Doctor Exam

Well, there are no pictures today. I spent the ENTIRE day in the hotel. Felipe had his medical exam that is part of his visa process (I'll let him type about that in a minute) and I spend the whole day waiting anxiously for him. It was terrible. I must say we are both so glad mom and dad talked us into staying here. I guess by age 29 you wise up and start listening to your parents again and it pays off. It is strange to think we were having lunch at a Chinese buffet with them just yesterday. Now I'll let Felipe tell his story...



This morning at 6:30 I went down from my room to the main street to catch a cab going to the clinic for my examination that I'm going to present next week for my first visa interview. So when I got out from the cab I thought there were not many people waiting in line (only about 50) until they let us inside a fenced area outside the clinic. Everyone had a number, then everyone was waiting for their number to be called. After that one of the workers called from 1 - 15, then the rest of us still were waiting for our turn. But in my mind I thought that it was going to be really easy to do my examenation. The same worker came in and asked for 15 people to go to the other clinic (there are only 2 clinics in Juarez that are allowed to do exams for the US Counsulate) because in that clinic they weren't that busy. I was still waiting for my turn. My number was 57. Then once again the worker came in and asked for 10 volunteers to go to the other clinic. Finally, it was my turn.



We were 15 people going inside the clinic. I was almost the last one. As soon as I step in I saw hundreds and hundreds of people that were already in before me. Then I realized I was totally wrong. My day was going to be one of the longest days. Think about not having any breakfast or lunch all day. That was all of us since we weren't allowed to eat before the exam. Then I went to the front desk, showed my passport and my visa appointment letter, then they told me to wait until my turn. After a while a lady called my name, then I went to a small room where I signed and she took my pictures. When she took my information I went back to my seat.



I was so hungry that I started drinking lots of water. It was about 8:30. Then they called my name and I went to have a blood test. Then I went back to my seat again and wait for my turn once again. But I went to the second level for my next turn where I waited for awhile. Finally, a nurse called my name then took my chest x-rays and he told me to go back to the waiting room again.



About 12:30 I went to do my last test. They took my blood pressure, weight, height and then I went to the room where the nurse gave me a complete physical examination and 3 shots required to enter the US, MMR, Td, and Varicella. She also asked me a lot of questions, some where kind of strange like "what kind of job to you have in the US?". Then I was ready to go pay for the service that they had done. I had to pay in US dollars, $254 for the exam and vaccines. Also, they told me to come back for my results at 4pm.



Then I walked back to the hotel where Erin was waiting and really nervous. I was totally starving because it was 2pm by then and I hadn't had anything to eat all day. I ate and relaxed for a little while. Then it was time to go back again. It was pretty fast to get my results. They gave me a copy of my immunizations and then information in a sealed black envelope to give to the Counsulate. If I open it they will not allow me to interview for my visa.


The one surprise is they told me I have to go on Monday to the Counsulate to deliver the exam results instead of waiting for Tuesday for my interview. I don't really understand why but I will do whatever they tell me. So it looks like I will be spending all day Monday and Tuesday at the US Counsuate.

Cruzando la frontera (crossing the border)

Esta fotografia muestra entrada a la Ciudad Juarez. Esta bandera mexicana es cerca de 30' por 50' largo. La entrada a la Ciudad Juarez fue muy facil pero la entrada a los Estados Unidos se toma horas.
(The border crossing at Juarez. Easy in, not so easy out!)


Este pasillo con muros de metal plateado tomamos hacia las oficinas de migracion mexicana. Fue donde Erin recibio su visa de turista. Este es la primera vez que Erin visita Mexico. Ella esta muy contenta.

(the metal bars along the path to get Erin's tourist visa at the border)




Esta es la calle frente al hotel donde estamos ospedados. Es una de las calles muy transitadas que debes tener mucha precaucion con los autos y topes y los hoyos invecibles.

(The very busy cross street by our hotel. Since we don't want to go far from the hotel in the next 5 days in Juarez due to its reputation as very dangerous it is good we are close to a lot of restaurants- all American though - McD's, Burger King, Dominoe's, Wendy's and even Applebee's are within a block)


Gracias que nuestro hotel donde estamos hospidados esta muy seguro, limpio, y con al berca pero no tiene agua templada. Tambien podemos oir el trafico.

