A day in the life of Kristine

Yet another "new" blog...

2010-01-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I am embarrassed to see that it's been 8 months since my last blog entry and I sincerely apologize for not keeping everyone up to date. You would think that with all the changes in my life I would be clamoring for the chance to write about it and share it with the world. But, I have found that the simple pleasures of my every day life were somewhat harder to publish than the adventures of foreign countries and cultures. And, to be honest, I was spending all of my downtime with Dave (which wasn't as abundant as I would have liked!) and so it was harder to find time to blog.

Enough with the excuses...fact is I am going to try and get back on the blogging bandwagon. BUT, as I am now a Clay, Dave and I have started a joint blog. I don't have very high expectations for Dave blogging...we had already fought when I tried to get him to blog the wedding photos and he complained that he wasn't a writer. But if only in spirit, it will be a blog from both of us.

So, the new blog is daveandkristine.blogspot.com and hopefully more adventures will soon follow.

Thanks!!

Reflections on...Easter and a chocolate park

2009-04-16T18:15:00.001-07:00

I know this is coming a few days late...such is the busy life of a graduate student in the middle of wedding plans!! Late is all I got right now!
SOOOOOO....

This is the ADORABLE Easter Bunny basket that Kathy made me--purple of course! Dave and all the gang have the same bunny with different fabrics and have used the same Easter basket since they were kids. It was touching that, while I'm not officially part of the Clay clan yet, I now have one of the family baskets!! What a great tradition! and it's purple!!

I went down to the lake house to watch General Conference the week before Easter and did what I could to help Kathy make the bunnies (just barely helpful since she'd already cut them out nad started sewing). Dave was at drill but came back in the afternoon and we got to see one session together but I watched the rest with Kathy (both Marc and Dave left Sunday for different trips) and Nicki came down but just for a little while on Sunday. It was a nice break from studying and WOW what a wonderful weekend of doctrinal lessons! And, what a surprise to see a member of my ward called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles!! I don't know Elder Anderson too closely and his kids were not my age but it's still cool.

I really loved hearing the prophets and apostles talk and I just felt so uplifted with each successive message. Not only is the gospel true but it keeps making me happier and happier as time goes on! And, of course, this is the best Conference because it helps set the stage for Easter and the celebration of our Savior's resurrection. Beyond the hype of bunnies and chicks and pastel Easter eggs, the true meaning of Easter is a rebirth of our spirits and our bodies made possible through the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the knowledge of that gift and for the reminders of it every Easter season.

The sad part about Easter...Dave was in Virginia :( The plan was pretty basic...miss Dave, talk to him on the phone, miss him some more, drive down to see all his family and miss seeing him with them, play games, maybe watch a movie and miss having Dave to cuddle up to...then go back to school and miss him for a whole entire week before getting him back to Syracuse.

But, the plan changed! Dave found out he would only have to work a half day on Friday and I didn't have classes because of Good Friday, and so last minute we decided to meet each other halfway in Hershey Pennsylvania. I drove 4 1/2 hours down, he got a rental car and drove 4 hours up, and we met in the middle of dairy farm land and rolling hills. I was so excited to see him I could hardly keep my head on and ended up accidentally leaving my laptop behind at the oil change place!! So dumb of me!! But, luckily they were honest and reliable and kept it behind the counter for me until I came back on Monday morning to pick it up.

But, the weekend was a perfect chance to see each other and get some tourist time in too.

Saturday morning we started our journey through the gigantic maze of Hershey Park and Chocolate World. Yes there is such a thing...and oh what a wonderful place it is. Chocolate World!!

This is Dave about to enter the Chocolate World Tour. There were TONS of people all jammed inside because it was still raining in the morning when we got to the park...and because there were simply a lot of people there this weekend. The park had opened just for the weekend and won't be open again until the end of May for the start of the Summer season.

While we had both envisioned a tour to mean some kind of glimpse inside the actual Hershey factories, it actually ended up being a Disney-inspired "tunnel o chocolate" ride through a fake factory churning out fake candybars, complete with animated dancing milk cows touting the secret of Hershey's success, and I quote: "It's the milk chocolate...oo oo oo...It's the milk chocolate."

I refused to pay the $15 they were charging for your picture in one of the thrill ride cars, so I snuck a picture of the picture. Not too shabby for clandestine photography.

Given that it was windy and kind of cold outside but that I had only packed a wool coat that would be really bothersome on the amusement park rides, we went through the gift shop in search of a non-tacky sweatshirt/track jacket. Here I am in my recent acquisition!

In the background is the sign saying "Welcome to Hershey" and a gigantically long building...we guessed it was where they hid all the oompa loompas from the tourists.

Entering the other half of the gigantic complex--Hershey Park.

Supposedly searching the right souvenir for our new tradition of getting a coin and/or pin from all the places we visit together, Dave managed to try on some bling. Not only did he voluntary don the fake bling but insisted I take his picture. No comment.

We had a great time exploring the park, working hard to try and win a bear from one of the carni games and finally getting one with our combined efforts and a roll of quarters at Skee ball. Time went by super fast and already it was time for us to part ways again. I drove Sunday morning just in time to get back to Church and Dave headed South to report back to his unit.

His family was generous in inviting me down again to the lake house and, after I gave a talk in Sacrament about covenants and sacrifice, taught a Sunday School lesson on spiritual gifts, and took care of the dog I was dog-sitting, I was free to drive down. We had a great time eating the chocolate-covered pretzles I brought back from Chocolate World as we played board games and finished off the amazing ham dinner that Kathy had prepared. We watched Yes Man and I really did miss my cuddle buddy but with the amazing freedoms of modern technology, I was able to text him a few times to keep me company while I watched.

Now I'm heading into the final weeks of the semester, the escalating stages of wedding planning, and happily the warmer days of the new Spring weather. My mom has been getting in lots of driving time and man hours to plan the wedding reception, book a photographer, scout out decorations, and everything else that goes into a wedding and I'm so thrilled that things are coming together. She has already been an incredible help even being all the way across the country! I finally figured out official travel days and booked my airfare today and think I found the dress I'm going to wear... Sometimes it's really crazy to think that I'm actually getting married and in less than 3 months from now! But, after suffering through these two hectic weeks without Dave by my side, I realize how much I enjoy having his input and influence in my life. Marriage may be one of the biggest challenges to human sanity and the most singular commitment I'll ever make in my life, but I've never been happier knowing that I'll be growing and learning alongside my sweetheart for all eternity. Thanks everyone (and MOM especially) for all your help in making this celebration come together.

Reflections on...fish, forts, and the Star-Spangled Banner

2009-03-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend Dave and I took some time off from wedding planning and work to hang out in Baltimore. I was at the end of Spring Break and he was at the end of his rope having worked two weeks straight through. So, looking for somewhere warmer than Syracuse (which really meant anywhere South). After we got off work on Friday, we jumped in Priscilla (Dave's Empreza) and jetted down the freeway to Maryland. We had a great time watching the snowy landscape disappear while watching Spy Game on the in-dash DVD player. After some long detours and delays we made it into Baltimore very late and crashed, ready for the next day full of adventures.

First stop: Inner Harbor. Sadly for us, it wasn't as warm as we had hoped. The forecast had put both weekend days in the low 50's but with the onset of rain and low clouds it was very humid and still chilly. Not desperately, bitterly cold like Syracuse, but chilly.

Complete with touristy shops and restaurants, this section of town was recommended as one of the most interesting. Here Dave is educating me on the different types of devices to keep boats from drifting away. This is called a "cleet".

A beautiful lighthouse that once guided colonial ships into Baltimore's busy commercial port is now surrounded by a growing skyscraper skyline.

The USS Taney, one of the survivors from the Pearl Harbor attacks. We had planned on touring it with the rest of our Maritime Museum tickets but, arriving at 4:30 they had already closed the ship (it was supposed to be open to 5!!)

It was still an impressive ship to see in the harbor.

After buying tickets to go to the aquarium, we ambled around the Inner Harbor trails and then headed into the USS Constitution museum and on to the ship. This is a replica cannon out in the plaza, ready for photo opps.

On board the USS Constitution, we had a brief demonstration of the ship's cannons. Once used as an antislaving ship, it was the last all-wood ship built in the Navy's fleet. It caught slaving ships leading up to the Civil War and was in commission for various purposes for over 100 years. This is the third deck (I forget all the names) where the crew would sleep. They said it would be extremely damp and hot on this deck and the crew would stay away as long as possible until forced to retire for the night. I don't blame them.

This is the second deck almost even with the water where the guns were fired. They would require 9 pounds of gunpowder to fire!! The ship had 20 of these cannons as well as 2 rifle-style guns on the top deck for longer-distance firing. It's amazing to relive the toil and effort and time that went into protecting our country. Not to mention the amount of people involved in just running a ship like this!!

On the upper deck, pretending to steer the ship

Dave's learning the ropes. Great lesson in history, but we both realized that the sailor's life was NOT for us! It was amazing to walk through the different compartments and think about being sent out to sea for months and years at a time. It truly was a different lifestyle, complete with jargon for all the working parts of the ship, the different roles of the men and boys aboard, and the utter unpredictability of being at war on a wooden ship. They had done a fantastic job of describing the life aboard the ship including a display on the different foods they would dry and store, the contraptions for keeping light in the belly of the ship without exposing the gunpowder to flame, the variety of thick and thin ropes, and of course the weapons of the ship with cutlasses (pirate swords) and cannons.

Then, we were off to the National Aquarium. I'm not much of a fish person and honestly I'm glad to see them walled off behind glass where they don't stink as much, but the aquarium was very well-done and had exhibits from the Atlantic, Pacific, Rain Forest, Australia, and more. These are some rays that swam around with the sharks.

One of my favorite lurking sea creatures...an octupus!

Waiting for the dolphin show to start, making fish faces...

Not sure the inspiration for the piano fish, but I had to snag a picture!!

We then went back to tour more ships. This is touring the USS Torsk, a submarine that served in the Pacific during WWII. Dave admires the torpedos and torpedo tubes...

Atop the USS Torsk. It was cool to see how compactly and efficiently the space in the submarine was used. Everything had its place and its label. It's no wonder that the armed forces are required to display a high degree of discipline...there's no room to be messy or disorderly!! Surprisingly, though, as we were touring the bunks, a group of rowdy and disrespectful teenagers that hinted of being in ROTC bounced through tapping the tanks and laughing as they joked about falling onto their bunkmates. I waited with Dave to let them pass through before continuing on because it really bothered me how disrespectful they were being.

Personally, it was inspiring to think of the amount of manpower required to keep that ship operating, the sacrifice of thousands of bright-eyed boys and men heading out to serve their country, never knowing if their names would later be etched onto memorial lists of those that didn't make it back. And, I thought of the mothers waiting at home and receiving letters of their boys operating the ships that would cruise enemy waters, hardly knowing what the inside of the ship or the conditions their sons were living in. Hardly the subject of joking. I'm very grateful for reminders such as this submarine that teach me how blessed I am thanks to the sacrifice of generations before me.

Finishing the submarine tour and prevented from touring the USS Taney, we headed back for a nap and then dinner in Little Italy (sorry no pictures...). We had GREAT food and finished the night cuddling up to a movie.

Sunday was a drizzly, rainy day. Not heavy enough to keep us from going outside though!! We headed to tour Fort McHenry, famous for its role in the War of 1812 and the site of inspiration for Francis Scott Key's words of the Star Spangled Banner.

We began the tour watching a movie on the fort's history that ended by looking out towards the flagpole and hearing the National Anthem in a rousing and beautifully strong arrangment by the Naval Academy Choir. Dave and I then headed into the fort itself.

A cool picture of the replica barrels of supplies inside the fort.

These cannons were part of a later era than the famous War of 1812...the Fort was used as a detention camp for Confederate prisoners during the Civil War, then as a hospital following WWI into WWII and was functional until declared a national monument and historic site in the 1980s. These cannons were amazingly heavy (listed as upward of 50,000 lbs) and moved around on tracks at the base, installed during the Civil War and shortly thereafter. Luckily, the fort itself only saw action during the War of 1812 and didn't come under fire any time afterwards.

This is the famous flagpole in the same spot that it was during Key's days. While captured and forced to remain on an American Truce Ship during a British advance on Baltimore, Francis Scott Key saw the fort come under fire and listened to the bombardment through an antagonizing 3 days of warfare. On the final morning, the guns silenced, and a gigantic 30' by 42' American flag rose triumphant over the smoke, inspiring him to pen his poem that would later accompany an English drinking song to make our National Anthem. What a cool piece of history!!

Standing at the gates to the main courtyard inside the fort.

A statue dedicated to Key

The main gates of the fort.

We finsihed the day as we drove to visit Dave's parents and then head back to Syracuse. It turns out that the weekend had been unusually pleasant in Syracuse and Spring had sprung during our absence.

We were glad for a break, though, and now head into the second half of the semester busy with wedding plans, school work, work work, callings, and personal lives in full swing!! Wish us luck.

Reflections on…a night at the opera and the beginning of Spring Break!

2009-03-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

That’s right, in addition to being freed from the depths of the winter chill, I am officially freed from a week of classes! Much of the city has emptied as people head off to beach destinations or other trips, but I am sticking around to work on grading papers, working on my internship search for the Fall, wedding plans, and hopefully getting ahead in my research papers due at the end of the semester. While that may not sound exciting, the fact that I don’t have to sit through multiple hours of class means that I have TONS of free time! I’m so excited to get to eat at my own house, clean my room, organize myself, and otherwise relax with no deadlines, no meetings, no need to be anywhere “on time.” It’s a great feeling!

To kick it all off, when I got off work yesterday, Dave texted me that we were going to meet his sister Nikki and her kids for dinner. We went to a wonderful little family-run Vietnamese place and I LOVED everything we ordered from sweet-and-sour pork to beef tamarind to soybean milk. Meg (Nikki’s almost-20-year-old daughter, Dave’s niece) came down and is off for Spring Break too so hopefully we’ll get some more time to hang out during the week. It was great to relax with them and Nikki has been so welcoming and inviting as my future sister-in-law.
Then, Dave and I headed out for a night at the opera. The Syracuse Opera only performs 3 operas a season, and tonight was their big opener with Romeo and Juliet. Neither of us had sat through a full opera though we had been to different samplers and I had studied operatic form in my past humanities classes. We met up with another girl from the Branch majoring in music education and were lucky enough to get seats on the orchestra level! Both the Symphony and the Opera offer student specials for whatever seats don’t sell that you can get a half hour before the show begins. But, you never know where you’ll end up. The seats were close to the back but a perfect view for catching the English translations projected overhead.

It was the first time we’d been back to the Symphony since Dave and I got engaged there on Valentine’s Day, so, naturally, we were both admittedly sentimental. It may just be another civic center, but it will always be a special place for us where we shared our love of music, our love of fine arts, and our love for each other. I’m very blessed to have a great man who loves me in my life and it was sweetly humbling to cuddle up next to him while robust music filled the dark concert hall. We talked about how, unlike popular media with skeleton-skinny drug-addicted and moral-less models parade around on screen, the opera singers were larger, robust, and confident people who, with nothing beyond their own lungs could fill an entire hall with rich tones and harmonies. Yes, there was elaborate costuming and stage props and the backdrop of the set of visual enhancement, but their real beauty lay in their love of music and the recognition of their God-given talents strengthened by years of practice and polishing. Needless to say, I love the performing arts and it’s been AWESOME to attend so many high-caliber shows...and share them with my sweetheart.

Reflections on…a morning jog. AND…spring?

2009-03-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

Wow. I cannot begin to describe how energized and wonderful I feel this morning. I got up to birds (other than crows!) chirping outside my window, a bright and cheery sun bold against a clear blue sky, and the most beautifully warm weather we’ve had since the onset of winter back in October. It may only be 50 degrees, but it feels like it’s 80! Armed with a light jacket and warm running pants, I laced up my running shoes and went for a jog down the street to a nearby park where I admired a flock of lazy ducks happily sploshing around in the ponds. Muscles I had forgotten about began to wake up and my entire body strained at having lacked attention for so long. My thighs are already thanking me but my mind and my heart feel so much lighter.
The whole town of Syracuse seemed to have come out of a deep sleep. People were out walking their dogs, some accompanied by strollers or toddlers trotting to keep up, a few couples walking arm-in-arm aimlessly ambling down the now-dry and clear sidewalks. Others were out clearing away the broken branches and debris of winter from their gardens. I couldn’t help but want to pinch myself and make sure I wasn’t dreaming!!

After longs week of crazy paper-writing, midterms, group presentations, and TERRIBLY COLD days with biting winds, constant snow storms, and dismally gray skies hiding the sun, it seems that Syracuse is finally beginning to thaw. In all honesty, I’m afraid to even publish this blog in fear that I’m going to jinx my new-found freedom from the lock-down of winter. All the warnings of bad weather and harsh winters somehow didn’t deter me from coming here (just as the warnings of brutal heat and the meltdown of Paraguay didn’t stop me either). And, it didn’t seem real until after I returned from Christmas break and lived the day-to-day drudgery of highs in the 20s alongside brutish winds and humidity that sent the cold straight to my bones. I started planning my day based on how long I would have to be outside—wearing my thermal pants or an extra layer if I had to go to the library because it would mean an additional 10 minutes exposed to the cold. I dreaded even the 10 steps from my front door to my car. That was all it took to shake up my body heat and flush the blood from my nose and tops of my ears. It may sound extreme, but yesterday was literally the first day that I’ve gone outside without gloves and maintained feeling in my fingertips!!!

So, on this momentous day I figured I would take some time to sit and write how good I feel and wonderful the simple pleasure of taking a morning jog can be. It could be that Spring is yet to arrive and this is just another teaser before we get hammered by the ominous Noreasters. But, I’m grateful for it nonetheless.

reflections on...getting ENGAGED

2009-02-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well, for some of you this may be more of a surprise than for others, but yes... it's official! I'm now committed to marry an absolutely wonderful man that I adore and that treats me like a princess. And, more importantly, I'm marrying my best friend and the one person that I feel i can trust with anything and everything I have, I am, or want to become.

While I had expected this moment to come, and built my life around the expectation of finding "the one," now that the moment is here, it hardly seems worth all the build-up of stress and anxiety over the years. In reality, things just came together and time passed by like nothing was out of the ordinary. We found each other in very different stages of life, yet within the first couple of encounters, we were able to cut through all the superficiality of casual conversation and learn about each others' life experience. And, within a short time, we knew that this relationship was going to be more significant than just another friendship.

So, you're sure to want to know how things happened.

The day before Valentine's, he gave me a beautiful arrangement of flowers, claiming he wanted to give me an early gift because he didn't know how long they would last inside the big plastic wrapping they had put around it. I took it home and it makes the most perfect center to my dresser with my favorite colors and a variety of flowers that any girl would love:

That night, we headed to the Stake Valentine's Day dance, and tore up the dance floor to the amazing live music alongside a bunch of friends from the singles branch. It was a really fun and entertaining night and, after returning to Dave's house for some late night Wii bowling, I was dead tired and crashed before the party even ended and had to be half carried to my car to go home for the night.

The next morning when Valentine's rolled around, it just luckily enough turned out to be a Saturday. We went out for a quick but fun breakfast at IHOP and then made plans to meet back up for dinner later on in the evening. I had a hunch that something special might happen, but with the flowers from the day before, I kinda thought maybe he would choose some other day. But, as we sat through breakfast and he was incredibly nostalgic and almost emotional, I started to realize that THIS Valentine's would be different from all the rest. I got ready and, knowing that we were going to the Symphony, got a little dressed up.

He came to the door with two big red boxes... the one long one contained a full dozen red roses, a majestically starting to bloom and fragrant as a rose bush. I was amazed at the new beautiful garden that adorned my room, but didn't have a tall enough vase to really accent the long stems, though I refused to cut them much and ruin the special beauty of their graceful height.

We headed to dinner which was...well...wonderful. We ambled around downtown until deciding to go to Ambrosia, a modern, upscale downtown bar that has a separate room for fine dining with mostly specialty fish and sushi. They had set up extra tables in the area that was usually the dance floor/bar in anticipation for the special day and we were able to get a great table and enjoyed a candleit dinner. I was kinda thinking that, if anytime would be the time, it would be at dinner...but no. Just good conversation, amazing food, a couple pictures, and a lot of nostalgia as we recounted dating histories.

From there, we had some time to wander around and went casually window-shopping at a nearby art shop before heading over to the symphony. Dave a little more talkative and interactive, but kept stopping midsentence to look in my eyes and tell me that I looked really beautiful and that he loved spending time with me and that he loved me.

At the symphony, I was ecstatic to see the program included Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. I had seen the advertisement just talking about the Ravel's Bolero number but was really excited to see one of my favorite compositions of all time there live by a professional Symphony Orchestra. They handed out crysanthemums to all the women as a gesture of Happy Valentine's and we settled in to see a great performance.

During intermission, Dave wanted to "walk around a bit" and we slowly made our way to the hallway. Rather than heading to the lobby, though, he turned towards the corner of the building and a bank of windows overlooking the street 2 stories below. He commented "I love architecture...." and when I looked completely puzzled back at him due to the fact that we were looking at asphalt below and clunky square office buildings on either side, he just said "i could look down forever...". Then, as we talked a little more about how nice it was to spend time together, he said that his heart was telling him that he was ready to make things permament, that he wanted to spend every moment he could at my side. He got to one knee and asked me if I would be his bride forever, someone to hold his hand, someone to take care of him and be taken care of by him, and someone to form a family and future with. And, as I emphatically and with tears streaking my face whispered YES, he slipped my ring on my finger and then hugged me so tight I could barely keep my feet on the ground. We asked the usher to take some pictures which, sadly, didn't turn out so great due to the nasty lighting in the corner and the fact that she moved the camera every time it was about to take the picture. But, this is my favorite one, with my now almost permament smile

We decided to try and get some on our own and this really captured how close I felt to Dave at that moment and how special his company was to me...during what would otherwise have been just another intermission.

So, while it really is just a symbol of our love and he could have given me a simple string and it would still have had the same significance, I am nonetheless blessed to have a beautiful ring that I chose to wear as a mark of my new status and being off the market for good...

It was the most wonderful Valentine's Day of my life, and one of many I plan to spend beside my sweetheart.

And, in a few months, I hope to truly celebrate this connection with my family and friends as we will be making a sacred covenant to form an eternal family in the Bountiful Utah temple. There will be a lot of planning and details attached to that day, but for now I am holding dearly to the feeling of contentment and peace I feel at making this decision for a man that I love. I had always envisioned jumping up and down and seeking to shout to the whole world that I had found Mr. Right. But, in reality, I am just filled with a sweet acceptance and calm happiness that makes the world melt away as I sink into Dave's arms and know that I am loved, that I am in love, and that I have found a love that will remain in my life forever. And, while I love sharing this with all of you and with those that have yet to find such a beautiful connection in their lives, the greatest excitement I feel does not have anything to do with my wedding plans or any sort of festivity but rather with the lifetime of memories and wisdom-filled experience that my handsome sweetheart and I are beginning to accumulate. Life is short, but time spent in the arms of one you love is time invested and I'm grateful that we will have all eternity to continue to grow and express that love for each other.

We have started a website (it's far from complete because we just opened it) to help keep everyone appraised of the wedding plans. Visit us and please leave comments on the guest book at:

www.daveandkristine.com

reflections on...New York City 2

2008-12-28T11:55:00.000-08:00

On my last weekend in Syracuse, following my last final turned in right at 5 o'clock on Thursday, Dave and I decided to make another run down to New York City. I stayed with him and his family on Thursday night, enjoying an early Christmas as Kathy gave me a beautiful hand-crafted snowman and a Bath and Body Works set. Then, Dave went to one of his finals Friday morning and we got on the road. It was a quick trip, arriving Friday night and leaving Sunday morning, but it was a great way to end the semester. Just after getting back to Syracuse, I packed my bags and finished last minute details and jumped on a jet plane on Monday to go back to Utah for the winter break. Here are some highlights:

Enjoying a Frosty on the road...

Mmm.

Trying to get a look at the amazing ice storm that attacked the Northeast. All along the route, trees were bent over with ice even though most of the way the ground was dry. I'd never seen such a storm.

One of the biggest blessings of this trip was getting to see my wonderful friend Angelica. We first met in 2005 while I was working in Guatemala, where she is from. Her mom was my best translator and they are both part of an amazing household of women (mom, Angelica, and four other daughters). They became my best friends outside of Tambrizap and I will forever be grateful for their kindness and sincere friendship. I was blessed to be able to visit her family both in 2006 and 2007 when I returned to Guatemala and they even came down to meet my host family in 2007 in Santa Maria Visitacion. Constantly supportive of my education and repeating how careful I should be before attaching myself to any man, Angelica's mom also instilled the same respect for education and hope for the future for her daughters. Angelica received a scholarship to come to Suffern, New York and study English in an international program at Rockland Community College and will be in the States for the next 2 years. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the emails that she was coming to the States, and then even more amazed when I read that she was going to be living in New York while I was going to be out there for graduate school. I hadn't been able to see her until now after she'd already spent almost 4 months in New York and already her English is outstanding. She's such an inspiration and I'm so grateful I got to see her. It was the blending of two worlds and I am still honestly in shock at seeing her in my own country, dressed in jeans rather than in traditional Maya textiles, and speaking English. Regardless of any other activity, I was immensely grateful to see her.

And, on top of everything, my wonderful Dave cheauffered us around and was supportive enough to sit through the entire dinner as Angelica and I spoke in Spanish and K'iche'.

