The Foreign Service Journal - March 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2018 45 Here is a medley of perspectives on what it is like to be single and serving at a U.S. mission overseas. BY M I KKE LA V. THOMPSON Mikkela V. Thompson is an office management specialist currently serving at Embassy Lima. Previously, she served in Dhaka, Bogotá and as an OMS rover out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Caracas, Nassau, Vancouver, Santo Domingo and Port of Spain. She has worked at the Family Liaison Office and the American Foreign Service Association, and she is the daughter of a retired FSO. Mikkela maintains a blog on food and adventures: madventures.me . The views included in this article are those of the author and her interlocutors and do not reflect the views of the Department of State. By request of those asked for input, comments are not attributed, but each is known to the author. W hat is it like to be single and serving overseas? According to the Family Liaison Office, about one-third—or 7,000 out of approximately 22,000—of direct-hire employees from all agencies serving under chief of mission authority overseas are single. Singles Speak ON FOREIGN SERVICE FAMILIES FOCUS