Friday, June 19, 2009
spending time with recovering alcoholics
Hola amigos!
I have been hard at work on my project. So far Ive gone to a bunch of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, made some great contacts, had a few interviews. This afternoon I am going to the jail with a big group of the members because there is an AA group there. I am not exactly sure what we will be doing but I think it will be a great experience. Fieldwork is hard work, and I am realizing how much harder it is when people cannot totally understand you and you cannot totally understand others. The language barrier is a bit frustrating, especially during the interviews but I am doing the best that I can.
Last sunday I was very sick. I had a stomach thing like Ive never had a stomach thing. It took a bit of time to feel good but now I am pretty much 100%.
Yesterday the family and I all woke up by 430am and went to Merida for my little sisters Baptism. it happened after the mass. it was a nice ceremony from what I can tell. Rodrigo took Justin and I to the governmental palace near the church to see a beautiful art display of Yucatecan artists.
Time for an interview! This day is quite tiring!
i will write more later
I have been hard at work on my project. So far Ive gone to a bunch of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, made some great contacts, had a few interviews. This afternoon I am going to the jail with a big group of the members because there is an AA group there. I am not exactly sure what we will be doing but I think it will be a great experience. Fieldwork is hard work, and I am realizing how much harder it is when people cannot totally understand you and you cannot totally understand others. The language barrier is a bit frustrating, especially during the interviews but I am doing the best that I can.
Last sunday I was very sick. I had a stomach thing like Ive never had a stomach thing. It took a bit of time to feel good but now I am pretty much 100%.
Yesterday the family and I all woke up by 430am and went to Merida for my little sisters Baptism. it happened after the mass. it was a nice ceremony from what I can tell. Rodrigo took Justin and I to the governmental palace near the church to see a beautiful art display of Yucatecan artists.
Time for an interview! This day is quite tiring!
i will write more later
Thursday, June 11, 2009
life is full of wonders
Well my friends, much has happened since my post!
Last monday i went to Merida with my host family. it is the capital city of the yucatan. the car ride there and back reminded me of the car trips that I used to take with my family when i was litte...sitting in the middle, sleeping most of time, waking up with my head on someones shoulder. although i am much larger than my host sisters (and my host mom and almost my host dad...mayas are quite small) i was quite squished in the middle but i didnt mind. I only saw the central area of Merida in the car because it was raining a lot when we got there. It seemed pretty though. Then we went to 3 different malls...they were all looking for random things and i wanted to find a skirt, but after going to almost every store in 2 very large and 1 small mall, found that they only have very short or elegant skirts here, but wound up buying something i didnt like much just so my family didnt feel bad that i didnt find anything.
The rest of last week was spent doing a good amount of work and preparing for research. We were intensively instructed on how to write and then improve our research proposals and analytical questions which was difficult but very useful. Also, we got stuff ready for our plans for break.
Friday afternoon Matt, Evan, Lindsey and Brianna left Piste to head to the beach. Brianna got off in Tulum to meet her father where we'd meet up with her on monday and the rest of us headed to Playa del Carmen. We stayed at a place called Casa Tucan. It in an awesome location, was set in a jungle of sorts, had all kinds of murals everywhere, was very clean, had a nice pool, air conditioning! and we stayed in suite there with a kitchenette and patio area. Our room was called El Cenote (see last entry) so it was set down below. Very neat.
I spent as much time as I could on the beach all day. It was so so gorgeous. Playa is developed but nowhere near as much as Cancuna and was developed by Europeans so it is much more tasteful. There is a large mix of people from around the world that come and there is a large range of things to do/restaurants/hotels. On saturday at sunset time we all got massages on the beach. Ahhhhh so wonderful. we did it partially because it only cost 25 dollars for an hour. There were some neat bars and clubs right on the beach and many had rope swings instead of bar stools! On saturday night we had thai food, which wasnt so good but i am happy that i got to go to a thai place all the same! Sunday night we made a nice dinner complete with candles for the 4 of us.