After getting to Rye and finding the apartment where my friends the Bonhams generously offered for us to stay, we crashed for the night and then headed out on the morning train, straight to Grand Central Station. Not only filled with the daily bustle, we happened to arrive in time to catch an International Santa Convention, thus the sea of red velvet pouring in on the left-hand side. We stopped to ask what the commotion was all about and heard intermittent "Ho! Ho! Ho!" chants fill the immense hallway. There were your traditional bearded Santas but also a million unconventional Santas with red and green checkers, mohawks, skater pants, and everything in between.

While we were in the neighborhood, we headed over to see the very impressive headquarters of the UN. Sadly, whether due to being Saturday or whatever the reason, the flags were not on display and everything was closed off. The reflection of the skyscrapers in the windows is truly spectacular.

Directly opposite the huge U.N. building is U.N. Way, a short and arguably dingy small alleyway connecting to Grand Central. The funny thing is, rather than leading you to the U.N. building, it is a one-way street, in the opposite direction! We laughed about how the U.N. is not only so large an unapproachable as a bureaucracy but they literally build themselves out of contact but are happy to send people away into the world. It is, after all, the "U.N. Way"! Haha.

Walking around town, we passed the MetLife Building, beautifully adorned with a GIGANTIC wreath and beautiful tree.

We finally made it to the TKTS booth to hang out for Broadway tickets, and jumped in line despite the cold in hopes of getting matinee tickets. We waited for about 20 minutes only to get up to the front of the line and have the guy at the window look at us, the last two in line with nobody behind us, and be told it was 2 o'clock and they were closed and we would have to come back at 3. Thanks New York. So, furious but helpless, we jumped in line to wait for a VERY cold hour to get evening tickets. I offered to go get some food and walked up to the Olive Garden around the corner when I saw people still buying tickets at two of the TKTS windows. I was so confused and found out that, rather than having completely closed, our window was ONE of the windows that closed while they kept 2 open until changing to evening tickets at 3. I was floored. So, rather than just telling us that we had to walk 5 feet to the other window to get our matinee tickets, the wonderful ticket agent just pushed us away and claimed they were closed....thanks New York. I got up to the window and asked if they had some Cirque de Soleil tickets but they only had separate seats available. So, I continued with the lunch run as planned and, after being ridiculously overcharged but blessedly warmed by being inside, I headed over to meet Dave again in line. He was almost frozen and despite initial attempts to stick around and wait till 3, I finally convinced him to go inside somewhere and warm up. He found the Times Square Information Center and hung out there for a little while before we finally got the line moving and bought our tickets for the evening show. We immediately returned to the info center and ate our delightlfully still warm food and Dave got some McDonald's hot chocolate to speed up the dethawing process. My feet were tingling so I got them out of the cold shoes and socks and rubbed them warm while Dave attended to his hands. We really were THAT cold. Following the encounter with the TKTS agent and the frigid wind despite the sun shining, I told Dave that New York was simply too cold. He agreed and added, "and not just the weather."

Here is Dave inside the Times Square Info center in front of the famous New Year's Eve ball that will drop over Times Square this year. Glistening with Waterford Crystal and brilliantly shining various designs and many colors, it was cool to see the ball up close.

Even after a half hour of rest time, I was still cold.

We had a couple of hours before the show started, so we decided to check out some of the big shops there at Times Square. We headed into the M & M's factory and bought some cheesy but warm hats at a corner news stand.

We then saw the Hershey's store and headed down the street on our way to the big tree at Rockefeller Center. Here is the famous Radio City Music Hall.

Me at the big tree. Gigantic and full of lights, it was a beautiful sight in the midst of the very cold NYC. Honestly, though, I had expected more than just lights and was sad to see no ornaments or other decorations but just multicolored lights. But, the sheer size of the tree was cool.

Yeah, we look like nerdy tourists, but we were a LOT warmer.

Heading down to Madison Square Garden to get to the show.

Meandering through the theater district, I found this dedication to Les Mes, one of my absolutely favorite musicals.

At the Garden to see Cirque de Soleil! It was a very unique show incorporating an urban theme with BMX biking and roller blading with traditional circus tricks of trapeze acts and gymnastics. Live energetic music and a quirky mystical atmosphere accompanied the physical feats and I enjoyed the show. I struggled to identify with the urban setting and thought that I would have liked a more plot-driven show than the helter-skelter antics of big dogs and big birds circling cops and robbers. But, it was still entertaining and Dave and I relished in the chance to sit down in a warm theater and just relax next to each other. In the end, we got covered in a flurry of paper snowflakes pouring down from the ceiling.

We finished out the night getting back on a train to Rye and went straight to bed, up early on Sunday to return on the 4 hour drive to Syracuse, arriving just as sacrament meeting began. It was a WONDERFUL trip and even with the cold we were really blessed to have safe roads and safe accomodations. Thanks Bonhams for the apartment, thanks Angelica for the great visit, and thanks Dave for a perfect end-of-semester send-off.

reflections on...New York City

2008-12-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

Living in Syracuse, New York, the whole world thinks that I am living in downtown New York City. But, living upstate is about a 4 hour drive from "the City" as everyone refers to it. But, being 4 hours away is still dramatically closer than Utah and I had to take advantage of the proximity to go tour one of the world's largest and most lively cities. So, on Black Friday right after Thanksgiving, Dave and I jumped on a train from Princeton Junction and headed into the City to tour around. We spent a whirlwind day touring the city, lucky enough to have good weather and not too much cold wind.

We started out the day atop the famous Empire State Building. With the twin towers no longer dominating the skyline, the view from the 86th floor of the ESB was the hottest view in town. It was bitterly cold that high up and it took us more than half an hour to just venture through all the maze of lines and elevators to get there but it was a great start to my first time in the City.

One of the amazing views of the towering skyscrapers of NYC.

We then jumped on the subway and headed down to the harbor to get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. Here we are at Battery Park just before walking down to the harbor.

I love this shot. Off in the distance is the famous Statue of Liberty. It was a lot smaller than I had imagined from all the years of seeing pictures of it. One of the symbols of American heritage and a monument to the rich immigrant history of our country, I can only imagine what it would have been like to be heading into a new land on a tired boat crossing the great Atlantic Ocean, and, just as you land, you look up to see the eternal flame of a motherly figure welcoming you to a new land. As the boatloads of immigrants poured into the harbor, they integrated into a new way of life, a new language, new foods, and a new land full of opportunity and discovery. It's interesting in light of the shift in immigration mentalities today and the waves that had once come looking to settle permanently and raise their families with the American Dream have devolved into transient labor forces merely seeking work. It was a great site to visit.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get on the ferry right away to get a closer look and saved our tickets for later in the afternoon. We did, however, get this view of an up-and-coming statue lookalike offering pictures for a price. I snapped some clandestine shots and we headed to the streets to walk up to Ground Zero.

On our way, we ran into the famous Bull of Wall Street. You can't see it in this shot, but behind the bull was a big celebration for Albanian Independence Day. As we strolled around, we could hear the echoes of shouts of "USA! USA!" as the 30 or so Albanians in the crowd celebrated their heritage while in a new home.

Here we encountered the famous Trinity Church at Wall Street and Broadway. For more action-filled commentary you should check out the new National Treasure movie.

This is Ground Zero, once home of the World Trade Center towers destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. I remember that day with vivid detail. While I didn''t have any friends or family that suffered in the attacks, I nonetheless remember the effects of fear and uncertainty that plagued the country following the attacks. There was nothing to "see" at the site, just a block long perimeter and the peeking necks of the construction cranes rising above the walls. The feeling of emptiness was almost palpable and it was truly a sobering site.

As we walked down the barricaded empty pit, I caught sight of the fire station, home of Engine co. 10, one of the most devastated companies in all of NYC as a result of the attacks.

We were lucky enough to see one of their trucks coming back to the station, complete with a bold American flag on the side and "We support our troops" etched across the windshield.

Most poignantly, the side of the fire house was dedicated to the memory of those killed in the attacks, emblazoned in a copper mural showing firefighters and other responders during 9/11 with the buildings on fire and people streaming out. Really a powerful depiction especially as you turn your shoulder and look at the actual Ground Zero across the street.

Almighty Kristine holds up a multi-ton sculpture!

We headed to Chinatown for lunch...that is after every single corner cop failed to give us directions. Apparently, nobody knows how to go anywhere in the city, including Chinatown. So, every time we tried to approach somebody and ask which way was best, instead of just being cold and refusing to tell us anything, it was always "uh, Chinatown? Yeah, maybe you should like take the subway or something." We finally made it thanks to a homeless man accompanying a cop...note NOT thanks to the cop but the homeless man...and then headed to a restaurant recommended as one of the best Chinese joints in town. It was packed and we huddled against the cold at the door until we were seated, but had a great, authentic Chinese lunch before heading uptown.

Times Square in all its glory. The whole area was JAM PACKED and teeming with people carrying inordinate amounts of shopping bags from Black Friday. I was admittedly overwhelmed by the amount of neon shining down on me...and it was still day time! We waddled along with the crowds and attempted to get in line for the TKTS discount Broadway tickets...but the line was more than 2 hours long and the windows had just opened so were unlikely to get any good tickets. We decided to head back to the Statue of Liberty and opt for a Broadway show another weekend.

After RACING through the park to make it onto the ferry, we had to convince the workers that they should actually let us on as they were already pulling up the gangplank. We had gotten tickets for the ferry that stops on the island and lets you walk around the statue but the ferry that we were trying to board just did a sweeping tour of the harbor without stopping. So, the worker tried to deny our tickets and I just yelled "I don't CARE if you don't stop, just let us on!" and they finally conceded and we made it just as the sun began to set. It was freezing atop the open-air ferry and once we made the run past the the statue, we headed down inside the ferry and grabbed some hot chocolate while we listened to the rest of the history of buildings around the harbor. I like this picture with the sun hitting the buildings. The big clock is a 55-ft wide dial that used to stand atop the Colgate building.

A view from the boat.

A last minute shot before my camera battery died..and the sun went down.

We then fit in some shopping at Ann Taylor Loft and took advantage of some of the amazing deals before jumping back on the train and returning to New Jersey. It was a GREAT trip and while I am more thoroughly convinced that I do NOT want to live in the City, I'm glad that I got to visit.

reflecions on...Thanksgiving

2008-12-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

Those of you that know me will find it no surprise that I am extremely late in updating this blog. So, regardless of the timeliness of the update, at least I'm getting things recorded right?

Thanks to a few days off from class and a generous invitation from Dave's family, I went on a trip to New Jersey and visited Dave's Aunt Celeste and Uncle Mike in Princeton Station. We spent a couple of very chill and fun days with his immediate and extended family. In classic Thanksgiving tradition, there was a lot of great food, plenty of games, and even organized competitions for pool, ping-pong, and fooseball champions. It's almost inspiring to see a family as competitive (well maybe not quite as competitive) as mine. We watched some football (complete with Dave's dad Marc continuing his attempts to convert me to Cowboy fanship), saw some great movies, and had a great time just hanging out and getting to know what everyone had been up to. Dave's family was incredibly open and welcoming and despite the lack of studying and my gigantic report that was due right after we got back to Syracuse, I thoroughly enjoyed the time off alongside great company. We also got to spend a day in NYC but I'll be showing that in a separate entry...Sadly, I got seriously sick on the drive home and am still nursing the sore throat and congested sinuses that resulted. But, thankfully, it didn't hit me until Saturday morning and we spent most of the day driving back so I got to sleep in the backseat and didn't miss any of the party. Here are some highlights:

The whole gang playing cards.

Check out the food!! And, if you look beneath the scrumptious selection, you'll also see the beautiful granite countertops, part of the newly remodeled kitchen.

Not only was there turkey and all the trimmings, but Dave's mom Kathy provided this amazing caramel cheesecake, one of many amazing desserts. I think we all gained at least a couple pounds that weekend...

Mike, a constant jokester and life of the party whipped out his extending fork to sample the plates around him. Good times.

Dave and I relaxing and enjoying the time off.

The most important part of Thanksgiving of course is remembering what we are thankful for. I, for one, know that I have been greatly blessed and I am happy to be able to recognize those blessings. So, while this list can by no means be comprehensive and I could continue listing in much greater detail for a long time, I do want to highlight some of the greater blessings from this year.

I'm grateful for (in no particular order):
Good friends, especially those in foreign lands that accepted me into their culture and aided me in my research, my travels, and my personal trials.

Education, particularly the language skills that have opened the doors for my future career and past experiences. And, going along with that, I'm grateful for graduating this year! And, more recently, thankful for the new skills I'm acquiring in my graduate program.

Family, both my immediate family and ancestors that have left good examples for me to follow. This year I gained another niece while I was slaving away at my first semester of graduate school and I got to meet her in October. I am grateful for my growing family and also for my future family which motivates me to keep studying and keep developing myself so that I can be a good mother someday.

Safety and Security. Coming back from Paraguay this year, I realize again just how blessed we are to live in a country where you can trust the cops, don't have to bribe everybody, have safe roads and safe sidewalks, and where justice and the law are respected. Along with that, I'm grateful for a warm bed and a clean dry home to stay in every night.

Most importantly of all, the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful to know that God lives and that His son Jesus Christ truly did sacrifice himself so that we could return to our Heavenly Father someday. This knowledge directs my entire life and provides perspective for all the other wonderful blessings in my life that come from God.

Again, the list could go on, but I at least wanted to highlight some of what I feel at this reflective time of year. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Reflections on...FOOTBALL!!!

2008-11-22T16:12:00.000-08:00

As I sit updating my blog and going web research I am listening to the live audio stream of BYU football!! A personal favorite hobby and something I have sincerely missed while living abroad, I just wanted to say that I LOVE FOOTBALL!! For all those that have not discovered the adrenaline-run, strategy-filled, hard-hitting, nail-biting action of college Football, I invite you to visit http://www.ncaafootball.com/ and pick your favorite team. Granted, it's the end of the season and there won't be much action left...but you can still get into the bowl bids and conference championships...and then finish out the year with some pro football action leading up to the Super Bowl in January. Oh, and while I'm at it and before the game ends...just a shout out to my fellow BYU fans---GO COUGARS!!

Howe Caverns

2008-11-22T15:22:00.001-08:00

On a weekend day-trip, Dave took me to a great little spot called Howe Caverns. After about a 2 1/2 hour trip towards Albany in the pouring rain and a quick stop at Burger King, we finally made it to the caverns. By the way, Burger King started this new thing where the tray liners are replete with "health information" for all the food on their menu...DON'T read it if you ever wish to eat fast food again in your life!! After seeing a hamburger listed with 85g of fat and 1300 mg of sodium, I wished I had packed a lunch. Anyway, we made it back to the freeway and then drove along a series of random country roads that made me grateful Dave has GPS in his car. I can't imagine how people got around in the back country without handy-dandy GPS directions!!

Arriving at Howe Caverns, we got our tickets and waited for the next tour while we wandered through the gift shop and oggled the mounds of homemade fudge for sale. The tour started by descending a HUGE 158 ft elevator shaft and entering the cave. Touristy and developed, it's far from real spelunking, but we had a blast taking funny pictures and playing to see who be the first to spot any cave gremlins. There was a lot of artificial lighting (along with rows of algae and other microlife responding to that lighting), brick-paved trails complete with steel handrails, and plenty of rsting stops along the way for those visitors that just couldn't hack being on their feet for the 80 minute tour. Dave joked about all the "naturally-formed" handrails, electrical chords, and emergency phones. We were a part of a small group of about 30 people following a sarcastic tour guide who recited the history of the cave's discovery, the number of weddings that had been performed on the heart-stone "bride altar," and random stories about what the formations supposedly look like.

Enjoy the pics!!
WELCOME!!

Some of the stalactites (remember that stalacTITEs hang TIGHT to the ceiling and stalagMITEs lay low to the ground)

Looking down the cave

The tour included a 15-minute boat ride...kinda reminded me of being with Willy Wonka though.

Looking down the underground river from the boat

The biggest formation in the cave...the Pipe Organ (and Dave...not typically included as part of the formation but he just fit in so well!)

Playing some more with the formations

Looking up...anyone up for some rock climbing??

The most narrow part of the trail...picturesque!!

Taking a break...

Me alongside the largest free-standing formation in the cave.

HALLOWEEN!

2008-11-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

Eyeball eggs!

Ryan the industrial designer making short work of a giant pumpkin!

The crew carving pumpkins... all friends from the Branch. Sandy is a new friend in the Branch from Taiwan who wore a U of U t-shirt as a costume, Ryan dressed as a Syracuse student and borrowed my orange scarf to compliment his S hat, Allen was something from the 1800s and Brittany had an old nurses robe on under her sweatshirt. Really relaxed, but a lot of fun! Krystal ended up joining us later after her concert but I didn't get a picture of her.

And me...I was Static Cling. I wore all grey and safety-pinned random articles of clothing to me along with the amazing hairdo.

Yeah, I know it's forever late...but check the Fall entry to see why.

FALL (yeah it's late but it's a long story...)

2008-11-22T14:28:00.000-08:00

SO, I had great intentions of blogging Halloween, the beautiful Fall leaves, and other adventures here in Syracuse but, unfortunately, one night Dave was trying to copy pics from my memory card to his computer and accidentally assassinated the card--all the pictures with it. Luckily, after some long patient hours with recovery programs, he was able to get me the pictures back. All this means that I am going out of order but want to document things nonetheless...

Here are some great pics of buildings on campus with the changing leaves of the ivy vines highlighting the changing seasons.

This is the Lincoln statue right outside the main halls where I have class. No Fall colors, but wanted to give Abe some press time before he gets covered in the snow (I'll promise to document that later!)

Heading down one of many leaf-covered streets of Syracuse. I took this picture admittedly after the main thrust of the changing colors...which lasted all of about a week...when the ground became covered in crunchy, crispy brown remnants of the surrounding foliage.

Such a rare sight I simply HAD to take a picture. Yes, there are Republicans (albeit closet Republicans) in New York.

SNOW!!

2008-11-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

As per the yearly tradition of the changing seasons, Syracuse is now completely covered under a blanket of white. We've had intermittent snow drifts in the past couple weeks, but it is clear that this storm is going to make the frozen decorations are here to stay (for the next few months at least). According to the locals, there is often a melt-down during December before the rest of the snowpack hits but it'll pile up to a couple feet before we get that reprieve...

So, everyone is bundled up and avoiding any outdoor ventures whenever possible. Despite growing up in Utah and being incredibly familiar with snow, this cold front has hit me hard. I felt more or less acclimated from the scorching heats of Paraguay and only occasionally used my space heater in my room whenever the temperature fell below 60. But, I'm now trouncing around with thermal underlayers and a big fluffy coat and scarf to try and keep out the cold. The humidity makes everything that much colder, not to mention the crazy bitter winds. But, all in all, it's amazing to watch the snow falling and drift into soft white piles everywhere. In general, I LOVE snow and enjoy the beauty of seeing everything covered in an indiscriminate layer of crystaline coldness.

So, I would like to document this momentous occasion by attaching some photos:

Here is my house complete with uncleared driveway and Lucy resting quietly...

This is the street where I live...yes, it is UNPLOWED. For whatever reason, the city has opted not to worry about the unlucky locals of Cambridge Street but resigns them to hope for a safe exit and avoid doing donuts down the narrow blacktop. Unlike Utah, people are still allowed to park on the street during the winter but are required to trade off sides--one side of the stree on even days of the month and the other side on odd days. So, if you park on the street while it is snowing, not only do you have to clean your car OFF but you have to get your car OUT of the wall the plow creates as it comes through...oh wait we don't get a plow so I guess that's not an issue!

Sweet little Lucy...I really hope she makes it through the season!

Reflections on...the financial crisis

2008-11-13T07:49:00.001-08:00

A month after the announcement of the US bailout plan (soon thereafter followed by many other bailout plans across the globe), the effects of the global financial crisis continues to knock at the door of the policy makers at the World Bank, the IMF, and other international lenders and financial centers.

What's sad is that in a world where more than a Billion people live in extreme poverty (less than $1 a day), the decisions of rich governments and lending institutions have driven an additional 20 million people into poverty (according to the World Bank...see the article here.)

With all the complexities in the domestic financial market, I can't help but wonder how the millions of people that all of a sudden can't buy as much flour or rice or milk are feeling. As an educated person with lots of resources and access to information, I could get in on the discussions, learn the technical jargon, and perhaps even evaluate some of the policy decisions and gripe about how things should have gone differently...if I wanted to. I am not a financial expert and don't dawdle in the realm of Wall Street, but I could if I so desired. What about the rising generation of poverty-ridden (and probably malnourished, illiterate, and disease-ridden) individuals that don't have even the option to inform themselves or even comment on the causes of their condition. Do they know why poverty hit them? I guess that would assume that WE know what even causes poverty in the first place. I just lament the situation in which intellectuals theorize about and discuss the financial crisis while millions of innocent victims of their decision are forced to strategize how to survive it.

Reflections on...Veteran's Day

2008-11-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

OK so it's technically the morning after Veteran's Day...but I'm always a little late...

I just wanted to say that I was a little disappointed to see the lack of attention that Veteran's Day received yesterday. None of the major papers I read through had a front page story or a special highlighting a veteran's life story. I didn't spend all day searching, but I shouldn't have to.

There was, today, however, a front-page spread in USA Today of Barack Obama hugging a veteran from Iraq who had lost both of her legs, and a front-page spread in the NY Times about a veteran fighting to be compensated as a care-taker for her also veteran husband that had been paralyzed by a bullet to the neck in combat in Iraq. The first is a thinly-veiled agenda-driven charicature of Obama's stance on "ending" the war in Iraq by pulling out troops while the latter is a legitimate story with implications for the current military compensation structure though hardly front-page worthy and incredible pessimistic and myopic for commentary on Veteran's Day. Apparently in America today, Veterans are to be pitied for the toll the government has taken on them as helpless victims of an unjust system rather than self-sacrificing and dedicated individuals meriting the collective respect and support of the American public.

With the current war in Iraq drawing so much scorn and criticism, people have lost sight of the millions of other veterans that have returned from duty or are currently serving in the various military branches around the world. Regardless of your views on the political motivations or the moral implications of our foreign involvement in the Middle East or elsewhere, every individual that has VOLUNTEERED to serve in our military deserves your respect, admiration, and love. For generations past and generations future, they are fighting with their lives to ensure that our country retains its precious freedoms, including the opportunity so many happily take for granted to criticize and speak out against the government. It is because of them that there is no draft of compulsory service that would have drawn millions of the young vote that so rapaciously denounces the Bush Administration and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is because of them that the American public in general does not have to witness first-hand the destruction and death of war but can filter it out through obscure international press and propagandized liberal media. IT is because of them that I can sit in comfort in my home and know that this election and every election to come will not involve coups or violence but peaceful transition. Remember, there are BILLIONS, literally BILLIONS of people in the world that do not enjoy those freedoms and do not consider them RIGHTS. Now, more than ever, it is not a time to flippantly toss around the concept of rights and freedoms but to treasure, cherish, and protect them as direct products of the self-sacrifice, dedication, and service of the more than 23 million American veterans.

So, despite the constant focus on the cost of war and the unpopularity of the president, I for one choose to take this Veteran's Day to say THANK YOU to all the men and women faithfully and dutifully serving this country. I am not ashamed to say that I love my country. Why should I be? I LOVE MY COUNTRY! I don't love all that has happened, I don't love all the leaders and their individual choices. But, I uphold the VALUES and the PRINCIPLES it was founded upon and I LOVE the freedoms that I enjoy as a result. I THANK every man and woman that silently upholds those values and principles as well. And, I wish more Americans would do the same.

Reflections on...the election...part 2

2008-11-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

So the election has been decided. The voting booths have been taken down, dragged away, and stored for next year. Libraries, schools, and polling places all go back to the daily rhythm of pre-Nov. 4. Many are saying that the world is now a different place. That, in totaling the votes and selecting Barack Obama to be our nation's next president that, somehow, everything is changed.

The New York Times reported that "Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive."

McCain, in his concession speech, cited this as "an historic election."

And, in his all-too-familiar inspirational tone, Obama himself in his acceptance speech resounded: "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

Yet, I have to remain a healthy skepticism. Yes, we live in the "land of opportunities." Yes, I believe in the American Dream and I never stopped believing in it. And, Yes, this is a huge symbolic victory for race relations in the United States that a man with a black father and white mother would ascend to the presidency. But, is everything suddenly different from the night before? Are politics somehow smoothed beyond discontent and disagreement? Are racial tensions magically erased in the casting of ballots? I don't think so. I'd like to believe that our country will be better off with its "new-found" optimism and that a Black president will inspire inner-city youth to overcome cycles of poverty and abuse. I'd love to see our country better-respected throughout the world and our positive influence recognized as a beacon of democratic ideals. But, is all that really in the hands of a one-term senator with sketchy associations and the blind eye of the liberal media?

No, I did not vote for Obama. I question his capabilities. I question his experience. I question his staffing decisions. I question his role in international negotiations. I disagree with his stance on abortion. I disagree with his over-hyped propaganda-driven campaign. I disagree with the race card and a fear of being politically incorrect protecting him from the scrutiny of the mass media. And, regardless of where he stands on the issues, he is, after all, only a man. One in the more than 300 million Americans that he now represents. Furthermore, he is a man in a position that is delicately integrated into a system of checks and balances that depend on the 535 Congressman and 9 Supreme Court Justices entrusted with federal governance. Regardless of his demographic profile or speech-writing ability, Obama is faced with an incredible set of challenges and obstacles that define our troubled times. The inspirational message of change got him into the presidency, but I fail to believe that the difficulties plaguing our own society let alone those of the rest of the world, are somehow obviated by a change in administration. Beyond him as an individual, I question the logic and sanity of the American public at large. I am uneasy about the future of a country whose citizens vote based on peer pressure and empty accusations of bigotry and ignorance. I fear for the strength of the constitution and the integrity of the Supreme Court in times where "rights" and "equality" have become buzzwords rather than issues of solemn consideration.

