Week 6 (I Think)

This week we were in Farmington, New Mexico. After a very long (10 hour) drive we arrived at San Juan College, which we would use as our home base. My host family was awesome, they have a hottub and fantastic food, plus a nice big bed! On Tuesday the entire cast went to the Kirtland Youth Association, which was similar to the Boys and Girls Club. We built a pond for storm runoff using geo-textile fabric and a bunch of rocks. It felt great to get out and sweat for the betterment of others :-)
Wednesday a part of the cast (including myself) went to the Farmington Salvation Army and painted a room that is used as a homeless shelter. We finished remarkably fast and had a fantastic handmade lunch!
Thursday was our first Culture Fair. This is when each country that is represented in the cast gets to have a booth dedicated to their way of life. I ran the "Jet Lag" simulator. For this, anyone who wanted to go to the Europe/Asia side of the room had to spin around 10 times then run 10 feet. It was a blast, and watching people fall over was hilarious. I also made a playlist of American Music and a slideshow of pictures from around the USA for the USA booth. We will have a Culture Fair almost every week, so my playlist will be heard everywhere.
Friday was a show rehearsal and then a sold-out show to 1,100 people. It felt amazing to perform for everyone again.
Saturday was Regional Learning Day. Since Farmington is near the Navajo reservation, we spent the day learning about the Navajo Culture. We did workshops on Navajo history, food and arts/crafts, and later we went to a trading post that sold Native American rugs and artwork. After that we went to Shiprock, a sacred place to the Navajo. We got to climb on the rift that comes out of the rock, and the view was mindblowing. I could see for miles, and when I climbed over the rift and the sun hit me, I felt a million emotions within me, and I felt as if I was about to enter heaven.
Earlier this week, I was very angry about parts of the day/tour. After talking to one of my friends, I listened to the song "Color Storm" by Bassnectar. As I listened to the song, I felt my body sink into the ground and my head begin to rise towards the ceiling. I am convinced I had an out of body experience, and it was an absolutely amazing feeling. I felt so many emotions within me: joy, anger, depression, euphoria. I will never forget what I experienced.
I have found that I am re-considering my thoughts on spirituality. I've noticed that since the tour begun I have been searching for a necklace that I can wear as a symbol of protection. I've begun to think that there is some energy out there that I can believe in that will keep me safe. I'm definitely out of my comfort zone, but it feels great.
Today we went trap shooting with a few shotguns, followed by a massive lunch. Such a great day with a great host family. Tomorrow we head to Silver City, NM for another great week.
Until then, stay cool yo.
--Specer