Central College Abroad

The time here has just flown by! Once again a lot has happened since my last blog! We have visited a church from the colonial time period, a hacienda, and many other things and now we are preparing to go to Chiapas. There is just so many amazing things here that to witness that to try to mention them all and give mini descriptions just do not give them justice.

Like I said we went to an old colonial style church and hacienda on one field trip which proved to be very interesting. At the church there was an area where the Maya would worship outside since after the conquest they had to be converted to Catholicism and were not allowed into the church until they were baptized. They also had art work such as sculptures and murals. One sculpture that I found to be really fascinating was that of Jesus on the cross. I have learned over time that Jesus is sometimes interpreted in different ways. Some cultures show him as a tall white man, others as one of Arabic descent, and yet here Jesus was portrayed from a Maya point of view where he was short and stocky. It was really cool to see this part of the society that I haven’t been able to see here. On the way back from the church we stopped at Yaxcopoil and the hacienda there. It was a beautiful place where, during the henequen boom, a very wealthy family would have lived. This place was a town in itself and had so many amazing things. It was really great to see all the different styles of art and architecture that were present here that had been taken from places around the world.

After this trip some of us also went back to the coast during semana santa or holy week. We went to Tulum again and this time I actually learned how to body surf. It was really nice to just go and be a tourist, but one that could just sit back and respect all that Mexico and the place you are has to offer.

After getting back from Tulum we started making plans for the Easter weekend. We went to the Passion play in Akankab on Friday. This was eye opening to say the least. At the church camps that I have worked at in the past we have always had a night devoted to the crucifixion of Jesus so I have seen it before, but never had I seen the whole play acted out. When the crowd or mob chanted for Jesus to be crucified, all of us got chills.

After returning from the play we all realized that we were starting to get a little homesick so we planned an Easter meal. This was an adventure in itself. I can happily say that for the first time I was able to make deviled eggs, but we all pitched in and had a lot of fun, and brought a lot of memories back to us. Shopping for the meal though was also very eye opening. From the finding that certain things aren’t in Mexico to the aisle of boxed milk there were a lot of funny things that took place on that trip to the Mega.

It is just really crazy to think that there are less than 4 weeks left until we return. I know I will leave with so many memories but I just hope that I can make the most of my time left here!

Well that’s all for now!

Caleb

It is hard to believe that we are already done with half the semster. Spring Break has come and gone and classes are starting to come to a close. Looking back these past months have just been amanzing and life altering. The last two weeks though are what I am going to let you know about!

For spring break my girlfriend flew down for a week and we took a mini vacation to the coast! We went to Playa Del Carmen, Cozumel, and Tulum. All were absolutely amazing and beautiful places. It was fun to take what I have been learning in our classes and apply that to parts of our trip. For example, in our Contemporary Issues class we had been talking about tourism and how tourism shapes and changes things. These places are definitely places where a lot of toursists go, but each was very unique. The really big thing in Playa Del Carmen is 5th avenue. 5th avenue is a street in Playa where there are miles of shops. The shops are there because of the tourists and as a tourist you have a target on your back for the shop keepers.

It was really interesting to compare the talk of the shop keepers to the vendors at Chichen Itza because although both are there for the tourists, both act very differently. Then in Cozumel the shopping factor wasn’t really present, but they did have a snorkeling or scuba diving stand every 20 ft.  it seemed. It just shows that the places know what they have to offer and capitalize on their product.

In Tulum I was able to take some of the information that I have learned in Civ class about the Mayan ruins to tell my girlfriend about the site and what buildings would have been used for what. This was really cool because I was able to actually be a teacher about all the super cool facts that I have been taught.

Once back in Merida from the coast we just chilled here for a day. It was fun to walk down town and experience the city first-hand. We have been on tours and stuff downtown, and I went down there for the first night of Carnival, but to just take a day and walk around was great! I also got to go see the Picaso exhibit!