The people have spoken and he will be our commander and chief for at least the next four years. So, I will support the office of president and I wish him well. I will support the system that I participated in and the outcome that it produced. In voting, I accept that my decision may not be the one chosen, but that I cherish the opportunity to take part in the process and will respect the outcome.

It is, in fact, a triumph of the democratic system that the transition will be so smooth and the the overall change will be subtle at best. Our system was created to limit the power of the president and the radicalism that marked the royal chambers of European feudalism. And it has done just that. Regardless of political leanings or legislative pull, overall, the president has an incredibly limited scope of real power and Obama's ascension is no exception. That has nothing to say about his symbolic power, his influential power, and his role in foreign policy. The point is I find comfort in knowing that they system worked. There will be no coups, no bloody backlash from unhappy voters, no drastic overhaul of government and the political freedoms we hold dear. Individual issues, yes. Controversial positions, yes. Potentially devastating involvement or lack of involvement in the global arena absolutely. But, in the end, the 300 million Americans glued to their TVs for the upcoming inauguration will go about their lives much as they did prior to the election and the social inspiration will translate into fond memories of political rallies and banner-making. In making his individual impact on the world, I support Obama to take his place as the next American president, though I feel the changes he advocates are much more dependent upon millions of other individuals that are watching him.

Reflections on...religion

2008-10-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

So I have read some interesting news articles recently I wanted to comment on...

First, a friend posted a commentary from the Salt Lake Tribune about the potential threat that anti-Mormon protesters could have should they turn their attention from street-side bullhorn rallies and instead seek to alter the constitutional protection of the freedom of religion... it's not the best commentary I've ever read and honestly a bit outlandish but thought-provoking nonetheless

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_10755288

Shortly following that article, I happened across a BBC report on an atheist movement in London to put "There's probably No God" on signs across buses in an effort to give a "breath of fresh air" to the masses constantly reading pro-Christian advertisements.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7681914.stm

This all comes amidst a number of cases of politicians being examined in terms of their religious views and the impact that it could have on their leadership. The former candidate Mitt Romney was seen as an extremist for being Mormon, Barack Obama has been connected to extreme anti-white preachers like Jeremy Wright and suspected of being a Muslim, and McCain is accused of pandering to the Christian Right...in all, religion has played a prominent point of analysis.

See:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21728725/
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=4443788
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/13/1263140.aspx

So, what does it all say about today's society's views on religion?

Taking all the specific examples aside, I have to think that there is a lot to say in general. It has become unpopular or 'uncool' in the academic world and the upper echelons of society to acknowledge that you have any religion of any kind. The 'opiate of the masses' as Marx deemed it, the idea of a religious institution is somehow intrinsically opposed to science, progress, human development, and the freedom of expression sought to be embodied in democracy and civil society. It is an interesting counter to the traditional development of social movements. Typically, a group feels it is being denied a right or an ability or access of some sort and fights against the prevailing "loud voices" of the times in order to shake things up and create change. Here, we have been granted the precious freedom to worship whomever, wherever, and whenever we so choose...or likewise to not worship at all. This comes thanks to the countless millions that fought against the oppressive "loud voices" demanding one religion over another or using religion as a political weapon or even as a motive for warfare and destruction.

So, wouldn't it be fitting that today, in 2008, we would be able to integrate the rhetoric of acceptance, cooperation, and mutual understanding into the arena of religion? Yet, somehow in the mix, the right not to worship has twisted into an obsessed inferiority complex prompting anti-religious advocates to become the 'loud voices' drowning out the millions of tempered, faithful, believers in a higher power throughout the country. It is not universal, granted, this is a reaction to the extremes that feel a need to turn their anti-religious sentiment into campaigns and bus signs, but it is real.

And, there is another twist. It isn't just those that are trying to highlight their right not to worship, but also those that take their right to worship and turn religion itself into an anti-religious institution. Multiple evangelical groups preach against their rival congregations in hopes of winning membership and raising the coffers of donations. Extremist Islam groups forming networks to attack the infidels, black solidarity extremists damning America for parts of its history and demanding the heads of the privileged white, anti-Semites re-birthing the swastika and WWII symbols of hatred and fear Etc. etc.

So, maybe the Crusades weren't the only time in history that religion was a tool of destruction. On all sides, whether from the anti-religious campaigns, the religious extremist campaigns, or the complicit acceptance of faithful citizens failing to raise their voice, somehow all the attention is going to these new loud voices.

Personally, I find it disheartening that such so beautiful and positive institutions of all faiths could be targets of such destruction and hate. I believe in a loving God. I believe He wants us to reach across lines of faith and care about those around us whether they share the same views or knowledge that we do or not. They may not call Him by the same name or even choose to think about whether He exists, but I respect their right to worship or not worship, just as I hope they would respect mine. We have so many wonderful blessings in common and a great big world in which to enjoy them. It saddens me that people would resign themselves to the cheap talk of divisiveness under the guise of entitlement.

Reflections on...the election

2008-10-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

So, with less than a month left to voting day and only one televised left to watch, I wanted to jump in on the election discussions.

I have found it interesting how much of the debate over Palin's candidacy has focused on her experience (or lack thereof) in foreign relations. I personally find it a political bias to try and discount her and undermine her real strength of executive leadership, especially since the vice-presidency is an inherently domestic position and substantially more concerned with administrative and executive responsibilities than the president's foreign negotiation and dipolomacy poisition. in other news, Obama carried out a sweeping tour of the Middle East and Europe to show his committment to what he is calling "direct diplomacy," and I find it interesting how the focus of political discourse has has shifted from domestic to global. While we still place the presidential administration in the key position to influence domestic policy, our increasingly interconnected world requires an executive capable of connecting with international concerns, multilateral cooperation, and new technological advancements that challenge traditional modes of diplomacy. So, as we are all considering which candidate/administration to support in the upcoming election, I invite you to review the foreign policy statements of both John McCain and Barack Obama. Outlining their plans for how to address the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the possibility of further military involvement, international development funding and foci, nuclear proliferation, relations with Russia, the rise of India and China, etc...very interesting stuff. Lots of promises from both sides. But, these should weigh heavily on how we consider each candidate's preparation and capability to lead the world's only superpower. Please comment on anything you find interesting!

McCain:

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20071101faessay86602/john-mccain/an-enduring-peace-built-on-freedom.html

Obama:

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070701faessay86401/barack-obama/renewing-american-leadership.html

Reflections on...nieces and nephews!!

2008-10-13T07:22:00.001-07:00

Beautiful baby Isabelle!!

My cute munchkin nieces Sammy, Isabelle, and Corrianne and my adorable nephew Maxwell.

Maxwell and Corrianne make faces, happy for the extra attention from a visiting aunt!

Sammy makes me smile!!

Maxwell got shy and wanted to run from the roving camera lens.

During my weekend getaway, I got to meet a new addition to my family since I came to Syracuse--little Isabelle Bice. It was a quick visit but always a joy to run around with girls that I adore and little Maxwell is growing up to be an adorable boy! He is talking more and rough housing more, asking me to make him "fall" as I tossed him around and rolled back with him in my lap. They are getting to be so big and it's hard to be so far away when they used to be just up the road! Corrianne is now in kindergarten and Sammy in Preschool. But, thankfully they still remember their Aunt Kristine and were excited to steal me away to play princess games and wanted to run around outside with me. I love these kids!!!

Nieces and nephews have been a big part of my life. I didn't have any younger siblings but was the default babysitter since my first nephew, Spencer, was born when I was 9. I've been really blessed to get to know them as they grow up and as I grew up myself. While my siblings have been at very different stages in life than I was as I grew up, I have lots of good memories of each little unique addition to our ever-bigger family. I'm excited to see Isabelle gain her own personality and add her touch to the family dynamic. So, it may be a little late, but congrats Suzanne!! And, thanks for the visit!

Reflecions on...weddings

2008-10-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Coming out of the Logan temple.

Doesn't she make a BEAUTIFUL BRIDE!!

Adrienne and her bridesmaids...and me not matching because I had taken a long time to figure out if I was going to be able to make it to Utah or not.

The happy couple.

I had a WONDERFUL opportunity to go see my childhood friend Adrienne marry her sweetheart Trevor this weekend. It was a quick trip but worth every bit of effort. Adrienne has been the most wonderful friend I could have ever hoped for and it made me cry (multiple times in fact) to see her starting this new chapter in her life. And, to see her do it with the authority of the priesthood blessing her marriage was a wonderful example to me. It made me think about a lot of things...

Weddings in anthropology are all about the community, the joining together of two families, lineages, and histories and not really about the individuals in the partnership at all. Our modern day individualism has reduced that down to "it's my life and I'll do what I want" and I wonder where the line really should be. Obviously, it is about individual selection in a society where you start your own nuclear family and move away from both of the extended families. But, in a real way, both families are going to be intimately connected for the rest of the couples' lives. Trevor and Adrienne were really blessed to have so much family there to support them and I was lucky enough to go to the wedding dinner before the reception and hear both sides of the family talk about embarrassing stories and welcome a new member into each side.

Overall, I just thought about how happy Adrienne was and while it will be a major adjustment in her life and set the tone for the rest of it as she builds a new life alongside her beloved, I will never forget how she couldn't stop smiling and I hope she is able to stay that happy through all the challenges and experiences awaiting her. There was so much hope and love in every comment that day that I felt a big chunk of BYU-dating and Utah-bubble cynicism melt away. As I ponder on the difficulties of dating, including my over-analytical tendency to formulate theories and comment on the dysfunctional pressure-ridden culture within the Church and in general, I realize that it all comes down to individual people finding their paths in life and gaining their own experience.

So, congrats Adrienne and everyone else that has found their special companion in this crazy adventure called life. Hopeless romantic that I am, I can only hope that someday I can be as happy in my wedding pictures as she was!

Reflections on...war

2008-10-03T16:33:00.001-07:00

Since it is on my mind today, even though I am aware it is not a pleasant beginning and I really don't aim to discourage people from keeping up with my blog, I am creating my first entry of reflections by reflecting on...war.

Following a rather emotional day discussing the complex debates between Israel and Palestine and then about the US presence in Iraq, I somehow ended up watching Atonement, a movie dedicated to war.

First off, it absolutely boggles my mind to think that anyone would ever want to kill another human being. We can talk about it, we can calculate the number of people that do it every day, we can list off the proposed motivations, we can even craft elaborate defenses for those that have done it. But, in the end, I honestly just can't get my mind to wrap itself around the idea of war. It has existed for centuries, tearing across the same slabs of earth so many times that it would be impossible to even quantify how many wars the world has fought. Theoreticians work to classify the different kinds of war, the different magnitudes of war, the differences between a war and a conflict or a battle or a skirmish. We train people in the arts of war, study the tactics of past strategists, decorate our cities with monuments to our own participation in warfare, and all the while convince ourselves that war is an inevitable part of the human experience, a twisted rite of passage into humanity.

At the same time, I personally admire and appreciate the sacrifice of the millions of individuals who have voluntarily fought and participated in the armed forces so that I could sit in the comfort of my home and contemplate the effects of war without having to personally live through them. I do not, for one second, question the sincere devotion, sacrifice, and dedication offered by our servicemen nor would I imply that my reflections on war would lead me to doubt the role of honest, hardworking soldiers that follow orders and protect our freedom. I still have to believe that war can still be justified, that, as in the Book of Mormon, war can be justified for righteous causes and fought by righteous leaders that would only fight as long as necessary and not take advantage of other human beings simply because they could be classified as enemies.

What I question is how we even end up in a position that would require violence and destruction not to mention the time money and mind power invested into training, technology, and tactics. Why, if war is so ugly and devastating, would we keep creating them? Why would we spend so much time and money on continuing them and preparing for potential ones?

General observations... I was just really impacted by some of the propagandized negativity of people blaming governments and shouting down people that don't agree with them and it made me start thinking about these things...feel free to comment.

Liberation!!

2008-10-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

So, amidst the variety of entries in this, my personal blog, I've gone from a travel log and research commentary of my time as a Fulbrighter in Paraguay to my return to the USA and the process of combating culture shock to my current status as a graduate student in Syracuse. Throughout, I have found little continuity since i was really letting the location dictate my entries and didn't take a lot of time to include reflections that went beyond my personal role at the time. So, I am realizing that I limited a lot of my creative juices by seeing through that particular lens.

So, today, I am officially liberating this blog to contain and all rants, commentaries, ponderings, complaints, hopes, fears and joys that I deem fit to record. I don't necessarily care who reads them as long as they seek to find a nugget of truth, a sparkle of inspiration, or at least a glimmer of a new thought or a new idea that could make his or her life a little better. I can't promise you'll like everything you see on here. I can't even promise you will understand it. But, I have decided that a personal journal is only useful for therapy and emotional vomiting but a blog can take that otherwise internal and selfish babble and turn it into a collective discussion or at least a raised awareness among the people that I care about and that care about me. So, I am officially liberating this blog as an extension of my personal commitment to documenting my life and invite you all to come along for the ride.

More reflections to follow.

Oh CANADA!!

2008-09-28T17:35:00.001-07:00

Yes, taking advantage of the proximity to another national border, I had the chance to visit Canada's capital city of Ottawa. The class I am TA'ing for is part of Syracuse's Freshman Learning Communities Program where students interested in a particular major get placed on the same floor as other incoming students and then take an intro class together before they get the chance to declare their major. The IR learning community also sponsors a yearly trip to Canada to talk about US-Canadian relations which gives students a great chance to see foreign diplomacy in action, learn about issues that extend beyond our borders, and do so without having to board a plane.

We spent the morning meeting with representatives from the US Embassy in Canada who talked about everything from the extension of non-traditional embassy agencies like the Department of Homeland Security to Canadian stances on NAFTA and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

We then had some free time and I went around with the 2 Peer Mentors who are undergrads that had previously been part of the learning community and are now in charge of facilitating students through this year as well as teaching classes once a week. We had a great time taking in the sights of Ottawa. I must admit, it was a BEAUTIFUL city. The streets are busy but wide and inviting, the buildings not overwhelming or looming, and the people were very laid-back and friendly. There is a lot of British influence and the emphasis on preserving the original architecture has resulted in a stunning conglomeration of high copper-plated turret-towers on stone facades alongside modern skyrise and banks of office windows.

We toured the Parliament learning of their bicameral system headed by ministers representing the more than 33 million Canadians. The architecture, again, was breath-taking including statuary built into the walls with faces of historic leaders and monarchs, walls made from limestone rich in fossils, and archways buttressing out in sweeping lines across the vaulted ceilings. A personal highlight was, while waiting for the elevator that would take us up to the top of the "Peace Tower" overlooking the city, I ran into a family from Mexico City visiting Canada for their first time too. They had tried to cut in line ahead of us, thinking that the group was waiting for a tour guide. Since nobody spoke Spanish behind me, they were successful in elbowing their way through until I heard them discussing their need to continue forward and I kindly remarked in Spanish that there was a line and we were all waiting for the elevator. The woman was seriously surprised to hear anyone address her in Spanish let alone to tell her that she couldn't go forward any more. But, we ended up being good friends as we talked about their trip and they complimented me on my Spanish skills.

Following the parliament, we had some more free time wherein I bought some authentic Maple syrup contained in little glass maple jars and a French baguette from a little bakery run by French Ontarians. It was interesting seeing all the signs in English and French, the measurements all converted in metrics, and hear the fluid interchange between the Angliphone and Francophone cultures. I realized just how little I really know about Canada and, being such a vital trading partner and ally, I should really take some time to get to know more.

It was a fantastic day trip--exhausting but fantastic! I got home to find out that my car had broken down and after an ordeal in the rain we managed to get it to a garage that will look at it on Monday.

In other news, I've had a great time getting out to some cultural events including a night of Spanish opera (Zarzuela) in the small town of Homer, NY. I had never imagined having access to world-class Spanish lyrical theater, but in a small theater that had been a church and now converted into a civic center, I found a gem of culture performed only once a year. Also, I braved the waters of Lake Owasco in driving a waverunner for the first time. Leaving the crammed and admittedly dismal city center of Syracuse, the open countryside and sweeping hillsides sprinkled with long-skinny "finger" lakes is a truly breath-taking and relaxing atmosphere. I'm excited for the full onset of Fall as the leaves are just now starting to change color and the promise of a colorful cascade of leaves awaits me.

Otherwise, these next couple weeks will be full of midterms, presentations, and projects so hopefully I'll be able to keep up. Classes are picking up in intensity and the weather is dimming down but Syracuse remains a constant adventure.

Inside Parliament, the House of Commons chambers. Usually, meetings are in session while tour groups pass through so they don't let you go inside, but since they are out campaigning in preparation for the October 14th elections, we were able to go inside.

No caption necessary

Ottawa as seen from the Peace Tower.

A beautiful bridge over Ottawa River

Katie and I enjoying our French baguettes and toasting to the maple syrup bottles

LOOK AT THIS PURPLE HOUSE!! I ran into this beautiful house right on a main thoroughfare of Skaneateles, a major tourist town about 30 min outside of Syracuse

A boat docked on Skaneateles lake overlooks a quiet park

This is inside a beautiful park called Watkins Glen. Amazing geology and lots of money for trail-making have made it a great afternoon getaway as well as the site for some incredible engagement photo opps.

I was amazed by this statue in the visitor's center at the Peter Whitmer Farm. Documenting the restoration of the priesthood by Peter, James, and John, the statue is incredible--yes the angels are really floating!

Finally, the peer mentors and I pose outside of Parliament.

moving toward election day

2008-09-11T08:39:00.001-07:00

A report from the Inter-American Dialogue recently compared McCain and Obama's foreign policy towards Latin America.

Title: Obama, McCain Offer Stark Contrasts on Latin America Policy
Author: Interview with Michael Shifter
Source: America.gov
Date: September 8, 2008
By Eric Green

Washington — The two major U.S. presidential candidates offer stark contrasts in their positions on Latin America and the Caribbean, several specialists on the region tell America.gov.

Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at the Washington-based nonpartisan Inter-American Dialogue, said Republican John McCain’s “rhetoric” on Cuba and Venezuela is “certainly tougher” than that of Democrat Barack Obama.

But Shifter said it is “unclear how that will translate in policy terms.” He said that under a McCain administration, the current U.S. “stance” toward Cuba probably will continue, “and it might even get more hardline.”

Obama already has proposed “some modest steps” toward an opening with Cuba, including lifting U.S. restrictions on sending remittances to Cuba and on travel restrictions for Cuban Americans to the Caribbean nation, Shifter said.

Obama’s “willingness” to talk with Cuban President Raúl Castro, “with a carefully prepared agenda, marks a contrast with McCain’s posture,” Shifter said.

He said McCain’s rhetoric aimed at Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been “harsher and more confrontational than Obama’s.” Shifter said Obama seems to favor a more diplomatic approach in dealing with Chávez, and that Obama’s “moderate tone would not, however, conceal basic policy differences with the Chávez government, especially on such issues as Iran and Afghanistan.”

Shifter said “tensions between the United States and Venezuela under a McCain or Obama administration would likely persist.”

COLOMBIA

Regarding Colombia, Shifter said that McCain’s concern with national security questions suggest the Republican is likely to be a strong advocate of continuing U.S. support for the next phase of Plan Colombia called the “Strategy to Strengthen Democracy and Promote Social Development.” Obama is “also a proponent of continued security aid” to the Andean nation, Shifter said. (See “United States To Shift Focus of Funds for Colombia.”)

But Shifter said McCain and Obama “differ sharply” on a pending U.S. free-trade agreement with Colombia, with McCain backing the pact and Obama opposed to it because of incidents of violence against Colombian union officials.

“Ironically, it may be easier to get” the trade agreement through the U.S. Congress under Obama rather than with a McCain administration, Shifter said. He said McCain could have a more adversarial relationship with the next Congress — very likely to be controlled by the Democrats — than would Obama. “Obama could more easily put together a larger package featuring social protections and benefits for U.S. workers and that could help pave the way for eventual congressional approval” of the trade pact.

Regarding how high a priority the Americas will be for the next U.S. administration, Shifter said “Latin Americans should have learned by now to keep their expectations in check.” Situations in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia and China are likely to command much attention from a new administration, “so Latin America is unlikely to get the attention it deserves.”

McCain has made several trips to the region, Shifter said. Obama never has visited, but either “will need to develop a more sophisticated understanding of an area” that has “undergone profound changes and no longer responds to Washington’s tutorial impulses.” (See “Next U.S. President Unlikely to Alter U.S. Latin America Policy.”)

McCAIN MUM, OBAMA VAGUE ON U.S. IMAGE IN THE AMERICAS

Reflecting Shifter’s comments, Greg Weeks, an associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina, said the two candidates are divided on the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Obama, he said, has taken a “surprisingly skeptical view of the embargo and although he has not called for it to be dismantled, he has said that our policy toward Cuba has been a ‘failure.’”

Obama also has called for “engagement with the Cuban government, for which he has been criticized by McCain for being naïve,” said Weeks, who also writes a blog called Two Weeks Notice.

On whether either candidate could get immigration legislation passed by Congress, Weeks said that “my hunch is no, though the makeup of Congress after the elections will be important.”

He said that although Democrats won a majority in the last congressional election in 2006, many members of the House of Representative “were conservative and so opposed immigration reform. Given McCain's clear interest in [immigration] reform, though, he will be more likely to expend political capital to get it passed. Obama has said he would pursue reform, but my sense is that the topic is a lower priority for him.”

When asked how the candidates could improve the U.S. image in the Americas, Weeks responded that he has not heard McCain address this question, perhaps because doing so could be interpreted as a criticism of President Bush. McCain’s campaign has said it will ensure “top administration officials would have strong Latin American portfolios,” according to Weeks.

Obama has emphasized diplomacy and a policy of “helping the poor, shoring up civil society and strengthening democratic institutions, though the specifics are vague,” Weeks said.

He said that “ultimately, from a rhetorical standpoint, Obama offers more promise of policy change toward Latin America than McCain, whose policies [including immigration] remain very close to President Bush.” But because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, renewed tension with Russia and myriad other global issues, “Latin America will not likely be a top priority once the new president is elected,” Weeks said.

Details of McCain’s and Obama’s positions on the Americas are available on the Web sites of the respective candidates.

The article highlights the possible neglect towards Latin America--and the sad tradition of paying attention only to the most vocal crowds of Venezuela and Columbia. Granted, the priorities in foreign relations will be those countries who represent the greatest security, diplomatic, or commercial threat. But, both of the candidates fail to recognize the loss of sentiment in Latin America as a whole representing a huge problem for future relations. We need to spend more time building up our allies than just breaking down our enemies, giving good press to the countries that stubbornly defend democracy against the squeaky wheels of Morales, Chavez, and Correa, and dedicate our diplomatic strengths to empowerment rather than subterfuge.

update

2008-09-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...seems that it has been a while since I last posted. My bad. Honestly, I have made numerous attempts to sit and plunk out my blog, but have failed miserably until today.

By way of personal update, I officially finished another 3-credit 3-week intensive course at the Maxwell School. This time, rather than punching in numbers and working out budgets, I was in the middle of debates about the true meaning of democracy and what kinds of implications working in our form of democracy has on public administrators. With my personal international preference, it was often difficult to maintain a constant focus in the class though the dialog was a nice change.

I then had a week off which I blissfully spent doing just about nothing. Well, I had orientation for the International Relations side of my studies and so I got to make some great contacts and meet some new faces in the program. I went on a couple sidetrips familiarizing myself with some more wonderful country towns of the Finger Lakes region, started a Guatemala scrapbook (which is going to take me a year!), and revived my love for Yoga and Pilates.

Then, on the 25th of August, I started back into the swing of being a full-time student. With a mix of 4 classes (Managerial Economics, Intro to Statistics, Public Organizations and Management, and Global Information Technology Policy), one additional audited class in Business Spanish, and my time as a TA for an international relations introduction course, my time is flying by.

Finding the balance between class, homework, church, sleep, food, transportation, hygiene, and personal life is definitely a challenge. I was somewhat converted to the easy flow of South America and the general "tranquil" attitude of taking things as they came rather than trying to jam-pack every minute with challenging and stimulating activities. Somewhere between the hemispheres I lost my love of juggling and so I'm having to reteach myself how to work everything in.

At the same time, there are a lot of wonderful things going on around campus, with institute and the singles branch, and in life in general. After making brownies and a cake for my friend's birthday, I now have the reputation of a "baker" in my house. I whipped out my classic root-beer chicken crock-pot masterpiece and felt quite accomplished to actually cook a full meal for a potluck activity. I went tubing out on Lake Owasco near Auburn, NY where I was stung by a wasp for the first time in my life. As I agonized about the pin-prick-sized hole that was causing a giant welt on my foot, I learned that baking soda and water makes a miraculous compound for wasp stings.

What else...lots of casual friend outings, getting to know local restaurants, bars, and even the karaoke joint. I went through a great Michaelangelo exhibit here on campus, attended an Irish Fest where I got info for participating in a Feis in April, and went to my first on-campus Lecture by a Professor Vanden from Florida about social movements in Latin America.

