  a Case Study (this requires you writing a memo in response to a case situation relevant to the position), a Group Exercise (this one can be a little awkward, as you are required to develop a solution to the case study with the candidates you are competing against), and a Structured Interview with a panel made up by of a Human Resource person, a Foreign Service Officer, and a Technical expert. After the Oral Assessment I went home day and waited for almost a month to receive a response on whether I was accepted. They followed up with references that you provide and your package of your scoring from the interview, your experience, and your reference responses will be forwarded to a final panel for determination.

Security/Medical Clearance Process
The successful candidates will begin a preemployment process. You need to obtain a Security Clearance and Medical Clearance. Expect the process to take several months.

Final Suitability Review/Position Availability
Once these hurdles are cleared, you will be on their register or list of eligible candidates. Cleared candidates are grouped by their backstop and then often rank-ordered. A panel will then review the eligible candidates and make their selection on those to appoint.

There is a forum where many people discuss the USAID Foreign Service:

http://federalsoup.federaldaily.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4834&PN=1&title=usaid-junior-officer

The State Department hiring process is  fairly similar. The main exception is the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) being the first step to the process. After passing the OA, the process is the same like the one for USAID.

The process is explained on their Website:
http://careers.state.gov/officer/selection-process

State Department's positions are more general. State has 5 main career ladders or "cones". Every cone though will have to do a tour or two doing Consular work which means issuing visas for foreigners or assisting Americans abroad.

FSOT & Language Test
While filling in your basic information in the application, you will also have the opportunity to indicate whether you have any language capabilities. After completing the application, you have to select a test date to take the FSOT.

After taking the test, if you indicated you had a language skill, you may be requested to do an over the phone language test as you will receive bonus points to your score in the end if you pass the OA.

Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP)
If you pass the FSOT, you will be invited to the QEP stage. There will be questions on experience and you will have to provide a short answer response on that. After providing your response to these questions, your file will be sent to the Board of Examiners and they will categorize you based off your selected cone and review candidate profiles based off their QEP responses, their FSOT score, language proficiency, etc. This will take another month or two.

Oral Assessment (OA)
There are three components: the Group Exercise, Case Study, and Structured Interview. After the day of testing is complete, State provides immediate feedback of whether you will move on or not. Candidates will be placed in a room and called out. If you are not successful, you will be greeted by two of the examiners and be given a file with your results for the day and be given the chance to ask any questions.

If you are successful, then you will begin the clearance process and eventually be placed on a register for eligible hires.

Foreign Service, what is that?

According to Wikipedia, the United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 15,000 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S. citizens abroad. Created in 1924 by the Rogers Act, the Foreign Service combined all consular and diplomatic services of the U.S. government into one administrative unit. In addition to the unit's function, the Rogers Act defined a personnel system under which the United States Secretary of State is authorized to assign diplomats abroad.

The two main agencies with foreign service are the State Department and USAID (the US Agency for International Development). I am a proud member of  the USAID.

Members of the Foreign Service are expected to serve most of their career abroad, working at embassies and consulates around the world. The maximum stretch of domestic assignments should last no more than five years before resigning or taking a foreign posting. The difficulties and the benefits associated with working abroad are many, especially in relation to family life.