Last week it was a little tough getting back into the mix of things with classes and all of that off, but I think we all managed to get through the sorrows of not being on the beach. The sad thing is that although we will soon be able to be with our friends and family back home, the semester and experiences are coming to an end and are limited. When I first got to Mexico I was like, 4 months, no problem, I will be able to get everything done that I want to and see all that I want. Looking at the time and realizing how fast things have gone is two sided; one side is that I obviously have been enjoying the experience  and that I am not realizing how fast it really has gone, on the other side I only have a limited time left to get some more exploring and learning in.

Well, until next time!

Caleb

This past week has yet again been one to never forget. We had started to talk in our Contemporary issues class about tourism and the affects that it has on culture, the country, the people, and the tourists themselves. The concept of tourism when discussed was one that opened my eyes to things I never would have noticed before. It also fit in perfectly with what we did for our weekend excursion.

This past weekend we went to Tunum, a small town here in Mexico that is comprised of many Mayan families. We traveled with the intent of learning more about the present day Maya but were able to leave with much more than just new found knowledge. We all were kind of hesitant to want to go, since we were going to be living with a Mayan family for two days and didn’t really know what to expect. We got to Tunum and were put with our families. Elliot and I lived with a very nice family. They had 4 small children aging from 1 1/2 to 10 years old, then the dad, mom, brother of the dad, and grandma and grandpa. This large but amazing family accomondated us like kings and were absolutely amazing. The second day in Tunum we went out to a milpa or small field near the town. The milpas are used to help support a family but not even close to the large scale like in the states. These small fields produce enough corn, squash, and beans for a family to live off of most of the year. We learned about how the Mayan people use the land today and what hardships they face if there is a drought like this last year. Then in the afternoon we went to a carpenter’s house. His familly did an amazing job teaching us about the Mayan culture and showed us some of the dances, sang to us, and read us poetry. We then got to see his shop and experience what it would have been like to be a carpenter without electricity.

The next day we got up and left Tunum after saying our goodbyes. We then went to Chichen Itza, one of the eight wonders of the world. Now don’t get me wrong the Mayan ruins and sites are amazing but Chichen lacks some of what the others do and part of that may be the fact that it is so touristy, and because of that vendors go in everyday to sell stuff and make a living. If you get there before 11 when all the tour buses start to show up I think the site would be a lot more breathtaking!

That was pretty much the weekend in a nutshell. I am looking forward to spring break coming up! My girlfriend is flying down and we are going to Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Tulum, and Chitchen Itza, as well as just chilling around Merida!

Picture of one of the Chichen Itza Pyramids

Elliot and I with the children in our host familly at Tunum

Flower in the Milpa

Also there aree more pictures on the way!

This has been quite a process, but I am taking over the blogging for Keith. Going with what he has been saying, Mexico is absolutely amazing and I couldn’t imagine learning so much somewhere else. Yes, there are some drags like not being with the loved ones back home, but this truly is an experience that is one that will change your life for forever.

A little about me, My name is Caleb Bonjour. I am from Webster City, IA and I attend Central College. I am a football player there and an Elementary Education major. I chose to come to Merida for an abroad program for two main reasons. One is that it will allow me to be back home in time to see my sister graduate from high school (my mom made that priority… but I definitely love my sis!) and two, I wanted to go somewhere where the culture is unlike anything I know and the experience yet is one that I will benefit from in my future career as a teacher! The latino culture that Merida and Mexico have to offer was one I could not pass up!

So I am not sure when Keith left off but the last I knew it was when we went to Uxmal for the first time and when we visited the University that a large Mayan population goes to. This experience was great for me! I am definitely not a big Spanish speaker but this gave me an opportunity to practice what I did know but also learn about a culture that I knew very little about. Then Uxmal was just amazing! To think that the mayans created these amazing structures with very little is just ustonishing.

The next big thing that I did was go to Cancun with Keith and Elliot. This was a blast and the first time that the “three amigos” went out in Mexico. Cancun was an eye opening experience though with it being way more touristy than the three of us were expecting. It was very different to actually be able to see how much a country can change in a matter of four hours (time it takes to get from here to Cancun).