So, really quick and not that informative I'm sure, but that's my life in a nutshell since I last reported.

Creative Regurgitation AKA the art of taking finals exams

2008-07-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did say final exams. You may not have expected such a phrase arising so early in my grad school "career" but it's true. I have officially survived my first (of many) grad school finals. After three weeks of nonstop Public Budgeting including daily class from 9-12 and 1-4, group work assignments, daily readings of at least 50 pages a day, the creation of a full-blown yearly budget for a hypothetical Day Care, and then a day and a half devoted to studying for the final, I went in this morning and completed the course with an exam worth a whopping 50% of my overall grade! For those that do not know me, just surviving the transition from the Paraguayan paradigm into American life has kept me on my toes--not to mention the transition to a new Syracuse way of life--but this whole studying Public Budgeting right off the bat really did a number on me. I don't have a background in budgeting and with so much financial management thrown at me and the whole time struggling to catch up with concepts that all the econ majors were flying through, I sincerely feel accomplished for having survived this course. Well, I guess that conclusion is yet to come since I don't have a clue what my grade is going to be. But, in general, I'm amazed at the actual learning capacity of the human mind and that, in a few short but intense weeks, I have been able to cram so much completely unfamiliar information into my reeling brain. I have no idea how long it'll be in there, but at least I got a lot in.

When the 3 1/2 hour test finished (it was supposed to only last 3 hours but seeing that not one person had finished with 1/2 an hour to go, they gave us an extension...I had literally started the last section with that 1/2 hour to go and was freaking out and still didn't finish the whole test with the extra time), all my anxiety swelled up from deep down and I was literally shaking for a good 20 minutes, my hand had gone numb from all the writing stressing an already stressed nerve, and I couldn't get my heart to stop racing. I found a good outlet for it though--ribs. As a celebration, a big group of Maxwellis headed down to the famous Dinosaur Barbecue in downtown Syracuse. An established biker joint, it's also a fabulous diner catering to college and tourist crowds alike. I had gone there with my friend Megan just before she and her husband shipped out of Syracuse and headed for Idaho. And, I was excited to be back--especially for THIS celebration! My friends laughed at how involved I was with my half-rack of beautifully-smoked ribs smothered in Dino BBQ sauce, but I enjoyed every bite! That, alongisde root beer on tap made me almost forget the stress of the past three weeks...almost.

We then joined up with some other MPA students to see a Friday afternoon showing of the new Batman Dark Knight movie. It was INCREDIBLE! I was a little skeptical through the first part because it was becoming painfully predictable, but then everything turned around and I had no idea what to expect and was (as one of my guy friends so lovingly pointed out) "squirming" in my seat for most of the show. Twisted, sometimes really dark and disturbing, thought-provoking, and generally mesmerizing, I LOVED this show! I don't know if I could see it again any time soon, but generally amazing. It's a tragedy that Heath Ledger was so affected by his role that it would take his life, but to his credit, his performance was truly riveting. I don't want to reveal too much of the plot, but I will comment on the discussions it raises on human nature and the battle between good and evil. Basically, he is a psychotic villain mastermind "with no rules" that acts completely unpredictably, turning things around and defying any sort of logic or moral reasoning. Past any self-interest, the Joker is simply insane. But, in facing his twisted tactics, there were various responses from the "good" and "bad" guys and you learn that the line isn't always as clear as we would like to think. When you can justify self-interest, you make yourself the good guy. But, when that self-interest becomes a vendetta for revenge, you make yourself a new kind of bad guy. Anyway, it really makes some interesting commentaries...the bigger and better they are, the harder they fall; sometimes people deserve more than "the truth; heroism and villainy are often only a decision away; inspiring good will also provide fodder for evil; sometimes you have to endure injustice as a result of your moral decisions; and so many more! Yes, these stories are based on comic books and written with a lot of those POW! BAM! action scenes that glorifies violence and raises mortals to invincible hero stature, but they can also be pretty inspiring, honest commentary on some of the most difficult questions in life. So, while the guys are getting their fix of blood and guts, they may also get some subliminal ethical training on the side.

Finally, I've been house/dog-sitting for the past week and have found that having a loving animal in my life has been probably the most enjoyable and sincere stress-reliever around. The chair of the International Relations department went on a trip with his wife to see family on the West Coast and asked if I wouldn't mind dog-sitting. His beautiful terrier Sophie has been a gem of a companion and I'm blessed to make a new friend that doesn't mind how much I might grumble about budgeting. She's always happy to see me, sleeps alongside me every night (and the occasional nap), and is even patient when I don't let her go as far on a walk as she might like because I don't have enough time to keep her out. I'll post some pics soon. It makes me really want to have my own puppy...but my roommate is allergic so it'll have to wait. As for now, I am thrilled to renew this love I've always had for animals and it couldn't have come at a better time (at least scholastically).

Anyway, just wanted to give an update. No, I guess these activities aren't as "exotic" or book-worthy as my romp in Paraguay, but this is, after all, just a day in the life of Kristine. And, these days, this has been my life. I'm back to the grindstone on Monday with another 3 week, 3 credit course, this time on Public Administration and Democracy. So, look forward to another analysis of my next creative regurgitation on that final...wishful thinking that I make it that long? I hope not.

Takin a break

2008-07-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Going to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I had just gotten finished with a Federal Budget Simulation where I took the role of Mrs. Claire McCaskill from Missouri. Everybody in the class was given either a Senator's name, was assigned to be in the Press Corps and keep us on our toes, or on the Executive Committee alongside a self-elected President and Vice-President to try and work the room to lobby their position. We had sub-committee meetings on plans touching everything from Medicare to National Security with a mission to balance the budget. We then met the next day in the full Senate and voted one-by-one on the proposals. While being a Democrat for a day wasn't business-as-usual for me, it was a fantastic experience and I loved seeing the debate and hear everyone get into their parts. I presented the Democrat's position for the Medicare bill, but froze up with stage-fright and struggled to really argue effectively. In the end, our bill was tied and the Vice-president had to make the deciding vote--a decided Republican, he voted to pass a bill that would privatize Medicare within 10 years. Anyway, that was last Friday. I then headed out with this fine group of single adults to Palmyra, New York to see my very first Hill Cumorah Pageant. I loved seeing the groups of Mormons milling about the grounds--set up to support more than 9000 people seated plus standing room for many more. Not too chilly, not too many bugs, and not too long to make me fall asleep. Well done. We commented on how great it was to be in a large gathering of people and not feel like your purse was going to get stolen, not being enveloped in a cloud of smoke, and actually seeing happy people all around. Even drivers were courteous and the night was a breath of fresh air compared to the tense crowds of the bar scene. We then waited for the crowds to clear out while laughing at the remaining protesters on bullhorns pleading to the public to "repent of your phony repentance" and leave your "Mormon Gods". It was almost inspiring...all that babble over a bullhorn simply must be the signal I've been waiting for my whole life to put me in the right direction! Ah, but seriously, how sad to see people waste so much time and energy in destruction-seeking and trying to take other people down. I would never dream of the Missionaries picking up bullhorns and degrading Hindu, Bhuddist, or even Catholic gatherings. It's completley contradictory to any message of love or peace that Christ offers us. But, they have their free speech as much as anybody else. After all, it did provide some post-show entertainment. We then headed over to a dance at the Palmyra Stake. I felt a little awkward with my wrist-brace on, but had a great night.

Moving forward to this weekend, the 18th was my first official Karaoke party in the States. Amidst constant heavy metal and angry screaming, there were some good 80's pop rock and even some ballads belted out from the Singers' stage. They had an impressive collection of Karaoke favorites, compiled into massive volumes of spiral-bound goodness floating about the room seeking requests. Here we see the whole group, pre-show, and then Dave and Jason, two friends from the MPA cohort, belting out I Am the Warrior, complete with BANG BANG emphasis. My submission never made it to the lineup before it hit midnight and we were all ready to leave, so we'll have to plan subsequent karaoke nights. It was a lot of fun and a great interruption tothe grindstone of public budgeting. I'm learning a TON and moving quicker through financial material than I had ever dreamed possible, but it's nice to get out and see what the Syracuse night life has to offer (including the first of many Shirley Temples). I have quickly received the reputation of coming from the "jungle" and having "crazy survival skills" living in "extreme" conditions. Haha. Very true in many senses, but still not Tarzan-worthy. That, mixed with the intermittent discussions of whether the Polygamist colonies are considered Mormons or not, how to classify Mormon religion, and why it is that I want to spend so much time with Church-folk really keeps me on my toes. So, doing great! I probably have a pinched ulner nerve in my right arm and discovered that I have no medical coverage other than partial emergency room reimbursement and urgent care coverage at a clinic 100 miles from here. But, it could be worse. Thanks to a great physical therapist-brother (HAPPY BIRTHDAY btw!) I'm working on self-treatment. Oh, and Happy Birthday to Suzanne and her new little bundle of joy Isabel! Even though they stole my Spanish name from childhood, I'm glad to welcome her into the family fold.

"Beaches," babies, and the Bishop's Storehouse

2008-07-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

Me at the Palmyra temple

The gang after the Bishop's storehouse enjoying a walk around the temple.

The Sacred Grove...a beautiful natural wonderland of Western NY forest.

Standing on the line in-between Wayne and Manchester counties...I'm supposed to look confused if you can't tell.

Inside the visitor's center at the Hill Cumorah, admiring a collection of Book of Mormons--now in print in 107 languages throughout the world. I couldn't find K'iche' or Guarani among the mix, but there was Kaqchikel (in the old orthography), Chiapan Mayan, and Tzotzil.

The momument atop the Hill Cumorah. Soon to be overlooking the famous Hill Cumorah Pageant.

Playing disc golf...that's right it's actually a sport including regulated holes, tee-off points, and "discs" not to be confused with Frisbees.

Yes, the official Jamesville Beach State Park Speed Limit is a whopping 17 mph...as a future public administrator I guess I should know why that is, but at this point in time, I thought it was just worth a picture.

Luis and Jason njoying the 4th of July barbecue...mmm mmm mmmm!

Despite the official start of graduate school last week, the four-day colloquium was a real get-to-know your classmates and didn't involve any real class work. It was a great introduction to the people in the MPA department, my new classmates, and the general layout of Syracuse University. But, all that cake-walking is coming to an end as I head into Public Budgeting (affectionately called Boot Camp) on Monday.

Celebrating my last weekend of freedom before entering the gauntlet of graduate school classes, I discovered disc golf with a few other classmates at nearby Jamesville Beach State Park. The "beach" was really pretty and well-maintained but the real splendor lied in the 18-hole disc golf course on the grounds. We rented a set of discs and I soon learned just how much skill was involved in chucking a small round piece of plastic towards an iron basket 400 feet away. There were 3 discs in the set--one for long-range, one for mid-range, and one for putting/approaching. And, as we learned, each had it's own technique and purpose. I had no idea such a sport would be so technical! Plus, you can't throw it like an ultimate frisbee--the only way I really know how to throw--but more like a discus. After the first nine holes, we were all pretty exhausted, so we hunkered down to some picnic food and chatted about international politics.

In the middle of the joys of beach bumming, I got a phone call from Suzanne confirming that she had, indeed, given birth to a bright-eyed baby girl on July 2. I had been desparately trying to call anyone in the family to get the latest news but had to wait 2 days before getting anything official. So, welcome new niece!!

Later on, a front porch barbecue ensued, followed by some chillin on the side deck with a group of MPAs. We decided to drive over to the fireworks being launched at the State Fair Grounds only to find ourselves in an hour-long traffic jam to get off the freeway and get parking. My leg was throbbing from holding the clutch in for so long and I couldn't help but complain about the aggressive drivers that felt entitled to zoom to the front of the line and then barge in...at one point a lady in an Expedition rolled down here window and signaled that she wanted me to let her in, but I shook my head and promptly received a barrage of colorful language and hand gestures as they drove off looking for another entrance. Again, welcome to New York driving.

We didn't get far after parking the car before the fireworks started, so we just plopped down at the nearest patch of grass. I can't honestly say if it was worth the drive and frustration, but being my first 4th of July in the United States since 2004, I enjoyed at least the chance to be part of the tradition of barbecues, fireworks, and good company. Interestingly enough, all 4 of us in my car heading for the fireworks turned out to be non-drinkers. We commented on how it was hard to find people that don't drink because, well, you don't exactly congregate to not drink while those of the alcohol find themselves together a lot easier. So, the Lord definitely has His way of letting me know that things are OK and that I'm not alone even if I'm in the minority.

Early Saturday morning, I headed down to a small town outside of Palmyra NY to do some service at the Bishop's Storehouse. One of 4 from the singles group, I had a great time filling bags with dairy and meat along an assembly line of volunteers. There was an older lady in charge of the fresh produce that completely stressed me out as she rushed everybody into making mistakes are really defeating the fun we would otherwise have had. But, in the end, we found little ways to enjoy the tasks and ended up filling 40 orders for families throughout Central New York, filling 2 trucks with basic foodstuffs as produced by the Church's welfare department. The best part of the trip, though, was the following couple of hours as we visited the sites around Palmyra.

First, we hit the Hill Cumorah, complete with the preparations for the Hill Cumorah Pageant that will start next week. Groups of youth practiced their fight scenes while others mastered the choreography of the trumpet-blowers. We headed into the visitor's center and I immediately saw that the Sister Missionaries that greeted us had their nametags in Spanish. I began to converse with one, finding out she had come here from Puebla, Mexico and, with only 4 months of experience, understood my pain of trying to transition into another language and culture.

The Spirit was overpowering as we toured the Smith farm--from the log home where the family first lived and where Joseph had first seen the angel Moroni to the fields he had tilled and worked to the sacred grove and the sight of the First Vision. Incredible. I received my own testimony of the Church a long time ago but more as an extension of my witnesses of the Book of Mormon itself and the doctrine of the Restoration. But, I had always struggled with the reality of a boy prophet and the conduit of that restoration coming through a typical 14-year-old. I had accepted it but always struggled to really say that I knew Joseph was a prophet. That may sound odd, but it's true. But, as I walked the fields and stepped into the replica of the log home, somehow it just came alive and I knew that he had, indeed, been called of God. The Spirit was just so strong that nothing else fit in my head, neither the constant intonation from the tour guide nor the intermittent distractions of the surrounding countryside and the subtle sounds of the other tourists in the visiting centers...nothing could dissuade the strength of the calming reassurance that the place was sacred.

We finished touring around and headed into Palmyra where we grabbed a pizza at one of the 2 restaurants in the entire sleepy town. We then scuttled over to the one LDS bookstore in the area, surprisingly complete, sporting everything from scripture totes and Spanish scriptures to youth T-shirts and Relief Society lesson ideas. I was really tempted to grab some CDs or even replace the scriptures that are reportedly in the mail since I accidentally left them at home...but decided to wait it out until at least pageant-time.

So, anyway, things are going at lightning speed, like normal. Hope all is going well with everyone in their respective homes. Until the next post...

it's all in the orientation materials....

2008-07-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

So, yep, officially started graduate school yesterday. Admittedly one of the most overwhelming days of my life. Between the orientation packet I have yet to finish reading from May to the mounds of contact information, office hours, and acronyms thrown at me in the past 2 days, I'm still amazed that I can successfully walk from my house to campus and back without getting lost in a maze of newness. I did ride the bus successfully from campus to my house, have navigated at least 3 separate routes through the park that stands between my house and campus, and have actually gone into 3 different buildings and come out while still knowing which direction to walk to go home. I can't remember my first few days at BYU to be honest, but I definitely don't remember feeling COMPLETELY lost while on campus. And, should anything happen, I could always look up and find the mountains to give me a cardinal direction and a way home....quite handy in fact, though quite absent in the rolling hills of Syracuse.

Today was great though. We had a guest lecture by a Mr. Arthur C Brooks, author of various books and current visiting professor in both the Maxwell School and Whitman School at Syracuse. He was honestly one of the most articulate and engaging speakers I've seen in a long time. While explaining his current research interests of proving whether money can or can not buy happiness, he cited studies from social psychology as well as principles from economics, and even threw in some cross-cultural comparisons from large research firms. I loved the interdisciplinary approach and, even when asked some very obscure questions, while not completely answering the question per se, he always had something to say and was impressively able to channel any comment or question into more evidence from his research that sounded enough on topic to keep the person from asking another question. Amazing public speaker. I'd love to read his books and find out more about the actual details of his research. Oh, and mom, very conservative--he's an economist for heaven's sake!--and argues that in order for people to be happier, the government should actually do less, step out of the way, and facilitate more philanthropy and charitable giving rather than actively pursuing programs to redistribute wealth and 'fix' the money problems in our society.

In getting to know the new surroundings, I had a great time on Saturday when we explored a local farmer's market--the largest one I've ever been to with 4 long buildings filled with booths, tents, and walled-off restaurants with everything from seasonal flowers and produce to cheeses, chocolates, and yes, even a booth dedicated to free trade Guatemalan textiles. I went crazy when I saw them and started talking with the vendor with tentative plans for an exhibition/presentation in the near future.

Then, last night, I attempted to attend a free Syracuse Symphony concert, but was sad to see it rained out. And, when it rains in Syracuse, it POURS! I was reminded of Guatemala rains, which few places honestly live up to that caliber of downpour. So, this could get interesting. But, today, in coming back from class, the weather couldn't have been more ideal. Bright blue skies overhead with just a smallest smattering of fluffy white clouds while a gentle breeze rustled the forests of trees in the giant park. In addition to the emotional roller coaster of the whole graduate school and meeting everyone in my program thing, the weather's capriciousness is giving me a headache!!

So, just wanted to give an update. I am going to Institute as well, getting to know a VERY small singles branch, and adjusting to the constant drinking that is integrated into what would otherwise be a very professional and academic setting. Hope everyone's great. More updates sure to follow.

ROAD TRIP 2008!

2008-06-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

That's right, now I get a chance to chronicle my cross-country trek that took my from the Western deserts of Utah to the Eastern forests of Central New York. After returning from my whirlwind visit to D.C., I packed up my possessions and loaded down my beloved 91 Honda Accord named Lucy to take a venture into the wilds of interstate travel. Accompanied by a lifelong friend Adrienne, I barely had elbow room around my sleeping back wedged between the seats, all of 3 inches of space visible from the rear-view mirror, and all that after leaving behind lots of precious possessions like my printer, my bedrest, and even my bed pillows.

We stopped the night in Cheyenne after accompanying the freight trucks in the slow lane as we plodded up the mountain passes, watched the gigantic windmill gathering wind energy, and braved the lonely 1-80 interstate across the Wyoming desert. We got in late into Cheyenne but found a decent hotel right off the freeway and crashed for the night.

With one leg of the journey down, we turned south on a slight detour that would take us straight for Wichita, Kansas and the second night to be spent alongside Kenneth and Bryn where they have been stationed for the past couple of years as Kenneth finishes up his residency. It was interesting to see the changing scenery as the mountain peaks of the Rockies receded away into the distance with open flatlands filled with the copper-brown tint of wheat and the rising red and silver outlines of barns were all the eye could see. I'd never been through the Great Plains though Kenneth and Bryn have told me about its charm. They will soon be heading for Iowa and a permament position as Kenneth works as an anaesthesiologist (I have NO idea how to spell that, but you get the idea.) Congrats bro!!

Unfortunately, despite the good weather and the quote-unquote picturesque landscape of pancake countryside, the second day was dampened by a friendly police-man forking over a speeding ticket. There's just no mercy these days! I could have understood it in congested freeways but in the nothingness of Nowheresville, Kansas, I couldn't believe that I could get a ticket as the ONLY car on the road! Such is life I guess. We did a good visit in with Kenneth, Bryn, and the three little munchkins running around the house. Little Evan was only 4 months old the last time I saw him, now at almost 2 years, he's spry as ever and quickly building his vocabulary (including a mighty valient effort to say Aunt Kristine that came out more of a (RRiiitty). Autumn, now 6, is witty and spunky, full of questions, including "why do you and my mom look so much alike?" We have talked a lot about how I look a lot more like my sister-in-law than my brother--no explanation that I know of. Little Isaac was a lot of fun too and while I had a hard time understanding all that he said, he was just as playful and genuine as ever. I miss seeing the little guys and I wish we had had more time to visit....We chatted over some Southern Barbecue the next day before heading out for our next stop: St. Louis.

We visited Adrienne's brother in St. Louis as he has been installing security systems in the area for a summer job, though was packing up and heading out for Michigan the next day. We headed down to the Gateway Arch, fighting the congested streets of the riverside bars and night life of a St. Louis Saturday night.

Playing around at the park built at the arch, Adrienne skipped across the giant spotlights and I got eaten by the mosquitos...good times. We grabbed dinner at a Steak n Shake diner before heading back to the apartment, chatting with her brother's roommates and Mapquesting the closest chapel to go to church in the morning. I didn't hit the sack until past 3 that night and I don't know how much later Adrienne stayed up, but we were both beat in the morning.

We went to a local ward, small and generally uninviting as not one soul came to greet us, but that's OK. We jumped back on the freeway and headed out to Columbus OH. That was definitely the most taxing day and the long hours behind the wheel started to take their toll. Passing through Indianapolis onward towards Columbus, the vegetation started to turn into more dense oak and aspen forests, and the sharp rolling hills of Missouri turned into bigger but more gradually sloping rises. The skies looked threatening and the winds were strong, but we made it all the way to Columbus without a drop of rain. Once inside the Econolodge and waiting for a pizza delivery, the rain started to pour. It was such a blessing that no storms had hit us thus far and even Bryn had said that the night before we arrived in Wichita they had had a tornado warning.

Our last day on the road, we stuck around Columbus for a little while to check out some land Adrienne's dad had bought and then stopped over to see the Columbus OH temple--a small temple but beautiful and accompanied by a simple and elegant stream running between the temple and the stake center.

We marched onward through the tip of Pennsylvania in to our final destination state--New York. And, as if to welcome me into my new home, the second we crossed over into New York State, I had a guy tailgating me. Shocked that he would be on my tail as I went 75 down a road marked with a 55 mph sign, I moved over only to have 3 more do the same thing to me in the right hand lane! At one point, I was sandwiched behind a sedan with a semi truck on the right and a tailgater motioning in the rear-view for me to get over though I had no idea at what point he imagined I would have the capacity to do so. Once I had a break and was ready to let him go by, I didn't have a chance to because he speeded around me, waving out the drivers' side with a sardonic grin on his face as he went by. And, after all the drama, he ended up slowing down, content to cruise at 70 right in front of me, but I'm sure feeling accomplished at having beaten me on the road. Incredible. I have yet to understand the NY road mentality, and I'll update you if I get anywhere with that.

So, after a long and tiring journey through the heart of the USA, we pulled into Syracuse NY just after 7 o'clock local Eastern Standard Time. I made a mistake of staying in the right hand lane which became an obligatory exit and so was forced to head into downtown rather than take the exit I needed to get to my new apartment...a mistake that took me through some rather questionable neighborhoods and gave me my first glimpse at the run-down urban center of Syracuse. I had no idea where I was, couldn't find any of the main roads that my limited map had to show me, but was determined not to stop and ask for directions short of finding a better neighborhood in which to do so. By a few small miracles, I actually found my way back onto the freeway and by another miracle, hadn't passed the exit I needed and so was able to make it to my new apartment and the waiting entrance key in the hand of a very helpful former tenant.

I didn't have much to offer, but we grabbed some grub at a nearby "Mexican" restaurant. I had to question the authenticity as a guy that looked Irish took our orders which he delivered to 3 African-Americans working in the kitchen. I'm finding that the Latin population is sparse at best in these parts and I don't know how long it will be before I can get any real Latin American food... We settled down on the hardwood floor atop some make-shift beds with the blankets I had brought, forced to accept just a few hours of sleep before taking Adrienne to the airport and sending her back to Utah to face her final and another hot summer in Logan.

Believe it or not, all of this plus a gigantic suitcase and other boxes plus my clothes that were on hangers already in the closet ALL fit into the backseat and trunk of my Lucy. NOT BAD uh??

Here are some crazy views from the road, including:

livestock, a shiny oil tanker that we could see ourselves in, a house, and some cool cars.

In the end, after all the stress and worries and stress and stress of moving and getting adjusted back to the States, I think the move was an incredible success. THANK YOU Adrienne for being a patient, kind, and dedicated friend and a great copilot in making this trip possible!! Also to mom and dad for helping me get things packed in...even in helping filter after what I THOUGHT would fit didn't end up fitting. I'm now meeting new people, getting acquainted with the Syracuse area and am sure to have plenty to comment on in future blogs about this new reality of mine. All in all everything points to great things ahead.

From capital to capital

2008-06-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

Shortly after getting back to the U S of A, I had a pressing interview in our nation's capital, the famious Washington, District of Columbia. So, after leaving the red-roofed houses and cobble-stoned houses of sleepy Asuncion, Paraguay, I headed to the bustling metropolis of neo-colonial, modern, post-modern, and neo-classical splendor of Washington D.C. It was only the second time in my long life that I've been in the area, the first being attached to the same organization, but as a graduating high school senior. Only this time I didn't have a welcoming party, the mingling of other scholarship recipients, or the glamour of being escorted around the city. I was being invited to an interview and things were straight down to business. I was to fly in on Sunday and leave on Monday, leaving an all-important decision about a possible graduate school scholarship left for the deciding.

I stayed in an amazingly beautiful (and I can imagine expensive) hotel room that they had reserved for me in the Fairmount Hotel. The luxury burned my eyes as I could hardly believe that I was sleeping on down pillows atop a king size bed in an attractively coordinated business-style suite.

I made sure to make the best of the hotel stay, using the robe hung in the bathroom after a long and luxurious bubble bath and then sitting down to watch HBO and TBS while finishing my interview question preparations.

Monday morning, I headed down to the conference rooms to face the INTERVIEW. I couldn't help but think about the timeline that that particular day was originally planned to have. In a small corner of the world called Itaugua, Paraguay, preparations were being finished for my book launching...the decorations were to be put on the walls of a small municipal salon seating the 200-250 invited guests as they brought in a stereo system for the antiquated microphone set atop a long foldingn table adorned with a nanduti tablecloth. But, I would see none of it, choosing instead to move forward and reach upward in my life towards graduate school and more formal education to prove to the world that I had skills worth a living wage to keep myself fed, clothed, and adequately 'cultured' with some technology, gadgets, and hobbies to occupy my time.

My fears of not being to articulate myself in English were definitely confirmed though my occasional reverse-translation moments were not as difficult as my circumlocutory ramblings to get around them. But, the 'comittee' that was to interview ended up being just 2 people with big smiles and lots of happy side comments attempting to make me actually feel more comfortable as we were to 'chat' and not 'interview.' I had a good time thinking about each question and passed through the more than 1 hour interview without honestly feeling the time. I had a chance to talk with some of the other interviewees and they were all 2004 graduates, making me one year older, a 2003 grad. I walked out not really knowing how to gauge my success or failure but content to know that at least I could show that I had been dedicated to the interview and, in sacrificing my attendance at the book launching, was certain about where I really wanted to go in life--back to the old grindstone and the reconstruction of long-forgotten realities.

I went around D.C. on a fabulous tram system called the Tourmobile. While I half-expected a cheesy, barbie-faced tour guide prodding me not to stick my arms or legs out of the moving vehicle, I honestly really enjoyed the tour. All the trolley-like buses were void of windows for prime no-reflection snapshots of all the federal buildings, memorials, and I even snapped a few of the crazy street signs and traffic signals. I started after taking my first 'metro' from the hotel to downtown by the Smithsonian complex and boarded the tourmobile alongside a mix of tourists from all over the world. As we passed the National Gallery of Art and other museums, I was sad that I didn't have more time to stick around and acutally go through the buildings, but that'll be for another trip. I stopped at Union Station to see the half-station half-commercial center that reminded me a lot of Philadelphia. I stopped to try Godiva chocolates for the first time, snapped my picture in front of life-size cardboard cutouts of Barack Obama and John McCain in a maze of political satire products from playing cards to bobble heads (where all Hillary merchandise was 50% off!), snatched up some pizza, and then got back on the tourmobile.

It was amazing to see sights that cited the grandeur of my mother country's history and development after so much time studying another's. Everything from honoring the servicemen and women buried in Arlington National Cemetery to the iconic homage to presidents Lincoln and Washington. Tourists were respectful and courteous, no shoving or pushing or even competition to get pictures. They actually waited on the side of road for people to come off the bus until they boarded...something I don't think I'd ever see in Paraguay. The buses came frequently punctually and I literally rode the entire tour around the city. We saw the white house only from a LONG distance, Capitol Hill as well, though I did stop and walk around the Lincoln Memorial, providing a picturesque view of the Washington monument were it not for the construction crews in the foreground.

I finished the tour and returned to the Smithsonian metro station to return to the hotel and get moving to the airport. Braving another run on the metro, I opted not to take a taxi and arrived with 15 minutes to spare at the Reagan National Airport. Not bad for a day and a half in the nation's capital?

An unmistakable landmark, the Lincoln Memorial.

Silence and Respect mark the tomb of John F. Kennedy, accompanied by his widow Jacky, his brother Robert, and an eternal flame lighted shortly after his assassination.

Saluting all unidentifiable soldiers killed in the line of duty, a constant vigil is kept at the Tomb of the Unknown Soliders, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. Here there are 3 Marines, conducting a changing of the guards ceremony.

Getting back to...

2008-06-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

So, I feel like I'm living at least 2, maybe 3 or 4 different realities right now, so keeping a streamlined, technologically-friendly blog of a day in the 'life of Kristine' is a little more complicated at this point in time and space than previously expected.

If that doesn't adequately describe the basic symptoms of re-entry culture shock piled on top of moving anxiety, social anxiety, and economic foreboding as I stare down two years fraught with student loans I'm bound to be paying for the rest of my life, feel free to give me a phone call and we could probably thrash it out into some more expanded terms. But, for the sake of brevity in catching people up on the past month or so that I haven't uploaded anything to my blog, I'll save the details.

And, for the sake of archiving, I'm actually going to break up this post into a few posts--I know, unheard for me!

So, here goes!

Ending reality 1--here I am at the Asuncion airport, definitely anxious to leave the climatically capricious tropics of Paraguay though sincerely distraught knowing that that transition would be filled with quirky language trip-ups, returning to awkward re-relationship-building, not to mention the preparation for an all-important scholarship interview, moving cross-country, and starting grad school. But, more on that in the upcoming posts. Back to reality 1. Sinthia and Lourdes were so generous in offering to take me to the airport and see me off. I had stayed the night with the wonderful Rodriguez family because they had lent me a bed and, in returning it to them, I was left without anything but a suitcase to keep me off the floor. As I woke up and had my last wisdom-filled conversation with Cati while we shared the steaming cup of yerba mate, I watched out the door at the contradiction of the bright green palm trees outlined by dark rain clouds moving over the valley. David took me back to my apartment and to run a few errands before making our last goodbyes as it poured outside. I made my last rounds around Itaugua that stormy Thursday, trying to stop at key houses and give my good wishes to the weavers, the friends, the town officials, and even the landlord that supported my stay in Itaugua. I was noticeably emotional but with the more than a week of goodbyes that I had been making as well as the process of selling my furniture, distributing the published books, and signing the donated books for the local schools, I was a little more put-together than I might have expected. The weather calmed just long enough to get me about 8 blocks from my house on various visits before it started pouring again. I was so anxious and afraid that I would miss my ride that I braved running through the rain and made it back to my apartment SOAKING wet and miserably cold. I couldn't put my wet clothes into the suitcase and opted to pull out a portable blow dryer that I used to somewhat warm me up and dry me off. Cati had come down so that I wouldn't have to carry my stuff on my own and it was a huge comfort to have her by my side.

Which takes us to the airport. I had a surprise visit by the Aldama family including Karen who donned her Havanna uniform to sneak into the waiting room with me until I got on the plane. It was hard to give my goodbye hugs and try to act like my normal self, but I did it. Once inside the waiting room, I thought it would be quick, but the flight ended up getting delayed and I started worrying about my connecting flight. I finally made it on and said goodbye to Karen and headed out, alone.

After short of running across the Buenos Aires airport to make it for the last boarding call for the red-eye to Houston, I finally started to feel dry though my clothes were disgustingly wrinkled and I was desparate for a shower. Approximately 11 hours later, I touched down on American soil and was welcomed back into my country of origin. A few more hours later, I made it to Salt Lake City, travel-worn, tired, shocked at the visual blur of highways, mountains, SUVs, traffic lights, and billboards lining the track back to Bountiful and the luxurious homes of the comfortable American middle class. I was "home" from another "adventure" as many would call it or an "experience" as others would cite. Whatever you call that chunk of life spent out of your comfort zone building new comfort zones, testing your horizons, breaking your spirit and teaching you to make yourself a new one...it had "ended" and now I was supposed to "go back to real life."

As I contemplate on those first few hours back in the States, all I can envision is the literal closing of one reality as it attempted to blend into another, an older, a more distant one that somehow could never really exist again because, with that attempt to blend, actually stops, shifts, and actually transforms in a permament bend in order to accommodate the new person returning the old reality. Then, as time goes on, that transformation acts more like a fault line under a volcano chain. It's always there though you don't always see it. But, every so often, things spark a forgotten memory, a friend left behind under the construction and uplift of the new mountains shaping the countryside...typically not one of those huge composite eruptions that blows its top, but the slow, somewhat constant flow of lava spurting up from the hidden abyss of the past and carving a small trail across the outer crust of the present. Sometimes there big eruptions spurting large flows that cover the entire construction...but those too die down and cool in the surrounding atmosphere and just become another layer in the constantly changing terrain.

OK, I don't know if that analogy really means anything to anyone but me, but it's my attempt to communicate what culture shock and its accompanying cultural growth mean to me. So, here's to you--realities 1 and 2 (but really, both were made of the millions of previous realities so the numbers don't really make sense either...), may you rest in peace under the upcoming lava flows.

winding down...I think

2008-05-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

So, welcome back... The past couple weeks haven't been all that photographable (besides the fact that I kept leaving my memory card in my computer and so every time I wanted to snap a picture, I found an unusable camera!!). I jambed my left-hand pointer finger playing basketball and so was kind of deabilitated from typing...though I got pretty good using must 3 fingers on my left hand and turning my wrist to reach everything. I had no idea how to describe a jambed finger so it became a "twisted" finger and they all thought I was crazy for thinking to tape it up. So, I had to improvise that night with some string and a Bic pen attached to my finger until I go find a farmacy with medical tape. Talking with older people, later, though, they talked about how soldiers in the war would wrap themselves up like that using 3 sticks and twine they would spin from caraguata plants...they said that is how they would heal broken bones and the soldiers even with broken legs would just get wrapped up tight and sent back to the field because there was no such thing as being discharged--alive or dead, the only options. I don't have my finger wrapped any more though and can bend it pretty much like normal again. I just finished playing another game which included teaching the locals how to play 'lightning' --an old elementary school favorite. I am finding, though, that Paraguayans in general and Paraguayan guys in particular are EXTREMELY competitive! That's right, you heard me, Kristine saying that. I know that I'm competitive but there were some moments I was sure that a fight was going to break out just because someone had made a basket or the other guy had not. I had to be the mother and tell them to all play nice or else I was going to take my ball and go home. Ridiculous. In the end, though, it's good exercise and since things aren't as hot these days, it's actually possible to go out in the morning sunshine and shoot some hoops without worrying that I'm going to pass out.

This weekend was filled with volunteer time with the Employment Resource Service folks. I taught a training workshop for teachers on how we can be better teachers on Friday in Asuncion. I was really excited because, I thought, the teachers would be excited to be there and learn. Well, that was mostly true, except for one highly cynical, older woman that glared me down and challenged every question, every instruction, and every point that I tried to make. She argued that we weren't "teachers" but that we were "instructors" and I said that it didn't really matter what we were called but that we take on the calling to teach...after I read several quotes from the manual that cited being a "teacher" she resorted to just making snide side comments to her neighbors aoubt me. Afterwords, the manager congratulated me and said she was incredibly impresed with how I had handled them--that the lady was just pretentious and obviously too prideful to learn from a young foreigner brought in by the center. Ah...the drama.

I spent some time with Sarita, another Fulbrighter in Asuncion who just happens to now be housemate with 3 volunteers from BYU's Marriott School come down to check out the Fundacion Paraguaya. They said they were disillusioned about the group and that seeing it on the ground was not what they were pitched, but hopefully that they could help advise the group and bring out some positive changes. They left to go to Iguazu Falls and Sarita and I stayed up till late watching the BBC News.

On Saturday I taught the first session of one of the BEST workshops I've ever taught. It was really invigorating to have everyone' FULL attention, absolute participation, great progress, and really uplifting spirit. It was probably God's way of making up for the drama of the night before.
At the end of the workshop, Alba came down to meet me as I had invited her to go to her very first real movie in a movie theater. The choices were between 27 dresses (translated as 27 weddings) and Charlie Wilson's War (translated here as 'game of power'). She decided she didn't want a comedy so we ended up seeing Charlie Wilson's War. I think a lot of it went over her head, but I liked a lot of the political commentary and, even though my mom will kill me for thinking I'm a dirty liberal, I appreciated the ending comments. I hate to spoil this for anyone, but it talks about how Charlie Wilson led a covert operation against the Soviet Communists in Afghanistan. Well, after all the negotiations, arms dealings, etc. he secures a Billion (capital B) dollars of funding for the war and successfully drives the Afghans to victory against the Russians. But, as the furor of anti-communist sentiment dies down and the Cold War starts to unwind, he fails to be able to get the support for 1 million dollars to fund school construction in the country that they left ravaged by war. The story has been repeated so many times throughout history that it makes me sick and, while I hate to mention it, I'm glad that it made it to the screen. Throughout Central America, Southern Asia, and almost all satelite countries of the former USSR, the US has been 'eager' to jump in with military funding and fight the political bad guys, but then duck tail and leave without a cent left to help the survivors actually take hold of their country and make it run. Now, ironically enough, it's the democrats that are trying to bring about the same situation. Before the war has even ended and any sort of boundary, peace treaty, or solution can be brought about, they want to pack up and leave--the country war-torn, women violated by years of political represssion, rape, and assault, uneducated and insecure; men scarce and uneducated--the same thing they accuse the Republicans of doing after so many other skirmishes. Aren't we supposed to learn from history? It's not all about good-guys, bad-guys but actually lifting people up out of poverty and working with them to help them actively participate in the world of democracy that we are thrusting them into. We had more than 200 years of history to help us take ownership of our democracy and develop strategies to make it work within our culture...and all that in a NEW country determined to make it's own history. Yet we expect them to skip through all that and transform a centuries-old traditional hierarchy and generations of dictatorship, oppression, violence, and slaughter within a couple years! And, all the while refusing to admit that our very own country is very significantly responsible for putting them in the very position they are in. Ah, politics. It's amazing how blind we can become, looking at the 'political arena' as a cute little game of budgets, adendums, and meetings with 'important people.' How quickly we can forget that those decisions are making impacts on millions of individual lives throughout the world and not just today, but for the extended future.

Ok, to end on a good note, I went through the final draft of "the book." We made a bunch of minor revisions, tacked down the page sizing etc. and are now thumbs-up for the printing to begin. I met with Carol Pope--visiting once again and finding her beautiful Paraguayan getaway retirement home infested with termites!!--and she suggested that I just modify the book and sell it as an e-book under my name. Not a bad idea. Regardless, I'm very capable of putting somethign together in English and then I won't have to worry one little bit about my so-called 'co-authors' getting in the way. Pictures of final product forthcoming.

Hope everyone had a fantastic Mother's Day. Things don't jump into swing until Thursday here...and surprisingly more low-key than I had thought because most of Latin America celebrates Mother's Day more than it does Christmas. But, then again, in Paraguay...

a finished book, a famous fulbrighter, an historic election, what more could you ask for?

2008-04-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

That's right! After the more than 6 1/2 months that I've spent tParaguayan heat, bugs, and horny unfaithful teenage Paraguayan boy population, I am actually seeing some concrete results for my troubles :)!! I will have to admit that my methodology went out the window a while ago when I found that fieldnotes just made me complain more and so when I found an outlet in working on this book project, I think it was a direct answer to prayer. Just this afternoon, I turned in "my life" as I called it, to the son of the printer so that we could actually look towards getting the thing printed.

So, I'm sorry to have stopped writing for a while--I personally apologize to all my faithful readers out there--Thanks Suzanne, Laura, and Bryn!! Truth is, things have really cooled down here and with the constant rain, the cooler temperatures, and the happier American surrounded by a sea of bundled-up Paraguayans, I've had a lot more time to stick inside and work on the text, formatting, and finishing touches of the book. Oh, that and another parasite but, minor detail really. Bottom line that means I have a lot to talk about!

Oh, I don't know if I really described the book but I've been working with a very well-known local weaver who has been winning prizes in UNESCO competitions and getting her picture taken for any number of international publications and then another woman from the community that is a professor of literature to help with the poetic and grammatical part of the work. But, as neither of them have touched a computer in their life, it's been a completely different group dynamic than I have ever encountered before. I would work up a storm and then not find a way to share with them because we couldn't afford the outrageous 20 cents a page to print things out just to have to change them and work it all over again. And, on their side, they would work up a storm--all written by hand--and then complain that they would have to pay for someone to type it up for them. Fortunately, things leaned toward the necessity to have things digitally done so they shelled out every once in a while to get things to me typed up so that we could use it in the book. That's another thing I hadn't seen before--the amount of signs for "work done by computer" which basically means that you pay someone to type, research, design, or correct anything that you need printed up. Most people that are looking for jobs and have to have a resume don't know how to type let alone use a computer so they just pay for one to be drafted for them. that is most understandable...but then you find the advertisement for "thesis" and you realize that you're not in Kansas anymore. yes, people that are graduating from accredited universities actually attain a university education without ever learning how to type their name and have their senior thesis projects typed up (and in many cases designed and carried out) for them. So, knowing all this, it must not surprise you that the arrival of an academic demanding the citation of every source, the proper formatting of that citation etc. is a little out of the ordinary. As we were finishing today, I had included a section recognizing that I had taken all the photos but...and then listed the people that had contributed photos to my list. They asked me "is that really necessary?" I just said yes and tried to leave it be. Then, they wanted to take a picture of the three of us together to put on the inner cover as a sort of biography. So, Chiquita asked her live-in maid (another Paraguayan staple for anyone that has enough money to pay the $100 or so a month that they earn) to take the picture for us. As we finished, I heard Maria Angela mumble something about a name to Chiquita in Guarani, and as I thanked her maid for taking the picture, I asked her for her name so that i could credit her, and Maria Angela about broke a rib with her "I TOLD YOU SO!!" knowing that I would want to put her name there for the picture. I guess at least I'm consistent.

So, long story short we should be in print within 2 weeks!! It's nothing like in the States where you get a contract from the publisher and they pay you to write so that they get the profits from the sale of the books--mainly because Paraguayans don't really read so there's not a lot of profit in it but also because printing is disgustingly expensive since there isn't a lot of demand. So, instead, you basically just come up with the money that your printing will cost, hold a party with all your friends and community leaders to try and get them to buy it, and call it good. In doing so, it doesn't matter what you write or how you write it, just as long as you have the money to hand over to the printers. A lot easier than the whole academic rigor and professional critiquing system right?

In other news, Alba turned 16 and we had a fabulous time on her roof with a pizza and a peach tart cake with her family and two of her neighbors. As i started making mariachi screams at the end of the happy birthday song it soon turned into a let-see-how-much-attention-we-can-get-from-passersby game. It was fun as we tried to get people's attention without revealing our position in the darkness of her balcony. Good times.

I went to my first Paraguayan Quincenera (15th birthday party). I've seen about a million picture albums showing everyone's party but I finally got invited to one. It was an amazing cultural blend as the birthday girl was dressed in a fancy wedding-worthy gown as the entrance was dressed with draping clothes and the obligatory repository for gifts and then a gigantic 8-layer cake (I was half-expecting a groom to show up any minute!) and then the arrival of a Mariachi band that took the birthday girl swirling around the guests and taking pictures at each table adorned in a giant red-velvet sombrero, the singing of Happy Birthday first by all girls and then all boys, complete with a ribbon-pulling tradition to give the girls good luck (I pulled out the ring which is supposedly meant to signify the next person to get married and therefore the most coveted ribbon to pull...don't read too much into that Mom!!) and the final touch the "traditional" waltz with her father and then any other person at the party. After the waltz and the constant flow of champaign and beer (regardless of being severely underage, all the guests enjoyed a tall glass of bubbly or otherwise an up-scale beer with their barbecue and potato salad) the night ended with blaring Raggaeton (Spanish Rap basically) and Paraguayan Chachaca music while the crowds bounced the night away. It was a great party I must say, even if lacking good electronic or rock music to dance to. We grabbed a bus home as we tried not to call any attention to ourselves due to the fact that we were across the street from a whorehouse...conveniently located in front of the bus stop!

The next day was the famous Election Day, April 20...a date for the history books. I was super doubtful of just how the elections would turn out, and people as usual were completely negative in talking about the reality of getting any changes in the government that could root out the decades-old corruption and exploitation. But, after more than 60 years in power (inlcuding a 35-year dictatorship!), the Colorados finally lost a presidential election. The whole country is kind of holding its breath so see if "the change" as the campaign set itself up to be, will actually come to fruition. I can honeslty say that as I watched the election results roll in on the TV, I felt I was part of an important moment in Paraguayan history and hopefully the turning point to turning the country into a functional democracy and more than just a constitutional hypocrisy.

Next...I went to a 'forum' with a good friend Laura--in reality she's Alba's cousin. It was the most academic thing I've found access to in all my time in Paraguay, but still incredibly disappointing. It was held at a 'terciarcy school' (because it's not officially a university but more of a technical training school) for bilingual and multilingual teachers. dripping with formalities, the students had hardly no idea what the point of it was other than that they were taking roll. They talked about the proposition of a new Language Law that would recognize more than just the Spanish and Guarani languages but reach some sort of compromise with the 17 indigenous groups (not to mention the non-recognized Mennonite, German, Korean, Japanese, and Australian populations) that are supposedly to start receiving linguistic recognition. I hate to be a cynic, but the country is barely starting to recognize them as people and I think there is some other land and human rights legislation that should take priority over the language issues, but hopefully it's a step in the right direction. There were a couple other interesting presentations talking about the difficulties of translating music lyrics between Guarani and Spanish, and a famous television personality talking about how he was the first to try and run a Guarani-speaking professional television program that wasn't purely dedicated to just folklore stuff but actually run news stories. After 15 years, he's still not on prime air-time and is constantly fighting with the linguistic academics that tell him he is wrong to speak the colloquial Guarani and should work to integrate the neologisms and 'pure' Guarani into his show even though the majority of Paraguay refuses to use it in their homes.

OK, I should end this long-windedness. I'll end on a high note. Both of the local magazines--well one claims to be a "newspaper" but it only comes out once a month or every other month and is printed in color in a magazine-size format and full of advertisements--anyway both of them featured me in their magazines! And, after a few drafts I was actually successful in getting them to not only spell MY name right, but also that of Fulbright and Brigham Young University--a huge achievement if you have any idea what is like trying to get those into Spanish....even in writing it out for them it just doesn't make sense in Spanish so things eventually get Spanish-ified. But, I really like both sets of groups working on these magazines and it was a real honor that they would take time and effort to include me in their issues. the Folklore magazine didn't even edit what i turned into him but did a full-page spread complete with pictgures of me in his office posingly reading his magazine and then hunched over working on my nanduti. One had asked me a while ago to do a write-up on what the socio-cultural atmosphere of Itaugua was, according to an anthropologist. I wrote up a pretty open commentary based on quotes from the residents and left the end saying I would leave it up to the itauguenos analyze their community. The other "newspaper" did an informal interview with me and asked about why I was here and what I was doing. I had to laugh in a way because I've known the guys since January and they never asked me to do anything until now and just as I am finishing my time they are highlighting me as "person of the month." But, at least it was a good chance to put a plug in for the book!

so, there you have the full circle. I hope everyone is enjoying the last snow of the season and the strenghtening of the spring weather. Lots of love to everyone!!

back from buenos aires

2008-04-12T09:32:00.000-07:00

OK so as not to confuse you, I had forgotten to upload some of these photos from Aregua last time I logged on, so I'm tacking them on the beginnning here...but they happened a while ago. I then went to Argentina on the 6th for the regional conference and that is where the rest of the pictures come from...if you're confused, just enjoy the pictures but think too much about where they come from.

looking out my bedroom window at a really beautiful sunset...sorry about the fence and buildings in the way, but hey, cool sunset right?

these are from a weekend side trip to Aregua with some local friends...they told me to look "cute" and you can decide if I succeeded...

this is one of the Fransiscan churches in the area...really impressive

Suzanne this one's for you!!

me posing with a really creative shirt adorned with cheap nanduti, but innovative enough to merit a picture

Amazing ceramic designs fill the road across Aregua--i bought the missing flower pots in the foreground...

taking time to get to know each other while we were visiting an Argentine 'estancia' or private ranch. the girl in the middle, Maya, is working in Chile, while i had just finished some real bonding conversations with Jaein on the other side--of Korean descent but grew up in Paraguay and is now working in Buenos Aires

me riding horses....how I miss that!! but they wouldn't let us do more than a slow walk. :(

Me and my new best friend Sarita Role--studying with me in paraguay but working at an agricultural school up in the Chaco region.

meeting back up with old friends at a pizza joint

this is one of my many new boyfriends--a muchacho I like to call Mario the pizza guy, guardian of the corner shop La Americana or "the American" restaurant that only serves empanadas and pizza.

we went on a visit to the American embassy and got a short visit with the current ambassador, Wayne. Amazingly diplomatic and talented in talking for half an hour without saying anything, but interesting nonetheless

if you've never seen a tango show, it's almost worth the $1500 plane ticket to go to Argentina to see one! Unfortunately this particular show wasn't my favorite, but still a good night out.

An artisan market in one of the only colonial remnants of urban Buenos Aires--San Telmo. Visiting San Telmo comes complete with plenty of English-speaking gringos, cheap trickets and fine art, pickpockets, and tango street dancers all rushing around in an otherwise traffic-ridden thoroughfare. I had a hilarious incident watching a fat linen-donning, sunburnt American lean over the merchandise and ask, in English "How much?" and when the vendor didn't under the question, begin to wave her arms around the objects and saying much louder and much slower, again in English "HOW MUCH??" and then when the vendor guessed she was asking about prices told her "ocho" or "eight" which she then repeated loudly and slowly to the vendor "eight pesos?? EIGHT pesos??" When the body signals and the price inquiries apparently didn't conform to her budget expenses, she started walking away saying "this really shouldn't be that difficult--doesn't anyone speak English around here??" Ah sometimes i hate tourists. Wait, let me change that, most of the time I hate tourists...

then, low and behold, in the middle of the San Telmo artisan market, i ran across some very interesting...nanduti!! I asked the guy where he had learned to make it and after correctly identifying it as nanduti, he told me that he had learned in a local high school where they were teaching various weaving techniques. a great find to show the versatility and growing "web" of influence of this artform. I thought I was going to Buenos Aires to get away from work, but found some great new information!

