Friday, January 30, 2009
Valladolid
I have some great plans for this weekend. Tomorrow morning at about 5 am, we will be packing up our wares and heading off to Valladolid, a city about two hours to the east of here. This is a colonial town with a lot of history in an area that is rich in both ruins and cenotes. To add to all this fun, there is an annual festival going on, so we will certainly not have a shortage of things to do. I have high expectations for this weekend... My only concern is running out of space on my camera! I am thanking God for that external hard drive, especially with all of my computer problems... I think my computer would break down into tears if I put MORE media onto it. Well, wish me luck. This is Indiana Jones signing off for another weekend of the unexpected... stay tuned for the next episode, coming Tuesday! (Oh yeah, I forgot, we have Monday off for the holiday, so we are pulling a three-day weekend...wahoooo!)
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Brand Names and Layouts
Wow, precious few have the moments been that I have not been ill here for one reason or another (so John-Curtiss, you are no longer permitted to say that your illness is due to the cold weather). The weather took a sudden change for the humid this week... and now everyone is sick! Emily and I are both sneezing up a little fury, and my nose is running like a faucet... cute!
On the brigher side, I am now doing layouts for the magazine at my work, which has been fun. A lot of it I would never consider putting into a portfolio because the Mexican style of design is so drastically different. I hope that my designing habits here aren't drastically affected by the layouts that I am doing. I think my J233 professor would have a heart attack if she saw some of the designs done here. I will try to load on my most recent project so that you all can see what exactly I mean... it looks nothing like an American magazine!
Finally, here is my little culture note: there is no such thing as copyright here. Well, there kind of is, but everything is pretty much fair game. If I pull a picture off the internet here at the magazine to be published, I don't have to cite it. In fact, there are hardly any citations in the entire magazine. Pirated DVDs and CDs are sold all over the streets here and brand names such as Coach or Armani are duplicated all the time... sometimes very convincingly. I have seen a lot of products that I am not sure if they are real or fake. (That is why you should NEVER buy any regular priced brand names here!) The DVDs and music are perfect in quality. For three dollars, you can get a disc that contains all three Pirates of the Caribbean...or three Star Wars... or any triplet that goes well together. If stores like these opened in the United States, there would be no measure how quickly your little business would be taken OUT!
Ah well. Sorry that today's entry is kind of boring. There is truly not that much to talk about since all I did yesterday was eat, sleep, and watch Twilight... which was better than the book, by the way! I am really having such a wonderful time here, though... this experience is truly singular :)
Till tomorrow, then!
On the brigher side, I am now doing layouts for the magazine at my work, which has been fun. A lot of it I would never consider putting into a portfolio because the Mexican style of design is so drastically different. I hope that my designing habits here aren't drastically affected by the layouts that I am doing. I think my J233 professor would have a heart attack if she saw some of the designs done here. I will try to load on my most recent project so that you all can see what exactly I mean... it looks nothing like an American magazine!
Finally, here is my little culture note: there is no such thing as copyright here. Well, there kind of is, but everything is pretty much fair game. If I pull a picture off the internet here at the magazine to be published, I don't have to cite it. In fact, there are hardly any citations in the entire magazine. Pirated DVDs and CDs are sold all over the streets here and brand names such as Coach or Armani are duplicated all the time... sometimes very convincingly. I have seen a lot of products that I am not sure if they are real or fake. (That is why you should NEVER buy any regular priced brand names here!) The DVDs and music are perfect in quality. For three dollars, you can get a disc that contains all three Pirates of the Caribbean...or three Star Wars... or any triplet that goes well together. If stores like these opened in the United States, there would be no measure how quickly your little business would be taken OUT!
Ah well. Sorry that today's entry is kind of boring. There is truly not that much to talk about since all I did yesterday was eat, sleep, and watch Twilight... which was better than the book, by the way! I am really having such a wonderful time here, though... this experience is truly singular :)
Till tomorrow, then!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Culture and Language...
So here are some amusing and somewhat deep thoughts for today...
I stick out like a sore thumb here. There is absolutely no hiding the fact that I am totally a gringa of some seriously German/Non-Latina descent. I feel like my stubby brown ponytail is a little flag that hails the presence of a foreigner, and my slightly sunburned nose is like a little gringa-alert. In case someone STILL wasn't sure, all they would have to do is check out my outfit. See, my outfits are actually match and contain to glitter, sparkles, jewels sequins or feathers of any kind. It kills me how sparkly and feathery everthing is here right now. And as always, the colors I wear are pretty muted... bland compared to what they wear. And the vests and the boots. HAHA! I love it! It depresses me whenever someone askes me in English 'Wair ard jew fdum?' I always answer back in Spanish, but that is never a guarantee that they will continue in Spanish. If I ever spoke to someone in Spanish in the US, and they responded in English, I feel like I would probably understand that they wanted me to speak English.
Here is one more thought: In the US, I know I myself have complained that children do not learn a second language. I still feel that way. It is very ethnocentric of our society to teach no other languages, and learning a second language can prove to be a very useful (and salary-boosting) tool. This being said, my views about the DEGREE of this ethnocentrism have changed somewhat. Let's be honest for a moment... at the risk of sounding conceited, the United States of America is currently the largest world power. What we do, how we manage our affairs and who our leaders are DIRECTLY affects so many countries in very big ways. For this reason, people from other countries (such as Mexico) keep up with US news. The main complaint of the Mexicans about Americans is that they are ignorant of the goings-on in other nations... while I agree that it is a good idea to be knowledgable about our world, I feel that what happens in Mexico, who is elected, and how they manage their affairs... hardly affects my life AT ALL. I feel that the future of the world economy, for example, does not rest in Felipe Calderon's (Mexico's president) hands... whereas Barack Obama... all eyes are on him to turn the world economy around!!!
Secondly... I rarely encounter Spanish in the United States. I jump at every opportunity to use it, and perhaps it will prove to be very useful in the business world, but those opportunites are few and far between at best. HERE, in contrast, EVERYTHING is in English. Movies, TV shows, video games, any sort of product... everything is American. Even t-shirt logos are all in English. It therefore makes a lot of sense to me that the people here need to learn English... because they encounter it multiple times EVERY DAY.
Finally and most importantly... while they KNOW a lot of English, I get frustrated when they ask me why more Americans don't take a second language 1.) because they are TALKING TO ME, I am an American and I am proficient in two languages and 2.) because I have met very few Mexicans in my four months spent in this country whose English could be called proficient. (The Meixcans in the world of tourism speak a lot of English, but I feel that can be said for any person in tourism... they speak the language of the tourists that come!) In short, I speak much better Spanish than many of them do English. This has been a frustration for me this year because I feel like now that I am out of the academic environment, my Spanish is expected to be perfect, and when it is not, people comment. Sometimes I just want to scream, 'HOW MANY LANGUAGES DO YOU SPEAK???' The answer would most typically be one, or one and a half!
Done = true;
I stick out like a sore thumb here. There is absolutely no hiding the fact that I am totally a gringa of some seriously German/Non-Latina descent. I feel like my stubby brown ponytail is a little flag that hails the presence of a foreigner, and my slightly sunburned nose is like a little gringa-alert. In case someone STILL wasn't sure, all they would have to do is check out my outfit. See, my outfits are actually match and contain to glitter, sparkles, jewels sequins or feathers of any kind. It kills me how sparkly and feathery everthing is here right now. And as always, the colors I wear are pretty muted... bland compared to what they wear. And the vests and the boots. HAHA! I love it! It depresses me whenever someone askes me in English 'Wair ard jew fdum?' I always answer back in Spanish, but that is never a guarantee that they will continue in Spanish. If I ever spoke to someone in Spanish in the US, and they responded in English, I feel like I would probably understand that they wanted me to speak English.
Here is one more thought: In the US, I know I myself have complained that children do not learn a second language. I still feel that way. It is very ethnocentric of our society to teach no other languages, and learning a second language can prove to be a very useful (and salary-boosting) tool. This being said, my views about the DEGREE of this ethnocentrism have changed somewhat. Let's be honest for a moment... at the risk of sounding conceited, the United States of America is currently the largest world power. What we do, how we manage our affairs and who our leaders are DIRECTLY affects so many countries in very big ways. For this reason, people from other countries (such as Mexico) keep up with US news. The main complaint of the Mexicans about Americans is that they are ignorant of the goings-on in other nations... while I agree that it is a good idea to be knowledgable about our world, I feel that what happens in Mexico, who is elected, and how they manage their affairs... hardly affects my life AT ALL. I feel that the future of the world economy, for example, does not rest in Felipe Calderon's (Mexico's president) hands... whereas Barack Obama... all eyes are on him to turn the world economy around!!!
