updates

what we've been up to:

joe worked all day friday. he's putting together a syllabus for his class which starts on monday. he also has to clean the ceramics room so will be going in tomorrow (sunday) to do that and prepare for class. yesterday i interviewed for an americorps position. the interview went well and they basically told me i have the job. i'm not sure what i will do; i may not accept the position depending upon what happens with the museum job i applied for earlier. i have to decide by tuesday.

my museum contact, holly, has been very helpful and encouraging about the open position with the museums. she's the one who checked out our house before we signed the lease about a month ago. i am meeting with her tomorrow morning for breakfast with a few other museum people. i also have plans to have coffee with her monday morning. she invited me to a city-wide 'arts luncheon' this coming friday which will be a good way for me to meet other people who work in the arts around town. obviously the museum job is a priority for me, but i'd hate to turn down the americorps position (tutoring at-risk kids) only to be left jobless...and i don't anticipate that the museums will do interviews for at least a few weeks. i hope to talk to holly about my chances and explain the situation to her early this week. i'll keep everyone posted.

let's see, last night we went out to eat with lots of joe's program people. it was cool to meet his co-workers. then the past americorps members for his program 'initiated' the newcomers, including joe, last night. that was pretty funny...i tagged along as a 'witness'. it involved a ceremony IN the Rio Grande. i was very glad i wasn't in the water, that river is really disgusting. i'll leave it to joe to describe the event in more detail...

today we got up and checked out the Railroad Museum; if i got the museum job I would be working both there and at the Branigan Cultural Center. it was interesting...we chatted with a volunteer there for quite a while. so far the people we've met have been really nice and happy to talk about the town and recommend things for us to do. we ate lunch in Mesilla at an italian place. then we went to the public library and got library cards and checked out lots of books about the area and area art. i'm halfway done with a book about the history of las cruces itself. our house is in the oldest part of town, so it's neat reading about all the places and people because it all took place within a few blocks of where we are.