These are some fun candid pictures taken in Recoleta Cementery when one of the other students was going through "camera withdrawal" and so I lent him my camera. I have no idea what we were looking at, but apparently it must have been quite perplexing as the tour guide and one of the advisors scratch their heads in contemplation...

Meeting with some of my good friends from the Juncal ward in Buenos Aires...and a surprise visit from Elder Salazar. He is from the same home stake as my companion's then-boyfriend now husband from Bahia Blanca. Long story, but just an interesting connection. He had been serving in Bs. As. while i was there, but I can't honestly remember what we had talked about when I had met him before, he is going home in 2 months and was really excited to see me again after a year. Ah, young missionaries. What are you to do with them?

Hey everyone!! I am just getting back into Paraguay after a whirlwind Fulbrighter-filled tour of Buenos Aires. It was a great conference and, in getting to know the rest of the Fulbrighters in the area, I really gained an appreciation for what this program is all about. students from Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay joined with our small cohort of 3 students in Paraguay for a rocking week full of presentations, sight-seeing, project discussions, partying out, and networking. I got to meet some other great researchers and it was amazing to see how diverse their topics and expertises were--from Marine Biology in Chile to public health projects in the slums of Brazil to measuring distances to nearby galaxies. Interesting people, lots of good food, pampering in a hotel, and more English than I've spoken in the past 6 months. I also made fantastic friends especially with another girl Sarita who has been here in Paraguay but because of distance and schedules we never met up but ended up having some incredibly thought-provoking, humbling, and life-changing conversations on the various bus rides and airpline rides throughout the trip. I also connected with an adorably energetic girl of Korean descent who grew up in Paraguay but then went to the States and is now studying Korean populations in Buenos Aires Argentina. I felt so at home with the group and it was an emotional, spiritual, and cultural retreat from months of frustration and isolation and really helped me to kick back into the larger picture and working to integrate my experiences into the overall macrocosmos rather than getting sucked into only seeing my local experiences as reality. It was fun to talk about nanduti too and actually see that i had worthwhile observations to contribute and find out that most of them had never heard of, let alone learned about this artform. It really energizes me to keep going with my work and get something more concrete and published for others to enjoy.

i also took advantage of my stay to reconnect with old friends from Buenos Aires and thoroughly enjoyed going out to lunch and dinner with old buddies. I got to B.A. on Sunday just in time for the second day of Conference, and dared myself to actually attend the meetings at the Stake Center, knowing without a doubt that Fernando would be there and afraid of how I migh react in seeing him after breaking up last year. But, I managed to let him see me without actually having a single conversation with him and I'm sure the gossip will fly in the next couple weeks about how I came back to Argentina and didn't even say hi to the twerp. ah, the drama.

Otherwise, things are great. I am excited to finish up my last month and a half here in Paraguay if i can get all the logistics worked out for graduate school and all. enjoy the pics!! Love you all tons!!

Kristine

Easter, Easter break, and Border Agents

2008-03-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

A view of the Argentine side of Iguazu Falls, with Saint Martin island in the middle

Stating the obvious...me in front

Adam and Eve Falls in the background, Bossetti Fall and one of the two Sister Falls in the foreground...incredible views!!

Looking down the Parana river from Devil's Throat Fall

One of the trails in the lower circuit--you can almost feel the struggle of man against nature as the jungle canopy overshadows the single-file trails throughout the park.

Garganta del Diablo--Devil's throat

Climbing Yaguaron's hill requires a customary terere stop.

Look at all the people heading up the hill!!

Contemplating the surrounding view and trying to locate Itaugua in the distance

The giant kurusu or cross on top of the hill and my fellow pilgrims...

the pose of a typical paraguayan--shaggy black hair, blistering heat in the surrounding tropical environment, and of course, terere in hand

Alba and I on top of the hill

Hey everyone...long time no write. These past two weeks have been full of adventures and lots of work!!

First, i got a great visit with my old buddies Carol and Tony that i had met back in October. they had come back to travel and also to buy the land where they want to build a house for their retirement here in Paraguay. I loved talking about my project progress as Carol taught me about plants and other projects she is working on to better the hotel in San Bernardino.

I also taught another workshop, this time in Itaugua though it wasn't nearly as successful as I would have liked. The students just weren't interested in it, it seemed, and got bored and conked out on me which made it basically impossible to teach. But, at least i offered the course and hopefully they got something out of it that they can use...

For Easter, Latin culture has an entire week of festivities and Paraguayan Semana Santa (Holy Week) was no exception. Everyone had days off from schools and work, and everyone took advantage to travel or party. I, as the dutiful anthropologist, took advantage to observe some traditional ceremonies and learn about traditional Holy Week rituals. Local schools had even held school on Saturday in order to free up Wednesday and therefore have a 5-day weekend. Not too bad.

I went back to a town called Yaguaraon, home to the Jesuit church I showed in a previous entry. On Holy Friday, the tradition is to climb a nearby hill and hold Mass on top of the hill symbolizing the march to Calgary and Christ's crucifixion...complete with a gigantic metalic cross on top of the hill and a small church filled with candles and sweaty people. It was really hot climbing that hill and despite being only about a 15 minute hike, I was covered in sweat and wondering how it was that I could climb 10,000 feet peaks without a problem and yet climbing a 300 ft climb about killed me. After chilling on some big rocks on the top under what limited shade we could find, we went to the church and watched as the 'apostles' of the local Catholic ministry brought out a wooden effigy of Christ which they proceeded to nail to a cross in the open plaza while people sang in Guarani. There were 2 statues of the virgin Mary on the side--one dressed in white and the other in black--to symbolize the virgin mother and her grief at watching her son die. Then they brought out Saint John though the apostle I talked with didn't have a good reason as to why that was the only saint that they brought out. We didn't get to see the rest of the ritual, but in the afternoon they supposedly take the body down and place it in a glass casket that they proceed to parade around town visiting the different smaller chapels throughout the town to then take it back to meet up with the virgin dressed in white as Christ is resurrected (and they take the wooden effigy and put it back into storage). It was really interesting to me to see though it honestly gave me a very dark impression and I didn't feel uplifted at all. I don't understand the whole emphasis on the cross and the suffering of the Savior when they recognize that He has been resurrected--my Jesus is a living Jesus, not a weak, suffering, shriveled shell of a mortal body nailed to a cross. I accept the crucifixion, but I don't dwell on it.

The next day, Alba and I went to a local museum that showcases Paraguayan mythology--as the story goes, a pair of ancient parents had 7 monstrous children and each one has various characteristics--the most popular one is called Pombero but due to local belief, most people prefer to refer to him as the "man of the night" so as not to tempt his arrival. he loves to drink and smoke and will do favors to people that leave him offerings of cigarettes but punishes those that begin to offer him gifts but then stop. Another common one si Jasy Jatere--a blond-haired blue-eyed midget man that runs through the forest looking for children to steal away. If any children are caught awake at the mid-day nap time, they are quickly reminded that Jasy Jetere is out and about and that they better get to bed right away. in short, all of them are basically nasty, monstrous, creepy, and generally not nice things to run into. And, despite the superficial extravagence of the stories, even the most intellectual Paraguayans believe in at least some part of the stories and knows of somebody that has had personal experience with one of them. I'll be honest that it gives me chills and I've been told some stories that make me wonder...

In other news, i just got back from a whirlwind trip from one end of Paraguay to the other and back. I had to renew my visa and so I figured I would go see the Iguazu falls on the Argentine border and get the renewal at the same time. I hadn't factored in the fact that Paraguay doesn't regulate that particular border and that it technically borders Brasil and so i didn't actually want them to regulate it either... So I decided I would go see the waterfalls and then I would have to go back and cross another border. For those that haven't heard of Iguazu Falls, let me introduce you. In every sense of the word, they are INCREDIBLE!! i had heard lots of good things and had wanted to go ever since I went to live in Buenos Aires, but I had no idea how sincerely awe-inspiring they would be close-up. Measuring over 70 meters--about 230 ft high, the sheer power of the rushing water overwhelmes you and you can hear them long before you actually hear them. I started out by seeing the "garganta del diablo" of the devil's throat--a semicircle depression of massive rushing water that is split in half between Brasil and Argentina. The whole region used to belong to Paraguay before the Triple Alliance War in the 1870s and has since become one of UNESCO's world heritage sites and a huge tourist income producer for the other two countries... Anyway, it was incredible to pass through a miles of smooth, crystal clear water that didn't seem to be moving at all and then all of sudden see it crash down a 200-ft precipice creating enough splash to send sprays back up on us gawking tourists at the top. I was impressed with the infraestructure too and Argentina had invested in 2001 to build new metal walkways that take you within 20 feet of the waterfalls. Incredible. I spent more than 6 hours walking along all the winding trails and snapping about a million pictures. It seemed like you could point your camera in any direction and get a postcard perfect shot. examples included in this post...

I then proceeded to jump on a cross-country bus and went to cross the Argentine border at Clorinda and renew my visa there, but made a word choice error of saying that i "lived" in Itaugua when the agent asked me where I was coming from and he got the idea that I was breaking my "tourist" status and didn't want to let me out of the country. They took me into the office and continued to explain that i needed to go to the main office and pay 260,000 Gs. (about 70 dollars) to get a 6-month stay and that they wouldn't give me the stamp to leave the country. I got really upset and said that I knew the law and that i could cross the border and it would automatically renew my 90 days, that i didn't need 6 months and that they were going to have to let me cross the border. I was just waiting for the part when they would ask for their bribe because they obviously wanted one but weren't going to explicitly ask for it and i wasn't going to give in. They finally gave me the stamp with a sigh of resignation stating that i wouldn't be able to come back into the country because i had to spend 72 hours outside the country in order to renew the visa. I spent a day in Formosa meeting up with some new friends going down the same road that sell Herbalife natural supplements and asked around to find an old nanduti workshop that was mentioned in a documentary made in then 1980s. The workshop has long since disappeared, but I got some good leads to go back and talk to in another trip. The next day i went back to the border and, as I had expected, passed through without a single question, hesitation, or bribe request. I now have another 90 days to be in the country...though I am going to Buenos Aires in a week and will get it renewed once again. Ah the frustration of timelines and beaurocracies!!

I am now back in Itaugua and working fervently to polish up a Spanish transcript we have been working on. I have more photos than my computer can hold and am working to organize a comparison showing the nanduti designs that are inspired in local flora and fauna and the actual plants and animals that the designs represent. of the more than 130 designs, I have all but 7 of the photos, and have procured all NEW samples of the actual weavings for photos in our book. I consider it a real accomplishment. i'm a little frustrated with the other partner that was in charge of all the literary write-ups because she hasn't produced the quality of historical and social analysis i was hoping for, but in general i'm satisfied. we are going to work on getting it all organized and then look for funding for printing it and doing a book release at the end of the month or the beginning of May. how cool is that?? Too bad for you guys it's all in Spanish, but since I'm covering the rest of the literary stuff, I'll have a great base for my English work and I'll be updating you on where and when you can get your copy ;)

OK, enough typing for today. Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter! sending my love,

Kristine

A week of spiders...that's right...spiders (and other nasty creepy crawly stuff)

2008-03-11T18:40:00.001-07:00

as many of you may remember, i am researching 'nanduti' which is most commonly translated to mean 'spider web' from the guarani language. it in fact does not mean spider web since there is another term for that--nandu renimbo or the thread of the spider--but most likely refers to the whiteness created by the spider. this difference may not seem significant since the whiteness created would obviously be the spider web, but the idea is that it culturally describes the visual and aesthetic essence and not the physical space of the spider web. anyway, in studying nanduti, one of my missions is to seek out the inspiration of the weaving which, according to legend, is a specific black spider that weaves perfectly round spider webs in tree clusters in the forest. anyone that has ever met me knows that i abhor spiders and permitted them to cohabitate my room in guatemala to keep away the flies but otherwise refuse to even consider being in their presence. so, taking up the task to actively search them out was quite a personal triumph. i'm not just looking for spiders but also a bunch of other animals that are represented in the weavings and, in doing so, finding all sorts of surprises along the way....

An amazing spiderweb I found floating above my head in an "espinillo" or spine tree. it took a lot of searching and a lot of neck cranage to get the camera to actually get a good picture of a spider web. if you've never tried to take a picture of a spider web, give it a whirl and you'll realize just how hard it is!

the most popular creation myth of nanduti is that a poor indi an wanted to marry the daughter of the chief but the chief demanded the most precious and unique gift from the potential suitor to win her hand and so the poor indian didn't have a shot. he withdrew to the forest to think and try to find something, anything, that would please the chief and win his beloved. he ran across one of the most perfectly symmetrical, round, spider webs and was awed to amazement at the beauty of it that he tried to grab it and in taking it down, ruined the weaving. in desperation he returns to tell his mother of the incident and she accompanies him in another journey into the forest and when they find another spider web, she cuts her long white hair and uses her own locks to imitate the weaving of the spider web which they then take to the chief as an offering. the unique gift surpassed all others and the poor boy triumphs in winning the hand of the maiden and his mother then turns to teach all the women in the tribe how to make the beautiful weaving that we now know as nanduti--inspired by the spider web.

this tree is covered in another type of spider web that was incredibly interesting to find. in one of the creation legends of nanduti, it talks about how a young indian, seeking a wedding present to give to his wife, goes out to hunt and disappears. when the widow-bride finds him years later, his bones are covered in spider webs as if it were his death shroud. jealous of the fact that the spiders were with her beloved when he died and not her, she runs back to town and then back to the forest with a needle and thread and starts to imitate the spider webs that covered her beloved's remains and that is how the first weavings of nanduti came about. that is just one of the versions but it was the first time i've actually seen a spider overtake a tree like this and it really brought the story to life.

While not as commonly known to pertain to the spider family, these 'garrapatas' or ticks are 8-legged little critters that are most closely related to mites and therefore arachnids, not like 6-legged insects. one of the photos i have dreaded having to take, these were freshly plucked from a neighboring cow and collected just for me...lucky huh? chiquita then threw them on the ground and stepped on them, squirting out some very nasty pools of cows blood that they had been slurping up. garrapatas are supposedly some of the nastiest bugs because they transmit lyme's disease, rocky mountain fever, and other nasty illnesses. i had no desire to even touch the cup that had been holding the critters for fear that one would take up courage to attach to my hand...

This is the national flor of paraguay--mburukuja or pasionaria or passion flower. it's one of the most unique flowers i've ever seen and later sprouts into a rich, yellow fruit that has soporiphic qualities. also one of the nanduti pictures i have been looking for. i thought that amidst all the nastiness of these bugs i should show the 'softer' side of the paraguay countryside.

this week i came into contact with the largest spider i've ever seen in my life and i honestly didn't have the stomach to get close enough to get a good picture and had to hand the camera over to my friend to take it for me. she had called me incredibly excited saying she had found a huge spider web at her neighbor's house that she wanted me to see. i accepted the invitation, thinking that it was just another spider web, but i had no idea that i would stand face to face with a spider web stretching out three feet across in the middle of a family's patio. i asked how it had managed to create such a web and they said that it had been there for a few days but that just now they had seen the spider and so my friend Alba called me in a panic to get me to come over and get it on camera. I have yet to find out exactly what it is, but it gave me the scare of my life. everyone was super calm, climbing on chairs to get closer to it and commenting on how cool the web was. i have to admit it is quite humbling to see a creature like this and the work that it can create with its own thread, spun inside a bulb on its backside. At the same time I was certain that the thing would freak at and jump straight at the blonde and attack me then and there. They say that spiders are far more afraid of us than we can be of them, but i reached a pretty high level of fear in that encounter... i now have the thing mounted on a piece of syrofoam and tucked into a box that i got to carry around with me today to scare all my neighbors. i laughed my head off becuase i would tell them that i had a little present that i wanted to offer them and then i would just open the box and they would stop and stare at the thing. paraguayans are markedly reserved in general and it was interesting that nobody screams or shies away or reacts strongly like i do when something grosses me out. they would simply freeze and ask how i got it while staring and analyzing every part of the dead creature. i should take a photo with something on the side for comparison to show the size, but the thing stretches out to a goodm 6 inches, it's backside a full inch long and 1/2 inch around. don't ask me how i've suddenly become a spider collector...and along with the gigantic ficus boar that i grabbed the other day and the dragon fly hanging on my wall, and the consant invasion of little beetles that fall on my bed at night as they congretate around my flourescent light, i'm practically becoming an entomologist!

time for interviews!!

2008-03-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

Maria Cristina's mom undoing the mistakes in my nanduti...pretty embarassing huh?

A beautiful "carpeta valle kare" or Kare Valley doilie made with fine thread

Some more nanduti I recently sent off to friends in Chile that I met over the Christmas holiday.

As you can see, there is a tendency to only make one type of design--this one is called Jasmin Flower in Itaugua and called Star in Pirayu and is becoming the standard design in nanduti despite the fact that there are more than 150 designs in print and more than 300 speculated to be in existence.

A new friend who, as you can see, weaves nanduti while working in her shoe store. A great example of using nanduti to supplement one's income and break the exploitation cycle rather than depend on on'es weaving to put food on the table.

My good friend Alba and her little brother and I on our weekend trip to Atyra--the 8th cleanest city in the world and one of the only touristy places outside of Asuncion in Paraguay. We took a great tour of the small town alongside a jovial yet presumptious tourguide that led us through a gigantic complex being built by an Italian Fransiscan priest. Look up the town on the internet if you get the chance, really interesting.

This is part of the nanduti display in the Ceramic Museum in Asuncion. I tried to get an interview with the administration and she sent me away saying that I should email her my questions...we'll see if she responds. basically i'm interested in finding out what motivates them to maintain a textile display in a ceramic and pottery museum...

This is the road that i had to cross in order to get to the museum...a saddeningly common site when it rains in Asuncion. Regardless of the fact that it rains rather frequently in Paraguay and that when it rains it rains hard, they haven't quite caught onto the idea of using drains and tubing...

Another display in the museum showcasing hand-made and hand-baked pottery from Tobati. They also showcase stuff from Ita (just down the road from where I'm living).

This is the famous church in Yaguaron. I'm already committed to coming back to watch the dramatization of the passion and resurrection of christ during Easter Week when we'll climb from the church up to the top of a local hill in a procession behind the actors...certain to be interesting. Oh, and the restauration of the this church was made possible by the local priest in Itaugua (whom nobody likes because he's supposedly really dull, constantly angry, and otherwise overly restrictive...never met him but doesn't leave a positive impression...).

Hello all! Welcome to another adventure in the anthropological life of mine. I feel like I've packed an entire project into this past week and it's been such a blast actually advancing my project and feeling like I'm being productive and not wilting in the Paraguayan sun. I was trying to put my finger on just why I felt so renewed and refreshed this week and I realized that it had rained all last week and the weather has been incredibly nice. Kinda weird to owe my life to the weather, but that's the honest truth. It's still hot but nothing like January and February. In fact, I feel like I am "warming up" to Paraguay and the more I get out and conduct my interviews, the more established and comfortable I feel. That's not to say that I didn't get out before, as you have seen through the rest of my posts, I definitely got to meet a bunch of people, but I honestly didn't feel like myself and had a hard time even concentrating on a job at hand because I wanted to jump into a freezer and cool off. I also had a lot of long-distance interviews with current students of Syracuse University who spoke VERY highly of the school and the atmosphere, the student body and the professors, the location and the curriculum etc. It was highly motivating to have them initiate contact with me as well as other contacts that I initiated and have both types of contacts offer their personal view of the school. I feel really lucky to be accepted and am excited to move on in my schooling and move forward in the professional world!!

This past week I had a great time making new contacts and working on maintaining old ones. I finally got to go back and visit Maria Cristina and I showed her my nanduti that I had been working on. I had stopped woring on one piece because I had messed up the "armaje" or base and I knew that I had messed it up and that I would have to undo it all and start over. But I simply didn't have the patience to undo it and had left it there. As soon as I got to Maria Cristina's house, I handed over the "bastidor" or the wooden frame they make the lace on, and her mom started looked at, she shook her head and said that it was badly made and would have to be redone. I admitted that I had done it wrong but didn't have the patience, so she, without e asking, sat down and undid it all and then showed me how to fix it and told me that she would expect it to be good next time or she would punish me by stabbing my hand with the needle (this is a typical punishment for the girls that are learning to weave though I can't imagine how much it would hurt!). We chatted and I got a good interview from her about her past participation in a weaving cooperative that doesn't function anymore. In visiting her, I also got to "estrenar" or showcase my new bike and I'm so glad to have my transportation back. If you don't remember, I had a beautiful purple bike that got stolen back in January and now I finally got the landlords to pay for a replacement.

On Tuesday I interviewed a local journalist that is writing a "Folklore magazine" and also writes a bunch of poetry in guarani. The people generally think he's crazy and a hippy (and physically he fits the part with a full beard and ponytail) but he was really passionate about his work and it was fascinating to argue with him about the value of changing the Guarani orthography to a standardized international phonetic script rather than the old system that tried to write Guarani using Spanish phonemes. He's adamant that the government is run by groups of friends and nepetists (which I would have to agree with) and that they are working to brainwash his children into accepting a materialistic, modernized and corrupt agenda that disrespects the great leaders of the past and the national Paraguayan identity (which I would have to consider more to make an informed opinion.). We chatted for about 5 hours during which we had lunch and talked about Mormonism and the fallacies of institutionalizing religion. He asked me to write an article for his magazine on my view of Itaugua's social and cultural atmosphere which I took over to him on Friday. I don't know if he's really going to print it, but I'll let you know. Interesting encounter.

I then went to interview the founder and owner of one of the largest artesanry shops here in Itaugua. She actually knows how to weave (unlike most owners) and started her shop more than 35 years ago. As we started talking about the future of nanduti, she lamented the current condition of the youth and their general disinterest in working for their pay, in learnig moral conduct, and in taking care of their elders. She said they want to experiment, try new things, and end up getting into trouble because they don't know the severity or the consequences of the choices they make. They are too independent, too lazy, and too curious for their own good. She was very observant and very expressive and I have to admit I identified a lot with her complaints. It's been hard to be a young, single adult here when the only real outlet for meeting people my age are discotecas and soccer games (both of which invlove heavy drinking, smoking, and crowds of horny sex-driven Paraguayans). There are church activities which don't invlove the drinking and smoking and is a lot more calm on the sex-drive, but also full of social fanatics that live for the church and don't have anything to talk about besides marriage and the next church activity. To be honest, it's just like Provo within the single young adults...quite disparaging. That was just Monday...!

I did a bunch of interviews in Asuncion on Thursday...going to a local printing company that has started a line of notebooks with nanduti designs on the covers. They are a lot more expensive than the other typical school notebooks but basically the same price as other notebooks from this particular company. It's run by a Korean family and I was more than disappointed that when I arrived, the boss that had agreed to interview with me had left and they simply instructed me to talk with another supervisor that didn't have much to say other than they liked the design...

I then talked with vendors in Asuncion and experienced, again, the closed world of the nanduti trade. When I talk to the weavers themselves, they are incredibly open, honest, friendly, interested, inquisitive, and playful. Talking with the sellers I get the distinct impression that they don't trust me. They must think that I am going to steal their busy, uncover the fact that they really are exploiting the weavers in order to make more money, or that they are simply wasting their time talking to me. If I'm not there to buy, I must be there with an ulterior motive.

I finally got to the famous Museo del Barro--an anthropological museum showcasing ceramic artesanry from all parts of Paraguay. They had beautiful displays and modern showcasing of thousands of pieces of pottery and statuary, as well as religious imagery and thousands of little Catholic Saints and crucifixes, and my motive for going: a nanduti room.

The nanduti they had didn't have any special labels so I had no idea where they had gotten it from or how old it was, but they had some beautiful pieces, all in white, on display in between sheets of glass. On the walls they had displays of "images of Itaugua" that a photographer had donated. I realized that in living in this small town nicknamed the "cradle of nanduti" that I've grown to take things for granted just like the natives do whereas the "outsiders" see everything as new and exciting. The photos highlighted the weavers among other artesans, the colonial columns of downtown Itaugua, and the rustic atmosphere of a growing town.

I then worked with Chiquita and Maria Angela updating our progress on the book publication. I hadn't had much of a chance to work on their materials but we are moving steadily forward and I'm really excited to have something more concrete under our belt :)

On Saturday, I went to Yaguaron, a town about 30 km from Itaugua down another highway heading South towards Argentina. It is famous for its Catholic Church which was honestly impressive. I had worked out with a good friend Rommy to head out with the task of capturing more real-life objects that had inspired nanduti designs. It's been a real uphill battle looking for these objects because, despite the fact that they are native to the scenery and environment of Paraguay, it's not very easy to show up and take a picture of a fox or a crab...most of the plants I have been able to find but not all of them are in season so I haven't gotten all the flowers that I am seeking either. I'm not sure how to make up for that, but we'll see how it works out.

Anyway, we visited the church, drove around the sleepy town and visited a small museum that was one of the homes of Paraguay's self-declared "perpetual dictator" Dr. Francia. Back in the 1800's, he ushered in the "golden age" of Paraguay by closing the country off and forcing the fledgling country to be completely self-reliant. People had to make their own food, clothing, transportation etc. and importation was completely shut down. It is in this period of time that Paraguayan artisanry really took off and probably when nanduti became more localized, more inspired by the local scenery and environment, and more sustainable as an artform.

