Basketball Tournament

I should probably tell you that prior to last Sunday, Ulises had never played basketball before.  But, he had the urge to play.  He got invited to join the basketball tournament that the Consulate had today.  He was on a team with another guy who had never played before.  Another co-worker was supposed to join, but he didn't show up, so a guy from another team helped them out by playing as their third team member.

Although Ulises tried really hard, having no experience plus a team member with no experience doesn't lend itself to winning.  But they played valiantly and were rewarded with drinks and Subway sandwiches.  I watched for moral support.

Ulises gets really intense when playing sports, he doesn't
like to lose, but he is a good sport about it.

Tortilla Shapes and Basketball

Another relaxing day on a weekend.  Sometimes it is sad to see the weekend pass so quickly.  It's not that I hate going to work, but I get so tired during the week, that two days is just not enough to be able to fully recover.  In any event, Ulises and I made homemade tortillas today.  I asked Ulises if he could do shapes, and this is what he produced.  Later that evening, he wanted to play basketball, so he played with some co-workers.

Working on tortillas

Mickey Mouse tortilla

Zapita, when air is in the center of a tortilla and it puffs up,
supposedly a sign of a good tortilla.

Tortilla beard

My friend locked herself out of her house,
so we were trying to find another way in.

Unsuccessfully . . .

Basketball challenge

Spring Cleaning

Today was a nice Saturday.  Ulises and I spent the day doing spring cleaning, I cleaning in the house, and he (eventually) in the yard.  At first, he was washing dishes, and then after I started working outside, he thought that was kind of silly, and traded me.  Although I don't like to wash dishes, it was preferable to working outside in the heat.

Working in the Yard

Family photo?  Gizmo doesn't like the lawn mower.

Pleading with a clump of dirt/grass

Cleaning off the patio furniture

Washing windows

Dusty Juarez

Juarez is really dusty.  I've been noticing it more lately because its been so windy.  Today I decided to sweep my floor again, even though I swept it two days ago after tons of dust blew through my open door.  So I was surprised and disgusted to see how much dirt I swept up after only two days.

I think this is partly why I get sick so often.  Who knows what kind of bacteria is found in this dirt and thus in the air that I breathe . . .

Dirt swept up that blew into my house

Night Out and Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Ulises's brother-in-law invited us out to a bar to celebrate his wife's (Ulises's sister) birthday.  We were given the VIP treatment, which was pretty nice.  Below you will see me with Ulises's sister and our pina coladas.  Mine is virgin, so don't worry.  It was actually really good.  I was pleasantly surprised because the last time I got a pina colada in Mexico, it was pretty horrible.  My camera died after this photo, and the lighting wasn't good enough to get pictures from phones, so this is the only one I have.

Me and Yuri

Border Tour

This week I am part of a group going on a tour of several Mexican and US Government agencies.  Part of our tour includes a tour of the border with CBP.  That tour was tonight.  I took some pictures during the tour.  Hope you enjoy!

Border fence

Border fence and border patrole

Me and the border fence

Change in border fence, they have to have special
fencing to do down hills.
Also, part of the legislation that began this fence
stated that any existing fences could not
be replaced, so there is a normal chain-link
fence that I think was built in the 70s.
Also, border patrole agents are stationed along
this fence to catch anyone who may try jumping
over the fence.

The fence ends at this mountain range.
Several border patrole agents are stationed nearby
to be able to catch anyone that tries entering
around the fence.  If you go straight up from the fence
line, you will see a white marker in the mountain
that marks the U.S.-Mexico border.

House of a wealthy family from Mexico.  They started
making their money by helping people cross the border
illegally into the U.S.  They have since branched out
into other lucrative businesses.

Marker number one on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Old adobe house replica - This is where Pancho Villa lived.
It is located near the Texas/New Mexico/Mexico border.
He lived here so that he had 3 separate places to
escape to, depending on who was chasing him at
the time.  The Mexican authorities couldn't follow
him into the U.S., the Texas marshalls couldn't
follow him into New Mexico, etc.

My right foot "Entered Without Inspection" into Mexico

Me and the border marker

Mexico flag

The historic site. We couldn't actually go see the house
because it is on the Mexican side of the border.
You would think some kind of understanding could be
reached to about this area so that people could walk around
without technically doing anything illegal.  But the
CBP officers were adamant that we could not cross
the border, even though we technically have the
documents required to enter Mexico.

Flowers: sorry from Ulises

Thumb Trouble and Concert

Smashed thumb

I went visiting teaching last.  It was good, though before we entered the first house, I shut my thumb in my car door.  I'm not really sure how that happened. And I didn't shut the door very hard, but my thumb immediately changed color.  It also began to throb . . . and continued throbbing during that visit and our other visit.  I thought I just needed to ice it, but the ice didn't make it feel better.  I decided to try to sleep it off, but the pain was so intense, that I kept waking up.  Finally around 12:30 this morning, I got up.  I researched online, and the only thing I read was that with this kind of problem, you need to put a hole in the nail to relieve the pressure and let the blood out.

Smashed thumb with hole

I read three different ways to do it: a pin, a very sharp knife, or a hot paperclip.  I first tried the pin, but even heating the pin didn't seem to work very well.  I tried a sharp knife, but it wouldn't stay in place well enough for me to slowly work my way through the nail.  So finally I got a paper clip and use the fire on my stove to heat it.  At first, it really hurt.  Then I realized that the trick is to not PRESS the paper clip end on the nail, but rather lightly and quickly TOUCH it to the nail. The heat seared the top layer off the nail, and then it is just a matter of repeating until it is the most of the way through the nail.  When it seemed like it was getting close to going through completely, I switched to a pin and slowly and gently pushed the pin through the last little layer.
Blood immediately started to flow.  It actually surprised me to see the blood flow, but I quickly dunked my thumb in some warm water with vinegar (I read to do that, as well).  I got as much blood to flow as possible. It was an instant relief.  I had to poke the hole with the pin a couple more times when the blood appeared to start clotting at the hole.  But finally I was able to sleep.

Waiting for the concert to begin

Work was normal, though my thumb kept bleeding off and on throughout the day.  After work, I went with Ulises to see Los Tigres del Norte play.  We met up with some co-workers at the show. The tickets said the show was supposed to begin at 7pm, but we were told the time had been changed to 8pm.  What we didn't realize was that 8pm did not actually mean that the first band would start playing at 8pm.  Two and a half hours later, the first opening band began playing.  It was really quite frustrating.  I told Ulises that if this was the U.S., this would never happen.  And the reason it would never happen is because people wouldn't allow it to happen.  People would start leaving and requesting their money back.  But not here.  Instead, most of the people didn't even start showing up until around 9 or 9:30.  The odd thing is, the Mana concert I went to was NOT like this.  Maybe Mana just values their fans more than Los Tigres del Norte do.
The first band was actually pretty awful, too.  The second band was better, but it was annoying to have to wait so long just to hear the band we came for.  Several of my co-workers left after the first band.  Los Tigres started playing around 11:30.  That is 3 1/2 hours after the show was supposed to start.  I've learned my lesson.  Los Tigres are a band much better to hear by CD.  That way YOU can choose when they start playing.

Ulises and I

Second band - crazy guy with a wig

And the show finally begins

Tigres del Norte