Important matters of first impression after, to the extent practicable (5USC--App.402)

Because TJ arrived during Semana Santa, he only had to work for two full days before he got his first long weekend, which gave us the opportunity to explore our environs. Before we arrived, we scoffed at those people who went to San Diego every weekend, but we soon learned why. Tijuana is a perfectly serviceable city. It has all the everyday amenities that you need, including parks and restaurants (even ones shaped like sombreros, as shown in a previous post), but in terms of unique attractions, it's mostly casinos, dog tracks, and, well, this ...
Fair disclosure: This store was actually in Ensenada, a cruise-boat port about 60 miles south of Tijuana, but Avenida Revolución in Tijuana was packed with similar pharmacies, mixed among the souvenir shops that try to lure in customers with donkeys painted like zebras, also known as zonkeys, which incidentally is the name of the local basketball team. TJ and I skipped shopping for tchotchkes (according to Google Translate, there is no Spanish translation for this word, but then again, there's no option to translate from Yiddish) and found Cerveza Tijuana instead. Its beers -- a light, a lager, a pilsner, a brown, a Marzen and a bock -- were no match for the craft beers in San Diego (like Karl Strauss, Ballast Point, and Stone). But the latter two, at bottom left and top center in the picture, were definitely drinkable.
The food at the TJ brewery, on the other hand, had a lot to be desired. We ordered a version of a charcuterie plate, and the "sausages" were mini hot dogs. But I love that they give you chips and salsa at nearly every restaurant, even if you are just going to drink. And unlike in the States, the salsas are distinct. Another culinary bonus is that most every dish is garnished with fresh avocado: fish tacos, ceviche tostadas, and this shrimp cocktail, a Mexican specialty best served with local beer.
We had those cocktails at a restaurant in a little beach town between Rosarito and Ensenada, called La Fonda, where we stayed for a night. We splurged for a hotel room, but just up the road was beachside camping where you only had to pay for parking. For the holiday weekend, the cars and tents were jam-packed, so we were happy to have beach space away from the madness, but we look forward to camping along the beach off-season. Even our end of the beach was a bit noisy because of locals offering ultralight rides. But I guess there has to be something else to do when it's not warm enough to swim in the ocean.
Despite the peacefulness of the Baja coast, it was hard to resist the pull of San Diego. For our first forays into the city, we did some pretty touristy stuff, like visit the Old Town State Historic Park, a collection of restored buildings that mark the first Spanish settlement in California and the initial downtown of San Diego. TJ and I agreed that it was a cross between Frontierland (in Disney World) and St. Augustine.
We also tooled around Balboa Park, a cross between New York's Central Park, with its zoo, and DC's Mall, with its museums. We scouted out museum exhibits to visit, theater shows to see, and exercise trails to run. We visited on Easter Sunday, and the flowers between the Museum of Man and Museum of Art showed up for the occasion.
On a whim, we bought cheap seats at a Padres game. With our lack of interest in the outcome, we left after the 6th inning, having had our fill of the wonderful view. The bridge in the background goes to Coronado Island, one of the more posh oceanside destinations. We drove to the island, along the Silver Strand, but preferred to stop and linger in low-key Imperial Beach, the most southwesterly city in the continental United States, and hip Ocean Beach, the home of the original dog beach.
We lucked out when we drove up the coast to Cabrillo National Monument, which waived the admission fee for National Parks Week. The monument is named for Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Spaniard-cum-Guatemalan who piloted a boat from Mexico to become the first European to land on the U.S. West Coast. Perhaps the bigger attraction on the park land, though, is the Point Loma lighthouse, which was thought to be in a perfect position on a high peak at the mouth of San Diego Bay but ultimately was ineffective because it became fogged in so often.
Just around the bend from the national park is a free city park, Sunset Cliffs Natural Park, where you can park and climb down to the beach below. Or just stay at the top and look at the view, like we did. The area actually reminded me of the cliffs north of Herzliyya Pituach, where we lived in Israel. It was a nice place to stop and reflect on our new overseas adventure. From this vantage point, our first impressions were definitely positive.

Facts pertinent in establishing qualifications for preferential status (8USC1154)

TJ left for his cross-country trip to Tijuana the second week of April and arrived on what just happened to be the first day of my spring break. So I took the shorter and faster route, by plane, and met him in San Diego, so I could help him settle in during his first week in Mexico. Now, we've been overseas before for international teaching, and a good school usually provides a "buddy" who is supposed to help during this transition. But I thought coming down might be a good idea, considering we have experienced a lack of support in previous situations (I won't mention names). Of course, I should've realized that the government would have the buddy system down to a science. 

The assistance was well beyond our expectations; it might've helped that we knew our buddies, because I taught their children at a school in Israel (coincidence?). Obviously, Jim and Liz provided the obligatory airport pick-up, comp dinner, and grocery run. But even better, the welcome kit of household supplies was not only already in the apartment, but also unpacked and in place. After a day of traveling, it was nice to not have to make the bed. Perhaps the best service, though, was that the phone was already hooked up on the day we arrived and that the Internet was turned on by the end of the week, without either of us having to spend hours on a telephone with someone who didn't understand nor care about our need for contact with the outside world.

And some efforts really surprised us, both in their overwhelming generosity and surprising pitfalls. A fellow non-immigration visa officer invited us to dinner. Thanks go out to John and Marissa for welcoming us into the community so easily and quickly. But at the last moment, the dinner had to be moved to another officer's house because of some concerns -- very low-grade, I must add -- about a threatening phone call. So thanks go out as well to Chris and Lisa, our new hosts, who along with John and Marissa reassured us with their nonchalance about the change in plans. 

 Another beneficial favor was that Jim was able to expedite our appointment to finalize our SENTRI pass, which is a way to save oodles of time crossing in the border by having your and your car's credentials pre-certified. When I applied by myself, the first available appointment was in August, four months away, and somehow, he changed it to two days away. He even chaperoned us to the SENTRI office, which could be difficult to find, as it is cleverly disguised amid all the border-area strip malls. He led us through the SENTRI lane, even though we didn't have our passes yet, hoping the border guards would accept our diplomatic passports in good faith. They didn't, and TJ got socked with a warning for inappropriately using the SENTRI lane -- which was perhaps the best perk of all, because he could have been fined $5,000.