The Foreign Service Journal, April 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2021 43 Sommer, who “never imagined moving during a global pan- demic,” did a direct transfer from the Netherlands to Ecuador and started work, from home, the day after she arrived. “I met all my direct reports and colleagues virtually,” she says. “There are a few folks who were on full-time telework that I still haven’t met in person.” One plus? For the first time, internet was already set up when she arrived at her new post. “Honestly, from the logistics side, it couldn't have gone smoother,” she says. “As always, be flexible,” recommends Sommer, who found she had to juggle and change flight dates to get a direct route to post amid the confusion and upset in the airline industry and country border-closings. Indeed, flexibility and proactivity are at the heart of some of the lessons we and others have learned: Communicate with your new post early and often . It is always good to be proactive with post, but even more so during the turmoil of a pandemic. By now, more than a year into the health crisis, posts have hopefully worked out many of the kinks. We communicated constantly with Bogotá last spring and summer to try to line up our visas, humanitarian flight, shipments, housing and more, and that proved vital. Make an effort to find friends. Working from home, and with significant city and embassy restrictions on our movement, we have found it harder to make new friends at post. Seek out per- mitted activities to meet people. Monica and I are avid cyclists, and we have made friends with USAID and embassy colleagues on weekend bike rides. An embassy book club has also proved helpful, though club meetings are often virtual, depending on current restrictions. Sommer recommends finding ways to connect virtually dur- ing the pandemic. “Use it as a time to stay in touch with friends and family back home or at other posts,” she says. Take advantage of opportunities to take a break. Ordinary relief valves such as local or regional travel, or organized sports or even restaurant outings, may not be available, so it is important to take advantage of opportunities that arise. Dealing with heaps of uncertainty is not easy. Be sure to have access to books, inter- net groups, online yoga or whatever works to relieve stress. And State’s WorkLife4You and USAID’s Staff Care programs provide invaluable counseling and referral services. Despite all the pandemic uncertainty and myriad difficulties, more than halfway through our assignment, we are happy to have made the move to Bogotá and have already created many posi- tive memories here. Traveling to a new post during a pandemic certainly is stressful and challenging, but it can still be highly rewarding. n