Muchacho Polaco

There are so many dogs on the street here and they all look miserably sick. It’s sad how irresponsible people are with animals. There is a dog outside of our store every day that looks skinny and ill. We bought a bag of dog food earlier this week in hopes to be able to help him. Yun tried feeding him today and he was pretty reluctant to take the food. He’s either too sick or not trusting. But when she poured him a bowl of water, he gulped it down and three more bowls quickly.

Yun just went to check up on him again to see if he has eaten the food. He ate some of it, but left most of it.

We would love to have a place where we could take these guys and clean them up, feed them, and then train them to be useful to make them more attractive for adoption. Maybe some day.

Making some picadillo for lunch. This is one of my favorite meals!

Yun made beef and potato tacos the night before last which were so tasty. The onions on the side were slow cooked in butter and were superb. I love this meal.

We went shopping last night and I found some treats for the dogs. Cow heart, cow kidney, cow liver, and chicken feet. They love these things, but the problem is that the smell is pretty horrid.

Yun and I occasionally give spades lessons. We had an opportunity earlier this week to help Matt and Dana improve their game. I was able to show them a more advanced level of Nil Theory with which they were obviously impressed.

We always have a great time when we return to Tucson.

Government offices in Mexico are pure madness. We are at the Social Security office this morning to sign up our new employee for social security benefits. The cost for us is 30% of her monthly salary which we have to pay monthly. Mexico is no less a welfare state than the US it seems. We are also required by law to give a week vacation (and I have to give them a vacation bonus so they have money for the vacation), unlimited sick days (which I have to pay for), and a christmas bonus. Should I wish to fire them, then I have to pay them out for their vacation, there vacation bonus, there christmas bonus, as well as three more months of pay (regardless of reason for termination). So for this reason, employers pay their employees next to nothing.

So Yun was told she was missing one document. We were never told of this requirement the first time, so we had to run to another office to get that document and then return to the social security office. When we got back, we had to wait in line for over an hour. We have to return next week for the next step.

We went to Tucson last Sunday and returned yesterday. It was a nice break. We went to Dunkin Donuts Monday morning for breakfast. So good! I am quite convinced this would do well in Mexico. There’s nothing even remotely close to in existence currently that I can tell. Perhaps a drive through with some coffee would compliment that well.

We found a great place for seafood tacos within walking distance from the house called El Muelle. They are a little pricey, but just one was filling. I was equally impressed by the free round of beer as soon as we sat down. Since Yun doesn’t like beer, that was twice as nice for me.

We found El Muelle after going bowling with Gab and Alejandra. Bowling is fun,  but I am absolutely terrible.

A couple weeks ago at church, Yun spotted a couple of people she lived with nearly 20 years ago when she lived here while in college. They were quite nice and invited us out for lunch to Sanborns. After lunch they invited us to their house. It was strange for Yun to see a home she lived in so long ago.

Last weekend we had lunch at Raul and Dana’s. Billy and Esther also joined us. Dana made chiles en nogado which is a traditional meal from the south and quite complex to prepare. Although I am not a huge fan of this meal, Dana’s were quite tasty.

Raul is a federal police officer and before lunch he took me to his office here in town. It is nice to have a friend in this position in the event we ever have any problems.

Billy shared his ambitions to treasure hunt for gold and tried hard to persuade Raul and I to go on an expedition here in Sonora. It was hard to tell if he was serious, but I’d be up for that.