Highlights from January

How is it possible that the month of January is reaching its end? My past month has been transitioning into a new rhythm while also trying new activities and seeing new places in Tucson. Here are a couple of highlights that I've been up to in the past few weeks:

Housesitting!

My supervisor and partner who also works at WMG asked me a while back if I was interested in taking care of their chickens and 2 little kittens (Beto and Memo) for two weeks, and that was an absolute yes for me! I've been there since mid-January, and it feels nice to have daily outdoor chores of taking care of the garden, chickens, and kittens, and staying at their house. They live further north along the Rillito River, which has been fun to see the Catalina Mountains every morning and take walks and bike rides along the bike loop when I get the chance. I'll finish up next Monday, but this has been taking up a lot of my time along with some over activities.

Trash Clean Up along Pantano Creek

I led my 2nd trash clean-up on January 14th. It was a gorgeous afternoon to be along the river, and I really enjoyed my time out there. I ironed out some of the bumps that happened during my first event, and I felt more confident and calm leading a group of 25 volunteers. This initiative is something I'm leading every month up until July, so it's nice to feel comfortable and get used to the process of prepping and organizing the event from start to finish.

It's been confirmed that I fit in with the true Tucsonans and always comment on the weather when it's cloudy and raining, and last week after it rained, I got very excited when I biked to the Rillito River to see it flowing! Enjoy some photos of a moderately flowing river thanks to some winter rains! It's not often you see water flowing bank to bank.

Jan 20-23: weekend of doing

We celebrated Jessie's 23rd birthday on Jan 20th by taking a hike in the Catalina foothills and then went to a vegan restaurant for dinner. Jessie and I have made a plan to complete the main Huckleberry Bike Loop by Easter (and I'm telling you all now to hold us accountable). It's about 55 miles, so we are planning out Saturdays in the next few months when we can take long bike rides. Cade, Jessie, and I took a Saturday morning and biked about 30 miles along the Santa Cruz River and Rillito River to explore a new section. Overall, it was pretty smooth, although I have learned that having a volunteer mountain bike is not the most efficient in terms of speed and effort.

We then in the evening went contra dancing in our neighborhood. I didn't grow up dancing in my Mennonite home, but I must say that I had a ton of fun and will attend again! I loved the live fiddle, bass, and guitar band and meeting new community members. I didn't expect to get so sweaty and to be asked to be someone's partner after every dance.

On Sunday, we had a tour of the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab through the University of Arizona from someone at our church who works there. You should read more about it because I definitely can't explain it! The who tour I was fascinated by the work they were doing, and most of the tour and content were well above my head, but it was nice to stretch my learning and be amazed. We rounded out our weekend by going to Maico Mexican Restaurant again (where we went after our first week of work) where we got burritos to celebrate (and spend some extra money we had).

Other Updates:

Jessie and I finished up our ultimate frisbee league on Jan 18th, so now we have free Wednesday nights. My goal for the next few months is to find a volleyball league! I enjoyed Ultimate, but I'm ready to get back on a court (outdoor or indoor) and play something I know how to play. We've also started reading a book called See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur for our house programming with some other young adult volunteers. Last night, we had an official potluck with our SOOPer neighbors that live in RVs in our driveway. It was so much fun to be in the community and share stories and conversations together.