Retreat and White Sands

So last weekend we went on a retreat with BSC in Cloudcroft.  It was a wonderful break and very needed.  Cloudcroft is about 90 miles East of Las Cruces in the Mountains.  It is at about 8500 feet and therefore is quite different then here.  It was so nice to see trees, walk in the woods and escape into nature.  There are 18 of us volunteers and we all were staying in a VERY small (but nice) house that one of the board members lent us.  The house only had one bedroom and a loft so about half of us camped outside on their wrap around deck.   It sounds crowded and not very restful but surprisingly we made it work.  It was really just a quite time to hangout,cook and eat good food ( kind of like being at my parents house).

Tucker decided on the last day to go "exploring" by himself in the woods.  A very wise idea - i'm sure we would all agree.  He packed water, some snacks, color tags to mark his trip and was off.  On his way out I convinced him to take the cell phone - just in case.  Well while he was gone for 4 hours (much longer then expected) i went for a hike with some of the other volunteers.  When I returned I see Tucker with a rip in his shorts, cuts and scratches all over his legs - he is looking a little disheveled.  It turns out that he got a little lost. (or a lot lost)  No worries - he made it back and promised to never do that again!  Lesson learned without too many consequences. 

Below are some pictures from my hike and the drive out of town. 

That is White Sands in the Distance - about 40 miles

Us with housemate Amy

On our way home from Cloudcroft Amy, Tucker and I decided to stop off at the famous White Sands National Monument.  It is awesome!  It is about 100 square miles of white sand dunes in the desert.  We just drove through, got out and walked around a little, but will be visiting again soon.  People bring sleds and go sledding down the dunes and they say its amazing to visit during a full moon.  I want to go back and go back-country camping  - I can only imagine the stars at night.   

 

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A Taste of Tuesday Night in Las Cruces

Every Tuesday night Tucker and I have a date night.  As you know we live in community and often are busy doing things with housemates, other BSC volunteers or work.  Because of this we have decided to have one night each week that is just the two of us.  We have had a really fun time hunting out fun yet cheap places to go, eat, and enjoy.  Here are some of our favorites.

Getting Pho at Pho Saigon
Surprisingly there is this great Vietnamese restaurant right around the corner from our house.  The waiter is awesome and very chatty.  Last time we were in there it was raining really hard (one of the 5 times a year) and he was telling us stories of being hit by lighting in Arizona.  At least that is what I think he was saying - wasn't quite sure I understood it all but he is super friendly and makes you want to come back.  The Pho is amazing!

$3 Movie Theater
There is a three dollar movie theater that plays mostly bad movies that have already come out on DVD.  It has all of the great accommodations like sticky floors that never get washed, heavy smoke filled screen curtains, squeaky chairs with broken springs, and the smell of stale popcorn.  It is great!  Tuesday nights all movies are only a dollar - our favorite night.

Dollar scoop night 
Tuesday nights Baskin Robbins has $1 a scoop night.  I guess business in Las Cruces is slow on Tuesdays because we seem to find Tuesday night deals all over.  For two dollars and we get movie and ice cream.  How can you beat that?

"A" Mountain


So "A" mountain, which is really named Tortuga Mountain, sits at the edge of town overlooking the city.  It is marked with a large painted "A" which is for the Aggies - the New Mexico State University mascot.  It isn't huge but large enought to have four or five trails which you can take  to the top and see the city.  We have  enjoyed biking out to the base of the mountain (about six miles out) and then hiking to the top to see the sunset.  Except for the trail up the face of the mountain, the trails aren't marked very well so we have done a lot of "off trailing it" which has been an adventure.  I am continuously paranoid we are going to run into a rattler and I do NOT look forward to this!

Local Theater
There are quite a few local theaters in town all of which are $10 and under!  I have yet to drag Tucker out with me but went and saw The Importance of Being Ernest at the black box theater this weekend.  I was thoroughly impressed by both the performance and the  theater.  Next weekend we are going to try out Steel Magnolias which is being performed at the community theater.  It will be interesting to see how the two  theaters compare.


Pro Ranch Market
So Las Cruces is blessed with a Pro Ranch Market and if you have lived in a region on the border you probably are familiar with this taste of Mexico.  Ranch market is a chain grocery/market store that caters to a Mexican/Mexican American community.  It started in California and has spread east along the boarder. 
It really is both a grocery store and market!  It has an enormous produce section as well as a food court, agua fresca bar, tortilleria, bulk spice section etc.  It is almost like the borders version of a Wegmans.  Shopping there is a cultural experience and it has quickly become our favorite grocery store!

