Our ACS Chiefs’ conference was in our old stomping grounds of Juarez this week and I had so much fun! I arrived on Tuesday and went to the Consulate in the afternoon to see old friends and attend a meeting. Incredibly, one of my favorite former local staff just happened to be in town, too, so we met for happy hour and got caught up, along with a few other friends. Juan is just the greatest guy, now living in DC. Here we are with Claudia B. and Claudia Z.
Good times!
Later that evening, the ACS group met for a bowling re-match – we had so much fun! Our dear friend Rick from Islamabad is now the ACS chief in Matamoros, so we were able to spend a lot of time together. Can you tell I was happy to see him?!
With Rick
The conference lasted for two days, plus we had dinner together on Wednesday night. My good friend Tammy was there, two great ladies from Washington, and the other usual suspects. We got some good work done and had a great time together.
Thursday after the conference ended, I went to happy hour with some of the Juarez local staff, then dinner with two of the ELOs who I knew from other posts, plus a local staff friend.
Friday morning I took advantage of being in the largest immigrant visa section in the world and spent the morning observing their operations in an attempt to refresh my memory on the process. I got to see a lot of old friends along the way.
It was just incredible to be back in CDJ after being gone seven years. Of course the first thing they all said to me was “Where’s John!?!” (especially the ladies), and the second thing was “When are you coming back to serve here?!” Who knows – it could happen!