Our best case scenario week in retrospect

Saturday, 27th Sept:
We did have a super Saturday. Our interviews were great (see Licenciado Bugs Bunny post), and we had a celebratory meal at the 1/2 Naranja Cafe. It was an all-round good day, about the best here so far.

We came out of the interviews feeling that the "slightly possible" chance of getting the court hearing done within the week was becoming a "quite possible".

Sunday, 28th Sept:
We did relax and catch up on sleep in Playas. We were all too tired to meet up with our friends, so stayed around Playas. Very nice lazy day.

Monday, 29th Sept:
We had our final interview with Lic. Sanchez, which was great. She's very sympathetic to our case, and said she and the other two would do everything they could to get the report written in the least possible time. She didn't say the report would be ready on Tuesday, rather Thursday evening or Friday morning. So, we started to think about Ahmed changing his flights to leave on Saturday, instead of Friday morning, from San Diego. And started to pin our hopes on a court appearance on Friday.

At Gobernacion, my FM3 visa was sorted out, with a $100 fine, for entering the country. Tecate Gobernacion decided that yes, we do need to pay for the visas again, but only $100 each, so not the full $350 each like the first time. So that's good (ish), I guess.

Two quick drives back to Playas de Tijuana for forgotten documents during the day, and finally at about 7pm, we got home, exhausted from all the driving around and time spent in government offices to find a beautiful big bunch of flowers on the doorstep. Thanks again Heike!! A really lovely end to a long but fruitful day.



Tuesday, 30th Sept: Aida went to Tecate today to renew Ahmed's FM3 visa today. So that's done, thankfully. We are so grateful that we didn't need to do that long, hot trip again, with a poor sweaty baby in the back seat.

Ahmed called American Airlines to see if he could change his flights. He also emailed his boss to request one day of leave next week. American Airlines was totally full, and there were no flights until the following Monday. So, we were looking at buying another one-way ticket for the Saturday, but decided to wait until we heard from the court.

Wednesday, 1st Oct: Today was unfortunately not quite the crazy, loud, dancing-in-the-streets celebration we had in mind. Ahmed's feeling terribly guilty, as although he's been granted an extra day of leave next week, he's been told it's the last time. He has not felt comfortable constantly asking for all these favours, but we've been at the mercy of all the government officials processing our case. But then, it turned out he didn't need to request the day off, as the judge has said even if the report arrives on Thur or Fri, the earliest she can review the report and see us is Tuesday next week. So, no need to change flights, no need to take a day off work. No need to scrape together our witnesses here.

We did go to Gymboree and had a ball, as always. We had a nice lunch with Anna & Yara afterwards, so that part came true!

Thursday, 2nd Oct: Today. This morning at 9.30am, the social worker from DIF showed up unexpectedly to see where we are living. Luckily we were dressed and despite the suitcases being prepared, the house isn't too much of a tip and looks very baby-friendly. We are off to San Diego tonight, for Ahmed's early morning flight tomorrow. With his border crossing woes, we're not taking any chances, and Guadalupe's coming over tonight.

Ahmed's next possibility of coming over here is for just a day or two around the 29th October, four weeks away. Again, many favours from his work, boss, colleagues. Ah well. At least the end is almost in sight, and having these interviews from DIF completed is a huge relief.

P.S. Thanks for all the best wishes from so many people this week. We really feel so lucky to have such a supportive family and great friends all over the world sending us their love and hopes for a day when we can finally come home. Cheers!