We stayed in playa for 3 nights and then went to Tulum on Monday morning. Here we met up with Brianna. Tulum is beautifulll and much different than playa in that it is not built up. there are some hotels along the beach but where we were only had cabanas and nothing around it (as in restaurants or anything besdies the hotels). It is the perfect place to get away from everything. We just hung out on the beach, went to ruins but after being there for about 10 minutes, it rained quite intensely. We took cover under a tree. the rain would have been a lot of fun and we could have just gone swimming but unfortunately we had our cameras and other valuables so we had to huddle with our stuff. Luckily, it all survived the storm but unfortunately we didnt get to see everything and wasnt able to take many pictures. That night we went into the town for an awesome italian dinner. I wound up going to sleep at 330 and then waking up at 5 to see the sunrise over the ocean. After sunrise, i napped on the beach until it was time to leave at 8.
So, the trip was wonderful. I would love to go back! For me, it was a good balance of relaxation and activity/meeting people/dancing. In true Sarah-ness, I was the last one asleep and first to wake up each day because i didnt want to miss a second of the beach or the sun.
We got back on tuesday afternoon, all pretty exhausted. Yesterday we took our first all together trip to Chichen Itza (oh yeah i went briefly last sunday with my host sisters). We wound up spending 6 hours there and didnt even wind up seeing everything in part because its huge and in part because everyone knows Quetzil and we know a lot of people there too (the vendors) so we stopped constantly to talk to people. it was a lot of fun to be there and know so many people working and to have a tour fromm Queztil who knows so much information and background gossip on everything. 21 years of experience there has created a lot of stories!
So after 6 hours in the sun, I came home, helped Yli with her English exam, ran around town a little then got ready to do some work when Juan (im using fake names cause it needs to be anonymous) came to my house and told me that he found out that i cant go to his AA group but that there was a public event in the park for the worldwide anniversary of the founding of AA, NOW. i was in a bit of frenzy and was quite tired but i got myself together went over there.
the event wound up being very helpful for my project. i made some reat contacts and have plans to go to my first meeting on saturday and then a meeting of the group representatives on monday. 2 movies were shown. the purpose of the event was to inform non-AA about the group. it was great.
i need to go eat. a 2 year old is petting me and telling me its time to eat.
amor!
Last monday i went to Merida with my host family. it is the capital city of the yucatan. the car ride there and back reminded me of the car trips that I used to take with my family when i was litte...sitting in the middle, sleeping most of time, waking up with my head on someones shoulder. although i am much larger than my host sisters (and my host mom and almost my host dad...mayas are quite small) i was quite squished in the middle but i didnt mind. I only saw the central area of Merida in the car because it was raining a lot when we got there. It seemed pretty though. Then we went to 3 different malls...they were all looking for random things and i wanted to find a skirt, but after going to almost every store in 2 very large and 1 small mall, found that they only have very short or elegant skirts here, but wound up buying something i didnt like much just so my family didnt feel bad that i didnt find anything.
The rest of last week was spent doing a good amount of work and preparing for research. We were intensively instructed on how to write and then improve our research proposals and analytical questions which was difficult but very useful. Also, we got stuff ready for our plans for break.
Friday afternoon Matt, Evan, Lindsey and Brianna left Piste to head to the beach. Brianna got off in Tulum to meet her father where we'd meet up with her on monday and the rest of us headed to Playa del Carmen. We stayed at a place called Casa Tucan. It in an awesome location, was set in a jungle of sorts, had all kinds of murals everywhere, was very clean, had a nice pool, air conditioning! and we stayed in suite there with a kitchenette and patio area. Our room was called El Cenote (see last entry) so it was set down below. Very neat.
I spent as much time as I could on the beach all day. It was so so gorgeous. Playa is developed but nowhere near as much as Cancuna and was developed by Europeans so it is much more tasteful. There is a large mix of people from around the world that come and there is a large range of things to do/restaurants/hotels. On saturday at sunset time we all got massages on the beach. Ahhhhh so wonderful. we did it partially because it only cost 25 dollars for an hour. There were some neat bars and clubs right on the beach and many had rope swings instead of bar stools! On saturday night we had thai food, which wasnt so good but i am happy that i got to go to a thai place all the same! Sunday night we made a nice dinner complete with candles for the 4 of us.
