Travel Blog

So, Phil mentioned I took a job with kids. Can you believe that? Goes to show how desperate for work I was, right? Well, not only did I make it through the entire week, they liked me so much there that they asked me back for a couple more days this week. Pretty good considering when the phone call came in and the temp agency said it was working with kids, I very nearly (and automatically) said "no way!" But as the head of the school told me, "You have the touch." Ha! Take that, everyone who knows me.

It was a very interesting gig, though. The school was on a reservation (pueblo). I was actually called "white girl" one day by one of the women I was working with. She wanted to make sure the "white girl" could handle eating chilies. I said "bring 'em on." Oh, yeah, I was fed like four times a day there. And one day they served fry bread. If you've never experienced fry bread, come out west and make sure you do. Heavenly.

Even though the initial job description had me with Head Start-aged kids that I would read to and stuff like that, when I got to the school, they placed me in the Infant Room. That's where the kids from ages 8 weeks to 2 years go. And yes, that means they need their diapers changed. Luckily, the first time I tried, I totally ruined a diaper (put it on the kid backwards and somehow managed to rip the little tab completely off), and since they're so expensive, they didn't make me do that anymore. And no, I didn't ruin it on purpose just for that outcome. But my day was spent playing with four 2-year old girls and sometimes playing with and/or feeding two almost-a-year-old boys. And the really interesting part was learning a bit more about Native culture, especially when Nana came in for language class. She would sit the children down and do nursery rhymes and stuff in their language. It was really neat to hear "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in their language. I was lucky to just be able to be in the room for that, I think. Non-native folks aren't privvy to a bunch of their tribal things, and it was cool to be a part of that in any way. I was even invited to their summer feast and the Buffalo Dance that's coming up this month, but unfortunately, Phil and I will be moving on to Arizona before the dance, and we'll be in South Dakota this summer.

Oh, that reminds me, we got summer jobs in Custer State Park in South Dakota. It's for sure now, so we aren't afraid to tell people. Yay! Phil will be front desk manager and I'll be working in the gift shop at the State Game Lodge. Check it out online. It looks pretty darn awesome.

That's it for now. I don't know how often we'll be blogging. We just bought Phil a new computer because the old one got dripped on and fried, and the day after we got the new one home, my computer when kablooey. Not cool. We don't have it in the budget right now to buy me one (keep your fingers crossed for our visit to the Tax Lady on February 13th), and I hate using Phil's messy desk, so I'll do the best I can. I also lost my writeup of all the pictures I've used at the top of the page, so if we repeat any too often, that's our excuse.