Navajo Nation Fair

This past weekend was the Navajo Nation Fair, and I spent Friday and Saturday with Allison, Dan and Melissa (librarian) walking around, seeing all the sites and riding the Ferris Wheel. If you want to talk about simple living, I only went on one ride, instead of buying a wristband for $20. Believe me, it was hard, I am an absolute fair ride junkie.

School was cancelled on Friday since the fair is such a big deal for the Navajo Nation, and I worked at the booth the school had set up in one of the halls. Some alumni came by and told us stories about going there, and we even had a few people interested in enrolling their students for the next year. I was glad to see that overall, we had a good amount of people interested in us rather than the free pens. I really enjoyed the Energy Expo they had at the fair and I was able to learn a lot about sustainability and water conservation on the reservation. It is a very barren landscape, although where we are located isn't exactly a full blown desert. I think I talked to one of the women working with water conservation for about 15 minutes, and she gave me a really nice canvas bag with their logo because she told me she could tell I was genuinely interested in what they were doing, not just getting the free stuff they had.

Saturday, the four of us walked 3 miles down the road to see the parade go by, including a float from SMIS that had students and teachers. When it passed, we saw one of our friends, Ann, dressed as St. Katherine Drexel, and could not stop laughing. I told her I didn't know many sisters who incorporated a basketball shirt and sneakers into their habit. But, it was great to see the students excited to be in the parade and we made sure we screamed loud and clear when they went past.

There were so many great moments this weekend, seeing students and parents at the fair and in the parade, meeting new people and getting to network a little bit with people who have long standing connections to SMIS. My skin still doesn't like Arizona, I go through sunblock like it is my job, but otherwise, a good weekend with some good fair food, fun people and a new experience to add to my list of reservation adventures.