One Month To Go!
It’s pretty hard to believe that in one month our life will look very different.
We will be in a new city with a new job, home, daycare and commute. From what I’ve gathered so far (from reddit and discord) it seems orientation is still mostly remote, but regardless they require us to physically be in DC. I don’t have an exact outline of what orientation will look like, but for medical providers it will be a total of 3 months with 6 weeks as a general orientation (including specialists and generalists), followed by 6 weeks of MED specific training. I’m super excited for the MED training and to learn about the specifics of working as a NP in the health unit, and what the day to day really entails. I’m hoping to get more training in infectious diseases and crisis management.
Things continue to move along. I received my final salary offer which I was overall happy with. With 15 years of healthcare experience, I received an offer on the higher end of the pay scale (FSS overseas salary of 3 step 14). The base pay itself is lower than my salary here in San Francisco, but when you take into account all the perks that come with this job we are actually compensated quite well. We will likely get a 20-30% hardship post differential (depending of course on where we are posted), our housing, moving and travel expenses are covered along with education allowances for children. So with minimal monthly bills and a lower cost of living, I will likely be able to save much of my salary. Pro tip on the topic of pay: if you feel that an error was made on your salary it is definitely worth it to do a salary review request as several in our MED cohort got low salary offers and had it easily changed with this review.
After accepting the salary offer came the mundane paperwork for health insurance, direct deposit, 401K contributions- all the usual stuff. I’m not quite sure how health insurance and dental works living abroad, so stayed tuned for that! Everything essentially has been happening through the online portal, and I get emails when new forms are uploaded for me to fill out- a pretty efficient system.
I was able to connect through Whatsapp with several other medical providers that will be in the July training program. We are a mix of NP’s and PA’s from across the U.S. with training in family practice, urgent care and ED. It has been nice to chat with others in the same boat and share tips along the way.
We are currently on the wait list for two different day cares, and I’m really hoping one of these works out in our favor (the thought of both of us working from home with a toddler running wild is frightening!). I’m trying to get on a third wait list, but have had trouble getting responses… I have an upcoming moving survey through ZOOM for our expected moving day of June 29th. I will essentially take the movers through our house to give them an idea of what we are sending to DC as UAB and what will get sent to storage as our HHE. Since most housing with the FS is completely furnished, we are planning on getting rid of the bulk of our furniture. At some point we will need to purchase a car, but we are not buying anything until we know exactly where we will be posted.
Speaking of where we will be posted, this is the most common question I keep getting from friends and family- “But where will you be sent to?”
The answer is, we still have no idea! Flag day is a much anticipated day, where everyone receives their first assignment along with a flag of where they are headed. This usually does not happen until around week six of orientation. My family and I have had a lot of fun around discussing hypothetical placements. We laugh at the irony of a possible India placement (my spouse grew up in India and his entire family still resides there). I would be thrilled to be anywhere in Latin America or Southeast Asia. Truth be told we are in this for the adventure and since our son is too young to worry about schools just yet, we are also up for the experience of a completely unique and austere location. This is after all the appeal and thrill of the foreign service.
As I look around our fully furnished home, I can’t help but feel some anxiety that we will need to be moved out in a mere 30 days! Taking it one day at a time and I will continue thinning out our belongings (thanks to local buy nothing groups). I’m also spending time with my parents, sisters and niece all of whom I’m quite close with and leaving them will definitely be one of the more difficult aspects of this job.
I thought I would touch on the topic of my spouses work. I’ve been getting some questions lately about what he will do for work while we are in the foreign service. He has had a very successful career in tech (yes, I know very quintessential San Francisco of us) and his work is almost entirely remote, so he will likely continue his current job. He works for himself as a consultant so he has a lot of flexibility and autonomy in that regard. Time difference and quality of internet connection will likely be challenging, but he is equally as excited as I am to have this adventure and willing to work through any potential challenges. He also has the advantage of growing up in a military family and so is accustomed to the nomadic lifestyle and frequent moves. This will definitely be a bigger lifestyle change for me.
Accompanying a spouse on this journey can be taxing and I’m sure there will be bumps in the road, but I’m grateful that he is just as invested as I am in this adventure.
Next up will be moving day!
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We managed to get in a little R&R for the long weekend.