Secondly... I rarely encounter Spanish in the United States. I jump at every opportunity to use it, and perhaps it will prove to be very useful in the business world, but those opportunites are few and far between at best. HERE, in contrast, EVERYTHING is in English. Movies, TV shows, video games, any sort of product... everything is American. Even t-shirt logos are all in English. It therefore makes a lot of sense to me that the people here need to learn English... because they encounter it multiple times EVERY DAY.
Finally and most importantly... while they KNOW a lot of English, I get frustrated when they ask me why more Americans don't take a second language 1.) because they are TALKING TO ME, I am an American and I am proficient in two languages and 2.) because I have met very few Mexicans in my four months spent in this country whose English could be called proficient. (The Meixcans in the world of tourism speak a lot of English, but I feel that can be said for any person in tourism... they speak the language of the tourists that come!) In short, I speak much better Spanish than many of them do English. This has been a frustration for me this year because I feel like now that I am out of the academic environment, my Spanish is expected to be perfect, and when it is not, people comment. Sometimes I just want to scream, 'HOW MANY LANGUAGES DO YOU SPEAK???' The answer would most typically be one, or one and a half!
Done = true;
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Header
I hope you all enjoy the picture I added above today. It is the Yucatan... the big bald spot on the left is my city. If you follow the little line up, you will come to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico... and a little twig poking out into the gulf. That my friends is the world's longest pierre. If you follow the coast to the left you will see a dark region on the coast... that area is the Rio Lagartos area, where the gulf is teeming with wildlife. If the map showed one inch more, you would be able to see the Cancun area to the far east of the peninsula... ugh! There is a reason "Cancun" in Mayan means "snake's den."
My Birthday in Merida
As it turns out, most of my fellow Americans were not feeling so hot this weekend. A lot of sore throats and fevers. This being the case, we decided to forgo the distant travel and spent the weekend in Progreso, which is the beach that is closest to Merida on the Gulf of Mexico. Last year, it was famous for it´s mangy dogs, annoying tiburones, seaweed covered beach and annoying vendors... but NO MORE! More or less...
The water has its good days... when the sky is blue, the water is an amazing color of turquoise. The beach is now canine free, both pleasing and sad because you know were all those poor pooches went. They are now cleaning the seaweed off the beach, and there are all sorts of new restaurants and shops. In short... it got cute! The tourism increased so much in the past year that they have been trying to improve it. Progreso, which is home to the longest pierre in the world, brings in cruise ships chock full of Americans several times a week. The days that Americans come, prices mysteriously doubles, tiburones increase tenfold, and vendors are more annoying than ever, so I suppose it hasn´t gotten any better in that respect. The vendors are worse. I can´t remember anyone ever having been so crude or disagreeable than a few of these people are. Some of the things that were said to me made me angry enough want to whip out my store of Spanish profanities from work (it really was that bad)... but I wanted to be better than that, AND I don´t want to give them one more wrong impression about Americans. At the very meanest, I was very cold and told them to have a nice day. I can´t ever recall being insulted like that last year. Still, we passed a great weekend. It was really relaxing, which was just what I needed, since my Spanish seems to have been stressing my out lately. AND... All my life I have wanted to get a hair wrap, and I finally did in honor of me becoming an old maid yesterday.
That's right, yesterday was my birthday. The next birtday I have to look forward to is 25 when my insurance goes down and I am officially allowed to rent a car. Yippee. Also, a note to my novio: Now it seems like you are only FOUR years older than me instead of FIVE. Maybe you aren´t creepy after all ,)
Here are some of my birthday adventures: My roommate, Emily, decided to get me a birthday present and wrap it up in a page of a magazine (I THINK that´s what that was!) Anyway, it said FELIZ CUMPLE in the lazy Mexican way (they abbreviate everything). It was another elephant bracelet!!! I lost mine the week that I got home to OU last year, and I literally cried about it because I was so disappointed! MY DAY WAS MADE! Anyway, I am not wearing it right now because I am afraid it will fall off again. I am going to fix a chain to the clasp this afternoon so that even if the clasp should slip, it won´t fall off. I am going to treasure it... thank you, Emily, best birthday present EVER!
At work, they just bout gave me aheart attack by breaking out into the Mexican Happy Birthday song. We also had some yummy cake... it was supposed to be terramisu flavored... it was delish. I frolicked home to a wonderful lunch with mama and family, where a giant, sparkly piñata awaited me. Emily (once again) had snatched it on the way home from work and filled it up with Mexican candy. We still haven´t broken it because it is just too pretty. Mama also got me a pretty necklace and earrings and bought me a fudge cake. As if ths weren´t enough sugar, Fernandito (12, great grandson of my mama) brought over ice cream from El Colon, which is the gourmet ice cream shop here in town. I spent the afternoon reading emails from family...thank you all!!! At the end of the day, my fabulous novio and I had a Skype date and the internet cafe, so I rushed out the door after a quick quesadilla and went to the Italian Coffee. As it turned out, John-Curtiss had thrown me a surprise birthday party in his apartment so that I would get a chance to talk to all of my friends from back home. I drank piña colada flavored tea as they drank the real McCoy :) (John-Curtiss makes the BEST piña coladas!) I ended the night by staying up way too late for no good reason, talking with my roommate and my neighbor.
All in all... a GREAT birthday. Thank you one and all :)
And NEXT weekend, we are going to Valladolid, a growing city halfway between here and Cancun. It is famous for its cenotes, especially Cenote Dzitnup, which is inside a multicolored cavern. There will be a festival going on that weekend... supposedly the whole 9 yards. Bullfights, performances, all that jazz. On top of all that will be a trip to Coba, a ruin that I went to see several years ago... but has now been completely excavated. Cenotes plus bullfights plus ruins equals a perfect weekend.
Finally, check the Post, I published yesterday :)
Hope all of you are enjoying the chilly weather... :D
The water has its good days... when the sky is blue, the water is an amazing color of turquoise. The beach is now canine free, both pleasing and sad because you know were all those poor pooches went. They are now cleaning the seaweed off the beach, and there are all sorts of new restaurants and shops. In short... it got cute! The tourism increased so much in the past year that they have been trying to improve it. Progreso, which is home to the longest pierre in the world, brings in cruise ships chock full of Americans several times a week. The days that Americans come, prices mysteriously doubles, tiburones increase tenfold, and vendors are more annoying than ever, so I suppose it hasn´t gotten any better in that respect. The vendors are worse. I can´t remember anyone ever having been so crude or disagreeable than a few of these people are. Some of the things that were said to me made me angry enough want to whip out my store of Spanish profanities from work (it really was that bad)... but I wanted to be better than that, AND I don´t want to give them one more wrong impression about Americans. At the very meanest, I was very cold and told them to have a nice day. I can´t ever recall being insulted like that last year. Still, we passed a great weekend. It was really relaxing, which was just what I needed, since my Spanish seems to have been stressing my out lately. AND... All my life I have wanted to get a hair wrap, and I finally did in honor of me becoming an old maid yesterday.
That's right, yesterday was my birthday. The next birtday I have to look forward to is 25 when my insurance goes down and I am officially allowed to rent a car. Yippee. Also, a note to my novio: Now it seems like you are only FOUR years older than me instead of FIVE. Maybe you aren´t creepy after all ,)
Here are some of my birthday adventures: My roommate, Emily, decided to get me a birthday present and wrap it up in a page of a magazine (I THINK that´s what that was!) Anyway, it said FELIZ CUMPLE in the lazy Mexican way (they abbreviate everything). It was another elephant bracelet!!! I lost mine the week that I got home to OU last year, and I literally cried about it because I was so disappointed! MY DAY WAS MADE! Anyway, I am not wearing it right now because I am afraid it will fall off again. I am going to fix a chain to the clasp this afternoon so that even if the clasp should slip, it won´t fall off. I am going to treasure it... thank you, Emily, best birthday present EVER!
