Thursday was John’s birthday, and he had a really good day! We had a huge cake to celebrate with the visa section (made by our friend Sharapova), then we went out to dinner with Teresa, Michael, Keith and Whitney at Corralito’s – the manager, Raul, made John a special plate for his birthday pie (made by another friend from work). It was great to see John having such a good time!
It was a busy week all around. Last Sunday, we spent all morning cleaning out closets to start getting ready for our move. In the late afternoon, we went to Kerry’s house, where she had a huge spread of Jamaican food (including an oxtail dish that was good) – we yakked and ate for a while, then came home to relax and watch an episode of “Rome.”
Monday was a holiday to celebrate Day of the Dead. I celebrated by running a bunch of errands in El Paso – I love the Mexican holidays, because in El Paso, it’s business as usual, so I was able to start accumulating medical records from my doctor’s office.
Tuesday was the day that would not end! Erik and I left the Consulate at 6 AM and didn’t get back until well after 8 PM that night – we drove seven hours south to pick up an American woman and her two sons who ended up destitute down there and needed to get home. We brought them to a shelter in Juarez, where they stayed until we were able to take them to El Paso on Thursday to put them on a bus heading north.
Work during the week was busy – the death toll in Juarez is now over 2000 this year, so some of that number are inevitably Americans. It keeeps us busy in the office.
Saturday, John flew to Las Vegas for a magic convention. I spent all day at the Consulate, helping with the holdiay bazaar. After 12 hours of straight work there, I was glad to get home last night and have a nice bubble bath and a glass of wine!
Sharapova and Balbina serve up John’s cake at work
Day of the Dead