After livin it up in a cool hostel and coming back with great memories and an eye opened view of things, we spent the next weekend in Kuic.  Kuic was an amazing experience out in the jungle. We got to see unexcavated ruins, which were really cool — as well as get a lot of information about the mayan history from both Dr. Farger and our guide James. We were also able to go into the Mayan village and meet and mingle with people native to the Puuc region. This was a very humbling experience and one I will never forget!

Besides those excusions things have been all around amazing. This experience abroad is going down in my book as one of the best in my life! I only look forward more and more to keeping my eyes open and taking in all that I possibly can. This weekend we are planning to go to Tenum, another Mayan Village and then hit up Chichen Itza. This will be another experience to learn a lot from so I look forward to blogging about it soon!

I have many pictures and a lot are at another website (like over 400) so the link to that is http://bonjourc1.myphotoalbum.com , if you go on there you should be able to see all of our experiences!

Buenos Tardes!

Caleb

Well, here I am 3 weeks later doing a blog that should have been cut up into many different parts, but that is what is referred to as “being on Mexican time”.

I left off with my first day here and have SOOOOOOOO much to talk about, so here it goes.

I spent an amazing three days in the Garcia household with an awesome family. I have never felt so at home somewhere so fast. I also had quite an unforgettable few days with my buddy Eduardo Bargas.

When the day came to move into the house, Cole and I waited and we went downtown for a traditional Sunday night in Merida. The downtown was packed with people because all of the roads around the square are shut down so that vendors and entertainers can set up shop. We watched a live concert of some lady who really had a set of lungs on her. We also got to see locals dancing salsa (can you say jealous?). After we looked around and got our fill of excitement, we went to the Central House.

Ahh, at last… La Casa Blanca De Los Gringos. (Thats just what I call it.) Everybody was shuffling in and meeting Valerie, our program director, for the first time. We got a brief introduction and then found our rooms before we sat down and ate pizza together. (I know… pizza as our first official meal? It was definately good Mexican pizza though.)

Everybody was doing their greetings and getting accustomed to this huge house that most of us were going to be staying in for the semester.

The Central House is an old mansion that was restored. It is beautiful. The rooms are pretty spacious if there are only two people in them. There is a nice lounge area, a library and 3 wonderful porches. There are a few extra things that make the Central House a great place. I guess I shouldn’t say “things” because they are all of the people that spend their day trying to make the student’s comfortable. The Cooks and the Cleaning staff are wonderful women and they do amazing jobs. The secretary is really nice and Valerie is very helpful with anything we need help with. However, the most amazing things about the Central House.. I think.. is Pancho! Pancho is the door man and is the most kind and lovable guy anybody could ever meet. He is also quite the fan of Mexican soap operas (telenovelas) and diet coke!

Orientation week was filled with a bunch of seminars that I don’t really remember because I didn’t find them all that relevant. I am more of a person to just get out and explore and maybe get lost… which I have done on many occasions. At some point during orientation week, we went downtown and took a tour bus around town to see different parts of the city. When we were done, Valerie let us do whatever we wanted but we just had to be back by lunch. Elliot and I decided that we would walk back to the house instead of going with the logical idea to take a bus. We didn’t have maps and I thought that I remembered hearing that the Cathedral was on the North side, but it is actually on the East side. We thought we were heading north to the house but we were heading East away from the house. We ended up walking for 2 hours before we got back to the house.

Classes started up and what a kick in the butt that was. I have two classes completely in Spanish. YIKES! I am having fun with them though. Along with starting classes I got to move in with my host family. I live in a house with 4 other people. A single mother that has three children, but only two of them are at the house, and another international student from Finland. I live a nice 6 or 7 blocks away from the Central house and it’s a pretty nice walk.