(Thank goodness our hotel is very nice and here is the pool where you can almost not hear the street. It is only 3 blocks from the Counsulate where Felipe has his interview, although they are 3 dangerous blocks as criminals target people going to interviews because they know they have cash)

Ese la vista desde nuestro hotel. Observando hacia la ciudad de El Paso durante la tarde. Desde la vista de la montana podiamos ver la ciudad Juarez. Cuando aun no cruzabamos la frontera.

(The star is on the hill in El Paso where we stood just last night and tood the picture of Juarez and El Paso. I guess it's the Texans answer to the giant Mexican flag that can be seen from everywhere.)

Around El Paso

Here are a few tips for El Paso before I forget. The Scenic Drive is really nice. It curves around the south of the El Paso mountains and these pictures are all taken from there. Do NOT change money into pesos at the bank. Go to Melek's service on the corner of Mesa & Paisano near downtown. We got 10.65 pesos per $1 there which was a peso better per dollar than the bank.
In between Mom and Felipe's heads you can sort of see the Mexican flag. That is Juarez in the background after the little park on the right if Felipe.

There are multiple ways to cross into Juarez from El Paso... you can take a walking bridge or a round trip trolley or drive on 4 different roads. The tourist propaganda in our hotel makes Juarez sound a lot
better than all the stories I've heard.

You can see the cement Rio Grande right in the middle of this picture. Click on any pictures if you want to see them larger.

I did fix the lens on my camera to get rid of these spots
after I downloaded the pictures and saw them.



Here is the same view but at night when the smog had cleared. It looks very pretty at night. You can kind of see the snake of lights through the city which marks the border. We did drive along the border highway and saw the fences... All three of them with barbed wire on top and paths in between them for the border patrol vehicles to go. Did I mention the millions of watts of floodlights pointing towards Mexico? Very, very interesting. There is a Border Patrol Museum here but we decided not to go. I can't imagine what would be inside! I just imagine some kind of grotesque trophies of people caught or something. Ugh.


Well... on another note tomorrow we cross. We are both trying not to think of it. We've had a really good time with my parents and it's helped us relax which has been a blessing. They did talk us into staying in Juarez over the weekend instead of making the 5 hour drive to Chihuahua City and back before his interview. Even if we have to stay in the hotel all weekend it would be better than risking something happening to us so he couldn't get to his interview that we've waited 2 years for. We will miss mom and dad and it will be very emotional to cross over the bridge tomorrow. However, we are confident that on the afternoon of April 17th (the day of his 2nd interview) we will be back again on this side of the river.

My next entry will be from Juarez, Mexico and I suppose in honor of the occassion it will be in Spanish (as long as Felipe tells me what to type).

Texas, New Mexico, Texas again

Texas is a very odd shape (as you can tell by the Texas waffle I had for breakfast this morning). We spent in the last night in the "panhandle" in Hereford, TX and then drove thru New Mexico via Roswell and are now in our hotel room in El Paso. New Mexico was pretty uneventful. A few amazingly huge cow pens owned by Cargill. Seriously, probably 10,000 cows in pens alongside the road. It was crazy!

This picture is for my Ole girls who can appreciate the greatness of Roswell, the greatest "tween" drama ever (even though I was a 20-something when I watched it... just barely)



The Roswell UFO center was very cheesy but mildly interesting =) Of course, no actual pieces of wreckage from the famed 1947 UFO crash just outside the city were in the museum. However, there were many testimonial letters from people who have been abducted by aliens all over the world!


Mom and dad were very thrilled that I made them stop. =) Not really but it was good to get out of the car and it wasn't that far out of the way. South of Roswell we passed some more scrubby brush territory but then we went into some small mountains and it was full of pine trees and little towns with very traditional southwestern architecture... arches and red and brown stones. There was this beautiful little church in this tiny town plopped in the middle of nowhere framed by the hills and pines. It was so nice but we couldn't pull over to snap a picture. Sad!

So after 23 hours of driving in the car we ended up in El Paso. As we drove down the hill and into the city we saw the largest flag (Mexican) I've ever laid eyes on flying high over Juarez, Mexico. We have it in our sites I guess... Tomorrow we just plan on finding somewhere to get some pesos and maybe buy a few more things before going across on Thursday.