So this being said they have a great cheap food area.  Our favorites are their 5 for $5 tacos or $1 gorditas.  Gorditas are an awesome creation of fried cornmeal pockets filled with meat, chili, cheese avocados etc.

Gordita - YUM!

Local Mexican
As you can imagine there are so many delicious and affordable Mexican restaurants in the area.  We try to find a new one each time we go out so that when we get visitors we will have chosen a favorite!  So far Chili con Carne and Carne adovada are my favorite meals.

Carne Adovada - you eat it with tortillas, avocado and veggies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hiking Pictures - Part 2

So has most of you have probably realized one of our favorite weekend pastimes has been hiking the mountains surrounding Las Cruces.  It has become a Saturday ritual to sleep in and then take off for the Organs in the afternoon.  I think one of our favorite hikes so far is the Achenbach trial.  Tucker wrote an entry about it earlier without pictures.  It is an unmarked trail that his hidden at the base of the mountains.  We are lucky we heard about it from a friend because you have to maneuver off of two (also unmarked) dirty roads to get to the trail head.  The best part of this hike is that we rarely see anyone on it and once you get past the first layer of mountains you feel like you are in a different planet.  There are areas that look like villages of bolder creatures and then right next to them large green desert valleys (who know that even existed).  The thing I can't get over is how large and BLUE the sky is.  It is amazing!  The green is starting to slowly fade so you can't see it in these pictures but a few weeks ago everything was this bright green/yellow and when it hit the bright blue sky it felt like you were in a psychedelic film.  

Here are some pictures from our last hike in Achenbach.They aren't a lot different from our last hiking post but we figured we would post them anyway. 

 

Sporting my new Camelbak!

Entering Bolder Creatures

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Settling In and Slowing Down

The last few weeks at work have been an adjustment for me.  I am coming from a job and culture that values getting things done quickly and efficiently - and this is something I can do well.  But I have found that with moving quickly to achieve, I also have felt more pressure and stress at work and in my life.  Being me - I have fought these tendencies while living in Baltimore but was never able to truly escape the stress that seeped in from the fast pace of my life and work.

With this background I entered my job here.  When I started I was given an idea of what they would like and I jumped in full force.  I started researching different citizenship programs, what a successful program needs, things we would want to plan for in the future, etc.  In the first two weeks I had gathered a binder full of resources, written a proposal for the board and begun implementing the structure needed to start our new program.  Now, I realize to most of you reading this you might think - great job!  Way to get things done! However, I have started to realize that this might not have been the best way to attempt change here and that by slowing down I am able to better serve this community.

The past two weeks I have been learning how to slow down at work.  I did all of my work in the first two weeks so the past two weeks I have been waiting - waiting for students - waiting for textbooks to come -waiting for people to collaborate with.  At first I felt a sense of disappointment and boredom - what do I do now?  How can I be successful if I don't have anything to do?  Why aren't people getting back to me right now?  I need to get classes up and running, etc.  But my co-workers have taught me some lessons these two weeks.  The most important thing has been that in the work we are doing relationships and building trust are more important than just "doing."  While "waiting" I have spent entire afternoons drinking coffee and talking with my co-workers.  Getting to know them.  Learning about their families, their lives, and their stories.  I have been able to learn more about CDC and how I fit into their long term goals.  I believe this attitude towards work also reflects a different set of values.  It is evident to me that because I have spent so much time with my co-workers just talking they have been able to open up more to me.  I have shown that I value them, as people, and their opinions.  That they are worth my time and are just as important as the work we are doing.  The atmosphere at work and ability to collaborate has changed immensely.  By building my relationships with my co-workers I am also building an understanding of the people we serve and accompany at work.  With this time, I have begun to earn their trust and because I am the only gringa it becomes even more important for me to do this.  The history I carry with me, and the experiences my co-workers and clients have lived through, is one that needs time to overcome if we are going to be able to move forward in our work together.

This being said this does not mean that we do not do work and that my co-workers do not value getting things done.  We work hard, but without the stress or pressure of worrying about our self-worth.  In our relationships we can validate our self-worth and thus create what I believe is a healthy balance between work and relationships. 