At work, they just bout gave me aheart attack by breaking out into the Mexican Happy Birthday song. We also had some yummy cake... it was supposed to be terramisu flavored... it was delish. I frolicked home to a wonderful lunch with mama and family, where a giant, sparkly piñata awaited me. Emily (once again) had snatched it on the way home from work and filled it up with Mexican candy. We still haven´t broken it because it is just too pretty. Mama also got me a pretty necklace and earrings and bought me a fudge cake. As if ths weren´t enough sugar, Fernandito (12, great grandson of my mama) brought over ice cream from El Colon, which is the gourmet ice cream shop here in town. I spent the afternoon reading emails from family...thank you all!!! At the end of the day, my fabulous novio and I had a Skype date and the internet cafe, so I rushed out the door after a quick quesadilla and went to the Italian Coffee. As it turned out, John-Curtiss had thrown me a surprise birthday party in his apartment so that I would get a chance to talk to all of my friends from back home. I drank piña colada flavored tea as they drank the real McCoy :) (John-Curtiss makes the BEST piña coladas!) I ended the night by staying up way too late for no good reason, talking with my roommate and my neighbor.
All in all... a GREAT birthday. Thank you one and all :)
And NEXT weekend, we are going to Valladolid, a growing city halfway between here and Cancun. It is famous for its cenotes, especially Cenote Dzitnup, which is inside a multicolored cavern. There will be a festival going on that weekend... supposedly the whole 9 yards. Bullfights, performances, all that jazz. On top of all that will be a trip to Coba, a ruin that I went to see several years ago... but has now been completely excavated. Cenotes plus bullfights plus ruins equals a perfect weekend.
Finally, check the Post, I published yesterday :)
Hope all of you are enjoying the chilly weather... :D
Friday, January 23, 2009
So Here's a Creepy Topic...
Morbid as this might be, I´d like to blog about burial rituals here in Mexico. My interest in this topic first began in Acanceh last year (some of you will recall) where we went to visit a graveyard and we found a decaying human body in a box. After this past weekend in Santa Elena (the mummies), I had to ask around a little more to figure out what the heck is up in this country.
First of all, most people here in the city are cremated. There is not enough space to bury people, and there isn’t much topsoil before you hit an impossibly thick and unyielding layer of limestone. I explained this in an email home last year, but I will debrief new followers: In the small pueblos, they rent graveyard space. Usually each family has one or two plots. So if granny dies, they put her in a cement box in the graveyard. If gramps follows shortly thereafter, they pop the lid of granny´s tomb, put her in a box, and put gramps in there. They might put the box of granny in with gramps, but they also might just leave granny on top of the grave. To me, this is very strange, and almost frightening... the graveyard in Acanceh was littered with human skeletons.
Secondly, the churches. I never understood last year why I would see stone slabs inside the church, lining the walls and floor that had epitaphs on them. I just thought they were commemorative plaques, so to speak. Come to find out, behind and underneath these epitaphs are cremated remains. Someone told me that they sometimes just body parts, such as a hand or an eye, but I don’t think that I really buy that.
Finally… the Day of the Dead on Nov. 2. Isn’t it so interesting that this day is celebrated widely? The fact that death is something to celebrate in general is kind of a foreign concept. I can’t ever imagine thinking: “Well, I guess I will cook a feast for my great grandfather. I hope he likes tacos.” They leave food, flowers and presents out this day for their loved ones who have passed on. This day is celebrated with MANY colors… every color of the rainbow, which is quite different from the typical morose black and shades of gray that are so commonly seen in funeral homes.
Who knows? Some of the cultural differences between Mexico and the US are very interesting…!
First of all, most people here in the city are cremated. There is not enough space to bury people, and there isn’t much topsoil before you hit an impossibly thick and unyielding layer of limestone. I explained this in an email home last year, but I will debrief new followers: In the small pueblos, they rent graveyard space. Usually each family has one or two plots. So if granny dies, they put her in a cement box in the graveyard. If gramps follows shortly thereafter, they pop the lid of granny´s tomb, put her in a box, and put gramps in there. They might put the box of granny in with gramps, but they also might just leave granny on top of the grave. To me, this is very strange, and almost frightening... the graveyard in Acanceh was littered with human skeletons.
Secondly, the churches. I never understood last year why I would see stone slabs inside the church, lining the walls and floor that had epitaphs on them. I just thought they were commemorative plaques, so to speak. Come to find out, behind and underneath these epitaphs are cremated remains. Someone told me that they sometimes just body parts, such as a hand or an eye, but I don’t think that I really buy that.
Finally… the Day of the Dead on Nov. 2. Isn’t it so interesting that this day is celebrated widely? The fact that death is something to celebrate in general is kind of a foreign concept. I can’t ever imagine thinking: “Well, I guess I will cook a feast for my great grandfather. I hope he likes tacos.” They leave food, flowers and presents out this day for their loved ones who have passed on. This day is celebrated with MANY colors… every color of the rainbow, which is quite different from the typical morose black and shades of gray that are so commonly seen in funeral homes.
Who knows? Some of the cultural differences between Mexico and the US are very interesting…!
Buses
I hate taking the buses here, can I just say that? At first glance it seems cheap and easy. They charge 5 pesos (about 50 cents) for Adults and 3 pesos for students. This might sound cheap to you, but imagine taking a bus every day, multiple times a day. It really racks up. I will probably spend about $80 on city busing (at the least) by the time I leave, and that excludes bus fares on weekend trips.
Another of my annoyances with the city buses is their constant refusal to accept my student ID: There are a few who will grant me the discount, but several who take one look and me and scowl, as if I am trying to cheat the bus line out of two pesos. One bus driver outright yelled at me one morning when I tried to get my ID out. He wanted me to hurry up and pay him because there wasn’t time. Since WHEN are Mexicans in any rush to do ANYTHING? Life here runs at a much slower pace when compared to the United States!
My complaints continue: why is there no regular schedule for the buses?! They all start up at exactly the same time every morning, so a clump of buses passes by my house every morning around 9:10 or 9:15. If I am not ready at that moment, I have to walk all the way out 8 blocks to catch another one, and usually after I get to the bus stop, I wait for at least 10 minutes! That clump of buses is the last predictable moment for the bus lines each day. After that, it is just luck of the draw if and when you find a bus. Sometimes I will get out of work at 2, and not get home till 3. I could WALK home at that pace!
The only other means of transportation back home for me would be taxi. But taxis would charge me 50 pesos (a little less than $5) for a one way ride. How expensive is that?!?!
There are definitely moments where I miss walking… my bike… a regular bus schedule… bus drivers who give me donuts in the morning instead of yell at me… ANYTHING!
Another of my annoyances with the city buses is their constant refusal to accept my student ID: There are a few who will grant me the discount, but several who take one look and me and scowl, as if I am trying to cheat the bus line out of two pesos. One bus driver outright yelled at me one morning when I tried to get my ID out. He wanted me to hurry up and pay him because there wasn’t time. Since WHEN are Mexicans in any rush to do ANYTHING? Life here runs at a much slower pace when compared to the United States!
My complaints continue: why is there no regular schedule for the buses?! They all start up at exactly the same time every morning, so a clump of buses passes by my house every morning around 9:10 or 9:15. If I am not ready at that moment, I have to walk all the way out 8 blocks to catch another one, and usually after I get to the bus stop, I wait for at least 10 minutes! That clump of buses is the last predictable moment for the bus lines each day. After that, it is just luck of the draw if and when you find a bus. Sometimes I will get out of work at 2, and not get home till 3. I could WALK home at that pace!
The only other means of transportation back home for me would be taxi. But taxis would charge me 50 pesos (a little less than $5) for a one way ride. How expensive is that?!?!
There are definitely moments where I miss walking… my bike… a regular bus schedule… bus drivers who give me donuts in the morning instead of yell at me… ANYTHING!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Photo Shoot
Here they are... Carolyn the Mexican Model! Let´s just say that all of that is my own hair, and that I never knew I had that much of it. It isn´t crimped, exactly, it is pressed into little cubes. Each little hair looks like a waffle! It took them three hours to get me ready and four hours to shoot all of the pictures... all of this for ONE magazine spread... that´s a lotta fuse for a little bomb (as they say here)!
Anyway, I had a lot of fun. The weird thing was that I knew the guy I was modeling with. Small world, huh? I felt super awkward at some moments because he is more of an aquaintence than a friend... the good thing was that there were only two shots where we really had to be close to eachother, so the majority of the time, it was okay. (One is shown below, the other, I had to put my elbow on his shoulder.) I don´t know exactly when pictures will be published, though. The first picture shown below is the one that they are hoping to use for the cover shot. I told them this would be a bad idea, because neither of us is making eye contact! The second should just give you a general idea of what the other million and twelve look like.
