The Traveling Journal of a Funky Cold Nomad: ABQ

It’s crazy to think I am over two months into my JV experience and this is my first post, but in light of recent events, I feel compelled to share with friends and family a little about how I’ve been doing.

So first let me start off by saying that I think I’m falling in love with this place. Generally speaking, all aspects of life here in Albuquerque have been good. I enjoy the weather which, much to my surprise, fluctuates throughout the year and isn’t consistently hot and dry. Living in community has been a source of joy, laughter, frustration, and exhaustion, but despite its drawbacks—or maybe due to them—I have grown to appreciate my community and be grateful for the roommates I have. My roommates are Alex Nafranowicz, Amanda Pilcher, Ben Daly, Chris Damon-Cronmiller and Ruth Pekar. I’ll have to write more about them in a future post, but for now it is sufficient to say that they have all helped me grow in my short time here.

I deeply enjoy my work.

My placement site is a charter school called ACE Leadership High School. I work in the community engagement office, a term which meant little to me until I actually started working there. I expected to be in an office of sorts and mainly be behind the scenes as I worked to connect the school with outside resources and community members. I have been pleasantly surprised that my expectations were wrong.

I do have an office (of sorts), but it is shared with my supervisor, Community Engagement Coordinator Andrew Werth, Transition Coach Daniel Wolfskehl (AKA Wolf) and our resident IT guy James Gillen. I cannot say enough how grateful I am to be sharing this space with these three. Besides their kind-hearted nature and propensity for humor, their dedication and love for what they do motivates me daily and makes my nine-to-five job seem anything but.

I also get to work very closely with the students at ACE—something I didn’t think would happen. I have come to build relationships with many of the students and over time some have come to trust me. They often come into my office at various points throughout the day to tell jokes, rap with me, draw and converse about everything from “what it takes to be a college student” to “how Kendrick Lamar is the truth”.

Every Wednesday is sports day for the kids. For the first trimester we’re playing flag football. There are 11 advisories that form the different teams each week and they rotate playing each other over the course of three 45 minute time periods. I have been playing all three periods with them and usually fill in for advisories with fewer players. This has become a highlight of my week. Most of my relationships with the male students have begun on the field. I would speak more about the students in particular, but I’m not sure if I can mention them by name. I’ll figure something out, but in the meantime I’ll keep you all in suspense.

Another positive aspect of life in Albuquerque has been my good friend Marci Baileys, who is getting her Master’s degree at UNM (University of New Mexico). As many of you probably know Marce went to Loyola with me. At first it was just really nice to have a familiar face in New Mexico, but throughout the last 2 months she’s become a part of our JV community and one of my best friends here.

There’s a lot to fill you guys in on and while I have been keeping a journal, it’s too daunting at the moment to record all of my recent happenings in this post. So enjoy the photos with captions at the end of the post for the time being haha.

I found it pressing to write this post because of something that happened this past Monday, October 7^th. This week was Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque—one of the few truly big events we have here. The event is the biggest hot air balloon gathering in the world and attracts international ballooners to a small field in Albuquerque for a week or so of flying, gazing, and overall enjoyment. On Monday my housemates, Marci, visiting JV Bekah Idel and I crewed for Heaven Bound Balloon. We helped the pilot, Allen, and his family set up and break down their balloon and enjoyed each other’s company on a beautiful brisk Albuquerque day. They agreed to have two of us ride in the balloon with Allen—which is awesome considering flights in hot air balloons run upwards of $200 per person per hour.

After winning a few games of intense Rochambeau, Amanda and I won the honor of riding for the day. I could barely contain my excitement as I realized I would be a thousand feet above Albuquerque in a hot air balloon during the biggest balloon festival of the year. My cheeks hurt from smiling too much. As the balloon filled with air and finally stood upright, I entered the basket and within minutes we began our ascent

It’s hard to put into words how beautiful it was. At our highest we were 1,250 feet above the ground. With the Sandia Mountains to our right and the entire city below, we floated in between vibrantly colored balloons of all shapes and sizes. It was a scene I knew I would never forget, and I took in every second of it.

The ride was going great and I felt an overwhelming sense of security despite being hundreds of feet above the ground. This security is what makes the following seem so jarring. As Allen began to descend for the landing everything was quiet. He was calm and reassuring in his confidence, and as far as I knew we’d be on the ground shortly. We were quickly approaching a rooftop when Allen turned to us and said “we’re going to clear the roof but you guys should bend your knees. It’s going to be a hard landing.” Even after he said this, the calm remained and I bent my knees and braced myself for the impact to come.

What happened next is a bit of a blur. I knew we were coming in fast but I wasn’t prepared for the brutality of the crash. We hit the ground hard—really hard—and caught the curb which caused the basket to tip over. Except, due to the speed at which we were traveling it was more violent than simply tipping over. I was launched out of the basket. Out of what I imagine to be either instinct or pure luck I tucked and rolled out the basket and landed face up on the rocky ground. The balloon then proceeded to lift up again as a result of the shift in weight, with Amanda and Allen still inside. As they ascended, however, the basket hit my head and dragged along my face. The balloon finally landed some 50 feet away from me. It had gotten tangled in a tree, causing the basket to overturn again and the skirt to catch on fire. Amanda and Allen walked away shaken but relatively intact.

I guess the adrenaline kicked in because before anyone could get to me I had stood up and was frantically pacing, holding my face and in serious pain. Luckily the whole crew was there and was ready to tend to us almost immediately. As I recall, an EMT who was a member of our crew took me over to his pickup truck and started running tests to see if I had broken anything. He then tested for a concussion. I passed both and once things calmed down, I made light of the situation by telling jokes and laughing. I could tell it probably looked worse than it felt. Ben said he thought for sure I had broken my legs and that we’d have to spend the day in the hospital. I could tell by the looks on my friend’s faces that they were shaken up as well. In my nervousness I guess I resorted to humor to make sense of what had just happened. And for the most part I could look at it through this lens as I am, for all intents and purposes, okay.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty sore and my mangled glasses served as a reminder of the crash. I felt a few things as I put my feet on the floor: relieved that I was waking up in my own room and not in a hospital, grateful that my glasses were the only thing beyond repair, and, more than both of these sensations, very much alive.

As ridiculous as the whole thing seems, and as much as I want to laugh about it and move on, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. I was more than scared. I was terrified. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes. I don’t know though. I might have imagined this part after the fact. But I do remember opening my eyes as the balloon picked up again and hoping to God that I was in one piece.

I don’t want over-dramatize it. There are worse things that could have happened. But in my short life this was pretty damn scary and it has made me appreciate the people and experiences that have made my life so satisfying and rich with love.

For that and for all who I've encountered, I am filled with gratitude and appreciation.

Much love as always,
Medina