And then there is ME... Megan Yip

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Albuquerque - Sky City Cultural Center

Today we are going to the Sky City Cultural Center. It's a museum preserving Native American traditions. We are going to see the place where they live and learn about their culture.

Ah... so much more interesting than State Capitols (to me anyway).

The scenery along the way is already very promising.

Isn't the rock formation interesting?

Here we are!

Oh no! Soooooooo cold! And we're told it's gonna be even colder up there.

Hanging around the center waiting for the tickets and bus to bring us up. See the lollipop in Megan's hand? She gets them wherever she goes. Every place we go seems to have a large pot of candies at the reception.

Almost Christmas!

Is this where we wait for the bus?

Can I sit and rest first?

Ah... I think I spotted the bus.

There it is!

This is their church. You know what's the challenging part? We can't talk inside. How to bring my girl in? And no photography, sigh... How to show you how amazing the place is? I can't even begin to imagine how they manage to bring the logs in. And there isn't a single nail in the entire building!

The whole gang. From Poland, Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Egypt, etc etc.

Oh... did I mention this is an inhabited community? No water, no electricity... Gosh.

That smile on my face? It's frozen on. Me with a cardigan at below 10 degrees.

My poor mom... only Megan seems to be well covered.

Hmmm.... I think my lollipop is almost gone.

Pottery shopping

Ah.... this is not an igloo. But I felt like hiding inside. By now, my fingers and ears are starting to hurt.

This is an.............. OVEN! Hee hee.... We were told that the breads baked from here are absolutely yummy.

Love the view

My girl busy climbing rocks.

No more lollipops, gotta find some other entertainment.

Oh wow.... can I buy this, please?

She was so taken with this trinklet we bought. It's like a string which you hang around your neck, with feathers on both ends.

Village looks deserted huh? We didn't really see anyone except for those hawking their wares.

That's the Cultural Center where we took the bus from.

The guide. A real Indian! And the rest of the guys preparing to walk down back to the center. Us with the young one and the old one will guai guai wait for the bus to bring us back down again.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Albuquerque - Part III (New Mexico State Capitol)

"Snowwwwwwwwww!" Somebody exclaimed. Everyone on the bus turned to the window sleepily. Then out came the cameras and clicking. Luckily, I'm not the only mountain tortoise!

Pity it's just a thin layer. Snow had fallen overnight and it's such a pretty sight. The problem is.... I wasn't prepared for such cold weather!

But luckily, being the kiasu parent we are, our precious girl was well protected. We show her that smoke comes out of our mouth by exhaling. And she kept trying and trying.

See? Her mouth never close! She couldn't get the effects we were achieving. Guess she don't have as much "hot air" as we do! Hee hee.

The problem with updating the blog 3 months later..... I can't remember who the heck is that!

Here we are, at the New Mexico State Capitol. All ready for our tour.

A lot of these tours require us to listen to the guide's introduction to the place and its history. Megan manage to stay still and "listen" most of the time.

I vaguely remember this as where most of the voting takes place. Hmmm... need to update more timely next time. Just goes to show how my brains work these days. Sigh.... I think its all filled up with nursery rhymes.

I'm so thankful each time she manage to sit through the talks without fussing. And there's sooooooooo many times that I almost wanted to fuss too.

" Yeah... I can get up and move around now!"

"Arghhhhh.... another one?"

"Hmmm... art pieces huh? I bet I can do that"

I remember this particular piece coz I was so impressed by it. This artwork is done entirely with sand. The sand was collected from different states.

"Yikes! That's art? It's a scary monster!"

This was made entirely out of newspapers. Can't imagine how long it took!

"More pictures? Can I come down and run, please? This is so boring!"

"Yawn.... What's so nice about all these?"

"Sigh... can we go out now?"

"Where's dad? Another meeting?"

"How much longer?"

"I feel like I've been waiting here forever"

"Arghhhh.... what are you guys doing?"

"OMG! Another talk!"

Usually, when we reach this stage, the infinate meetings where she's about to explode out of boredom, out comes the sweets. That can buy me some time before she goes crazy and start wailing away.