We stayed in playa for 3 nights and then went to Tulum on Monday morning. Here we met up with Brianna. Tulum is beautifulll and much different than playa in that it is not built up. there are some hotels along the beach but where we were only had cabanas and nothing around it (as in restaurants or anything besdies the hotels). It is the perfect place to get away from everything. We just hung out on the beach, went to ruins but after being there for about 10 minutes, it rained quite intensely. We took cover under a tree. the rain would have been a lot of fun and we could have just gone swimming but unfortunately we had our cameras and other valuables so we had to huddle with our stuff. Luckily, it all survived the storm but unfortunately we didnt get to see everything and wasnt able to take many pictures. That night we went into the town for an awesome italian dinner. I wound up going to sleep at 330 and then waking up at 5 to see the sunrise over the ocean. After sunrise, i napped on the beach until it was time to leave at 8.
So, the trip was wonderful. I would love to go back! For me, it was a good balance of relaxation and activity/meeting people/dancing. In true Sarah-ness, I was the last one asleep and first to wake up each day because i didnt want to miss a second of the beach or the sun.
We got back on tuesday afternoon, all pretty exhausted. Yesterday we took our first all together trip to Chichen Itza (oh yeah i went briefly last sunday with my host sisters). We wound up spending 6 hours there and didnt even wind up seeing everything in part because its huge and in part because everyone knows Quetzil and we know a lot of people there too (the vendors) so we stopped constantly to talk to people. it was a lot of fun to be there and know so many people working and to have a tour fromm Queztil who knows so much information and background gossip on everything. 21 years of experience there has created a lot of stories!
So after 6 hours in the sun, I came home, helped Yli with her English exam, ran around town a little then got ready to do some work when Juan (im using fake names cause it needs to be anonymous) came to my house and told me that he found out that i cant go to his AA group but that there was a public event in the park for the worldwide anniversary of the founding of AA, NOW. i was in a bit of frenzy and was quite tired but i got myself together went over there.
the event wound up being very helpful for my project. i made some reat contacts and have plans to go to my first meeting on saturday and then a meeting of the group representatives on monday. 2 movies were shown. the purpose of the event was to inform non-AA about the group. it was great.
i need to go eat. a 2 year old is petting me and telling me its time to eat.
amor!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
these little town blues
Hello everyone!
I am taking a break from the lavadora (washing machine) crisis. For a few days I have been saying that I want to do my laundry and asked where I could do it. Although I saw that my family has a washing machine, for some reason my host mother kept saying that I had to bring my clothes across town so that another lady could do it. I couldnt really imagine lugging my huge laundry bag across town in the heat would be too fun so I brought out my woolite and asked my host mom if i could do it by hand here. she said yes, then finally "we have a lavadora, use it!" So we went in the back to use it and discovered the water was not draining. Yiliana (my host mom) and i tried to clean it out for a while and then a man showed up to fix it. He wound up taking it like all apart. i watched and helped where i could but when they put the machine down on its side to start taking apart the wires, i decided it was time for me to go inside and get some stuff done. So everyone, appreciate your working and high tech lavadoras!
This week has been full of fun stuff. Some highlights:
1. On wednesday my group took a trip to a small town which had a beautifullll cenote. a cenote is basically a natural hole in the ground (sinkhole) that has a natural pool under ground. The water in the cenotes are connected to an underground river. The water is very cool and clean. To get into this one, you could use an intense ladder or jump, so most people in the group jumped the 20 feet or so. It was so much fun. There are small caves surrounding the interior of the cenote. After this, we went to nearby ruins. They are not well known but they were amazing and it was cool to be the only people there.
2. Exercise classes. I decided to join the lovely active ladies in Piste this week and went to aerobics classes. The class is a mix of step, kickboxing, ab work, etc. The teacher has more energy than i have ever seen anyone have. The classes are intense but thats not the hard part for me. Instead, there is no air conditioning or fan in this small room. I sweat at these classes more than i have ever sweat in my whole life. I mean during the day, when i am just sitting, working on my computer i am sweating a bit (like now) but then add an hour of intense aerobics in a small room with 8 people. wow! but i really like the class and it only cost 50 pesos (about 4 dollars) for the whole week, as many classes as i want to attend! dont worry mom and dad, i am hydrating plenty afterwords!
3. my host sister is teaching me to ride a bike! i am excited but i feel a lot of pressure on me to learn because the whole family is into me learning.