Sad, our hotel is by the airport and about every 30 minutes it sounds like a jet is going to crash into us. So much for getting to town late and being stuck in a cheap hotel! Good night everyone.

Here we go!

Here's my dad and Felipe loading the PT cruiser on the trailer to tow it to El Paso, TX. We left MN on Sunday about 7:30 pm, after we went to my niece Claire's Youth Symphony concert and saw her perform. We drove until 1:30 in the morning and ended up 80 miles north of Kansas City. Odometer: 52,500 on Mom and Dad's car....

Nothing much to tell today except driving. Weather and roads were good. Our one stop in our 14 hours of travel time was at the Oklahoma City Stockyards where we ate at the "famous" Cattlemen's Steakhouse. (It is in the 1000 places book for my dear competitive

readers... you know who you are!) Initially, I was not impressed because, unfortunately, I got my steak medium well. It was a little tough. Then mom gave me some of her Filet and holy cow (pun intended)! If red meat and butter got married this would be their favorite child. It was incredible!!! (One thing I did forget to mention and I am coming back to add it is the smell. These stockyards were in the back of the parking lot of the restaurant and the cows did not have a pleasant odor what-so-ever!!)

Now we are in a hotel in Hereford, TX, almost all they way across the panhandle of Texas (which I did not realize is 230 miles wide) and we did get to jaunt on Old Route 66 for about 150 miles, bringing back memories of high school choir. We should only have about 7 hours of driving left tomorrow to get to El Paso. Even though we're driving through Roswell, New Mexico, I doubt we will stop. That's all the excitement for today! Goodnight, everyone!

T minus 31 hours

I have no idea what the "T" means in that phrase but it reminds me of a spaceship launch which is what I feel like we're about to do. I was getting a pedicure last night (yes, this is Erin talking, not Felipe... maybe =) and the lady asked me how you pack for a two-month trip. "I don't know, we haven't done it yet," was my reply. And now, less than 31 hours from our leave time we still have nothing packed! Clothing options are sorted... gifts are bought... toiletries and the entire Target pharmacy section are laid out (or should I say sprawled out) on our bedroom floor... and office floor... and other bedroom floor. Let me just state that I have enough Imodium and Pepto Bismol to treat myself 4 times daily each of the 60 days for "turista" which, of course, means I will have no problems at all!

After calling around to hotels last night and finding at least 6 that we wanted to stay at full, we started to freak out a little bit. I do think that after 4 hours of calling we did manage to secure reservations for everyplace up until our arrival in Tetelilla. There is one night where we don't know what town we'll end up in because of the drive but hopefully we'll find something. After our stressful hours of calling I was laying in bed mentally planning out our route and I was contemplating cutting out Tequila... I know... GASP!!! I did come to my senses after a night's sleep though and we are going to make it work somehow. We'll see how the road conditions truly are once we get there.

I suppose I better start doing something to prepare for the trip. We sorted all our papers for his interviews into very large manila envelopes and now need to figure how to pack them. Felipe went to get his haircut about 3 hours ago and isn't back yet. Hopefully he doesn't come back bald! I think he's thinking if he takes long enough I won't make him try to call any other hotels. I don't know how you would plan a trip like this without a Spanish speaker because most of the hotels we're calling, the people answering the phone speak no English! Until later...

Mexican Car Insurance

FYI- If you ever plan on driving to Mexico and taking your U.S. car here are a few things to know.

1. You need to have MEXICAN Car Insurance. Your US Policy will NOT cover you even if it says it will. If you do not have Mexican insurance and get in an accident you go to jail until damages are paid.

2. You need to have your vehicles title or registration. The title needs to be in the name of the person driving and that person must be in the car at all times.

3. You get a car permit at the border that you MUST turn in before you leave or you are charged a fine for every day it expires. You must pay with a credit card as you cross the border going there so that they have it on file to charge you the fine. Ugh...

I'll post if things really work this way after we try next Thursday.

Introduction of Characters

Felipe said that I needed to post a picture of myself on the blog. (He was not impressed by the Milk Moustache apparently). So for those of you who haven't seen me in a while, here I am eating apple pie and ice cream at the apple orchard this fall... I let him pick the picture... oh well... All's fair, as they say.



Next, here is a picture of me and Maren who I will be talking about towards the end of March because she will be visiting us for a week. We are both very, very excited about the idea of seeing someone from home AND having an excuse to go to the beach. I will be covered from head to toe as always to avoid my sun rash but I can at least look at the ocean!


