Living in Two Countries

The joke at Post is that the best thing about Ciudad Juarez is that it is right next to El Paso.  The worst thing about Ciudad Juarez is that it is right next to El Paso.  What that means exactly is that living in the Borderland has its benefits, but it has its challenges as well. 

Please don't misunderstand me.  I love Juarez.  It has a resilience and spirit to it that is inspiring.  I love the work I'm doing and the people that I work with.  The Juarenses are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  I live in a comfortable home with a ten-minute commute (on foot; two minutes if I feel like driving) to work each morning.  Life is good for our little family of three.  But part of the reason I keep this blog going is to discuss the realities of Foreign Service life, for anyone who may be interested, so I figure I should discuss some of the downsides as well.

Back to the joke at the beginning of this post.  It's great to be so close to the United States.  When you want to go to Target, you can.  If you want to eat at Five Guys, you can do that too.  When I arrived here, I was surprised to find that most goods (including groceries) are cheaper, with better quality and more variety, in El Paso, not in Juarez.  Which is why most Mexicans do their best to get a Border Crossing Card (BCC), a visa that allows them to travel into the US within 25 miles of Mexico.  The initial outlay of $160 may be expensive for some Mexican families, but it is worth it in the long run to save a couple bucks (or pesos) on diapers, milk, and avocados.  Yes, even avocados (imported from Mexico) are often cheaper in the US.  So it makes sense do most of your shopping in the US.
   

Except for the fact that it means you will be spending a lot of your time here, at one of four very busy international crossings.  One reality of life in Juarez that I did not understand before I arrived was how much time I would be spending in the car.  Even with the "trusted traveler" cards that we have, which allow us to use the fast lane upon entering the US, we still spend hours and hours in the car each week.  Again, one of the best things about Juarez is that it is close to El Paso.  You can go out to dinner in the US if you want to, or take your son to a US-based pediatrician.  But you will spend hours baking in your car getting from one country to the other.

That's what I mean by living in two countries, as referenced in the title of this post.  It's great to have the US nearby, but it means having two phone plans (neither of which works very well), two sets of car insurance, along with double of a lot of other things.  And as great as it is to be so close to America, the funny thing is that Sarah and I were ready and willing to give all that up.  We were more than happy to ship off to Mumbai, India, or Port Louis, Mauritius.  I'm glad I can go to Wal-Mart to buy cheap socks, but I was prepared to forgo that convenience in exchange for an exotic adventure in far-off lands.  
 

 But then I think to myself, if I were living in Mumbai (and had been for the last 14 months), how badly would I just want to go to a baseball game and eat a big pile of nachos right now?  Of all the US experiences that I currently take for granted, how much would I long to have them if I were living on the other side of the world?

Which brings me to my personal philosophy, which is to try to focus on the positive no matter where I am.  I live in Mexico, and that brings with it a share of wonderful experiences and a few difficulties.  But when I want to, I can drive to a brand new ballpark, eat some pulled pork nachos, sings the National Anthem, watch some baseball, and then gaze at some fireworks afterward.  That's a pretty nice perk at my first assignment living "overseas."

On May 14th, 2015, I will be setting foot on British soil to begin a two-year adventure in London.  And who knows where we'll got after that (I'm still trying to sell Sarah on India).  So let's enjoy this time living with one foot in each country while I can.  Pulled pork nachos may hard to come by in the UK.