That´s all folks.... I will be sure to bring a few copies of the magazine home for you all!
Anyway, I had a lot of fun. The weird thing was that I knew the guy I was modeling with. Small world, huh? I felt super awkward at some moments because he is more of an aquaintence than a friend... the good thing was that there were only two shots where we really had to be close to eachother, so the majority of the time, it was okay. (One is shown below, the other, I had to put my elbow on his shoulder.) I don´t know exactly when pictures will be published, though. The first picture shown below is the one that they are hoping to use for the cover shot. I told them this would be a bad idea, because neither of us is making eye contact! The second should just give you a general idea of what the other million and twelve look like.
That´s all folks.... I will be sure to bring a few copies of the magazine home for you all!Monday, January 19, 2009
Levis
So I will be modeling Levis tomorrow for the magazine... and I must say that they Mexican tastes vary quite a lot from the American styles. I am not sure how sunshine yellow plus brown plus grey plus denim vest plus purse plus boots plus giant sunglasses and baseball cap equal fashion. Another thought... "Does it fit?" is kind of a rhetorical question. I found that my answers were as unimportant as they were uninteresting. Who cares if I wear size 7 1/2 shoe? Why not 6? Or (I kid you not) 11? And if my foot didn't even GO IN, they would say... "It'll be better tomorrow when you have socks." Huh. Okay then. As far as sizing goes... I am bitter! The lady who was running the show didn't exactly seem to notice that I was there. Or perhaps she thought I didn't speak any Spanish. I say this because she seemed to think it very fit to critique my body as though I were not present! She didn't do it in a mean way... just in very matter-of-fact statements such as: "Those jeans are made for girls with skinny legs." Aw, THANKS! I wasn't hurt as much as I was bemused by the whole scene. I must say... I don't think I could do this for a living. After a while, bemused would turn into irked which would turn into downright annoyed... it would probably be very degrading to the self-esteem. This woman seemed to think that just because I was modeling her clothes, it gave her free reign to say whatever she felt like. Don't get me wrong, she was never rude or unprofessional... just a few comments here or there that made me say, "huh." You know? Well, anyway, I am super-excited for tomorrow... it will be a pretty singular experience, that is for sure! (Oh and as for the modesty of the clothing: I think nuns have shown more skin!)
Till tomorrow then!
Till tomorrow then!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Indiana Jones and the Dead of Santa Elena
(Cue Indiana Jones Theme song)
Indiana Jones and the Dead of Santa Elena
We woke up Saturday morning bright and early to grab a bus to the Centro. Our destination: Ticul, a small pueblo to the south of Merida, where we could base ourselves for the day to see the Mayan ruins on the Puuc Route that we missed last year. We were quickly on our way and arrived after an hour and half later in Ticul.
The first thing I noticed was that there were shoe stores EVERYWHERE. Ticul is the hub of shoemaking in the peninsula. I found myself wondering how all the stores managed to survive if they were all selling the exact same thing. The second notable thing about Ticul is that there is a great deal of orange. Everything there is a dark orange color, from the church to the plaza to the buildings surrounding it. The streets are divided by cement boulevards, punctuated by sculptures of Mayan gods at either end. Some of these statues had flowers laid upon them, which gave me cause to wonder if there are still followers of the pagan Mayan religion in this area.
After poking around Ticul for a few hours, we found a collectivo to Santa Elena (once a Mayan city known as Nohcacab), which brought even closer to the ruins that we wanted to see. I had read about a small museum in Santa Elena that greatly piqued my interest…
Upon arrival, I did not like Santa Elena. It was a creepy little run-down pueblo that didn’t have much of a main plaza… just an impending orange church on top of a steep hill. In the plaza in front of the church was an almost-deserted carnival that had less than ten attendants, one of which included a three-legged Chihuahua. The whole scene was a bit strange, and I felt jumpy because a nearby car kept backfiring, sounding more like a gun than anything.
Because the church and the museum are the main attraction, we climbed up the slanted steps toward the church. It was locked, but the museum on the side was open for visitors, so Emily and I paid up and walked in. On the left side was a room dedicated to the harvest of henequen, one of Yucatan’s most lucrative products. You have all seen it before… it is fibrous and very course and used to make rope. The fiber comes from the long, tough, spiky leaves of the bush-like plant. In the middle of the exhibit however, was an object that (as far as I can tell) does not relate to henequen in any way…
In the center of the room in a prominent case of glass, a large stone replica of… male genitalia… seems to float in mid-air. There is no plaque or explanation to explain the presence of this strange finding, and I was too abashed to ask the woman who ran the museum, so I suppose that it will forever remain a mystery to me.
The rooms off to the right held an even more interesting and grisly find. Beneath the floor tiles of Santa Elena in 1980 were found several human skeletons, some of which had been naturally preserved and mummified. Apparently, it was traditional during the time of the Spanish arrival in Mexico to bury members of the congregation under the floor of the church, or even under the floors of their own houses. These remains, long forgotten because they were unmarked, were discovered almost 30 years ago when some construction workers were tearing up the floor. Four of these remains were in boxes; all of them are the remains of children between the ages of 1 and 7. Given the fact that they died in the early 1800s and that the Spaniards probably did not mummify them purposefully, their condition is both astounding and gruesome. Two of them were in excellent condition… everything from their decorative burial garb to the fingernails on their hands were intact. It was kind of sad to see… and rather frightening.
After we went to the museum, we say and waited on the steps of this impressively large church. The church itself is so high above the village. When the conquistadors came, they often built churches on top of great Mayan pyramids, making the churches visible for miles. I haven’t been able to find out if this is the case with the church in Santa Elena, but I STRONGLY suspect so.
Sooner or later, a nun came along with the keys. The church was too big and too empty. The mildewed ceiling and the graphic depictions of the suffering of Jesus gave the entire interior a very frightening mood. All of the statues of Christ had real human hair and were covered in blood.
Having seen my fill of the interior, I approached the sister to ask if we could climb up into the balcony. I had read in my trusty lonely planet that if you ask, they will unlock the staircase to get onto the roof of the church… but we had no idea what we were getting into. She looked at us severely and told us that she would unlock the door, but that we would be climbing at our own risk.
“The stairs are rotting out,” she said, “they haven’t been replaced since the church was built.”
Well, since when has Dr. Indiana Jones been stopped by a few moldy stairs?
“Okay,” I replied, “Well, if I am going to die, I think I would like to die in a church.”
Emily and I asked her to open the door and we began up the rickety staircase. “Rickety” might be a tad bit of an understatement. The spiral staircase consisted of a series of giant wooden steps that came together in the middle to meet with… what had once been a tall wooden support. The support however, was missing pieces and rotting in various places. About one story up, my legs began to shake. The stairs had gaps between them, so it was easy to see how for up you had come, and how far you still had to climb. The goal was 115 feet… almost twice the height I jumped last year in that cenote. We climbed and climbed… until we reached the balcony, which was almost two thirds of the way up. The walls of the church on the upper level crumbled at the touch. Along both sides were long hallways that stretched the length of the creepy church.
Upon returning from the balcony, Emily told me that she was not willing to go further. The steps above us grew thinner in width and the space between them was much larger than those that we had just climbed. I wan’t about to quit, though. I began to climb, putting my weight on three steps at a time in order to spread out my weight and to test the steps ahead of me. My legs were tensing up and I could feel adrenaline coursing through my entire body. Slowly but surely, I reached the top of the tower. The last few steps were impossible to climb without falling all the way down. The third step from the top had rotted out completely, and the two above it looked as though they were about to do the same. They top few hung out of the wall in midair like rotten teeth… I was just tall enough to peek out the window of the tower onto the roof. High! I paused there long enough to take a picture and revel in the fact that I had actually climbed this 250-year old wooden staircase.
The sister awaited us at the bottom of the staircase anxiously. I think she half-expected that I would have come crashing down with the wooden stairs all around me. I just smiled and thanked her, saying: “I survived.”
I don’t think my legs will ever be the same after that. They were tense and shaky all the way to the hotel, which might have been a good mile from the church. We stayed in a quiet little cabana that night, preparing to get up early the next morning to hit the ruins.
