A visit home

On Monday I found out my Mexican visa had expired on Sunday. Jose and I had a meeting with an attorney who told us about the different visa options for me. They were all expensive, took a lot of work, and didn't have any benefits. We have decided that I will leave Mexico every six months when my visa expires and come back in and get another tourist visa, so for the next three years I will just be a tourist. I can get a 6 month tourist visa when I come back from the U.S., or we can take a trip to Guatemala or Belize. Keeping a tourist visa instead of the long-term visas will save enough money to pay for 2 trips to the United States per year for 2 years. Plus, it will be better for our case when we start Jose's U.S. immigration again, because we will be able to show that I was never interested or able to start a permanent life in Mexico, causing me hardship.

So, today I am flying back to San Francisco in a last minute trip. We found out on Monday that my visa had expired, bought tickets yesterday, and I'm leaving this afternoon. I'll be in California for 7 full days. I'll be in Shasta with my family for two days and then be home in Healdsburg for the rest of the time, finally seeing my family again after 6 months.

I am excited to visit, but it is also hard because when we left the United States I thought the next time I went back it would be triumphantly with Jose entering legally. Now it is me going and leaving him, and it reminds us again how wrong everything went in Ciudad Juarez.

I'm sure I'll have a great trip. I think it is also going to be weird to speak to everyone in English in public again. I'm really interested to see what differences I notice after being gone and getting used to Mexico. There are some things that I like better about Mexico, and I'm excited to compare them to the United States while I'm there.

-Emma