A Whole New World

Today has been an amazing day in Albuquerque. Everything is vastly different from what we are accustomed to back in Michigan. The landscape, the weather, the homes, the lifestyle, everything. From our hotel rooms, the Rocky Mountains are easy to see. Not only can we see the mountains, we can see for miles across the desert overlooking the city and surrounding areas. There are few, if any, high rise buildings to be seen here, which makes it unique compared to most large cities we have visited. It is quite a sight! Albuquerque weather is wonderful compared to Michigan weather (or at least in my opinion). There is practically no humidity, so the 96 degree weather we experienced today felt like Battle Creek's 70. We drove through several neighborhoods today and saw a variety of local homes. There were several similar characteristics of these homes that we do not have in Battle Creek: adobe walls, flat rooves, large fences/gates in front, cacti, and grass barren yards. The homes had modern doors, windows, etc, but the walls were the traditional clay. The lifestyle, at least of the Native Americans we are working with this week, is much more laid back than ours. The schedule is very loose, and all times are estimates. The organizers of today's activities had no problem allowing us to push back our start time this morning because of our late arrival last night. They aren't rushed and really enjoy life--we should all take a lesson from them!