Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Jane enjoys the dorm life and does not burst into flames

Beautiful flowers near the Navajo Prep School campus

Our dorm
Our room

Hi, blog followers! Sorry for the big delay in posting. It's been a little bit hectic for the past couple of weeks.

Our new house is still quite a mess but I had to leave town on June 17 for the Healthy Native Communities Fellowship retreat in Shiprock, NM. Well, actually, the HNCF headquarters is in Shiprock, but we stayed in Farmington. Not to diss New Mexico, but I had terrible cell phone service and intermittent internet service while there, which is part of my excuse for not posting. The rest of my excuse is that they ran us ragged, day and night!

We left Unalaska and spent the first night in Anchorage with an early flight the next day to Portland, then Denver, then Durango, then got picked up in Durango and driven to Farmington. "Tired" is not a strong enough word! We stayed at the Navajo Prep School and got to have the dorm experience. Donna, Char and I were all assigned to the same room and the bathrooms/showers were down the hall. There was little to no air conditioning and the cafeteria food left a lot to be desired. But we were told that it is good to be humbled once in awhile and we should remember how many people endure these kinds of hardships and worse every day. Personally, I did not mind being uncomfortable all that much, remembering my fun times at the Peace Farm or washing dishes under a cold faucet coming out of the ground in Chiapas with Pastors for Peace. It's true, though, that I do enjoy my modern conveniences and a private bathroom and don't often willingly give them up. :) The opinions ran the gamut from "no biggie" to "I've worked hard for what I have and I don't need to be humbled." The lucky ducks who rented cars were seen leaving campus for most meals and running around town at night. We looked into renting but after seeing that it would be almost $500 for the rest of the week, decided we were not all that desperate for a vehicle.

My ethics and honor were tested when it was discovered that the only thing right nearby was a WalMart. Everyone was walking over to buy drinks and snacks and fans for their rooms. Donna offered to buy me some bottled tea and I was sorely tempted but decided that my boycott was meaningless if I gave in. After being informed that there was a Subway inside the WalMart, though, I relented and walked through the store to get to Subway to buy a sandwich and a big iced tea. Donna said she wished she'd had a photo of me strolling in the door. I rationalized that Subway is independent even though it is situated within the store. I know I am probably fooling myself but I couldn't help it. :)

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