Friday 1/16/09
Wow, what a day… I woke up at 3:45 am out of pure restlessness and started my day. My parents and I were at a hotel in Altoona so that we wouldn’t be very far from the Airport when I had to fly out at 6:45 am. We got around and got all of the stuff packed back up and when we walked outside it was -20 degrees!!! That was just another push for me to want to come to Mexico! When we got to the airport and got my boarding passes we met up with a friend, Cole and her parents. We said our goodbyes and I would have to say that my mom was somewhat emotional that her baby boy was going off to another country.

Cole and I soon got on our flight to Houston which was this little toy airplane that was, as one of the other passengers put it, “built to haul a class of 8th graders”. We got to Houston with no delays or complications and everything was going well. It was 9 am and we didn’t leave again until 6:55 pm. We found a nice cozy corner to set up camp and just chilled for a while. We went and spent a lot of money on a crappy lunch and went back to chilling. Around 4pm we were getting a little bored, and when I say little… that is definitely an understatement. We couldn’t find any free Wi Fi, and me being cheap, wasn’t going to buy it. We decided to go ride the train that took people to different terminals. We rode back and forth on it around 10 times and made chit chat with whoever was standing by us at the time. We happened to kill enough time to go and sit in our corner for just a few more minutes and then board the plane to Merida.
Oh boy, this was what I was waiting for all day! Well, I fell asleep before we even took off. Pure boredom and exhaustion were beginning to out-weigh the excitement of going to another country… that is until I saw the lights of Merida on the ground. The trip through the Merida airport was a pretty long and boring one. Cole and I went through immigration and customs without any problem and then we met up with Eduardo!!! Boy was I glad to see him. Eduardo is one of the language assistants at Central this year and he came back to Merida for break. It just so happens that he will be here for 6 days while I am here, so he picked us up from the airport. He took Cole and I for a cruise around the city over to this little restaurant where they serve really good… “ panuchos”, I think that is how you spell it. Anyways, they are avocados, onions, turkey, and refried beans on top of a fried tortilla. They also had some really good salsa that had my lips tingling hours after I was done eating it.
While we were eating, I noticed a girl back in the kitchen was looking at me and laughing… I am pretty used to this and didn’t take any offense. I simply smiled and waved at her and she burst out laughing and ducked away. I also waved at an older lady that was back in the kitchen and she returned it with a kind smile. I asked Eduardo if they thought I was stupid, he told me they only think I am crazy. I think I can handle that.
Following the restaurant, Eduardo took us to Esther Garcia’s house, who is also a language assistant this year, so we could stay there until the Central house opens up. Esther isn’t here, but her mother and sister are. Her mother’s name is Esther also, and her sister’s name is Eugenia. We walk in this absolutely gorgeous house that has white walls, white tile and lovely things everywhere. It is really cozy and Esther’s family is so hospitable. We all sat at the table and talked for a while until Eduardo left. The Garcias showed Cole and I upstairs to our rooms. Cole ended up talking to Eugenia who knows quite a bit of English, and I ended up mostly talking to the mother who is such an amazing woman! The only problem is that she doesn’t speak English. I definitely had a love-hate relationship with this situation because it was making me think on my feet, but it also made me feel stupid when I couldn’t think of a word. All was well and we ended up having a wonderful conversation about random things.
I have been having troubles getting onto the internet so my posts are going to not be on the day that they happened, and I think my camera fell out somewhere in the house, so photos are going to be postponed as well, but I will definitely get all of that figured out very soon!
Hasta Luego Amigos!

One of my friends on my study abroad trip said something like she wasn’t going to say goodbye to anyone as we left.  I was a bit perplexed by this, but I listened as she explained.  She continued that saying goodbye to someone means that you don’t plan to keep in touch with them or ever see them again.  Instead, she said that when we go separate ways it will be see you later and not goodbye.

As I know I must leave Merida, and continue my life’s journey, I am saying “see you later.”  I am leaving a gorgeous place that is warm all year, a place that beaches are the norm and where ancient Mayan ruins are stumbled upon at almost every turn.  Whereas I love these things, they are not what matter.  What matter are the relationships that I’ve made with people who live in Merida, my students in my English class, and also the great friends I have made within my program. 