This is my mom and dad, who will be driving with us from Minnesota to El Paso. Felipe and I love them both very much and deeply appreciate them uprooting themselves for a week to support us in our journey. We will need it as we go across the border. That will be a very emotional day for us and it will help to have them there. This picture was taken in the fall when Felipe and I went with them to the Soudan Underground Mine in Northern Minnesota.

Hopefully these photo tests will work. I'm trying to experiment as much as I can with these little things before we go so I can just "blog away" once we are there!

Milk moustache

Here is a test photo to see if we can get this to work. Felipe and I went to Duluth for the first weekend of February to celebrate his birthday at a bed and breakfast. We stopped off on Saturday afternoon at this very interesting coffee shop where Felipe showed off his milk mustache or "bigotes de leche."

En Espanol

En una semana, mi esposa Erin y yo saldremos a Mexico a la Cuidad de Juarez, Chihuahua. Alli nos ospedaremos por unos dias porque tengo hacerme unos examenes medicos antes de mi primera entrevista. Despues nos quederamos una noche mas en Juarez. Al siguiente dia nos iremos a la ciudad de Chihuahua. Nos quederamos alli por unos dias. Visitaremos unos lugares turisticos alli como la casa de Pancho Villa y el museo de la revolucion mexicana. Despues de dos dias de visita en la ciudad de Chihuahua nos regrasamos a la ciudad de Juarez para mi primera entrevista de immigracion (tengo dos entrevistas. La segunda es el 17 de abril en Juarez tambien). Despues, Erin y yo iremos al Barranca del Cobre por 3 o 4 dias. Estamos muy contentos porque es un lugar muy turistico y tiene lugares muy bonitos y la mejor manera de ver estos lugares es por tren.

Nosotros estaremos escribiendo las actividades que hagamos cada dia. Y tambien mandaremos fotos de cada lugar. Regresan esta pagina muy a menudo y busca la pagina de "espanol" (o en ingles si prefieres).

2nd interview

Felipe was able to schedule his second interview (the one that counts) via the phone yesterday... Although our lawyer had said the time would be about 2 to 3 weeks in between and we had heard the same from friends who went through the same process, his 2nd interview will not be until APRIL 17th!

Yes, we will be gone for a full two months. We are sad and happy at the same time. Now we can at least fully plan our trip over this weekend and make some hotel reservations this next week before we leave. Our friend, Maren, is going to come down to meet us for a few days at the end of March. We'll still have over two weeks with his family and we'll get to see a LOT of Mexico... something we both are incredibly excited about.

We blew up a map of Mexico and hung it on our office wall, stretching almost from the ceiling to the floor. It makes the trip a little intimidating but it will be fun. All of you will learn about many places in Mexico you have probably never heard of because we'll be writing about them (in English and Spanish) and posting pictures.

We'll, it's only about 6am which is WAY earlier than my usual "rise and shine" time so this is about all the typing my brain can handle. Until next time!

Put on notice

Well, we received notice on Monday, February 4th that Felipe's first interview at the US Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico will be on March 4th at 7:45 am. We had planned on leaving about 8 days in advance to take a leisurely drive south, visit friends near Omaha, see a few things in New Mexico and get to El Paso 2 days before crossing the border to get our heads on straight. However, we discovered he has to have a medical exam in Mexico 2 days before his interview so we actually have to cross into Mexico on the 28th of February so he can go stand in line at the doctor's office starting at 5:30am. They do NOT take appointments so he basically has to go and hope he gets in sometime from 6am to 11am. Unfortunately, due to the short notice we really can't leave any sooner than the 24th or 25th so we will be busting our butts to drive the 1500 miles from Minneapolis to El Paso in about 2 days, leaving us far from refreshed when we arrive.

The good thing is, I think my parents are going to drive with us down to El Paso and then hop over to Phoenix for the weekend to visit some of my mom's aunts and uncles. They may stay in the area until Felipe's interview on March 4th when he will find out the date of his 2nd interview (the one where they give a final decision to grant his "permanent" spouse green card or not). I am very excited because I found out that if they do grant it, he will qualify for US citizenship within only 3 years. If they don't grant it he will have to stay with his family in Mexico while we try again. Only positive thoughts for our journey though.