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Impressions of the Border

The border region is very unique in that it incorporates both Mexico and The United States and also reflects something transcending both nations.  I'm not sure if that makes sense, but because of the fusion of cultures and the transit between the two countries, both sides of the border have become a culture of "mixture" - of division and inclusion.  Getting to know this region has been eye opening, interesting and challenging.

El Paso/Ciudad Juarez is one of the most fascinatingly complex cities I have ever visited.  If you look at the city from a distance, and even while driving through it, you see only one city.  It isn't until you look closer and see the wall or canal which divides the city that you realize they are two cities in two different countries.  When we went to the city council meeting to be sworn in as AmeriCorps volunteers the mayor referred to the city as El Paso/Ciudad Juarez as if it were one city.  The city and city members see the need for the cities to function together and remember when the two cities could be more closely identified as one.  In the past six years (since 2006) this has had to change due to increased violence in Juarez - and there is a lot of credible speculation that it's inaccurate to "blame" the violence on drug-related activities in Juarez, that is, El Paso has a large part to play in terms of how and where the violence happens. Even though Jaurez has been horribly affected by violence in the past years, El Paso was rated one of the safest cities in the world with something like an average of 6 murders per year.  This disparity in numbers may reflect, some presume, the effects of political, police, and military negotiations between nations more so than actual cultures of violence endemic to Ciudad Juarez and Mexico generally -- not to dismiss the documented corruption among the Mexican military and paramilitary forces.

Many people live in Juarez and have work visas to come into El Paso everyday for work or live in the U.S. but go back and forth to visit family, etc.  The cultures and people are really inseparable. 

Las Cruces has also been really fascinating to get to know.  The area is so Mestizo that most people in the community support the Latino population and the integration of Mexican culture into the city and society.  NM is one of two bilingual states in the U.S., Hawai'i being the other one. (While Hawai'i has passed formal legislation, there remains some disagreement as to whether New Mexico's bilingual status is official: in practice, yes; in principle, it's debatable.)  The majority of the people here have grown up and lived in this mixed community or have moved here because they value the diversity.  Sometimes there is a little resistance within Las Cruces to expose some of the harder immigration issues that occur in the region -- but there's no general motivation to expose the immigrants or undocumented workers themselves, at least not on the part of the area's residents, as far as I can tell. Of course, there are tensions and issues just like everywhere, but the folks here seem to be aware of difference.  And their ability to imbrace and discuss it impresses me.

 In total, NM is an awesome state!  I think as a whole it is more inclusive, open and welcoming as a whole than any other "American" city/state I've lived in. I have experienced a little resistance from the Chicano population to white people who come in to do service, but I have found that because I am working with (at my job) all Chicana or Mexican women (I'm the only gringa) that with time I am able to build trust and relationships.  I think it just takes time.  In my experience here at work and in the colonias, with time and patience it becomes obvious that I'm not here to take over or tell people what to do or think.  

El Paso/Ciudad Juarez Border

El Paso/Ciudad Juarez

If you are interested in learning more about immigration or the border region I am building a list of films that explore the topic.  Be warned, however, that some are pretty sad.

Featured Films

• Sin Nombre - Gangs and reasons for youth immigration  (can watch on Netflix)
• A Better Life - A father and son in the U.S.
• Entre Nos - Difficulties of making it once in the United States.
• La Misma Luna - Mother and Child Immigrants (can watch on Netflix)
• Harvest of Empire  - Brand New

Documentaries

• Which Way Home - About immigrant children (can watch on Netflix)
• El Sicario Room 164 - About an Assassin hired by the Mexican police in Juarez
• Murder Capital - About the violence in Ciudad Juarez
• Presumed Guilty - corruption in Legal system in Mexico

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El Paso

On Friday (9/21) we visited El Paso to participate in events, sponsored by UTEP, honoring the International Day of Peace. We started the day by watching the documentary, Which Way Home. We then attended a film preview and discussion exploring the violence in Ciudad Juarez. After that we helped with a public art project. Finally, we visited UTEP's Centennial museum. All in all, a great day. Below are some pictures.

Taken near the UTEP campus, a view of the mountains hugging Juarez

Stuffed beaver on display at the Centennial museum

Mimbres pottery - Tucker's favorite

Mimbres bowl depicting a turtle

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