I left many people I love 36 hours ago.  I told them I’d see them later.  As I left on the bus to get to Cancun for my flight (tip*~flights to Cancun are much cheaper than to Merida, and a bus ticket from Cancun to Merida is only about $25 bucks), my friends came to the bus station to say goodbye and we played one last game of animals, a game we played almost every time we got together. (Animals is a group game that doesn’t require words, everyone picks an animal and a gesture.  And, as people slap their laps and clap their hands, they must be paying attention to see if their animal is chosen and must do the gesture in rhythm in order to stay in the game.)  After the game of animals, I had to get on the bus.  They stood at the window and waved to me, blew me kisses, and some cried.  Asi es.  In life there are holas and hasta luegos.  It is hard to leave a place and people I love, but I need to.  There are challenges and goals I have for the future that I now look forward to.  However, Merida will always be a part of me.

This weekend, I took a trip to Izamal and had some time away from the city for a relaxing and peaceful weekend.  The students on our program that are taking the Art and Architecture class had already visited Izamal, and I hadn’t had the chance to see it yet, but I really wanted to…so I hopped a bus for about $2 and went to see the recently named “Magical City” of Mexico.  I had a blast.

Saturday morning, I had some breakfast and then I just walked around the city.  Izamal is truly a place where you can see Spanish colonial influence right on top of Mayan platforms.  As I walked around, I literally ran into one of the biggest platforms in Mesoamerica.  In the following photos you can see the staircase that leads to the platform.  After going up the steps, I saw the view of the second photo.  I took some time climbing up to the very top…where I got a clear view of the entire city and the surrounding pueblos.  It was incredible.

After visiting the platform, I went to the city’s center to see the Convent that the Franciscan order of the Catholic church built on top of another very large Mayan platform.  This is a picture of the entrance.

I just walked around the Convent for awhile.  It was really spectacular to watch the people come in and out of the church paying homage to their saint.  I did not know that when I went that it was a special time for them to honor their saint.  That night, I got to watch the procession where they brought the black saint out of the church in a parade.  The entire town followed the parade carrying candles.  I really enjoyed seeing the ladies and men dressed up in their traditional Mayan outfits and participating in this tradition.  I never had seen anything like it before, and I was really excited to witness something with so much meaning to the people of the town.

Overall, I had a great time in Izamal.  I am glad that I had the opportunity to witness the religious practices that people practice here.  Yes, it is a lot different than what I am used to, but it also helps me learn about the Mayan culture and how really the Conquest didn’t conquer the belief system of the Mayan people here.  It is a mixture of Mayan religion and Catholicism.  Izamal and the Yucatan is really a place of three cultures; Mayan, Spanish, and contemporary culture.  I have learned a lot about each one, and I think it is very intriguing.

We did not celebrate Halloween here in Mexico, although Wal-Mart does sell Halloween costumes and there were some costume parties around the city.  Instead, we had the privilege of celebrating the Day of the Dead on November 1.  Many Mexicans celebrate by going to the cemetery where their loved ones are buried and they place things that their loved one’s enjoyed while they were living and food to offer them so that when they come back to be with their family members on this day they will enjoy themselves.  The tradition is deeply rooted in the Mayan and Mexica (Aztec political system) beliefs of honoring the dead.

For the event, we set up a traditional altar and dedicated it to all of humanity (instead of our belated relatives).  We placed on the altar things that are important to humanity.  These were things that hold significance in our lives too.  You can see in this photo what we placed on the altar to represent humanity.

We then had to take a candy skull with another person’s name on it and remind them how life is precious.  I absolutely loved this activity.  Learning about the customs of the Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos was something that I really enjoyed and I have gained an appreciation of why it is celebrated in Mexico and how it is so deeply rooted in the Mayan and Mexica belief system.