Between his first and second interviews we hope to go down to take a train ride through Copper Canyon. I had never even heard of this gem before we started looking into our trip. It is in northern Mexico and is 3 times the size of the much publicized US Grand Canyon. It sounds very beautiful and is one of the "1000 Places to See Before You Die." check! After his second interview we will drive the 1200 miles down to his town of Tetelilla, Morelos, Mexico. It is a trip we could normally make in 2 days but all the travel guides warn against driving at night because there are still bandits and animals wandering the highways in some areas and cars don't always drive with headlights on. Why? I have no idea but I'm not interested in finding out! We have a few places we want to stop on the way down like Zacatecas check! and San Miguel de Allende check! and see the sights of the country. Then we will spend about 2 weeks with his family before driving back.

In total we plan on being gone for about 6 to 8 weeks depending on the length of time between his first and second interviews. It should be an exciting adventure but it is very stressful to pack and prepare for that long of a trip, especially with such short notice. We did buy some clothes this weekend and hope to still go shopping today and buy all the toiletries we need and some gifts for his family. However, yesterday I came down with some sickness and have a fever and terrible pain all over my body and can't breath deeply. Well-timed "death sickness" for all the Oles reading this. Oh well. Maybe a cold will help me sleep better over the next 2 weeks.

Well, that's about it for today. I just wanted to post an update about what is happening since when I send out the link to this blog many people will have no idea what's going on because I had no time to notify them. I will be posting regularly to this blog and including photos during our trip so please check back if you are interested. I will also be available to check my email almost daily so that will be a great way to communicate with me. Well, adios for now!

This blogger's beginning

Well, here it is... my very first foray into the blogging world. I told my good friend I had decided to start a blog and immediately I felt like I was playing paintball with my nephew. What is your blog about? Splat. I haven't decided for sure. What is your focus? Splat. I don't know. Well, what are you going to write about? Splat. Hell-ooo, I said I'm not sure. How often are you going to write? How are you going to get readers? What is your design like? Are you going to post pictures? Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Uhhh... maybe this wasn't a good idea.

Seriously... Is blogging really that complicated? I thought I could just type in some thoughts, insert some pictures and share it with friends. Now I find out that is a whole science behind it. A standard. Even awards for blogs! I'm 29... I straddle the X and Y generation, the two most tech savvy groups alive and I feel like my dad - who turns 68 tomorrow (Happy Birthday Daddy) is starting to teach ME about the internet. A disturbing thought since he didn't even understand email until about 9 months ago and I've been on the internet since 1994. Now he shops ebay, google earth's properties, checks emails more than I do... crazy. At least I can still beat him in a typing contest.

In truth, I had thought about the topic of my blog. I chose the name MNandMexicoMix with the intent of sharing some stories about my mixed marriage. I am a true Minnesota girl. Grew up on a dairy farm that I truly believed didn't have an odor, lived in a rural community where everybody knew everything about you, had about 50 family members within a 25-minute drive, ate hotdish instead of casseroles and, apparently, I have a very distinct Minnesota "O-hh" which I wasn't aware of until I went to college and was told by all my charming new friends. =)

My husband is also from a small town... about 2000 miles south in Morelos, Mexico. His family farm was full of vegetables and fruits (which smelled better than my cows, I'm sure), information about people in town spread as fast as the wind could blow, he had 10 family members in his own house all the time, ate tortillas with every meal, and can speak Spanish like he's in fast forward.

Different countries, different cultures, meeting and marrying here in Minnesota. Our journey together these past 6 years has been filled with communication speed bumps and cultural adjustments. Probably there is just as much compromise and understanding in our relationship as in any other. The thing that I believe is different in a mixed relationship is the heightened level of tolerance and acceptance that is neccesary, not only by each of us but by our families.

There are many anticdotes about our learning process I planned on using this blog to share and hopefully benefitting others in our situation. My husband and I recently met a couple that mirrored our situation and spent an evening with them. It was amazing how similar our experiences with each other and our families were. In fact, we had so many of the same stories to share that it was a little eerie. It was a wonderful pleasure to spend time them and laugh over the challenges we've all overcome and muse over the ones in our futures.

The cultural differences between a Minnesotan and a Mexican are very real but not insurmountable. We are having fun figuring things out and look forward to the next few months of traveling.