At least I try to convince Sadie that she has the best roommate ever. No other roommate will cook and do her laundry for her; unless she marries very, very wisely. As for her - she's quiet, doesn't party, leaves the bathroom fairly clean, and doesn't require a lot of conversation (she may be be a better roommate than Garrett actually!). Hanging out 24/7 for 4 weeks now has been an experience in patience for both of us though. The 2 bed, 1 bath apartment can be pretty tight confines at times. My office (waiting room) has been busy this week with many new faces, most from the US. There is one other person that has set up a work space in the waiting room beside me. I found a little folding table to set my laptop up on and I frequent the Starbucks around the corner for the occasional pick me up (no dairy, no sugar of course).
It has been a tough week for Sadie. The chemo treatments are hard on her, even with the low-dosage. We are now turning our minds to our return to Canada. It's been a challenge to connect with her doctors in Canada to arrange for her post treatment care and testing. I find the health care system in Canada is not all that open to alternative or integrative care options and really doesn't have a high focus on 'customer' service. Long phone waits on hold and continuous phone tag threaten to eat up our international calling minutes.
Many people have asked me if we are getting the smoke from the fires in California. Today is actually the first day I can smell smoke in the air. Most days are foggy here in the morning as we dip to lows of 20 degrees overnight (yes I am poking fun at you Albertans back home who are going through fall overnight frost warnings). The fog burns off as the day warms so we normally have sunny afternoons and evenings.
A new tidbit about Mexico: there is a wall. The wall runs down the border with the US all the way through Tijuana and into the ocean. It is actually 2 walls, one on each side of the border with cameras and the occasional armed vehicle and helicopter patrolling in between.
The walls..
More colour by the public beach...
The public beach is cordoned off by tape and police cars during the day due to Covid. I have heard it is only open between 6 and 10 am each day.
The wall extends all the way into the water:
Nothing like driving down the street, following an armoured vehicle with a machine gun toting soldier on top:
