Norman H. Miller

I apologize for the abrupt end to my blog. I do have some closing thoughts on my experience that I would like to share just to tie up my loose ends.

I had big plans to stay in Merida until March 27... you may notice that... it is not March 27 yet. I had to cancel my spring break plans because my Grandpa fell very ill. I managed to transfer my ticket for the very early morning of March 21, and I got to my Grandpa's house that evening around 7.

As it turns out, his heart and kidney's were failing. Becuase he was too weak, they could not do dialysis, so he left the hospital and chose to have Hospice come to take care of him in his home in the Toledo area. I got home in just enough time to talk to him. He was still thinking very clearly by the time that I got home, so I thank God for that opportunity.

The family had very many special moments this week. My Grandpa was truly an amazing man. In case anyone is interested, I have placed the link to the Toledo Blade's obituary... which does him little justice: http://www.legacy.com/ToledoBlade/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=125448149

The Blade is also putting forth an article on Friday (the day of his funeral) about some of the things that he did for this community.

I hope to write again very soon with closing thoughts... and on a much happier note.

Emo?... in Mexico?

In the United States, I am sure you all have noticed a trend amongst youngsters that has been dubbed 'Emo.' For all of you older readers, Emo (as in 'emotion') is a term that is used to describe the trend of dressing in black, multiple piercings, death-related garb, etc. You all know what I am talking about now, right? Emos are the guys that have a tear tattooed on their cheek and have red stripes in their hair, that sort of thing.

So why am I writing about Emos in Mexico? The Emo movement is well on its way in the US, but here in Mexico, it is JUST getting going. It is like a new way of rebelling here. While I rarely saw piercings and Emo attire last year... it is EVERYWHERE this year! Everywhere you go, teens are dressing Emo!

This movement in the US is now generally accepted, I think. Here, though, it is very controversial. How do I know this? If you step onto any given bus in this city, you will read the ongoing debate amongst those that are Emo... and those that are not. They usually run something like this:

An Emo writes: Can a heart still break if it has stopped beating? or If life is fair, why do roses have thorns?

A response: %&#$& Emo, get a life.

A response to the response: No one understands becuase people in this world turn away from their feelings.

The rebuddle: No one wants to understand, you are creepy, &%$#/ Emo.

The closing: Viva Emo! (Long live Emo)

And written next to it: Die Emos.

Each little debate varies slightly, but they are all along these lines. It is both funny to me...and a little bit sad. Here it seems that people have less freedom to express themselves. While I think being Emo is a bit extreme, I think it is sad that people can't seem to do or dress as they want here. We in the US have a lot more freedom to... wear sweatpants to class if we want or get our noses pierced without the whole world condemning us. The feminist movement is JUST getting rolling here... women in Mexico are not esteemed and respected as much as women in the United States are.

I don't know, I jus think it is interesting :)

Indiana Jones and the Mayan Underworld

Monday was a holiday here, so Emily and I decided to have one last and final Indiana Jones quest before we left... and what better way to do that than to go to the caves at Calcehtok? We woke up early in the morning and caught a ride with some of Emily's friends from work. The caves are not too far outside of Merida, so we were there before we knew it.

We had several options for tours, and we opted for the 'Extreme.' Even this tour can extend anywhere from two to EIGHT hours in length. Since there are several exits, the guide told us that we could go in and just... see how we were feeling. We ended up staying under for about three and a half hours. We climbed straight down a ladder into the caverns below. After about twenty minutes of walking, things got a bit... small.

After that point, it was all crouching, and hands-and-knees... and then chest-to-the-floor crawling. We scaled a rock wall with a rope... and slid down a giant rock formation into a cavern below. There was no lighting within the caverns... just the flashlights we held. We saw all sorts of rock formations, some of which were completely made from quartz.

We also got to see quite a bit of Mayan artifacts. The guide told us all sorts of stories about ancient Mayan rituals that took place inside the caverns. He told us that he believed the aluxes (uh-LOO-shez) still live there, and swore that he had seen glimpses of them before. The aluxes are small dwarf-like beings that are the ancestors of the Mayans. They live in the trees and caves and nooks of the world and can cause all manners of mischief. People still make offerings to them so that they will bring luck instead of trouble, and seeing an alux can be really good... or really bad.

There were vampire bats galore, so you had to watch out for the occasional puddle of blood mixed with guano on the floor if you were walking below a nest. The deeper into the caves we went, the more bats there were. There were times when we had to crawl through piles of bat guano to get where we needed to go. I just stopped knowing what was mud at that point... and what was something else!

It was fun... but I think I have never needed a shower more in my life. I was COVERED in mud and guano. I could hardly believe how filthy I was... and it wasn't cute either. After three hours of Lara Croft-ing it, I was ready to be out of there... but I didn't feel too bad wanting to leave. I am sure Indiana does not PREFER to be crawling through bat guano!

A Quiet Weekend...

