Field Trip

Today we went on a field trip for my class. It was an adventure by nature, if nothing else because we took chicken buses to get there (the public transportation), which was a little crazy but fun nevertheless. On our way out of the school, my instructor told me that four of his friends would be joining us - two girls and two boys, and that the girls only spoke English but the guys spoke Kaqchikel. So we went to their hotel, and they were four Americans. The guys were both fluent in Kaqchikel and had studied with the Tulane program (the girls were their girlfriend/wife). It was actually cool for me to meet them, because I've never actually met an American who knew the language fluently. So it makes it seem a little more possible for me.

So after our chicken bus adventure part 1, we got to a house in Santo Domingo Xenacoj (for those of you who may not be able to read that, the town is 45 km from the capital and at the 2002 census had a population of 7,940 of which 97% is indigenous), and there were a couple of women there weaving. All the people were talking and I was pretty much just trying to follow along. Then (seemingly out of nowhere) the other people I came with got out video equipment, and one of the other girls whipped out watercolor stuff from her smallish purse and started to paint. I was a little confused as to what was happening, given that I had no context for why they were filming. So I asked them what the deal was, and it turns out they wanted to record the women in the house weaving for an exhibit they're doing in Indianapolis in the spring on Mayan weaving. Once I figured it out, it made perfect sense... but before that I was a little surprised because I wasn't expecting them to pull camera equipment out of their bags. I think we basically went to this town so that they could film these women, and it was just kind of a good cultural experience for me.

So all in all, it was an amazing thing to see (because the weaving is so impressive), and I did get to practice listening and a little speaking, and I liked seeing the town. I was definitely happy with the amount of the language I was able to understand, too (more than I thought I would).

And our chicken bus adventure part 2 back to Antigua also went smoothly.

Oh, and Terry did end up switching schools. He found another one that was cheaper, and he likes his teacher a lot better. So that was a good move. I need a new instructor for next week since mine is teaching the Tulane course, so I'll be anxious to see who it is.