criplomats

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

John and I had fun on Election Night – the Consulate hosted a watch party with young leaders of Guadalajara. It was a fun evening, as you can see! Uncle Sam and I took a lot of selfies with the party-goers, and John gave an abbreviated version of his speech on the electoral college. A good time was had by all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday John and I drove to Chapala for their annual arts and crafts festival – it’s one of my favorites. I bought two lovely scarves, a fabulous tunic (from hand-spun cotton), and a poncho-type wrap, all from Oaxaca. It’s lovely work, and I loved getting to meet the ladies who made it all. Afterward, we had sandwiches at a friend’s food truck in Ajiji – the guy’s originally from Mississippi, so you know it’s going to be good! I had a fish poorboy and John had a pulled pork sandwich – delish!

Last night we went to a new gaming cafe where John and David played a game that took about four hours. I entertained myself by taking a stack of magazines to flip through – it was fun to get out and the place was packed! A couple of other friends were at the next table, as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather has been cold and rainy here – it seems odd to me to be cold and wet!

We celebrated John’s birthday last night gaming with a small group of friends at our apartment – we had a lot of fun and John had a great time! We started in the late afternoon, and ate our way through bedtime – good times!

John and I were both tickled pink to accept handshakes on our new jobs in DC this week! John will be working in the office of policy, planning, and coordination for Western Hemisphere as a performance officer, monitoring and reporting on the outcomes of U.S. aid to Western Hemisphere countries. It will give him a chance to get out of the management role for a while and gain policy experience, so he is very excited. I’ll be a regional consular officer tending to several posts that are small and usually have an inexperienced consular officer there, visiting them and staying in touch to answer questions and offer guidance and mentoring. It was my top choice and I am super-happy that I was able to get the job. The travel will be tough – I’ll be on the road about half of my time, but it’s really good work and good experience.

We’re not exactly sure when we’ll be in DC, but likely late summer of 2017. Next up: figure out where we’ll live!

Last Sunday I went to a special Day of the Dead market – it was so fun to see all of the sugar and chocolate calaveras (skulls), plus all of the other things you need for an altar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were off work Wednesday for the Day of the Dead, so John and I went to Lake Chapala to see what they were doing to celebrate. We had lunch in Ajijic at our favorite Argentinian steakhouse, then walked around the town square there and in neighboring Chapala to see the altars. Most of the festivities didn’t start until later that evening, but it was fun to see the prep work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click to see all of my Day of the Dead photos.

We hosted book club on Thursday and had the usual suspects here, this time discussing “Tribe.”

I went shopping in Tonala yesterday, then went to Tlaquepaque to see their preparations for Day of the Dead (which is next Wednesday). There were a lot of altars set up, or in the process of being set up, at El Refugio and in the street as well. They blocked off the main thoroughfare, so in addition to the pedestrian mall, there was another several blocks set aside for altars and on-lookers. Many businesses had big altars in front of their store with altars to their founders. There were tons of people set up doing face painting for young and old – I think I saw more older men getting their faces painted than little kids! It was a festive atmosphere and beautiful to look at! I’ll leave you with more photos at the end of this post.

Last Sunday evening, John and I went to see the ballet folklorico performed by the University of Guadalajara. Once we finally found seats where we could actually see the stage, we really enjoyed it! (No wonder the tickets were so cheap!) The University is supposed to have the best performance, and it was gorgeous – beautiful costumes and lots of foot stomping! Fun!

Thursday night, John and I went downstairs to visit with some of our Mexican neighbors – they were lovely hosts and fun to talk to. Friday after work, we headed to a co-worker’s house for a get-together – a nice way to end the week.

We both have a pretty good idea of what our jobs will be next year, but the official offers don’t come out until tomorrow – so we’ll keep you in suspense! Wish us luck!

Wow!

Tlaquepaque

Indigenous woman with flowers

Puppets

Altar to Diego Rivera

Lovely

Altar to Freida

Skulls

A co-worker’s child

John and I are on pins and needles waiting to hear about our next assignment! Since we’re bidding on DC, we know where we’re going (unlike in other years), but we don’t know exactly what we’ll be doing. We’ve both received some good feedback and feel like we’ll probably end up with jobs we like – but you never know until you sign on the dotted line. Hopefully by this time next week, we’ll know our fate!

The photo is from John’s speech at the binational center. He gave a great presentation on the election process. I was happy to be able to see it this time. He made a complex process understandable (if you’ve ever tried to explain primaries, caucuses, and the electoral college to anyone, you know how crazy it gets!). Good job, John!

I was particularly busy this week since my boss was visiting the agency in Vallarta. We had a number of special citizen services cases that required a lot of hand-holding (all with good outcomes!), plus our normal heavy workload for passports and citizenship cases. I’m also training a new officer, which is rewarding but time-consuming.

The highlight of the week was finally selling Mom’s house in Hot Springs. It’s been on the market for a while – unfortunately, when we listed it, there were five other houses for sale at the same time (very rare in that lovely neighborhood). But it’s done! I have to admit that while I was glad to not have to worry about it any more, it was very sad to think of how much happiness that house brought her, and that it was one of the last links I have to her.

Mom 2012