We went to various places including a nursery to look for plants and the side of the road to look for other plants, and in all it was a fruitful trip. I also found a local lady that does waxing and got a full leg wax that I haven't had the privelege of receiving in almost a year. It hurt like a mother and I wasn't all that satisfied with her methodology, but finding a wax in Itaugua Paraguay was a pleasing discovery.

Today I just got back from another golden interview with a weaver that works in "hilo fino" or fine thread rather than "hilo grueso" or thick thread. Traditionally, nanduti was all done with a very fine, sewing thread that would take hours and days to produce a small piece of lace. Nowadays they use a lot thicker thread that is easier to see, easier to use, and easier to make larger designs with. It's a lot cheaper too because it doesn't take as much time, but you make more money per hour making it with thick thread because the buyers don't like paying a large sum of money, and the fine thread stuff is harder to sell. She was incredibly open and talkative and unabashed in telling me of the exploitative nature of the paraguayan marketplace and Paraguayan society. People just don't value hand-made things anymore, she said. The government doesn't help, and the one government institution that is supposedly there to help out is completely corrupt and worse than the regular intermediaries.

I love getting into conversations like these with the weavers because I feel like, if nothing else, I provide a bit of emotional release for them and an understanding ear to help them express their complaints. most people that come through Paraguay (which these days aren't many...) only get to see the pretty side of nanduti--the history and the native legend, the colorful displays in the artisan shops, and the nostalgic representations of the old national nanduti fesivals. They rarely come into contact with an actual weaver, a mother working in her home and trying to keep her family going by the skill of her hand, desperate to break free from the cycle of poverty that surrounds her.

So, if anyone is planning a trip to South America, I cordially invite you to come to Paraguay--preferably March through September when the weather is beautiful and mild--and get to know some real-life artisans and the hands behind the tourist trinkets.

I hope all is going well and that you are all enjoying the oncoming Spring. Sorry to not be as up-to-date with my blog and I hope you enjoyed this week's anthropological ramble. Until the next one, take care,

Kristine

concerts and giant bugs.

2008-02-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

A rare sight that I had to get on camera...an oxcart passing through downtown Itaugua

This is my new mascot...a gigantic worm that had fallen from a ficus tree on the corner a block from my house... literally the largest worm I've ever seen in my life!! Alba took a water bottle and with my help captured the little creature that is now preserved in rubbing alcohol on top of my fridge... I figured instead of freaking out about more bugs, my sanity would be better off accepting it and giving it a spot (though dead) in my home...

Alba, me, and Alba's mom Teresa at the Sin Bandera concert

Well gang, lots of fun developments in the life of Paraguayan Kristine….
This past week I worked hard with Chiquita as we have finally decided to go forward with an instruction manual all about ñandutí. Working with a literary professor to help with the grammar, Chiquita to help supplies for the photos, and me for the rest of the everything, we hope to get $1000 from the municipality to print the books and have them in print by the end of April in anticipation of the national Nandutí Festival in June. It’s really exciting to have something more solid under my belt and a direct outlet for all that I’ve been learning these past 4 months. At first the literature professor had thought of just writing a pamphlet and wanted to write a poetic introduction and leave it at that but I as the dutiful anthropologist successfully convinced them of the value of including more material on the history of the artform, its role in the modern day economy and the identity of Itaugua. Hopefully with our forces combined (like Captain Planet) we can really put out something worthwhile.
In other news, I got to see Sin Bandera (one of my very most favorite Pop Latino band) play in Asuncion. Normally I wouldn’t want to go to concerts because they’re undoubtedly full of drunk smokers and lots of unsavory company…but with the romantic music and incredible harmony of the band and the fact that they are breaking up forever and doing their last tour, and the tickets were only $14…I caved. They held it in the most ritzy neighborhood of all of Paraguay…it’s called Lambare and the “new” money of the country lives with their multimillion dollar homes, imported Mercedes benzes, and private guards to make sure nothing walks away. It was awesome to see the beautiful architecture and the fact that most of the houses don’t have street-side walls and huge gates like most other houses. Typically Latin American houses are completely walled-in from the street with high gates (even if they leave them unlocked, everyone is scared to death at the idea of having an open front lawn) and then bars on all the windows. Even in really nice, completely safe neighborhoods or poor neighborhoods were you wouldn’t expect such expense, the fence is one of the priorities and it was a breath of fresh air to see nice homes with wide front lawns unobstructed by sterile fences and gates.
The concert was great…lots of songs that I knew all the words to, surrounded by others singing at the top of their lungs and thousands of teenage Paraguayan girls screaming at the beginning of every song…really energetic. I invited my dear friend Alba and her mother to accompany us (which was a huge logistical mess and almost didn’t end up happening because I only had space for Alba to spend the night with me at a friend’s house but her mother refused to let her go alone to the concert and would only go if she personally accompanied us…so we planned to stick around until dawn and grab the first bus that passed by but luckily got saved by another friend heading back to Itaugua…) and met up with Emily another Fulbrighter living in Asuncion. Despite the fact that it was to be for Valentine’s Day and all the couples were nauseatingly affectionate throughout the show, I enjoyed it and it’s nice to say that I saw them in person before they split up.
Here in Itaugua, they are celebrating the end of summer with an annual tradition of Cultural Fridays. Local bands, musicians, and dancers take the stage to present Paraguayan polkas, guaranias, and other traditional music as well as some more modern stuff. I didn’t get to go to the closing night last night because I was exhausted but I went last Friday for about an hour before it started to rain and the whole audience dispersed. Of the 3 groups I got to see, 2 sang traditional polkas in guarani and the third was a girls’ dance studio performing Arabic “dance.” In reality, I was shocked at how sexual their dance was and watching 10 7-year olds in belly-dancer costumes doing pelvic thrusts was not exactly the kind of “culture” I had had in mind. I made a comment to my friend that I would NEVER let my 7-year old learn let alone perform such nastiness and with nothing more than a bra and underwear on…she said that it was part of the conservatory and the expectation was to learn how to do all different types of dance.
Today is another busy day and I am just catching a few minutes of down time before heading out to get a translation of a Portuguese article that talks about ñandutí and then travel to Asuncion for a baby’s 1st birthday party.

I hope all is going well and that everyone had a great Valentine’s Day… Talk later…

AH and last minute hooray-for-Kristine moment!! I got in to Syracuse University's GRAD school pursuing a double-master's in International Relations and Public Administration!! WAHOO!! Now if anybody wants to help me raise $43000 to pay for it, let me know!!

Cristina

tribute to a man of all ages

2008-02-02T17:43:00.000-08:00

Today was a very solemn day as I, alongside millions of members worldwide, got the chance to watch the funeral of our beloved prophet Gordon B. Hinckley. I have to admit, when I first heard the news on Monday, I didn’t react right away and my first thought was of sincere joy that he could be reunited with his beloved spouse and companion Marjorie. It wasn’t until later that night as I said my prayers asking Heavenly Father to bless the Hinckley family that I started to really think about what President Hinckley meant to me. During the greater part of my life, he was always there, a constant strength and example for the youth of the church. I will always remember the precious experiences I had in my life to see him in person. The first: alongside Bishop Glade and other youth from the ward, I was blessed to attend the worldwide Youth Broadcast where President Hinckley issued the 6 “Be’s”. My second time inside the beautifully constructed Conference Center, I was humbled by the simple yet direct manner of his instruction. Surrounded by superficial cliques and otherwise exclusive atmosphere, facing the uncertainties of high school graduation, college applications, and dating, I was blessed to receive President Hinckley’s counsel and experience his ability (despite being more than 90 years old) to connect with and care about the youth of the church. Many times following that broadcast, as I wondered about the details of my life, I thought back on the special prayer he offered on our behalf and new that our Heavenly Father would always be there to guide us and provide instruction if we were willing to seek Him.

The second and third times I saw President Hinckley was also in the Conference Center, this time for General Conference, fall 2005 (I think). I had gotten tickets because of a roommate and with a good Guatemalan friend at my side, drove up to Salt Lake. I was thrilled for my first time to attend General Conference in person and moreso now that I was going to the Conference Center. As we sat talking and commenting on the amazing view, the beautiful scenery of the stage, and the masses of people, a hush filled the room and every conversation stopped as the crowd silently rose from their seats and watched a prophet of God enter the room, accompanied by his counselors. I will never forget the palpable witness of the Spirit in that room and despite the distance, knowing that I was just one in a crowd of 21000, I felt the presence of that man and knew in an instant that he was a true prophet called of God. I have been blessed to have that witness repeated in my life and I have been greatly blessed by the personal efforts of President Hinckley to extend the missionary program, build more temples, and witness to the world of the reality of a living Christ. I know that God’s servants are waiting to continue with His work and the passing of one prophet will not stop or in any way hinder the progress of this worldwide church. I pray that I can receive the same witness as to the divine calling of the next prophet. But, I will always have a special place in my heart for President Hinckley and his kind and motivational influence on my childhood and adolescence. Through him, God revealed some of the most wonderful revelations of our time such as the Proclamation on the Family. And, through him, my testimony was strengthened to know more strongly and deeply that God lives, that this is His church and His work, that Joseph Smith was a prophet who ushered in the last dispensation and the restoration of the Gospel, that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and that we each have an individual potential to become like Him as we repent of our sins and advance along our eternal progression. I pray that whoever reads this might also receive that witness. So, friends and family, thanks for your support in my personal life and thanks for letting me share my thoughts about our dear departed prophet. I promise to update more on my activities and whatnot, but for now, I bid farewell to a dear friend that never knew me personally but impacted my life and will forever be blessed for his impact on mankind. As he would wish, may God be with us till we meet again!!

new years continued, one year older, and lots of nanduti

2008-01-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

The traditional New Year's Toast...sometimes it's really convenient to be the one taking pictures and not have a free hand to hold the smelly champagne...

Me dancing the night away with the local single adults...don't worry, he already has a girlfriend.

Welcome to my birthday party! Everyone thought it was hilarious that I put a sign on the road to lead people to the pool, but then thanked me when it was impossible to find the turn-off...

Receiving my guests from San Bernardino

The birthday girl at the pool side...carrying dipping sauces for the hotdogs

Me and my happy cake complete with "adorno" to transform a normal cake into a birthday cake.

Hello gang... Sorry it's been a while since I've updated my blog. Time has been FLYING by and I haven't had a minute to sit down and clunk out any of my thoughts let alone put up any pictures.

I had a GREAT New Year's and am including a picure of the traditional toast (that I participated in with an empty glass how exciting) at a friend's house and then my midnight to 6 am party-hearty dance pose...the first time in my life that I actually stayed up 24 hours...and paid for it dearly the next day.

I am now officially one year older...it is up to you to decide if I'm worthy of the term one year wiser :) On the 6th I completed my 23rd year of life and on the 7th I celebrated it! Borrowing a beautiful shady spot at a family pool, I invited all my closest friends here in Paraguay and other acquaintances though the close friends were really the only ones that showed up. It was a blast with hot dogs and watermelon, lots of coca-cola (an absolutely staple of Paraguayan diet), blaring music from a hired sound man, and of course, cake. The family that owns the pool refuses to rent it out to ANYONE and let me use it on a strict exception because they love me so much :) I didn't ask anyone for presents and was extremely happy to have my friends there...some from Itaugua where I live, others from San Bernardino where I first lived back in October, and others from Asuncion where I volunteer at the Employment Resource Center of the church. Among my gifts came all the way from the US of A 10 packets of mix-with-milk RANCH DRESSING!! It's amazing what kinds of things simply do not exist outside of your comfort circle, and Carol Pope, returning from her 2 week Christmas visit to Wisconsin, brought me the beautiful packets and a singing birthday card. I wanted to cry!! I also got perfume, 2 beautiful Paraguayan dolls complete with traditional clothing and one carrying a nanduti frame, a nanduti wall-hanging, a crude cotton woven placemat, an RBD purse, a purple bear card-holder paperweight, and a notebook with a photo cover of nanduti. The people here really know how to treat me to things I'll fall in love with.

In project news, I am going strong meeting the movers and shakers of the Nanduti world. I crossed paths with a wonderful artisan that worked on the production of one of the 3 existing books (all in Spanish) that exist about nanduti. There are others that make reference to nanduti, but nothing more recent than 1987 that actually contains any academic value. This most recent and most thorough study comes complete with a list of "dechados" or designs used to make nanduti and I have had a great time going through them with my new friend Chiquita and hearing her opinions about whether the names are right or not. Every time I meet with her, I feel renewed and more capable to actually carry out a decent project. She is beautifully expressive, impressively knowledgeable, and markedly passionate about her art form. After talking for more than 2 hours in her house one day, she invited me to work more "tranquilo" in her nearby "quinta" or summer house. While we went out to her quinta the last couple visits, we worked to take pictures of the plants in their natural environment that form the basis for the designs used in the lacework. It's a blast going out (even in the hot sun) and getting close-ups of the natural flora and fauna of Paraguay. Some of the pictures I can't get because it's past their season of blossom, but I'm learning a ton about the local ecology and it makes me more and more interested in how exactly nanduti evolved into the ideological gold mine that it currently is. She lent me these 2 gigantic folders of newspaper articles that she has been collecting since 1970---can you imagine what that would take for me to put together???---commenting on everything from the annual nacional Nanduti festival held here in Itaugua, to her own fame as an innovator of nanduti styles.

If that previous paragraph didn't make any sense, I'll briefly explain... Nanduti is a form of handicraft woven with needle and thread on a square wooden frame over which is stretched a piece of fabric. The lace is then created with a base woven into the fabric with the design completely independent of the fabric and woven into the criss-crossed threads of the base. The craft as a whole is an imitation of spider webs and is often interpreted (though erroneously because it really means the whiteness of a spider) to mean spider web. The designs produced on top of this base range from animals like local swamp birds and scoropions to flowers like the coconut flower to everyday objects like kerosene lanterns. With the oncoming commercialization however, most of the designs aren't used anymore in favor of a few, fast, standardized ones whipped out for easier sale. With the lack of formal documentation, too, the estimated 300 existing designs only find about 180 in print, and within 20 years as the old women die off, the majority will not exist or will be left behind in the book, nothing more.

Working with Chiquita is a pleasure and hopefully through her help and the other contacts I continue making, I can more succesfully transition into this period of formal interviewing and academic endeavor. I feel good about my progress thus far as I had planned out time to simply learn how to make nanduti and to study guarani...after 3 months of doing just that, I am far from conversant but can mutter out a few sentences in guarani, and I officially finished 5 "ojitos" or nanduti circles and 2 mbe ju'i or larger coaster-size nanduti designs. I should have been able to do more, but it also took me forever to get established into an apartment that I had to self-furnish, make contacts with reliable people willing to teach me, and adjust adequately to the scorching heat and bewildering accent to feel comfortable enough to leave my house!!

I am struggling to maintain my K'iche' at the same time and get occasional international phone calls that make me cry as I really miss the highlands and the temperate beauty of the K'iche' communities, but I am also working to finish writing an article that was accepted for publication at the 1st annual ERIP conference in San Diego in may...I can't go but Dr. Williams will.

Otherwise, things are basically the same...really HOT and culturally fascinating. I hope all are enjoying the winter, keep in touch!!

Happy New Year's

2007-12-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

MENDOZA: famous for wine, but thanks to a good eye at Independence Park I chugged down a cool glass of Grape juice!! But, the vineyards were absolutely GORGEOUS even from the limited view via the bus window.

Below, mate gourds for sale at an artist fair. For all you Argentine connosiours, you'll know that mate is a way of life in Argentina and for those who don't know, research it a little.

Here you see me at the Cerro de la gloria...commemorating the triumph of General San Martin who camped here in Mendoza before crossing the Andes to liberate Chile. This statue is on the top of a hill in a 500 hectare park dedicated to the General. In the middle of a desert, every tree and flower in the park was brought in from another country or other climate...there's not a single native tree in the entire park because the local climate is too dry to naturally promote trees. So, the town spends millions of pesos to keep everything alive, including wilting palm trees, brown pine trees, and scrawny sycamores. It's really pretty in its own way, but the artificiality of it all just didn't appeal to me and I can't help but think about teh possible damage to the local ecology that they are promoting...oh well, guess I could take it up with Al Gore or something.

Next leg of the trip took me into Chile with new friends in the sprawling urban metropolis of Santiago. Here you see me in Viña del Mar, a nearby town on the Pacific Coast. It was chilly with freezing cold water, but beautiful sands and lots of seashells that I now have in my Paraguayan home.

This is part of the presidential palace called La Moneda where they sacked Salvador Allende in the famous coup d'etat in the 1970s.

Climbing a small hill overlooking downtown Santiago, I saw one of the most beautiful Nativities ever!! Pure wood and immaculately carved, this life size Nativity was only missing one thing...the baby Jesus!! I asked why the manger was empty and they said that the Chilean tradition was to leave it empty until the night of the 24th so that he was "born" on the 25th.

Here I am with my new friends Marylyn and Orlando, native Chileans and friends of a friend of Mimi. We are looking out on one of the miradores of the hill onto the capital city of Santiago complete with 7 million inhabitants. They laughed at my Argentine accent and I laughed at their Chilean phrases and jargon. They invited me to go on vacation with them in February and while it's incredibly tempting, I don't know if I could handle more Chilean slang or the 2 weeks I would be taking off from working...

A gigantic cruise ship in the Valparaiso harbor....ooooohhhh.....

Christmas Eve dinner with the missionaries at a member family's house in Concepcion. They were incredibly giving and made a spread to die for!! Then, if that weren't generous enough, they gave everyone a present...including me. Since they didn't know my name, they put "to the friend of Sister Reavis' sister..." on the package. It was hard to be so far from home and from the Christmas preparations of Utah, but their love was really touching.

Christmas DAY in Chile!! I woke up to a saddening rain but luckily it cleared out for a midday sun as we collected snail shells and sea shells on the beach with a local family. It's not the same without the snow, but a different experience for sure. It was really humbling to see another part of the globe and say a Christmas prayer while hearing the crashing waves and watch the flocks of seagulls circle the bay.

After Christmas in Chile, I went back through Argentina almost all the way to the Atlantic Coast to meet up with old friends in Buenos Aires. In front of the second church built in South America, my dear friend Zulema and I pose for a last pic before heading back on the plane. I also spent the afternoon wih some of the girls from the singles ward...things are basically the same they report, but basically good.

Well, for those of you that haven’t been tracking my blog, you might think that I’ve run off to some tropical jungle and disappeared from Western civilization; for those that have been tracking my blog, you’ll know that isn’t far from the truth. Despite the current difficulties of the official start of Paraguayan summer, the end of the calendar year has always been a natural time of reflection, especially for a hopeless romantic and over-analytical person like myself. Personally, too, the end of the year has always been a time of reflection as it also signals another birthday (the 6^th for those of you who might not remember). So, I thought I’d sum up what I’ve experienced this year and I’m writing you all because, in one way or another, you were each there with me along some part of the path.

Things have really come full circle this year. Though a chronological description would seem most obvious, I find that I can’t start at the beginning of the year without mentioning where I am today. I just got back from a two week jaunt starting in Buenos Aires Argentina (on the Atlantic coast) tracking all the way to Santiago and then Concepcion Chile (on the Pacific coast) and back. Coincidentally, I ended up seeing some of the same wonderful people in Buenos Aires at the end of the year that had been so pivotal in my life when it began. Having met Mimi Guzman through my internship in Buenos Aires, I headed back to Argentina to accompany her and thus swept again down memory lane at the close of another year.

I started out the year in a panic to sell my contract, organize my courses for graduation, and go through training to fly down to Buenos Aires where I completed a 3 month internship with the Church Employment Resource Services. Together with my companion Laura, I had the opportunity to teach and be taught about the value of the individual, the power of self-confidence, and the awe-inspiring influence of our Heavenly Father’s love for His children. I studied Argentine culture, women and the labor markets, and locked myself in our bright pink apartment to study astronomy as the time crunched in on me. I made new friends and lost some old ones, spent a lot of money on empanadas and masas finas, got unlucky in love, cried over the violation of personal space when my backpack was stolen in the busy bus station, and learned that a medium-town girl from suburbia Utah could cut it as a city girl in the sprawling metropolis of Buenos Aires. I spent many hot hours trucking around the subway, the bus system, or walking the long blocks while surrounding by a constant layer of cigarette smoke, pondered my relationship with God and my future as I strolled the long plazas of the Avenida Independencia, and smiled every time a local would comment on how good my Spanish was or assume that my companion was my visitor.

In another whirlwind of paperwork, project planning, and facilitator meetings, I jumped back into American life for a short 4 weeks before leaving on another jet plane…

Extending my graduation and amidst enormous time and social pressures, I headed off to the highlands of Guatemala. Despite a strong Argentine accent when speaking Spanish, I worked on eliminating my American accent in my 3^rd language Maya-K’iche’. I made forever friends with the humble host mother Juliana as she shared her home, her family, her knowledge, her language, and her heart with me. I worked to make things work in a new town with new contacts, organize and put up with a group of very independent BYU students on their first research venture, and polish old research with new leads for publication. I soaked up the sun on the beaches of El Salvador while making new friends with locals along the way. I successfully wore traje tipico (the traditional K’iche’ clothing) for a full month and got a little better at my Guatemalan weaving. Constantly soaked in the summer rains, I spent a lot of time around the wood-burning stove, listening to family news, stories, and even local mythology. I made a promise to return (if not earlier) for the quinceñera (15^th birthday celebration) for little Teresita, the 5-year-old heart-stealer of my host family.

Reluctantly leaving the loving home of Santa Maria Visitacion, I spent 6 weeks back in Bountiful with my parents, taking advantage to visit my sister Jennifer before she put her home up for sale, as well as visiting other family and the wedding of a good friend from high school, Ashley Ammon. Since I’ve spent the last 3 summers in Guatemala, hers was the one of only 2 weddings of high school friends I have been able to attend in person. I worked to overcome my homesickness for the highlands, spent long hours writing papers and doing research, and struggled to face leaving for Paraguay with basically no contacts, little information, and lots of fears.

But, as time waits for no man, my day arrived to head on another long journey to South America where I currently find myself in a small apartment along the busy Ruta 2 in a mid-size town of Itauguá. Shocked by the force of intense Paraguayan heat and lost in the mix of the Guarani language with Spanish, I nonetheless managed to find my own apartment, start Guarani lessons, learn the basics of ñandutí and ao poi, and make new friends in the young single adults group. Romance came and went as the novelty of a beautiful blond American wore off in light of a strong personality and moral dedication to the gospel. Constantly suffering from needle pricks and back pain, I worked alongside various elderly women in their homes and in my apartment master the basic outline and design of the beautiful ñandutí lace. I listened for hours as various new friends sought confidence in me and commented on the pains of machista society, corrupt governments, and changes threatening the humble, country lifestyle of Paraguay.

Preparing for Christmas was an emotional challenge as the traditional Christmas carols, shopping outings, and decoration parties were now tinted with the blazing heat of the Paraguayan lowlands. No snow. No pine trees. No apple cider and sugar cookies. No family. Instead, I got a glimpse into South American Christmas with giant glowing balls made from cut up 2-liter plastic bottles, life-size and miniature manger scenes in every home, along the sidewalk, and in front of the major businesses, and a 5-hour sacrificial walk up the hill surround Lake Ypacarai to celebrate the mythological miracles of the Virgin Mary.

Joining my good friend Mimi, I escaped the rays of the tropics for a while and took in the cultures of Argentina and Chile. In Buenos Aires, I went to my first-ever tango show, enjoyed my first taste of fresh fish from the Rio Parana in Rosario, tasted fresh-squeezed grape juice from the world-famous vineyards of Mendoza, darted through the busy streets of urban Santiago, Chile, dug into the sand of various beaches including Viña del Mar, Valparaíso, Lenga, Laraquete, and Lota, collected a ton of beautifully perfect white seashells from the freezing cold water, and spent Christmas contemplating the vastness of God’s creation while tucked into a secluded alcove along the coast where the Bio Bio River meets the ocean. Then, I had to head all the way back…after long hours of nauseating bus rides and a short stop over in hot springs outside of Mendoza, I got back to Buenos Aires on the 28^th and immediately changed my plans of touring the city to attend the funeral of the wife of my second manager. While briefly, I got to say hello to other managers and friends, while blessed by the help of one of the office’s volunteers who lugged my backpack around so that I could chat. Heading back to the city center, I visited with two of my best friends from the young single adults group in my old ward and got caught up on ward news. I went shopping in the buy-in-bulk section of El Once, Buenos Aires, before heading to spend the night with a dear friend Zulema, the office secretary.