4. i wrote the research proposal for my project. it is about how people in AA talk about creating a "new life" (nuevo vida is a slogan written on the buildings) i am interested to see the peoples ideas about the importance of anomyity and the role of religion in these life changes. my friend here is going to introduce me to his uncle who goes to the meetings so that i can go with him to my first one and he can introduce me to the group members.
5. today is Gaspar's (my host father) mothers bday. Last night, the family (maybe 20-25 people including me) showed up at her house at midnight. We stood outside silently, while a few people played guitar and sang until the woman woke up and opened the door. We all walked in and made a small party. It was an amazing suprise. I think i want to bring that tradition to the US. Tonight I am going to a dinner for her birthday. It is also a surprise!
Gaspar, his father, and his grandfather all work or worked in Chichen Itza. Their family is an example of an antiguo, who are people who have worked in chichen since the beginning of the excavations in the 1930s and whos jobs are passed down through the family. They are kind of an elite group here. They work for an organization that takes care of the land and the ruins in many ways. I read an article last week on these families. Gaspar's father told me many stories last night about his work in Chichen, it was really interesting and amazing to have those first hand perspectives.
There is more to tell but I need to check on the lavadora situation and start on my homework. we have the whole weekend free to make some progress on our work. i am very appreciative of this!
te mando mi amor a todos!
p.s. this town and its workings are definitely growing on me!
I am taking a break from the lavadora (washing machine) crisis. For a few days I have been saying that I want to do my laundry and asked where I could do it. Although I saw that my family has a washing machine, for some reason my host mother kept saying that I had to bring my clothes across town so that another lady could do it. I couldnt really imagine lugging my huge laundry bag across town in the heat would be too fun so I brought out my woolite and asked my host mom if i could do it by hand here. she said yes, then finally "we have a lavadora, use it!" So we went in the back to use it and discovered the water was not draining. Yiliana (my host mom) and i tried to clean it out for a while and then a man showed up to fix it. He wound up taking it like all apart. i watched and helped where i could but when they put the machine down on its side to start taking apart the wires, i decided it was time for me to go inside and get some stuff done. So everyone, appreciate your working and high tech lavadoras!
This week has been full of fun stuff. Some highlights:
1. On wednesday my group took a trip to a small town which had a beautifullll cenote. a cenote is basically a natural hole in the ground (sinkhole) that has a natural pool under ground. The water in the cenotes are connected to an underground river. The water is very cool and clean. To get into this one, you could use an intense ladder or jump, so most people in the group jumped the 20 feet or so. It was so much fun. There are small caves surrounding the interior of the cenote. After this, we went to nearby ruins. They are not well known but they were amazing and it was cool to be the only people there.
2. Exercise classes. I decided to join the lovely active ladies in Piste this week and went to aerobics classes. The class is a mix of step, kickboxing, ab work, etc. The teacher has more energy than i have ever seen anyone have. The classes are intense but thats not the hard part for me. Instead, there is no air conditioning or fan in this small room. I sweat at these classes more than i have ever sweat in my whole life. I mean during the day, when i am just sitting, working on my computer i am sweating a bit (like now) but then add an hour of intense aerobics in a small room with 8 people. wow! but i really like the class and it only cost 50 pesos (about 4 dollars) for the whole week, as many classes as i want to attend! dont worry mom and dad, i am hydrating plenty afterwords!
3. my host sister is teaching me to ride a bike! i am excited but i feel a lot of pressure on me to learn because the whole family is into me learning.
4. i wrote the research proposal for my project. it is about how people in AA talk about creating a "new life" (nuevo vida is a slogan written on the buildings) i am interested to see the peoples ideas about the importance of anomyity and the role of religion in these life changes. my friend here is going to introduce me to his uncle who goes to the meetings so that i can go with him to my first one and he can introduce me to the group members.
5. today is Gaspar's (my host father) mothers bday. Last night, the family (maybe 20-25 people including me) showed up at her house at midnight. We stood outside silently, while a few people played guitar and sang until the woman woke up and opened the door. We all walked in and made a small party. It was an amazing suprise. I think i want to bring that tradition to the US. Tonight I am going to a dinner for her birthday. It is also a surprise!
