"how do you speak in indiana?"

today was our arrival in pinon. we finally made it. we left the shade-conolodge and stopped at a tiny gas station to fill up before heading to the reservation. it was raining and i had to pump standing under maggie's umbrella. i had to pre-pay, and the little old navajo woman had to tell me the trick to get the gas to come out of my pump. it was charming, in a scary sort of way.
we headed out of gallop and drove towards window rock, the first big city on the reservation (and, as maggie reminded me, the capitol). the navajo national history museum, which we had planned on stopping in, was closed, so we kept driving through window rock. we started getting up higher into the mountains and crossed paths with a rather fierce blizzard. i was driving, which was fine, but the car doesn't have four wheel drive, which i was nervous about. i ended up getting behind a truck and going 30 mph or so for about 10 miles, up and down hills, completely unable to see anything except the truck and the silhouettes of dark green pine trees. out of nowhere, the storm stopped, and the skies cleared. we continued!

since we had to drive through chinle which is fairly close to canyon de chelly (pronounced shay), we decided to stop and see the sights. canyon de chelly is awesome. so beautiful. i took a lot of great pics, which are on my flikr account. we hiked a bit and went to a couple different lookouts. it was super windy and chilly, but definitely wonderful. i also got to break in my hiking boots. they're working just swimmingly.

after that, we headed to pinon. the drive there, about an hour away from chinle, was incredible. once we got into town, we were happy to find cows, horses, sheep, and wild dogs roaming free, sometimes getting in the way of the car. i really hope to get some experience working with animals.

once we got to pinon itself, we realized a couple things. one: it's smaller and more run-down than we anticipated. two: the schools and the bashas' are the nicest places. we drove up to the community school and talked to phyllis, who said we would be living in a house instead of the dorms because the student population is decreasing, so they closed all of the dorms but once, which has only one bathroom per floor, hence the housing unit assigned to us. BUT there isn't any furniture in there yet, so we're staying in a totally empty dorm for (hopefully) tonight. mrs. denali was the dorm lady who helped us out, and she was very friendly.

after settling into the dorm, i took a shower and a nap. maggie and i went to the cafeteria at 5 and helped serve dinner to the students. we got a chance to eat, too. janet was the cafeteria lady that we helped, and we sat with a lady named nora, who talked to us about the school and the kids. i kind of got a more traditional vibe from her, since she kept looking behind me and not necessarily directly in my eyes. i just followed her lead. most of the other ladies look right in my eye, so i'm not feeling as anxious about that whole thing as i was prior to getting here. the kids were adorable and just like "regular" kids, whatever that means.

after dinner, we helped clean up, cleaned tables, and mopped the floors, which was a workout, for sure. now we're relaxing in our dorm, waiting for tomorrow....

TOMORROW. now it's today. we get up. we get dressed. we get psyched. we look out the window. it's a blizzard. we drive to the schools. it's a snow day.

we go back to the community school (aka the dorm, henceforth known as pcs). we go serve breakfast, clean the cafeteria, mop the floors (twice). we go to the kids' dorm to see what's up. we hang with some boys for a bit, watching spongebob. i bring in pickupsticks and dominoes and tangrams, thanks to mom. they are a smash hit. we play a few more board games. we go serve lunch, clean the cafeteria, mop the floors (twice). we collapse in our rooms. i get depressed. then we serve dinner, clean the cafeteria, mop the floors (twice).

we go to bashas' and get bashas' cards. we're official residents of pinon now. we get some stuff to eat since we have the evening to chill out, watch tv, compute, and rest. we head back to drop off stuff and see what the kids are doing. maggie goes to the dorm and i go to the gym. big kids play basketball, little kids play eat-popcorn-and-drink-slushies-from-the-consessions-stand. i chat with nora, and she tells me about her family. we head back and the kids eat chocolate cake and drink cocoa. now we're back in the dorm, using the computers in mrs. benaly's office.

heard a girl say "that's cheap" today. she said it when she found out we don't get paid.

i can't describe how amazingly cool these kids are. i'm always in awe of most kids, but man. these kids are so helpful and kind towards one another, so mature, and so intelligent. they are way more mature than their "regular" american counterparts, i'd say. they're so funny. they're always trying to test maggie and me, too, by telling us blatant lies. we catch them. we've actually got some of them believing that we're living in chinle (1 hr away) in a hotel. we just didn't want them finding out where our dorm is (since there's no lock!). i've been having a great time just getting to know them... mostly the younger ones. i'm still scared of the high schoolers.

today was definitely an up and down day. i felt depressed in the afternoon, but hanging with the kids was so awesome. i miss my friends and family, and daniel, and bloomington, but i'm feeling good about getting settled in here and starting to meet people. i met this awesome man named gerald today. he's a cafeteria worker. he was really interested in us and was into sharing stories about his life. he also told us to beware if a navajo man says "hey, shhhhh!" because it's a love-call. he invited us to a mystery event (dance?) at his house on friday. pumped. also hinted at further events that may occur down the road. double pumped.

got a really nice email from alys today. also one from my AI tim and another participant who's staying in kayenta, paul. got a couple of reports to submit to IU tomorrow... on snow day #2. we'll see how long we don't have school.