The next morning we grabbed a bus headed south that dropped us of at Kabah, which is a smallish ruin along the Puuc Route. The Puuc region is just south of Merida and is famous for its unique style of architecture. All ruins in this region are of similar architecture, which many of you read about in all of my emails from last year. In case you are the forgetful sort, or in case you are a new follower of my doings, here is a bit of history for you:
The Puuc region is a region rich with Mayan cities that generally date from the Classic Period, around the 6th century. The architecture in this region is unique because of it’s layout as well as its facades. Most Mayans in the Puuc regions adamantly praised Chaah, the rain god, who is typically portrayed with staring eyes and a long, curling nose. This is because there are no above-ground rivers in this region, and during the off season, there is hardly any rainfall. The Mayans therefore placed heavy significance on Chaac, whose image litters the ruins of the Puuc region. This image of Chaac, more commonly known as the Mask of Chaac, is made up of exactly 32 pieces of stone, fit together to create Chaac’s face. Also in this region are facades that are basically just a bunch of carved Xs. While this may not sound like anything special, it is pretty amazing to see wall covered with them, and it is VERY unique to this region… you won’t see it anywhere else.
The ruins we arrived at today were called Kabah, which I am told is Mayan for “Mighty Hand.” It was probably constructed sometime around 850 or 900 AD and reached its peak about a century thereafter. When the Toltecs invaded and took over the region, I know that they occupied Kabah for a while before abandoning it completely.
Kabah’s main attraction is the Temple of Masks, which has over 250 masks of Chaac covering the front façade. The sight of it is impressive beyond belief! I felt like I was right back at home again, clambering all over the ruins of Puuc architecture. This site is amazing because its carved limestone. The stone facades have lasted surprisingly long. Many Mayan cities used plaster for the facades, but the majority of Kabah’s architectural gems are still perfectly visible because they have been carved in stone. Ornate flowers and images of priests and gods and zig-zag designs… it was beautiful.
The whole site was very small… I would say over half of the centro is unexcavated and it would be more than safe to presume that there are unexcavated ruins in the surrounding selva. We did find a cool little spot… it was a small plaza to the side with images of flowers (or the could have been suns) on either side of the door. Emily and I decided that that must be the princess’s house and that we wouldn’t mind living there ourselves.
The return trip to Merida was uneventful… You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you that the entire weekend (food, housing, ruins, travel) cost me under $35.
The adventures will continue this coming weekend when I go to see the much-anticipated Caves of Calcetok.
In short: Stay tuned for next week’s episode of… INDIANA JONES and the OLMEC UNDERWORLD.
Indiana Jones and the Dead of Santa Elena
We woke up Saturday morning bright and early to grab a bus to the Centro. Our destination: Ticul, a small pueblo to the south of Merida, where we could base ourselves for the day to see the Mayan ruins on the Puuc Route that we missed last year. We were quickly on our way and arrived after an hour and half later in Ticul.
The first thing I noticed was that there were shoe stores EVERYWHERE. Ticul is the hub of shoemaking in the peninsula. I found myself wondering how all the stores managed to survive if they were all selling the exact same thing. The second notable thing about Ticul is that there is a great deal of orange. Everything there is a dark orange color, from the church to the plaza to the buildings surrounding it. The streets are divided by cement boulevards, punctuated by sculptures of Mayan gods at either end. Some of these statues had flowers laid upon them, which gave me cause to wonder if there are still followers of the pagan Mayan religion in this area.
After poking around Ticul for a few hours, we found a collectivo to Santa Elena (once a Mayan city known as Nohcacab), which brought even closer to the ruins that we wanted to see. I had read about a small museum in Santa Elena that greatly piqued my interest…
Upon arrival, I did not like Santa Elena. It was a creepy little run-down pueblo that didn’t have much of a main plaza… just an impending orange church on top of a steep hill. In the plaza in front of the church was an almost-deserted carnival that had less than ten attendants, one of which included a three-legged Chihuahua. The whole scene was a bit strange, and I felt jumpy because a nearby car kept backfiring, sounding more like a gun than anything.
Because the church and the museum are the main attraction, we climbed up the slanted steps toward the church. It was locked, but the museum on the side was open for visitors, so Emily and I paid up and walked in. On the left side was a room dedicated to the harvest of henequen, one of Yucatan’s most lucrative products. You have all seen it before… it is fibrous and very course and used to make rope. The fiber comes from the long, tough, spiky leaves of the bush-like plant. In the middle of the exhibit however, was an object that (as far as I can tell) does not relate to henequen in any way…
In the center of the room in a prominent case of glass, a large stone replica of… male genitalia… seems to float in mid-air. There is no plaque or explanation to explain the presence of this strange finding, and I was too abashed to ask the woman who ran the museum, so I suppose that it will forever remain a mystery to me.
The rooms off to the right held an even more interesting and grisly find. Beneath the floor tiles of Santa Elena in 1980 were found several human skeletons, some of which had been naturally preserved and mummified. Apparently, it was traditional during the time of the Spanish arrival in Mexico to bury members of the congregation under the floor of the church, or even under the floors of their own houses. These remains, long forgotten because they were unmarked, were discovered almost 30 years ago when some construction workers were tearing up the floor. Four of these remains were in boxes; all of them are the remains of children between the ages of 1 and 7. Given the fact that they died in the early 1800s and that the Spaniards probably did not mummify them purposefully, their condition is both astounding and gruesome. Two of them were in excellent condition… everything from their decorative burial garb to the fingernails on their hands were intact. It was kind of sad to see… and rather frightening.
After we went to the museum, we say and waited on the steps of this impressively large church. The church itself is so high above the village. When the conquistadors came, they often built churches on top of great Mayan pyramids, making the churches visible for miles. I haven’t been able to find out if this is the case with the church in Santa Elena, but I STRONGLY suspect so.
Sooner or later, a nun came along with the keys. The church was too big and too empty. The mildewed ceiling and the graphic depictions of the suffering of Jesus gave the entire interior a very frightening mood. All of the statues of Christ had real human hair and were covered in blood.
Having seen my fill of the interior, I approached the sister to ask if we could climb up into the balcony. I had read in my trusty lonely planet that if you ask, they will unlock the staircase to get onto the roof of the church… but we had no idea what we were getting into. She looked at us severely and told us that she would unlock the door, but that we would be climbing at our own risk.
“The stairs are rotting out,” she said, “they haven’t been replaced since the church was built.”
Well, since when has Dr. Indiana Jones been stopped by a few moldy stairs?
“Okay,” I replied, “Well, if I am going to die, I think I would like to die in a church.”
Emily and I asked her to open the door and we began up the rickety staircase. “Rickety” might be a tad bit of an understatement. The spiral staircase consisted of a series of giant wooden steps that came together in the middle to meet with… what had once been a tall wooden support. The support however, was missing pieces and rotting in various places. About one story up, my legs began to shake. The stairs had gaps between them, so it was easy to see how for up you had come, and how far you still had to climb. The goal was 115 feet… almost twice the height I jumped last year in that cenote. We climbed and climbed… until we reached the balcony, which was almost two thirds of the way up. The walls of the church on the upper level crumbled at the touch. Along both sides were long hallways that stretched the length of the creepy church.
Upon returning from the balcony, Emily told me that she was not willing to go further. The steps above us grew thinner in width and the space between them was much larger than those that we had just climbed. I wan’t about to quit, though. I began to climb, putting my weight on three steps at a time in order to spread out my weight and to test the steps ahead of me. My legs were tensing up and I could feel adrenaline coursing through my entire body. Slowly but surely, I reached the top of the tower. The last few steps were impossible to climb without falling all the way down. The third step from the top had rotted out completely, and the two above it looked as though they were about to do the same. They top few hung out of the wall in midair like rotten teeth… I was just tall enough to peek out the window of the tower onto the roof. High! I paused there long enough to take a picture and revel in the fact that I had actually climbed this 250-year old wooden staircase.
The sister awaited us at the bottom of the staircase anxiously. I think she half-expected that I would have come crashing down with the wooden stairs all around me. I just smiled and thanked her, saying: “I survived.”
I don’t think my legs will ever be the same after that. They were tense and shaky all the way to the hotel, which might have been a good mile from the church. We stayed in a quiet little cabana that night, preparing to get up early the next morning to hit the ruins.
