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.

The Ten-Month Update on El Senor

 

Once again, it has been a little too long since my last post.  Sorry about that.  Here's a bit of an update on how El Senor is doing.  Hard to believe he is almost ten months old!  Overall, he is doing great.  He weighs over 20 pounds now, and has at the very least developed an interest in crawling, even if he hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of it.
 

He can, however, sit up like a champ, so that's a good start.  He isn't pulling himself up on things yet, but he loves standing and working his fat, little legs. 

Furthermore, he's gotten so big he's finally graduated from his infant tub to this sweet ducky tub we got him.  Looking good, buddy.

He also got his first haircut a week ago.  Despite the concerned look on his face, he actually handled it pretty well.

Aside from eating, learning to crawl, sleeping, and bathing, he spends most of his free time pursuing his own interests, like staring at ceiling fans and eating his socks.

Happy ten months, little man.  You'll be a year old before we know it!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! I realize I have been putting a lot of mushy, sentimental stuff on the blog lately, so bear with me on this one. I just wanted to take a second to talk about the two greatest mothers in the world: my wife, Sarah, and my mother, Kathy.

Although Sarah had almost six years of experience taking care of a helpless human being (by being married to me), becoming a mother was still a challenge for her (as I am sure it is with all moms). Taking care of a baby is tough work, even with both parents involved. Sarah has handled it with remarkable grace and patience for the last nine months. El Senor is such a happy, smiley, well-rested kid, and that is entirely thanks to Sarah's tireless work making sure he has the best of everything.

If left to my own devices, El Senor would probably be wearing the same onesie he wore home from the hospital, would never get adequate rest, and would be eating Cheetos for dinner. To my son, if you are ever reading this years in the future, please recognize that you have turned into a functional, relatively normal adult entirely through your mother's tireless efforts, which also include constant monitoring to make sure not too many of my bad habits rubbed off on you. Thank you, Sarah! We both love you so much!

To my mom, you are the greatest mother (and grandmother) I could have ever hoped for. Although my father's bad habits did rub off on me (despite your best efforts, I'm sure), you always did everything you could to make sure I was happy and taken care of. You worked so hard to make everything special, and I will always appreciate that. As evidence, I present the "tower of treats."

The picture on the left is from Easter 2014. The picture on the right... Thanksgiving 2011. The so-called "tower of treats" has been a staple in my family for almost a decade, and it represents a lot of what makes my mom so special. Everyone loves the holidays, and my sisters and I are always impressed at the decorations and treats at my house at every holiday family event (Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, etc). For us kids (and I'm sure many of you readers can relate), sometimes we expect the holidays to just magically happen when we show up at our parents' house.

But this tower of treats represents countless hours of baking and preparation leading up to each and every family event. My mom organizes this tower for almost every family get-together, no small feat when you realize that each time she has a whole different set of amazing snacks. My mom is always working, behind the scenes, to make sure that these events are special for us. I know I don't say it enough, but thank you, Mom, for everything you have done for me, and for everything you do for me and my own family now. You're the best! I love you!

Easter in Arizona

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! We have the day off here in Mexico to commemorate the Battle of Puebla, which gives me a bit of time to update the blog.We went to Arizona to celebrate Easter with my family, since Mexico takes about half of the week off leading up to Easter.

El Senor was a champ on the flight, which was pretty easy considering the flight in only about 50 minutes. Much easier that our ten-hour sojourn to DC last Christmas.

It was great spending a week with my family. We got to stop and visit the new LDS temple that opened in Gilbert, AZ, which was pretty cool.

El Senor had a week of "firsts," including his first Easter Egg Hunt. He only found one egg (with the help of his mother), so, all in all, I would say it was a pretty poor showing. I'm sure he'll step his game up by next year.

He also got to sit on grass for the first time (grass is a rare commodity in Juarez). Although he seems a bit suspicious in this photo, he really did enjoy it.

He had a good time at Easter dinner with everyone, and was his usual charming self. All of his cousins (six in total) thought he was pretty cool.

Best of all, my parents are in the midst of spring cleaning, and asked me to clear out some of my old stuff, including these gems from my time as a missionary in Romania and Moldova. Don't knock the hat; that thing is cozy.

We had a great trip back to Arizona. Thanks to all my family members for making it such an awesome visit. We love you guys!

Three Generations of Good-Lookin' Petersons

Hey everyone, I have uploaded five blog posts today. I'm trying to space these out a bit more often, but I generally only have time to do them all at once. Anyway, I just wanted to let everybody know that there is basically no chance that El Senor was somehow switched at birth. Pretty sure he follows the tradition of good-looking Peterson men. If anything, I'm the outlier with the red hair...

 El Senor Peterson, Born 2013

Ryan Peterson (Father), Born 1983

 Larry Peterson (Grandfather), Born 1897

Cheers to the Consulate Community

Ciudad Juarez is an awesome city, as evidenced by the video above. Although we definitely viewed this assignment with trepidation, Sarah and I have really enjoyed it here. It's hard to believe our tour in CJ is already half over.

Despite being a fascinating city with wonderful people, Juarez is not without its challenges. There is not a lot to do in town (especially if you don't drink), it can take forever to get back and forth between Juarez and El Paso, more than half of the town is strictly off limits to FSOs for security reasons, and it is generally not recommended to stay out late at night.

So what makes Juarez such a great post? In short, the Consular community, meaning the people I work and live with. In the Foreign Service, people often talk about whether there is a good sense of "community" at a particular post. For example, London has a reputation for having a very low sense of community. You generally do not see your coworkers outside of work, primarily because there is so much to do in a city like London. You work with them, and that's about it.

The community in Juarez is the exact opposite of London (not surprisingly, London and Juarez seem to be quite different). Have you ever watched an episode of "The Office" and thought to yourself, "Wouldn't that be nice for all of your best friends to also be the people you work with?" This is the best way I can describe what it feels like to live and work in Juarez. There is a sense that "we are all in this together," and during the evening and on the weekends, you always spend time with one another.

Sarah and I have been fortunate enough to make some great friends during our first year in Juarez. People with whom we have shared birthdays, holidays, and BBQs. You are genuinely excited to see your coworkers on Monday, because they are some of your closest friends, and you really want to hear what they have been up to. Not to mention, my wife works in the same building as me, which is awesome!

I know this post is a bit sappy, but I just wanted to say thanks to all the great people I work with here in Juarez. I imagine that there are a few things that I will not miss the last time I drive my car north across the border, but I will definitely miss the sense of community that I have felt here.

El Senor Is Eight Months Old (Almost)

El Senor is thriving here in Ciudad Juarez. In a couple weeks, he will be eight months old! I can't believe it. He is sleeping really well (fingers crossed), and eating well. He can roll over from his stomach to back, but refuses to do the reverse. In fact, he basically refuses to do anything that requires him to be on his stomach, which doesn't bode well for learning how to crawl. I'm sure he'll get the hang of it someday. For now, he's just focusing on chowing down on solid foods, like avocados, carrots, apples, and bananas. 

His hair basically sticks straight up all the time, so I tried putting in some hair gel the other day. Looking pretty dapper, if I do say so myself.

Luckily, he has an assortment of awesome hats to cover up his head, including this sweet lid that Grandma Becky brought back from Istanbul.

He's also making friends with some of the other kids at post. Here he is working the room at a recent St. Patrick's Day party.

In short, El Senor is doing pretty well. Just wanted to give everyone a quick update to let you all know that the littlest Peterson is living the dream, along with his parents, here in Ciudad Juarez.