It's the start of the college football season, and everyone on campus has been gearing up for this weekend's Rio Grande Rivalry game between UNM and NM State. The Lobos won, which I'm told is a very rare occurrence. The Thursday before the game, just as the sun finishes setting, the UNM drum line and elements of the marching band take to Johnson Field, and kick off the famous Red Rally. Hundreds of students crowd around for a giant night pep rally, including a stage with MCs and lots of dance music, and it all culminates in the burning of a 20-foot tall paper-mache Aggie (NM State's mascot) that has been constructed during the week. The cheer is apparently "Everyone's a Lobo! Woof woof woof!". I prefer UConn's.
That same evening, a few of us from my apartment bloc decided to get together and have a celebratory New Mexican food dinner. One of the guys in my apartment is Navajo and knows how to prepare and grill pretty much everything (he's told us stories about trapping and grilling prairie dog over a fire before, in the traditional Navajo way). This time though, we settled for ribs, steak, potatoes, salad and of course green chiles. Apparently you don't slice up the chiles, you grill them whole, and then eat them whole, either that same day or throughout the week as a snack. These green chiles were big, over 6 inches long, but apparently you can get ones much bigger than that. I didn't think to take pictures of the food until I had almost finished the last chile, but here it is!
Later that weekend, I ventured way off-campus for the first time, since I was invited to hang out with one of my friends from one of my linguistics classes (who happened to be from right next door in Rhode Island!). Here's some shots of the trip over. Walking around I was surprised how empty the streets were, and how town-like this part of the city felt, seeming a lot farther from my on-campus apartment than just about 2 miles.
I suppose it could've just been because it was around 5 on a Saturday evening, but still, I wondered where everyone was. I wasn't able to get a good shot, but the street my friend was on sloped downwards, so you could see the entirety of the city that was in the lowlands clustered around the Rio Grande. Also, most houses' yards just had red dirt and some cactus and/or sage. A few yards laid down astro turf though. I didn't see any real grass at all!
It was a very fun evening of hanging out, and even better, I didn't even have to worry about food at all (which in this case was a hearty New England-y stew, paired with rice).
That was because, next in the line of amazing coincidences, not only is my friend a fellow New Englander, but she also has Celiac Disease! And, seeing as I had just gotten some gluten free chocolate pizzelle from home that day, I brought over the ones that had survived transit whole. Everyone enjoyed them, and my friend was especially glad to be able to enjoy something from home (there is Italian food out here in ABQ, but for the most part it's nothing like from CT or RI). Plus these were homemade!
All in all, a fun High Desert weekend, even if it is still in the high 80s every single day here. I will admit I did miss being able to go to the Big E this year, but as you can see, there's still plenty of fun new things around here to explore and experience!
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