The next morning we grabbed a bus headed south that dropped us of at Kabah, which is a smallish ruin along the Puuc Route. The Puuc region is just south of Merida and is famous for its unique style of architecture. All ruins in this region are of similar architecture, which many of you read about in all of my emails from last year. In case you are the forgetful sort, or in case you are a new follower of my doings, here is a bit of history for you:
The Puuc region is a region rich with Mayan cities that generally date from the Classic Period, around the 6th century. The architecture in this region is unique because of it’s layout as well as its facades. Most Mayans in the Puuc regions adamantly praised Chaah, the rain god, who is typically portrayed with staring eyes and a long, curling nose. This is because there are no above-ground rivers in this region, and during the off season, there is hardly any rainfall. The Mayans therefore placed heavy significance on Chaac, whose image litters the ruins of the Puuc region. This image of Chaac, more commonly known as the Mask of Chaac, is made up of exactly 32 pieces of stone, fit together to create Chaac’s face. Also in this region are facades that are basically just a bunch of carved Xs. While this may not sound like anything special, it is pretty amazing to see wall covered with them, and it is VERY unique to this region… you won’t see it anywhere else.
The ruins we arrived at today were called Kabah, which I am told is Mayan for “Mighty Hand.” It was probably constructed sometime around 850 or 900 AD and reached its peak about a century thereafter. When the Toltecs invaded and took over the region, I know that they occupied Kabah for a while before abandoning it completely.
Kabah’s main attraction is the Temple of Masks, which has over 250 masks of Chaac covering the front façade. The sight of it is impressive beyond belief! I felt like I was right back at home again, clambering all over the ruins of Puuc architecture. This site is amazing because its carved limestone. The stone facades have lasted surprisingly long. Many Mayan cities used plaster for the facades, but the majority of Kabah’s architectural gems are still perfectly visible because they have been carved in stone. Ornate flowers and images of priests and gods and zig-zag designs… it was beautiful.
The whole site was very small… I would say over half of the centro is unexcavated and it would be more than safe to presume that there are unexcavated ruins in the surrounding selva. We did find a cool little spot… it was a small plaza to the side with images of flowers (or the could have been suns) on either side of the door. Emily and I decided that that must be the princess’s house and that we wouldn’t mind living there ourselves.
The return trip to Merida was uneventful… You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you that the entire weekend (food, housing, ruins, travel) cost me under $35.
The adventures will continue this coming weekend when I go to see the much-anticipated Caves of Calcetok.
In short: Stay tuned for next week’s episode of… INDIANA JONES and the OLMEC UNDERWORLD.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Plans for the Weekend
Okay so here are the travel plans for this coming weekend... Dr. Indiana Jones is back in business!
Tomorrow we are planning on hopping a bus to Ticul, where will base ourselves for the weekend. With luck, I will be seeing everything from ruins to churches... to mummies :D
I am really excited to see the ruins on the Puuc Route that I missed last time.
Work is good, everything is good... I am supposed to try on a bunch of clothes for my photo shoot on Tuesday the next time I go to work, so that should be pretty fun. I am going to be published in a MAGAZINE! I am really nervous, but it should be really fun. I am not doing anything too cool... it is for the Levis campaigne. I will be sure to bring a stack of 'zines home and sign them all so that you all can be rich someday ;)
Tomorrow we are planning on hopping a bus to Ticul, where will base ourselves for the weekend. With luck, I will be seeing everything from ruins to churches... to mummies :D
I am really excited to see the ruins on the Puuc Route that I missed last time.
Work is good, everything is good... I am supposed to try on a bunch of clothes for my photo shoot on Tuesday the next time I go to work, so that should be pretty fun. I am going to be published in a MAGAZINE! I am really nervous, but it should be really fun. I am not doing anything too cool... it is for the Levis campaigne. I will be sure to bring a stack of 'zines home and sign them all so that you all can be rich someday ;)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Money
American dollars are the subject of my blog today for several reasons:
1.) Why is ALL of our money green? And not even like the cute, attractive green, but the ugly, barfy kind of green that makes you want to vom.
2.) Why are the covered in ugly old men?
3.) WHY WON`T they exchange my money here?!?
Today I went to change over some of my American cash. After checking my passport, the banker proceeded to color all over my bills with one of those conterfeit markers... I mean, I was only changing $25, but I guess they have been having problems with people making counterfeit American dollars and exchanging them for pesos. Anyway, he was eyeing me suspiciously and studying my passport as well as my money for almost 10 minutes. When he finally accepted that I was probably legit, he handed me back a $10 and a $1, saying that he wasn´t sure they were real because they looked too old! Hah! I didn´t quite know what to say to that, so I took the money back and signed for the money that he DID allow me to exchange.
I will end today´s little blurb by saying that Mexican money is SO pretty, and also completely free of old geezers.
1.) Why is ALL of our money green? And not even like the cute, attractive green, but the ugly, barfy kind of green that makes you want to vom.
2.) Why are the covered in ugly old men?
3.) WHY WON`T they exchange my money here?!?
Today I went to change over some of my American cash. After checking my passport, the banker proceeded to color all over my bills with one of those conterfeit markers... I mean, I was only changing $25, but I guess they have been having problems with people making counterfeit American dollars and exchanging them for pesos. Anyway, he was eyeing me suspiciously and studying my passport as well as my money for almost 10 minutes. When he finally accepted that I was probably legit, he handed me back a $10 and a $1, saying that he wasn´t sure they were real because they looked too old! Hah! I didn´t quite know what to say to that, so I took the money back and signed for the money that he DID allow me to exchange.
I will end today´s little blurb by saying that Mexican money is SO pretty, and also completely free of old geezers.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Laundry
At home, I just lump all of my laundry together in a few giant loads, being WAY too lazy to sort it all out and wash it all separately. Usually, that causes some problems, which is mainly the reason that I don't bother to buy white clothing. Here, however, you get to take your laundry to the Lavanderia. Let me tell you, this is something. I remember the first time I got my clothes back from that place, I wasn't even certain they were mind. They send it back to you fresh, folded, pressed, steamed, cleaned, you-name-it... and you didn't know your clothes could even LOOK like that. Is that the same rumpled, sweaty shirt that was on my bedroom floor yesterday?
The only other news is that I am designing my own magazine here for my job. How many college internships do you find where your boss asks you to "please design a magazine, becuase we want to use the format you create." Wow, right? I will be sure to post pages as I go along!
Also... I may have found the means of getting to the infamous Caves of Calcetok! This is an underground dry cave system that is southwest of here... within are some Mayan ruins... and human remains! This of course strikes my Indiana Jones bone. The trip will require some extreme vertical descents via rope ladder as well as long crawls through tight spaces... my cup of tea. I am really excited to begin this sort of thing once again. For now, my life remains boring and full of work... so not really boring, actually.
But for all of those Indiana Jones fans out there: FEAR NOT! The next episode is coming soon :D
The only other news is that I am designing my own magazine here for my job. How many college internships do you find where your boss asks you to "please design a magazine, becuase we want to use the format you create." Wow, right? I will be sure to post pages as I go along!
Also... I may have found the means of getting to the infamous Caves of Calcetok! This is an underground dry cave system that is southwest of here... within are some Mayan ruins... and human remains! This of course strikes my Indiana Jones bone. The trip will require some extreme vertical descents via rope ladder as well as long crawls through tight spaces... my cup of tea. I am really excited to begin this sort of thing once again. For now, my life remains boring and full of work... so not really boring, actually.
But for all of those Indiana Jones fans out there: FEAR NOT! The next episode is coming soon :D
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Fashion Model?
I worked from 10 this morning until 9 tonight. I am trying really hard to forget that I am not getting paid one red cent. The good thing is that I love it. This afternoon, I went out with the crew for a photoshoot for accessories. They are going to do a few spreads in Plan B dedicated to giant, fake jewels... cute. Apparently, they decided that because I am white, I would make a great model. I almost laughed. They did not seem to think it was funny though, because they are making plans for me to do some modeling next week (I think).
MODELING?!?!?! Since when am I skinny enough for that?! I find it hysterical.
Not too much else to tell, today really. More Photoshop, more InDesign, more Illustrator... but I love it. I am a total addict.
Hope all is well with y´all in the states. By the way... how´s the weather? ;)
MODELING?!?!?! Since when am I skinny enough for that?! I find it hysterical.
Not too much else to tell, today really. More Photoshop, more InDesign, more Illustrator... but I love it. I am a total addict.
Hope all is well with y´all in the states. By the way... how´s the weather? ;)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Cover Design
I almost forgot! I designed the cover for an annual review that is published with the newspaper, but print was delayed because they hadn´t quite finished yet.
Posted here my design... it looked a lot different and changed in all sorts of ways, but I learned a lot. This job has a lot of good things coming, methinks! Please note the prominent presence of American people on this cover... my boss chose every single picture. Take a look!
