Party at our house with one of the cutest kids ever
Lots of social activity this week…starting last Sunday with a party at our house to welcome our three newest officers in Juarez. Nice turnout, good food and conversation.
My birthday celebration continued with another cake in my new department on Monday. Then on Wednesday, several of the local staff took me out to lunch, which was the sweetest thing ever. We had a great time and laughed a lot. They are all just wonderful.
Monday night we met our friends Tom and Beth at a nice Argentinian restaurant here in Juarez to celebrate Tom’s birthday. Excellent food.
Tuesday night, we indulged in a much-needed massage…at home. It was the first time we had tried this. The woman is a friend of one of our local staff and a good masseuse. She was very professional and set up her massage table in the living room. We were both sore afterward, in a good kind of way. She’ll be back next Tuesday!
Wednesday was an admin day at work, so no applicants but plenty of meetings. Thursday night, I went across the street for a small birthday dinner for our neighbor Ryan while John went on a boys’ night out for a Diplimatic Security agent who is leaving Post soon.
Friday, we wrapped up the week with an outdoor happy hour and burgers at the Consulate. Our neighbor TFran came down later for a glass of wine before we turned in.
Saturday morning, we hosted a small gathering at our house for John to demo coffee roasting. He already had our friend Reid converted, and used Saturday to teach both Reid and Tom how to roast. We had a nice breakfast spread, including Galloway casserole with a chorizo twist (quite yummy).
Saturday night, Lara and Neal threw a luau birthday party for Ryan across the street – lots of good food and company.
This morning, we went to an early show of the new Star Trek movie, which we really enjoyed, then spent the rest of the day with John working in the yard. I bought a few vegetable plants and made a half-hearted attempt to plant them in the yard – I told John it would have been more humane just to throw them in the trash…but we’ll see!
I finished reading a fun book today called “Shut Up, I’m Talking – and Other Diplomacy Lessons I Learned in the Israeli Government” by Gregory Levey. It had been recommended by one of the visiting retirees. It was really funny – the book jacket describes Levey as a cross between Thomas Friedman and David Sedaris.
At the luau with one of my favorite local employees, Alex