Whew. I’m sorry that I couldn’t put this into some cutesy Christmas card to send to everyone, and to be honest I had planned to do more before Christmas, but as you are all feeling I’m sure, time just flies. There have been a lot of emotional ups and downs, heartaches and euphorias, new cultural lessons, constant linguistic whirlwinds from Spanish to K’iche’ to English to Guarani, and a growing desire to find my place in the world and participate in something a little more permanent than a temporary internship. I am increasingly grateful for the health and physical strength to keep roaming the globe, but moreso for the incredible blessing of the Church network to provide an instant home and instant friends wherever I am. As I am swept into more personal questions and ponderings about the nature of the human experience, I am blessed to be grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ and know that, despite the lack of permanent answers now, someone much more qualified than I will sort things out in due time. I know that God loves His children all around the world and has provided each one with an individual potential regardless of surrounding injustices, suffering, and exploitation. I hope that I can make a dent in helping remove some of those obstacles to facilitate that personal potential and somewhere down the road realize my own. Tentative plans for the coming year? Paraguay until August of 08 and then grad school wherever the Lord sees fit to send me…

Thanks for accompanying me along whatever part of the journey you were part of and I hope to keep your company in this coming year. May God bless each one of you with a successful, happy, and exciting 2008 alongside friends or family, colleagues or strangers and may we all work to take advantage of every renewed day of life that we are given to grow closer to Him. Lots of love,

Kristine

2007-12-18T12:47:00.000-08:00

HEY GANG... I'm going to go a little out of order because, well, the pictures got uploaded weird. I am currently writing you all from a sprawling suburban of Argentina, Rosario. I had been here once before while doing my internship in Buenos Aires but now coming back with Mimi has given me a whole new perspective of the place. I met Mimi because she works with the interns going out to work for teh Employment Resource Centers and, since she is native-born Argentine, my internship in Buenos Aires brought us to get along really well. She's now coming back to visit childhood friends, do some follow-up family history work, and SHOP on her month'long vacation that she planned for more than a year. I was really touched when she invited me to accompany her along part of her trip and so I had planned to come down for a week and then head back to Asuncion for Christmas and New Years. But, after coming to meet her and getting out of the desiccating sun of Paraguay, I was quite easily convinced to accept her invitation to extend my journy and go on with her to Santiago Chile via Mendoza Argentina. I had to spend more than a few dollars and some frustrating phone calls to Buenos Aires and Paraguay to finally get my flight changed, but I'm going to Chile!!

Anyway, I flew into Buenos Aires on the 14th and spent a fabulous afternoon returning to my old apartment building, taking Mimi on her first subway ride in the big city, and then going to a $50 a seat tango show that was worth every penny. Incredibly sensual, quick-stepping, talented dancers and musicians entertained us for a full hour and a half while we sipped coca cola in the candlelit colonial theater. We then went to the bus station Saturday morning and after a crazy wait for a late bus while nervously guarding Mimi's 3 suitcases and numberless bags of goods for her sister and family, we finally made it on a bus to Rosario where we were met by one of the most amazing and hilarious men I've ever met...Mimi's cousin Miguel. With an air of one used to be in charge and with a dry wit and strong Argentine accent, Miguel chaeuffered us around the entire city and wined and dined us while instructing us in the recent history of Rosario and the screwed up culture of his fellow Argentines. He's GREAT! And he makes friends wherever he goes because he is incredibly intelligent but not pretentious, comfortable with himself, and dedicated to making things happen for those around him. I'm going to miss my "taxi driver" always ready to teach me Argentine slang!

Sunday we went to church in Mimi's old ward and met up with her old high school friends. They came back to the hotel with us and we had lunch while they caught up with each others' news. I was feeling really sick with the most unattractive hacking cough I've ever had in my life so I wasn't exactly the most lively or participatory and ended up leaving to take a nap, but it was really fun to see them talk like...well a bunch of older opinionated, uninhibited Argentine women. There are a lot of things that I don't like about Argentine anger and disinterest and corruption, but there are definitely benefits to a society that is capable of making fun of itself and being brutally open about how they feel about each other. In the group of 4 women, 3 were divorced and the 4th a widow, then I was the little guinea pig being told all the confirmed weaknesses of the male species. It was entertaining to say the least.

yesterday I had a WONDERFUL re-encounter with the elder missionary that was in charge of teh office when I first came to Rosario. One of the most kind and thoughtful grandpa types, he told me of his current activities writing an action-adventure novel and the changes in his life since he was released LAST WEEK from his position as manager of the office. I felt bad though because he is currently suffering from dizzy spells and worries that he has a brain tumor though it's more likely that he has an inner ear infection or something of that nature.

I also took advantage of having a nice hotel and urban center to dye my hair and even out the dark dishwater blond growth creeping into my curly locks. So, Merry Christmas to me.

We are now finishing our time in Rosario and will be heading out to Mendoza tomorrow night...a town famous for its wineries where you supposedly get drunk just spending too much time breathin in the wine-tainted air. From there we head on to Santiago Chile to spend Christmas with Mimi's sister. I am committed to seeing some of my friends in Buenos Aires but had to change the dates since I had planned to go directly from here in Rosario but now that I'm going on to Chile I won't see them until the 28th, but I hope to make things work out!

Enjoy the pictures and since I probably won't be back to the internet until after Christmas, I wish you all an incredibly Merry Christmas. I am in another corner of God's creation in a climate that won't come anywhere close to a White Christmas, but I know nonetheless that this is a special time of year to remember the sacred gift of our savior to the world more than 2000 years ago. I am grateful for my knowledge of His birth and more importantly His perfect life and His self-given death and expiatory sacrifice for our sins leading to the miraculous resurrection and eternal continuation of His leadership over His creation. I pray we can all individually come closer to our Redeemer in this special time of remembrance and give economic gifts in memory of His gift and not because of cultural or social pressure. I miss the snowballs and pumpkin pie, but I still have the Spirit of the Season with me. Take care and merry Christmas to all of you!!

ME and Roque, the missionary recently released from the Rosario Employment Resource Services center.

This is me in front of Che Guevara's first home, downtown Rosario.

Getting "turkish empanadas" or pastries fried like an empanada on the roadside in Rosario....

I don't know how this got into the Fine Arts Museum of Rosario, but I snapped a photo before the workers informed me that such behavior is strictly forbidden... Luckily I chose my picture carefully before I had to stop taking them!

The only picture I currently have of cousin Miguel...Mimi has more of us together but I haven't swapped with her yet. One of the most wise yet sharply sarcastic and entertaining people I've ever met!

As we took walking trips around the city, we ran into all SORTS of surprises, including a lively Jack Sparrow imitator, taking 2 pesos for the privilege of a photo....

One of Rosario's historical sites, this is what the mansions of the good old days looked like...one day I would LOVE to have one and fix it up!

This is my old apartment building entrance on French Street in uptown Buenos Aires!! I was so happy to be able to go back and visit even if I didn't have a key to go inside or see my actual apartment.

This is me in the subway at my old subway exit...

Taking a picture outside the tango show joint with a quite eccentric doorman...they got mad at me for trying to take pictures inside the building but I took some clandestine videos that I'll upload one of these days. I am looking a lot more robust these days...blame it on the Argentine pastries and fried Paraguayan everything.

Our first day in Rosario, visiting the world-famous Flag Monument displaying the site where the Argentine flag was conceiveds

another week and lots of blisters!

2007-12-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

I went to a youth activity with the young single adults which included a tour of a wimpy but interesting stuffed animal museum and got a snapshot of Paraguay's world-famous anteaters... I really think they should have a national movement to reintroduce more anteaters...there are miles of open countryside overrun by ginormous anthills and not just any ants but scary fire ants that will devour you alive if you try to disturb their home. These anteaters are their only known predator and yet humans have been treating them like pests for the past few hundred years. Pretty smart huh...

This is me dancing, don't ask what I'm trying to do, but I thought it was a funny picture. I lent my camera to one of the girls in group and rather than go around and take pictures of the animals like she said she would, she decided to stick around and snap pictures of me getting my groove on...

This is me an my new friend...Dora. That's my bike's name. Dora. In honor of Dora the Explorer. We went on a journey all around Itaugua to gather pictures of places that use the word Ñandutí in their business names. One of the businesses is 3 kilometers out of town and so we rode down in 100 degree weather to get the pic and then had ice cream that basically steamed away before getting to our stomachs. Typical Paraguay. This is Alba my cultural guide these days. we met at a ñandutí workshop and she has been a great friend ever since. 15 years old, evangelical Christian and really interested in learning about the world around her and especially taken with the idea of being friends with an American.

This is the road sign introducing you to the urban center of Itauguá where I currently reside. Don't pay too close attention to the sweat ringing my armpits...it's a good thing you can't see my back in this picture!!

Finally we have my group of students from the latest Career Workshop that I taught on the 1st. All of these youth are looking to apply for loans from the Perpetual Education Fund and one of the requirements is attendance at a Career Workshop to help orient them towards careers that they can put into practice in their communities once they finish schooling. It was BY FAR the BEST group I've ever taught and I loved every minute of it. It's interesting to be teaching people your same age but they were the most attentive, kind, and interested group of students I've ever had and we had a great time.

Then we have my journey by foot on the famous Pilgrimage to Caacupe. In Paraguay, they celebrate the Virgin of Caacupe (just like the Virgin of Guadelupe in Mexico) and every year people walk from all corners of the country to visit her and seek a miracle or wish. This little girl was dressed up like the Virgin with her blue cloack and crown and so I had to get a picture. Rather than shying away like I would have expected, her whole family encouraged her to smile for the camera and cooed over the resulting snapshot. I wish I could have given them a copy right there, but I found them in line for the bathroom and we didn't exactly have a chance to exchange information.

This is our group of Pilgrims.
I tried to get a shot of the MASSES of people walking along the side of the road, but there was no way to get a good indication of the journey.

This is me in front of the Basilica after fighting our way through the crowds to get within 300 feet of the stage. They closed the church and moved Mass outside under the canopy...the virgin is on the right on the pedestal. I had envisioned a large life-size statue, but the foot and a half image was the center of all the fuss. That statue is actually a replica that they take out to put nearer to the crowds. On the other side of the stage (that you can't see in the photo) is the real image guarded behind bullet-proof glass.

So, this week was full of crazy days and cultural activities. As you can see from the photos, I made a successful pilgrimage from Itaugua (well we actually took a bus for the first 10 kilometers and then walked the rest of the way from Ypacarai) to Caacupe...walking more than 5 hours starting at 8 at night we finally got into Caacupe at 1:30 in the morning to find hundreds of thousands of people sleeping out, selling all sorts of food and replicas of the virgin of Caacupe and others sleeping out on mats made from sugar cane. It was incredible to walk inside a fluid mass of pilgrims. According to the legend, an indian was being chased by a rival tribe and stopped at the church to pray for protection from the Virgin and she appeared to him and saved his life and ever since people have made the pilgrimage to the site to plead for miracles or to be healed or whatever else. In order to have their wish granted, they have to show sacrifice and so you have to walk from your hometown to Caacupe, some people do it on their knees to show their devotion, others do it backwards or carrying weights or all sorts of variations. The tradition is somewhat more lax these days in that you don't have to start from your hometown but come from the nearest town, Ypacarai in our case which still meant a 25 kilometer walk uphill. 5 hours of walking took its toll on my feet and I was exhausted but it was a great experience. We packed ourselves into a bus for the ride home and I got into my apartment a little before 4:30 in the morning, slept for an hour and then jumped up to go to a Saturday activity with the young adults in the stake. We went to a private zoo/recreation place with a small pool and nature tour. I got burnt across my shoulders but loved getting a dip in the pool. I was frustrated with the leadership though because they had told all the youth that the Church rules state going to the pool means wearing knee-length shorts and a t-shirt. The guys had been told to wear shirts too. So, many of the girls opted not to get into the pool. I had brought my tankini with board shorts and got a lot of dirty looks like I was setting a bad example for the other girls but I told them that it was NOT church doctrine not to own or wear bathing suits!! No, we don't wear bikinis and nasty stuff, but a one-piece or tankini is more than acceptable. I get frustrated with the Church outside of the States sometimes because they take their own interpretations of things and assume that it is doctrine...well I guess that's not just out of the States but it's a lot easier to maintain due to the distance.

In other news, a professor Warner Woodworth from BYU came down to give a fireside for the youth and it was great to see a familiar face and talk about development. He works in the Marriot School and would be involved in my education in the MPA program should I end up going back to BYU for grad school. He was talking to the leaders of the Employment Resource Center to get them to submit proposals for development in Paraguay and he would help get funding. Sinthia got really excited and said that she and I already had our project (I have been talking about the idea of building a cultural center and textile tourist museum here in Itaugua and she wants to combine that with a youth center) and that way I would stay in Paraguay. She is bent on me staying in Paraguay...preferably to marry her wayward brother and put him back on track but as a single gringa even if not with her brother.

Next week I will be Argentina visiting an old friend Mimi who works with the ERS internships and was my main contact and adopted intern "mom" while I was in Argentina. She lives in Salt Lake but was born in Rosario Argentina and is going back to her homeland for the first time in more than 25 years. She invited me to accompany her along the trip and I am taking advantage of the opportunity to get away from the heat for a few days and also review my visa. I'm super excited to get down there and also catch up with some old friends in Buenos Aires.

Christmas decorations are going up all around the country though it's definitely not going to be the same without a good snowpack. I hope all is going well, hope to hear from you all soon, lots of love

2007-12-05T15:53:00.001-08:00

Itaugua's youth dancing to Rock and Roll in the yearly closing ceremonies for their "culture workshops"

This is what brought me my air conditioning....after dying 3 times and repeated adventures having to push the car down some "hills" that were really anything inclined near the road...or the flat road too. The guy that was going to install it for me is a member of the Church and so they recommended him to me to do the work for less but I had no idea that his "transport" would be special. He thought it was hilarious to have a blond push his car, so he wanted to take a picture. I think I taught him good lesson that being a princess doesn't mean I don't know how to work!!

This is me with the Rodriguez bunch at the birthday party of their now 1-year-old neice. I had to get a picture of little Enriquito sucking on his chupa-chup. They liked the idea and took a shot of me! Then, we all decided to make funny face :) They are a really great bunch. Typical Paraguayans though...the men are lazy and absent.

Well, I am going to keep things short and sweet considering the internet place is going to close in 5 minutes! This week has been fun so far. After the trip to Caazapa I went to a birthday for a little one year old girl. They make a HUGE party for the little tikes and give away prizes to every kid in the audience, food to all the adults, and candy by the handful. They rented decorations to make everything princess-themed and there were about 100 people there! It was crazy. I then went to the clausura for the local elementary school kids and it was fun to see the mix of traditional folklore and Paraguayan polka alonside rock and roll and modern jazz dance.

In other news, I hit a real wall when it got so hot that even taking an ice cold shower didn't stop me from sweating and melting away in my house. I sincerely decided that either I had to invest in an air conditioner or I would have to leave this country. Telling the natives that I was starting to hate this place and it's climate didn't exactly go over very well, but hey I'm an honest person. So, on Tuesday after my final Guarani lesson, I went with a "professional" to get an air conditioner. We shopped around and the cheapest new one was over $300. I didn't trust getting anything without a guarantee, so I bought the bullet, and had to pay for the delivery and installation on top...more than $400 thanks to the ever-falling exchange rate that is eating away at my bank account. But, as they keep telling me that it hasn't gotten to the maximum heat level yet, I have to be able to survive and while I don't think I'll adapt well having AC in my room, I just won't be able to survive without it. While the US sources are putting things at 99 and 100 degrees, with the humidity, it definitely feels a lot hotter. Today it rained...HARD...and made me start to calm down and get back into a normal emotional state. But, even with the cloud cover and the rain to cool things off, the humidity in the air kept things feeling very warm. I sincerely don't understand why God would create such a climate. Call it a lack of faith, but I'm starting to wonder if we really should get working on that whole global warning thing because you don't want this to spread!!

I had a huge adventure to get the air conditioner to my apartment. I could have bought one right across the street from my apartment, and there definitely are nicer vehicles that people use to deliver goods, but the contact I was given for a professional in installation and maintenance volunteered his services which happened to include a front-seat ride in his 1980 VW combi. Every time we came to a stop, it stalled out and we had to jump out and PUSH!! Luckily things like that happen even in urban Paraguay and people weren't too angry at us scurrying across the four-lane traffic during rush hour and thousands of cars whirring behind us...comforting I know. But, at last we got it to get going up the main route just as it started to rain. The guys stayed until almost 11 o'clock to get everything installed and working and so I slept icy cold last night and completely CONTENT with my purchase. Despite the investment, the guy promised me he would want to buy it when I leave the country and would give me $250. It's a good bargain I think...hopefully he follows through!

I have been using my kitchen a lot and getting some baked goods out to my friends, as well as getting to finish some of my ao poi and ñanduti projects. My friend Cristina that first got me going is currently in the hospital with her newborn baby...something. I don't know yet what it is, but I am hoping to visit her tomorrow and see how things went.

I am getting ready for my jaunt to Argentina on the 14th and super-excited to get a break from the weather and get to visit some old friends and make some new ones. I hope all is going well in the States. Sincerely, Christmas preparation without final exams and falling snow just isn't the same. I don't know how jolly I'm going to be all by myself on Christmas Day, but the most important thing is to remember the birth of our Savior...probably the most lonely job ever created. BE grateful for the snow and the mountains, not everybody has the luxury! Lots of love to everyone!

Visiting the artists, a cuban sleezeball, all in a day's work in Paraguay

2007-11-30T14:50:00.002-08:00

This is one of the artisan familes working in front of their wood-frame house.

This little treasure was born weighing only 2 lbs and is now 1 year 4months old!! Isn't he precious!!! I loved getting a shot of the little tike holding a cup of terere which instead of drinking he just blew bubbles.

This is the back of the house.

I wanted to take a closer look, and Carol got a snapshot of me tickling little Miguelito so that he would tell me what he had been laughing at. But, as most shy children meeting with a blond foreigner, he never divulged his secrets.

Another fun pic of me with the artists

This is me...sleeping in the back of the pickup truck on a return trip from a birthday party. I

didn't really appreciate them taking pictures of me...but hey sleeping gringa.

This is the group of artists Paraguay Hecho a Mano is working with up in a small community of ceramic artisans. This was the first full meeting of the women working in the program which provides educational resources to all the kids of the wo

men as well as a first aid clinic in the community. Some of the kids have serious health problems and the group is working to get them cheap professional attention in Asuncion for a girl with serious heart problems, a blind girl, and another girl with

nutrition problems. They are a great group. Carol is on the left next to the bearded man Osvaldo--the presidents of Paraguay Hecho a Mano USA and Paraguay respectively.

Welcome to another chapter in the life of a crazy gringa in Latin America. Paraguay continues to become more and more interesting though with the simultaneous rise in heat, my interest in spending time making contacts and going out in the countryside continues to decline. I really physically feel the heat…today

the only official reading I saw was 99 degrees—at 10 in the morning. I’m sure it got over 115 by midday. This weekend it’s supposed to reach 125!!! And, the funny thing is that the natives complain all about the heat too. But, that’s just part of the place I guess.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! I wasn’t expecting to, but it turned out to be fantastic! I went to Asuncion by invitation from Carol to a full-out banquet of American dishes. I was floored by what she had whipped up—from mashed potatoes and home-made gravy to a REAL turkey, STUFFING, cheese cake, and crescent rolls. I made a pumpkin pie from SCRATCH and everyone was thrilled with it. I had to settle for a different kind of pumpkin that they import from Brazil and is smaller and green, but really sweet, which I boiled and mashed up. I couldn’t find ground cloves, but ground my own with a hammer and a plastic bag, no ground ginger but found ginger root which I shredded with a knife, and no evaporated milk which I substituted whipping cream. Oh, and no baking crusts or round cake pans (I could have bought the pan but decided it was too much money) so I made my own crust from scratch and poured everything into a rectangle brownie-pan. It was GREAT!! I felt like a real American for a night as we dined in the backyard of one of Asuncion’s rich families that own a shoe shop in top-end fashion.

I just got back today from a trip with Carol (the president of Paraguay Hecho a Mano) and her step-daughter out to a small town called Caazapa. About 4 hours down a long two-lane highway, which is thankfully paved with asphalt but has only existed thus for the past 6 years, we arrived at the sleepy town deep in central Paraguay. Carol adopted a Paraguayan boy from that town back in 1989 and that was how she got her connection to Paraguay, later started up a support group type organization for Paraguayan adoptees to come back to Paraguay and learn more about their cultural heritage, and now is running the NGO seeking to work with women artisans and preserve the cultural heritage of the artistry. I am helping her with translation and stuff because she doesn’t speak of lot of Spanish, and it has been great learning more about what her organization seeks to do.

We went to the first Communion of the birth family’s grandson…the family tree is really messed up so try to follow this one. The grandmother is Isadora and had 6 children from 6 different fathers. One of her daughters, Nilda, ended up having a baby when she was 17 which she gave up for adoption (now Carol’s son Ryan). Nilda then had 3 other children with 3 other fathers and is now living in another town in Paraguay with some of her brothers and sisters. One of the other daughters, Cristina, had relations with Isadora’s boyfriend-at-the-time (not Cristina’s father but the father of her younger sibling Joel). The result was a boy named Isaias. Cristina has since abandoned Isaias and moved to Buenos Aires where she supposedly has other children with a new mate. Isadora, then, adopted her grandson/stepson and has raised him as her son. He’s now 12 and received his First Communion in the Charismatic Catholic church we went to. In the house now are only Joel, Isaias and Isadora. Joel works at a local bakery making 50,000 Guaranies (equivalent to just under $10) a week and is the only child working to help support his aging mother. Pretty screwed up… But in poor, rural, Paraguayan society this is basically normal. Single mothers, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, abandoned children, and all the other consequences you could attach to the vicious cycle are everywhere. We talked a lot about the “poverty mentality” and the changes in attitude, opinion, and action that are attached to people that don’t ever see a way out of their economic or educational poverty. They just don’t operate under the same moral pressures that upper society would because the women especially feel pressure to attach themselves to any male breadwinner they can find. It’s sad.

I am attaching some pictures of the activities of the return drive—we stopped to meet with one of the coordinators the program works with in a small town called Mbocayaty. Really close to where I went to the ao poi festival, this town isn’t the heart of ao poi, but the women in the surrounding area make it as their primary source of income. Carol, through the local connection with Osvaldo Codas, is trying to take the ecology cotton the women make to the States and develop a market for it through contacts she has in Michigan and Wisconsin. Anyway, we went with the lady Aida to some of the houses of local artisans and watched the families do some ao poi on their dirt patio under an eave of their humble wood house. It was really touching to see the group jump up with their hoops in hand whipping the stitches out in rhythm. They spoke very little Spanish and weren’t as amused as I had hoped with the few Guaraní words that I could squeak out. Osvaldo had sent an order to Aida and the family was working on it—Aida charges 7500 Gs (about $1.50) per finished row of pattern which takes about 1 ½ days they say to finish…meaning that the workers themselves get something less… no comment right now on that exploitation.

I finally got to the Cuban doctor who subsequently tried to hit on me when he gave me a diagnosis of a clean bill of health. I went to the office to meet with him and while he wrote out a prescription for an antiparasitic, he started talking about how Paraguayans are really close-minded because they don’t know how to talk about circumcision and none of the boys are circumcised and I was sure to note the difference with my local boyfriends… Kinda random topic of conversation for your patient don’t you think? I came back the next day to get my blood drawn, which ended up getting botched by a nurse that stabbed me 3 times and couldn’t get a vein and ended up asking her colleague to do it—from my hand. I went back in the afternoon to get the results of the blood work and as soon as I went into the doctor’s office, he gave me the customary double-cheek kiss but then left his hand on my shoulder and asked for a “peck.” I said NO and he double-checked… “No pico?” NO!. I shoved him away to have him sit down and realized that I couldn’t storm out until I had him interpret the results from the bloodwork! He told me I didn’t have any infection, there was no alarming levels of anything, and whatever I had was either transitory or microbial and the other prescription he gave me would take of that. I said thanks and started to try and leave and he asked when I was going to visit his house to meet his wife and kids. Sleezeball. With the office door shut, I didn’t want to tell him off and risk making him aggressive, so I faked innocent and said I was really busy, no I didn’t have a cell phone number because it wasn’t working right now, and I would be in touch when I had more time. If my stomach pain isn’t the result of some random food that struck me wrong, it may very well be ulcers as a result of the incompetence and immorality of the men in my surroundings!!!

Otherwise, I am going strong with my ñandutí, ao poi, and Guaraní lessons. I met another woman that has huge 3 meter wooden frames and is one of the principal informants for the only known book ever published on ñandutí (in Spanish of course.) She is a widow and loves to tell me about how her husband had lots of lovers that would come by the house and she would let them in and treat them well because even though her husband had women, he never beat her and always brought home enough money to pay the bills. She likes when I come over because otherwise she is all by herself and gets really lonely and waits until her two kids come home in the evening to keep her company. My ao poi workshop ended this week and will be having a closing expo in the middle of December. The teacher came up from a nearby town Capiata and would bring her newborn 3-month-old boy (that does not and will not have a father). It was always interesting to watch the other women in the classroom take over watching the little one and cooing at him in Guaraní and telling him what a beautiful little boy he was. I asked the teacher if she was married and she said no and when I started to ask about being with someone she cut me off with an adamant no and talked about how men in Paraguay are good for nothing, irresponsible lazy machistas that don’t belong in her life anyway. The story is repeated all around me… I am going to finish my Guaraní lessons soon too and want to transition my project into more interviews, more action, and hopefully some rough drafts for publication within the next couple months. I am realizing that I am not going to be able to learn the Guaraní that I had planned to just because I don’t have the time or the energy to concentrate all my time on the language. I love doing the handicrafts and nobody expects me or really needs me to speak Guaraní here. If I planned to live in Paraguay, I’m sure that would change things, but as it is, having enough to pronounce things well and write them down makes my life easy enough.

Sorry so random, but I’m in a rush and will be teaching another workshop tomorrow strictly for students applying for the Perpetual Education Fund. So, I better get back to getting that together. Enjoy the pics, talk soon!!