Well, we had a really relaxing and lazy weekend, which means that there really isn´t too much to report. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that we filled the pool, and so all that we really wanted to do was keep to ourselves and bum out. On Saturday, Mama fixed us a picnic beside the pool, which was super fun! (By the way, the tree in the side yard is an avocado tree...I WANT AN AVOCADO TREE, NO FAIR!) Saturday night was the farewell party to the students. It was a formal catered event with music and dancing and socializing, you know the routine. It was fun... and afterward, Elizabeth and I hopped into the pool (AGAIN) for a moonlight swim. Sunday was more of the same... I had a lot of fun though.

TODAY we went to the MUCH-ANTICIPATED caves of Calcetok... but seeing as it is late and I must do the caves justice... I will leave you all with this:

Vertical descent into an underworld of Mayan mystery.

What a cliff-hanger, eh?

Language Review

had my Spanish test yesterday with the school. Just to fill those of you who don't know in... I have been taking Spanish since freshman year of high school... and have been serious about it since junior year. That makes about four solid years of having studied Spanish now. Freshman year of college, I began in 300-level Spanish and took two of those before going abroad. At the end of my trip last year, I spoke Spanish very well on what they would call the conversational level.

This year was very different. Beyond the level of conversation, I had to make my Spanish work in a working environment. I suddenly had to be very careful about grammar and especially etiquette. I also had to learn a WHOLE new set of vocabulary for magazine terminology and I was exposed to what I would call the 'real world' Spanish. It felt like a really big set-back at first.

After getting my Spanish tested and evaluated yesterday, I have progressed up two levels since my arrival here... not stellar, but not bad either. When I arrived, I was at the conversational level. I progressed from that level up to advanced conversational level and on to what they call the working level of Spanish. All that would be left on this chart for me would be what they call the advanced working level... and then the professional level is the final level. College professors are professional level speakers. The government has two levels beyond that, however.

In short: I was already proficient when I came, and after having been here, I am now a little more than halfway to the top level... which is (of course) native speaker. Halfway... that's it?!? It is sad to know that I won't be able to reach that any time in the near future because my professional life in the United States is on the verge of beginning.

One thing that hurt my feelings during the interview was that she was asking me to share some opinions and ideas about my job. I told her (in Spanish) and I had absolutely no gaps, no problems conveying exactly what I thought. When the interview was over, she told me that my ideas were not abstract enough to put me on the advanced working level of Spanish, and that this was the biggest thing that was holding me back.... OUCH! My ideas in English would have been the exact same! :( Now I feel like a caveman. Not abstract? How abstract can magazine design get? It isn't like religious philosophy! If she wanted more abstract thoughts, then I felt like maybe she should have asked me some more abstract questions!

At any rate... I speak Spanish. Unfortunately, the more I learn, the farther off I feel from being where I want to be. I am also sad that I will be going to the United States soon, where I have little to no opportunity to use my Spanish... and inevitably I will lose some of it. I am faced with the reality that I will not soon achieve my dream of being a fluent speaker.

But I do speak Spanish. This experience has made me a little bit more realistic about learning a foreign language. I have decided that instead of being perfect in two languages, maybe I will just be proficient in several. I think I am going to try to take some German classes my senior year of college. I know that it isn't often used (Chinese or Arabic would probably serve me better) but it really interests me...

Plus. I am German. Maybe someday I will be able to go to Germany and be proficient in German... who knows?

Cancun: Smut Capital of the World

Here is the scathing editorial that I wrote to go with that cartoon. I didn't end up sending it to my publisher because I am already expressing the same opinion in the form of a picture, so I thought it seemed redundant. Did I mention that I hate Cancun?

Here it is:

I laughed out loud when I got the email from Ohio University telling students to stay away from Mexico for spring break.
FINALLY! Someone is showing some sense! What you probably don't know is that I have been living in Mexico this quarter, doing an internship abroad. I am located in the Yucatan Peninsula. For those of you who don't speak Mexican Geography, I am four hours west of Cancun. (I can almost see the light of sudden understanding dawning in your eyes as you read this.) This is my second time abroad here.
Cancun is a dangerous, no good, very bad place filled with drugs, sex and alcohal. Oh, and did I mention the idiotic Americans who come for spring break, get naked and drunk and think it is okay to show their most shameful side to the rest of the world? It is like asking for trouble. People who do that are basically saying: 'Here, check me out running naked and wasted on the beach! I am such an easy target, it is ridiculous! Come kidnap me!' They make themselves extremely vulnerable to the dangers of being in a foreign country.
Kiddnapping, prostitution, prison, death. These are the things that will await you in Cancun if you go there for spring break and behave that way, and I am not even kidding. In Mayan, Cancun means 'Snake's Den.' Anyone surprised? It is very dangerous there ALWAYS, but now things are even worse because of the drug cartels. It would be wise to stay away... or if you have already bought your tickets, GET SOUTH! Go to places like Tulum and Playa del Carmen (about an hour away, but still on the Caribbean), where the dangers are not so potent. Cancun is a time bomb waiting to go off.
Also, just an afterthought: Cancun is not Mexico. If you have gone to Cancun... I am sorry, but you might as well have not gotten that cute little stamp on your passport, because you went to a warmer, more tropical version of Las Vegas.

Spring Break Cartoon

Here is a cartoon that I did for spring breakers... Enjoy!