The Waterworks (Mexican Cafe Edition)
Wow.
That’s about all I have to say for today.
Suffice to say that today went kind of badly for me. I ended up at the Italian Coffee Shop down the street trying to connect with someone back home, but it was a very emotional moment for me… and I broke down crying in the café. I had suspected that this might have occurred, so I had located myself subtly a corner so that if the waterworks started, no one would have to know.
Well what began as a few tears grew into a steady stream, which grew into… Carolyn was sitting in a puddle (I am okay now, don’t worry). Puddle progressed to pond which progressed to lake which progressed to… well you get the general idea. Sooner than later, I was a soggy, weepy, leaky mess… right there in the café. It was embarrassing to say the least, and I tried really hard to keep everyone from knowing what exactly all the salt water was coming from.
It seems these efforts failed miserably however, and in the midst of a Skyping frenzy, I felt a hand on my back. I looked up and saw a middle aged woman looking at me with a face full of concern.
“Do you speak Spanish,” she asked me (in Spanish, of course). I wetly nodded.
“Is everything alright?”
Another wet nod… “I’m just a little sad right now,” I told her.
She smiled at me and looked right in my eyes. “Well, I am going to pray for you today,” she told me “and I’ll ask God to make your day better than it is now. Things will get better.”
I was so astounded. She had been so kind to some random stranger in a café who looked more like a wet chicken than a human girl. I was so touched, though…
More time passed and the waterworks continued. Trust me, I was being pretty subtle… or as subtle as a crying twenty year old can be! An elderly man soon came up to me and handed me a napkin, then walked away. I opened the napkin to dry my eyes some more and I read the following message: “You should be smiling instead of crying like that. Remember: after the darkest moment in the night, there is a beautiful brand new day. Hope things get better soon. Take care.” He didn’t sign his name, just left a little smiley face.
WOW. Maybe it is because it was an emotional day, but those two people really shook me up a bit. I began to wonder if a similar thing would have happened in the United States. So often the people of my country seem cold and uninviting, while the population here is so warm, smiling and welcoming. I am still not exactly sure what I have decided on that account.
I swear, there are angels hiding in the world everywhere you go. I know this entry has little to do with culture, Spanish or journalism, but I think it is my best entry yet, just the same.
And in case anyone is worried, I really am okay. I had to hit the boo-hoo button because I was all out of cranberries. Plus, I sat on a marshmallow, and that never helps things, does it?
That’s about all I have to say for today.
Suffice to say that today went kind of badly for me. I ended up at the Italian Coffee Shop down the street trying to connect with someone back home, but it was a very emotional moment for me… and I broke down crying in the café. I had suspected that this might have occurred, so I had located myself subtly a corner so that if the waterworks started, no one would have to know.
Well what began as a few tears grew into a steady stream, which grew into… Carolyn was sitting in a puddle (I am okay now, don’t worry). Puddle progressed to pond which progressed to lake which progressed to… well you get the general idea. Sooner than later, I was a soggy, weepy, leaky mess… right there in the café. It was embarrassing to say the least, and I tried really hard to keep everyone from knowing what exactly all the salt water was coming from.
It seems these efforts failed miserably however, and in the midst of a Skyping frenzy, I felt a hand on my back. I looked up and saw a middle aged woman looking at me with a face full of concern.
“Do you speak Spanish,” she asked me (in Spanish, of course). I wetly nodded.
“Is everything alright?”
Another wet nod… “I’m just a little sad right now,” I told her.
She smiled at me and looked right in my eyes. “Well, I am going to pray for you today,” she told me “and I’ll ask God to make your day better than it is now. Things will get better.”
I was so astounded. She had been so kind to some random stranger in a café who looked more like a wet chicken than a human girl. I was so touched, though…
More time passed and the waterworks continued. Trust me, I was being pretty subtle… or as subtle as a crying twenty year old can be! An elderly man soon came up to me and handed me a napkin, then walked away. I opened the napkin to dry my eyes some more and I read the following message: “You should be smiling instead of crying like that. Remember: after the darkest moment in the night, there is a beautiful brand new day. Hope things get better soon. Take care.” He didn’t sign his name, just left a little smiley face.
WOW. Maybe it is because it was an emotional day, but those two people really shook me up a bit. I began to wonder if a similar thing would have happened in the United States. So often the people of my country seem cold and uninviting, while the population here is so warm, smiling and welcoming. I am still not exactly sure what I have decided on that account.
I swear, there are angels hiding in the world everywhere you go. I know this entry has little to do with culture, Spanish or journalism, but I think it is my best entry yet, just the same.
And in case anyone is worried, I really am okay. I had to hit the boo-hoo button because I was all out of cranberries. Plus, I sat on a marshmallow, and that never helps things, does it?
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Work!
Well, it has been a LONG and crazy week. I feel like I am floundering a little bit with my schedule, but I am sure that I will eventually get it down pat. My job is great, no lies there, I adore it... but I feel like that is all I have written about, so.....
I love my family, of course. I am staying with the same family that I stayed with last year, but Luis is married off and living somewhere else, now. Mama seems really glad to have me back, and it feels like coming home in its very own way. There is none of that awkwardness that there was last year. I am so glad to be back with all of them. Mama is living alone now, so Margarita (her daughter) has been coming over and sleeping with her in the guest bed at night so that she won´t be alone. She seems infinitely glad to have company in the house once again. I am kind of bummed because I have been missing lunch every day with the family because I am having trouble getting home from work on time... hopefully I will get it all figured out once again and be home on time next week!
I can´t even TELL you all how much I have eaten this week. I adore everything here. I have already spent countelss dollars on horchata (my favorite milk-like rice and almond drink that is a favorite here) and Yucatec candy, as many of you might imagine. I have gone to all of my favorite places in the city and gotten panuchos and salbutes and taquillas and charritos and you-name-it. I missed it all so much! The beautiful thing is that it is all 1.) cheap and 2.) so good for you! I had forgotten how fresh and healthy everything tastes. It is very different from the states... everthing we eat is basically packaged trans-fat. In short: I am like a little piglet, eating her days away, yet it is wonderful.
The economy is ouching here, badly. So many places I used to go are now closed because they aren´t making money. Bus prices and taxi prices are higher than last year because of the gas and the bad economy, so life is not always so cheap. My friend Martin told me that his business is pretty much hanging by a string... he is in the auto industry. Everyone mourns the sharp decrease in value of the peso... 13.5 pesos to the dollar.
This brings me to my next thought: Obama. They are all so hopeful that Obama will turn things around. There is a buzz of excitement whenever his name is mentioned. It is amazing to me that the president-elect of our nation could be so dearly loved by the majority of the people here. I made the cover for the annual review of the past year, and the first thing that my boss told me was, "Obama tiene que estar" (Obama must be there). Their hope for the new president is overwhelming indeed.
What else? All I have done this week is work, eat and sleep. I am trying very hard to finish my applications fo the summer, so that has kind of been weighing down my explorations. Between all of my work, I have made plans to go to Playa del Carmen this weekend... kind of lame for Indiana Jones, but I needed a weekend to relax. Also, there is something so beautiful about the Caribbean. I hardly spent any time there last year, so I thought it was definitely worth the effort to relax there. Miguel, Margarita´s husband, is taking us there, and then we will probably grab a bus back on Sunday night. I will try not to fry my skin to a crisp.
So far, this experience feels quite different from that of last year. It feels much less exotic and much more like day-to-day life. That DOES NOT mean I love it any less, though! I am having a wildly fun time, just in a very different way. I know the ropes a little better, so I feel somwhere between visitor and resident. I still stick out like a sore thumb... my little ponytail is like a "blonde" flag announcing that the Gringa of Merida has arrived! Oh well... what can you do, right?
I hope all is going well back in the States for everyone. I will certainly have more to tell once I get back on Monday because my life will have definitely gotten interesting!
¡Hasta proto!
I love my family, of course. I am staying with the same family that I stayed with last year, but Luis is married off and living somewhere else, now. Mama seems really glad to have me back, and it feels like coming home in its very own way. There is none of that awkwardness that there was last year. I am so glad to be back with all of them. Mama is living alone now, so Margarita (her daughter) has been coming over and sleeping with her in the guest bed at night so that she won´t be alone. She seems infinitely glad to have company in the house once again. I am kind of bummed because I have been missing lunch every day with the family because I am having trouble getting home from work on time... hopefully I will get it all figured out once again and be home on time next week!
