Balloon Fiesta Adventure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last weekend I got the awesome experience of being able to attend the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. I was initially debating attending the Fiesta because I had just moved to Pinehill and Albuquerque is over two hours away. However, when my friend and fellow VISTA Alexis (serving in Whiteriver, AZ on an Apache Reservation with the National Society for the American Indian Elderly) said she wanted to go I was game.

About noon on Saturday, Alexis rolled into Pinehill to pick me up and we were off to the Albuquerque. As we drove the winding roads of Highway 53 through the Zuni Mountains, it was clear we both were really excited to not only be going to the Balloon Fiesta but also to see civilization again. As we are both east coast girls (Allie hails from New Jersey) we were starting to get a little cabin fever in the isolated mountains we are working in. While we both agreed that we enjoyed nature; we have not yet adjusted to living in an area where CVS doesn’t exist, Internet is looked at as some science fiction theory, and four buildings in a square mile area constitutes a road sign that says congested area. Overall it was nice to spend time with someone else who understands what I am going through right now.

About an hour or so down the road we came across a Walmart and decided to pull in for a pit stop. A quick purchase of candy and taking the free can of Sierra Mist (non-diet and caffeine free: worst combo ever we decided) Walmart was handing out we were on the road again.  Eventually we rolled into Albuquerque and found the KOA. When planning this trip we decided that we need to be there on Saturday night and Sunday morning to get the full experience. However, being on a VISTA budget meant that getting a hotel room was just not an option. Since Alexis had a tent, camping out seemed like the perfect solution. Well this was a camping experience like I have never had before! For lack of a better description we were basically camping out on I-40. The sound barrier wall was about 20 feet from our “tent site” (a patch of gravel dirt next to some RVs) and you could see the exit ¾ miles sign from our tent. Although it was not the most ideal campout it worked for the trip.

Saturday evening we headed to the Balloon Fiesta Park for the famous balloon glow. Along with the rest of the crowd we staked out our blanket spot and enjoyed some Pad Thai (our food vendor of choice). As the sun started to go down pilots got out their balloons and started to blow their balloons up. Occasionally they would light up the balloons and the colors of the balloons would glow against the night sky. It was amazing.

After the balloon glow, Allie and I decided that we needed a more substantial dinner than a shared plate of Pad Thai. Together we shared a nice dinner of Olive Garden (only after haggling for some free food using the argument “We are devoting a year of our life to national service” IT WORKED). After some commercial Italian we headed back to the KOA to catch some ZZzzz’s before day two of the balloon glow.

Up bright and early at 4:20 am we were packed up camp in the dark and hopped into the car to head to the park for day two of the balloon fiesta. Once again in the early morning before dawn there was another balloon glow and this one was even more amazing than the night before. Then just as dawn appeared balloons started floating into the sky one by one. As the sun grew higher the balloons began to launch faster and faster. In fact they were launching practically on top of us! I must have seen over 100 balloons fly into the sky. If anyone is ever thinking of taking a trip to New Mexico I would definitely say to plan it in October and take in some of the Balloon Fiesta.

The Balloon Fiesta is just one example one of the many reasons I am thrilled to be doing Americorps. By living in a different area of the country I am getting to see and experience things I might never have the chance to. I am excited to see what I will do with the rest of my year.

Starting Work, Settling In and Dorm Life Again!

Well I know that I have been a bad blogger! But my life has been so busy over the past few weeks that I really haven’t had a chance to update. Since I last wrote I started work with the Ramah Navajo Continuing Education Department. It is nice after being out of school for a few months to sink my teeth back into some work that I enjoy. My major project over the year is to help improve workforce development. Hopefully in the end of my service that will mean that I have put into place some training programs, wrote (and received J) a few grants, and developed a few green jobs. But for right now I am in the humble beginnings of my work, meaning I spend all day in front of my computer doing research. Honestly I am happy as a clam doing that. Anyone who went to UMass with me knows that I perversely enjoy sitting on Google and patching together various compilations of key words to bring up successful searches. I love the challenge of refining searches to bring up the exact data needed. So as of right now I have gathered quite an archive of information on green job development in tribal communities and on adult education in family learn centers. Hopefully over the next few weeks I will be meeting with community leaders to learn about programs in place and what they would like to see in terms of workforce development. I will pair this information with my prior research and hopefully begin drafting the blueprints for my major projects.

Along with enjoying work, I am really settling into life here. There is a wellness center with a little gym in it that I can use for free. I have made it a habit to get there a couple times a week. I am really happy about that because I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with working out in the middle of nowhere so finding a gym was a nice surprise. Also last Thursday another VISTA I met in training was driving by Pinehill on her way to her site and we were able to meet up for dinner at a little restaurant. I ate some really good green chile enchiladas; however they DO NOT hold a candle to the food at Anita’s in NoVa. It is nice to have another VISTA close by (relatively we are 2-3 hrs apart but in these parts that is dinner date distance). This coming weekend we are going to campout near Albuquerque and see the International Balloon Fiesta. So excited! Finally this weekend I went to a fall festival a little ways up the road. There were lots of artisans, a farmers market, and a group of Zuni women performing traditional dances. Who knew there was so much to do in the middle of nowhere?!

Another major change this week was my living situation. I have been living temporarily in a woman’s house in the community but I couldn’t stay there permanently because of rules and regulations around tribal housing. Luckily another option came up and on Sunday I moved into the children’s dormitory. The children’s dorm is a place where students from1st grade to 12^th grade can live during the school week. I believe that the theory behind the dorms is to help develop leadership and independence and that having an academically focused after school environment can lead to students doing better in schools. I am going to be able to stay at the dorm for free in exchange for doing an hour or so of after school activities a night with the children in the dorms. These past two nights I have been running a study hour for elementary age students. The work is more challenging than I thought. For example, several of the kids had division homework but they did not know multiplication. How are you supposed to teach division if kids don’t know multiplication? I tried explaining how to solve the problems in a number of different ways but I am not sure if the kids grasped it. Any advice from teachers (MOM) would be great! However the kids are really sweet and I think I am going to enjoy working with them.

Well that is all I have for now! Look for the next post which will most likely be about the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!