Gaspar, his father, and his grandfather all work or worked in Chichen Itza. Their family is an example of an antiguo, who are people who have worked in chichen since the beginning of the excavations in the 1930s and whos jobs are passed down through the family. They are kind of an elite group here. They work for an organization that takes care of the land and the ruins in many ways. I read an article last week on these families. Gaspar's father told me many stories last night about his work in Chichen, it was really interesting and amazing to have those first hand perspectives.
There is more to tell but I need to check on the lavadora situation and start on my homework. we have the whole weekend free to make some progress on our work. i am very appreciative of this!
te mando mi amor a todos!
p.s. this town and its workings are definitely growing on me!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Xcalacoop represent
Hola mis amores.
Today ends the hottest day I have experienced in Piste yet. I think it got up to 110 degrees at some point. Luckily, we thought to go to this restaurant that has a pool during the afternoon. although the pool was very dirty it was so nice to swim a little and having a break from being sweaty and sticky. Around 7 a thunderstorm started and i got home just in time to miss most of it. i was really exhausted so i took a nap and woke up to the power being out. it lasted for about an hour. most of the time the family and i sat outside on their front patio to take in the fresh air after the storm. it was cool to be in my hammock during the storm.
This past friday we had a helpful discussion about our project ideas. although i came with the ideas of focusing on either 2012 or traditional healing methods, i am still interested in those topics bit want to do something with a broader so i am thinking about doing ethnographic research on the alcoholics anonymous groups here. it can be interesting in many ways, but especially here because the town is small and tight and nothing is really anonymous. hopefully it will work out to do. at night a few of us went to basically the only bar in town which we heard was crazy but was pretty empty and tame that night because people in town cant go out too much in the current lack of tourist situation.
Saturday we had class in the morning and then came home for lunch, then shared some music with my "sisters" uncle who is in a reggae band then went to the grandmothers house to learn some Maya then had a spanish lesson then walked around/had dinner for like 5 hours with my family and their 203394 relatives. my brain was sooooo tired from the language. we left around 12 to go to Xcalacoop, a neighboring town which was holding a disco. i went with brianna, my 15 year old"sister" Yili, her aunt tanya and then met up with matt and his bro there. It was so much more thna i imagined. it was in this tiny town and there was a huge stgae with DJs and dancers and area for dancing that you had to pay to get into in the town square. there was a crazy bus that took you around town playing music and flashing lights. we stood on the top level of the double decker and had to keep ducking to dodge the branches and powerlines. we danced a lot. it was a lot of fun.
Sunday i walked for a long time to get to the town baseball game then was there for a while. the teams didnt wear matching jerseys so it was hard to differentiate but im sure for everyone else it was fine. then went to church then met up with my group to watch Sarah's (the assistant to the program) film about her work in Maya town called Ek Balam.
I have been missing home today. I dont know why in particular but i guess no matter how much i travel, i will still miss home and my family and friends.
love you all!
Today ends the hottest day I have experienced in Piste yet. I think it got up to 110 degrees at some point. Luckily, we thought to go to this restaurant that has a pool during the afternoon. although the pool was very dirty it was so nice to swim a little and having a break from being sweaty and sticky. Around 7 a thunderstorm started and i got home just in time to miss most of it. i was really exhausted so i took a nap and woke up to the power being out. it lasted for about an hour. most of the time the family and i sat outside on their front patio to take in the fresh air after the storm. it was cool to be in my hammock during the storm.
This past friday we had a helpful discussion about our project ideas. although i came with the ideas of focusing on either 2012 or traditional healing methods, i am still interested in those topics bit want to do something with a broader so i am thinking about doing ethnographic research on the alcoholics anonymous groups here. it can be interesting in many ways, but especially here because the town is small and tight and nothing is really anonymous. hopefully it will work out to do. at night a few of us went to basically the only bar in town which we heard was crazy but was pretty empty and tame that night because people in town cant go out too much in the current lack of tourist situation.
Saturday we had class in the morning and then came home for lunch, then shared some music with my "sisters" uncle who is in a reggae band then went to the grandmothers house to learn some Maya then had a spanish lesson then walked around/had dinner for like 5 hours with my family and their 203394 relatives. my brain was sooooo tired from the language. we left around 12 to go to Xcalacoop, a neighboring town which was holding a disco. i went with brianna, my 15 year old"sister" Yili, her aunt tanya and then met up with matt and his bro there. It was so much more thna i imagined. it was in this tiny town and there was a huge stgae with DJs and dancers and area for dancing that you had to pay to get into in the town square. there was a crazy bus that took you around town playing music and flashing lights. we stood on the top level of the double decker and had to keep ducking to dodge the branches and powerlines. we danced a lot. it was a lot of fun.