I can´t even TELL you all how much I have eaten this week. I adore everything here. I have already spent countelss dollars on horchata (my favorite milk-like rice and almond drink that is a favorite here) and Yucatec candy, as many of you might imagine. I have gone to all of my favorite places in the city and gotten panuchos and salbutes and taquillas and charritos and you-name-it. I missed it all so much! The beautiful thing is that it is all 1.) cheap and 2.) so good for you! I had forgotten how fresh and healthy everything tastes. It is very different from the states... everthing we eat is basically packaged trans-fat. In short: I am like a little piglet, eating her days away, yet it is wonderful.
The economy is ouching here, badly. So many places I used to go are now closed because they aren´t making money. Bus prices and taxi prices are higher than last year because of the gas and the bad economy, so life is not always so cheap. My friend Martin told me that his business is pretty much hanging by a string... he is in the auto industry. Everyone mourns the sharp decrease in value of the peso... 13.5 pesos to the dollar.
This brings me to my next thought: Obama. They are all so hopeful that Obama will turn things around. There is a buzz of excitement whenever his name is mentioned. It is amazing to me that the president-elect of our nation could be so dearly loved by the majority of the people here. I made the cover for the annual review of the past year, and the first thing that my boss told me was, "Obama tiene que estar" (Obama must be there). Their hope for the new president is overwhelming indeed.
What else? All I have done this week is work, eat and sleep. I am trying very hard to finish my applications fo the summer, so that has kind of been weighing down my explorations. Between all of my work, I have made plans to go to Playa del Carmen this weekend... kind of lame for Indiana Jones, but I needed a weekend to relax. Also, there is something so beautiful about the Caribbean. I hardly spent any time there last year, so I thought it was definitely worth the effort to relax there. Miguel, Margarita´s husband, is taking us there, and then we will probably grab a bus back on Sunday night. I will try not to fry my skin to a crisp.
So far, this experience feels quite different from that of last year. It feels much less exotic and much more like day-to-day life. That DOES NOT mean I love it any less, though! I am having a wildly fun time, just in a very different way. I know the ropes a little better, so I feel somwhere between visitor and resident. I still stick out like a sore thumb... my little ponytail is like a "blonde" flag announcing that the Gringa of Merida has arrived! Oh well... what can you do, right?
I hope all is going well back in the States for everyone. I will certainly have more to tell once I get back on Monday because my life will have definitely gotten interesting!
¡Hasta proto!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
CRIT
Today went famously! Minus the fact that I still don’t speak Spanish. I ended up getting up early and going to see a new complex called CRIT, which is a school for children with disabilities. I guess the paper is doing a story and my boss thought it would be good if I went. This place was posh to say the least… indoor pools with special handrails, jungle gyms, special rooms with special desks, and their own personal training center. Mom, you would not have liked one of the rooms there: it was dedicated to teaching children everyday skills such as making the bed and (believe it or not) hanging up a hammock. Among these skills is unlocking locks. There were two boards filled with different types of locks that they helped the children learn to use. Can you imagine Googly obtaining that secret knowledge?!
The workout facility was particularly cool. They had a special machine there that taught disabled children how to walk by training their muscle memory. The computers analyze each individual child and walk for them so that they muscles will develop “memory” of the movement. It was fascinating.
After that, I went and finished my cover proposal. I am trying to post it on this blog, but it seems I am not having much luck.
I am SO busy! I am somewhat frustrated, though because I feel like there is too much English in my life, so I am trying to remedy it as best as I can. Fellow students and coworkers want to use their English, but I don’t want to, it is too hard to switch from one language to the other.
I hope all is well. So far, the adventures have not begun yet because the weekend hasn’t arrived. I am probably going to Cozumel, however, which is a place I have never been. It will kind of be a touristy, beach-type trip, but I can’t possibly leave the Yucatan without having gone there!
See you all soon!
The workout facility was particularly cool. They had a special machine there that taught disabled children how to walk by training their muscle memory. The computers analyze each individual child and walk for them so that they muscles will develop “memory” of the movement. It was fascinating.
After that, I went and finished my cover proposal. I am trying to post it on this blog, but it seems I am not having much luck.
I am SO busy! I am somewhat frustrated, though because I feel like there is too much English in my life, so I am trying to remedy it as best as I can. Fellow students and coworkers want to use their English, but I don’t want to, it is too hard to switch from one language to the other.
I hope all is well. So far, the adventures have not begun yet because the weekend hasn’t arrived. I am probably going to Cozumel, however, which is a place I have never been. It will kind of be a touristy, beach-type trip, but I can’t possibly leave the Yucatan without having gone there!
See you all soon!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Day 2: Much Better!
I absolutely love my job... and absolutely hate computers. I spent all day at work working on a proposal for the 2008 Review that they publish annually. There will be a number of proposals that are to be turned in, and the group will select the one that they like best. It is difficult to use the Adobe programs because they are in Spanish (at least, Photoshop is) and the keys are in different places, making it difficult for me to use the key commands that I am so familiar with. The good thing is that this is exactly the kind of work that I would not mind doing the rest of my life. I had so much fun today clicking away on Photoshop :) When I am finished with my proposal, I will definitely be sure to post it on this blog for all to see.
Also, don't forget: I will continue my cartooning for The Post here in Merida. Check on the site to see it, if you want!
I will try to write more about the whole experience tomorrow... I am working on this project and frantically trying to finish... hasta luego!
Also, don't forget: I will continue my cartooning for The Post here in Merida. Check on the site to see it, if you want!
I will try to write more about the whole experience tomorrow... I am working on this project and frantically trying to finish... hasta luego!
Monday, January 5, 2009
First Day!
The first day here was insane! I woke up early to get ready for work... it turns out that the office of Diario de Yucatan is in the Centro very close to the Plaza de Independencia (which is where all the happenings are)! I get to go to Centro EVERY DAY! I will be working four hours a day, five days a week to start... I think my boss did not want to overwhelm me.
It seems that I will be doing layout and design for the Yucatec magazine, Plan B. It is kind of like the local version of People. The ricos (wealthy people) that live here are a lot like movie stars, so they get news coverage on the local level. Plan B also covers important weddings and events in the wealthy social circle here in the city.
The people I will be working with are really cool. They are very young and have a lot of spunk, and they all seem to love their jobs. I will be working on a team with ten other people, each of them just as funny and agreeable as the next. My only problem will be the language barrier... I thought I would remember a lot more than I do! I was extrememly tired today and surprised at my lack of ability to communicate on the level that I was expecting of myself. I think I will need a week or so to acclimate to the Spanish-speaking environment. I found myself accidentally using English words in some of my sentences accidentally... I am definitely thinking too much in English. My hope is that I will soon be back to the level of fluency that I was when I left last year so that I can continue to improve afterward. We shall see... !
I hope all is going well with everyone in Ohio. Not to rub it in, but I am basking happily in the sunshine... 80-something degrees :) I will write more soon.
It seems that I will be doing layout and design for the Yucatec magazine, Plan B. It is kind of like the local version of People. The ricos (wealthy people) that live here are a lot like movie stars, so they get news coverage on the local level. Plan B also covers important weddings and events in the wealthy social circle here in the city.
The people I will be working with are really cool. They are very young and have a lot of spunk, and they all seem to love their jobs. I will be working on a team with ten other people, each of them just as funny and agreeable as the next. My only problem will be the language barrier... I thought I would remember a lot more than I do! I was extrememly tired today and surprised at my lack of ability to communicate on the level that I was expecting of myself. I think I will need a week or so to acclimate to the Spanish-speaking environment. I found myself accidentally using English words in some of my sentences accidentally... I am definitely thinking too much in English. My hope is that I will soon be back to the level of fluency that I was when I left last year so that I can continue to improve afterward. We shall see... !
I hope all is going well with everyone in Ohio. Not to rub it in, but I am basking happily in the sunshine... 80-something degrees :) I will write more soon.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Carolyn Goes to Merida
Salutations!
Twenty-four hours from now, I will be flopping into my Yucatec hammock and falling fast asleep! I can't believe that this trip has come so quickly. Please feel free to keep up with all of my adventures... this trip will be Indiana Jones, part II.
I will write to you all in the wonderful warmth of Mexico!
Twenty-four hours from now, I will be flopping into my Yucatec hammock and falling fast asleep! I can't believe that this trip has come so quickly. Please feel free to keep up with all of my adventures... this trip will be Indiana Jones, part II.
I will write to you all in the wonderful warmth of Mexico!
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