Sunday i walked for a long time to get to the town baseball game then was there for a while. the teams didnt wear matching jerseys so it was hard to differentiate but im sure for everyone else it was fine. then went to church then met up with my group to watch Sarah's (the assistant to the program) film about her work in Maya town called Ek Balam.
I have been missing home today. I dont know why in particular but i guess no matter how much i travel, i will still miss home and my family and friends.
love you all!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
i have a mexican, a spanish, and an american family!
Since I wrote last I moved in with my host family. While i was looking forward to having to "rough it" a bit in mexico, i moved in with one of the richest families in the town with one of the nicest houses. I have my own private room and bathroom (which brianna was been sharing for a few days but will be going to another family soon) and there is wireless (im writing this laying in my hammock in my room) which is extremely rare in houses. The family is very very nice. There is the mom Iliana, father Gaspar, and 3 daughters, Ili who is 15, Odette who is 8 and Rosi is 5 months old. Many aunts and uncles are always spending time at the house too. There are all interested in what i do and want to give me info on everything.
It is neat to live in such a small town where basically everyone knows everyone. People knows where other people live, and people seem to be trusting. We can leave our laptops in a house without a lock on the gate, I was told to put my suitcases in a taxi that wouldnt be picking me up for another 2 hours. I am sure there are problems, but for the most part, there does not seem to be much crime.
I have been learning some of the Maya language. I can say a few things but it is a bit frustrating to learn because i do not have much of a brain for languages. it was also hard for me to start speaking spanish. it is easier for me to read something and translate it then to pick it up for conversation or conjugate orally. My spanish seems to be at a pretty good level right now. of course there are a million things i can improve on, but i can have a conversation and express most of what i want to say. I am going to have a private spanish lesson in a few hours. I am definitely enjoying the anthropology classes. My brain works a lto better in that abstract way. It is interesting to see other peoples upbrings in anthro. I am very very happy with my upbringing in anthro so far. I need to think more about what i want to focus my research on. hopefully i can make some progress in that later.
Some people in the group are having stomach problems, hopefully I will not get sick. it is definitely very hot here but the mornings and evenings are nice. the last few days it has not rained and has not been humid, so the dry heat is definitely easier to handle than the humidity.
I am going to nap in my hammock for a little before doing some more work.
Hecho de menos todo!
(the 1st pic is me and lindsey trying out what would become my hammock!, the second is the group in the house we bought the hammocks)
It is neat to live in such a small town where basically everyone knows everyone. People knows where other people live, and people seem to be trusting. We can leave our laptops in a house without a lock on the gate, I was told to put my suitcases in a taxi that wouldnt be picking me up for another 2 hours. I am sure there are problems, but for the most part, there does not seem to be much crime.
I have been learning some of the Maya language. I can say a few things but it is a bit frustrating to learn because i do not have much of a brain for languages. it was also hard for me to start speaking spanish. it is easier for me to read something and translate it then to pick it up for conversation or conjugate orally. My spanish seems to be at a pretty good level right now. of course there are a million things i can improve on, but i can have a conversation and express most of what i want to say. I am going to have a private spanish lesson in a few hours. I am definitely enjoying the anthropology classes. My brain works a lto better in that abstract way. It is interesting to see other peoples upbrings in anthro. I am very very happy with my upbringing in anthro so far. I need to think more about what i want to focus my research on. hopefully i can make some progress in that later.
Some people in the group are having stomach problems, hopefully I will not get sick. it is definitely very hot here but the mornings and evenings are nice. the last few days it has not rained and has not been humid, so the dry heat is definitely easier to handle than the humidity.
I am going to nap in my hammock for a little before doing some more work.
Hecho de menos todo!
(the 1st pic is me and lindsey trying out what would become my hammock!, the second is the group in the house we bought the hammocks)
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
excitement!
THEY HAVE SNAPPLE HERE!!!! thats the only thing i ever miss when i travel and they have it in piste!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)