Clinton Lake September 2010

 

Before it turned cold, Brian and I took advantage of the warm, sunny weather to go hiking near Clinton Lake.

Back to the U.S.

On August 2nd I flew back to the States from Guatemala, and I got to come home to our new house. As you can tell, the cats adjusted marvelously!

Jun Key (A Horse) ....

One of my favorite things about the rural areas of Guatemala is the horses that are randomly standing on the sides of the roads. In many places, people use horses as their primary mode of transportation, aside from walking. This was a horse that we stumbled upon as we were walking to Wicha's house to have lunch....

Museo Santiago

At the Museo Santiago, there is a lot of information on the barrilete (kite-making) tradition there. Every year for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), there is a huge festival in Santiago in which hundreds of kites are released to take their first flight. Because they are so huge (often several meters in diameter), they take months to prepare. Even though we aren't going to be able to witness this spectacle, it was really interesting to tour the museum.

On another note, since we are a Kaqchikel class, we asked the museum director to give us the tour in Kaqchikel. However, because Spanish is more predominant than Kaqchikel, the poor woman had extreme difficulties in expressing herself in the indigenous language. That just goes to show that just because someone wears traje (traditional Mayan clothing), it does not necessarily mean that s/he speaks a Mayan language.

Wuqu' Kawoq House

These are the steps up to the house from the front door.

This is where we wash the dishes. In the basin to the far left, you wash the dirty dishes and rinse them with the "clean" water in the middle, which we call the pila. To the far right is where you leave them to dry.

This means "bathroom" in Kaqchikel. It technically means the ear of the house because all of the parts of the house are related to the parts of the body.

This is the view from our house out over the mountains. Although you can't see it very well from this picture, there is a volcano just out across the horizon that is absolutely beautiful.

For my first two weeks in Guatemala, I will be staying in the Wuqu' Kawoq house here in Santiago Sacatepéquez. Wuqu' Kawoq is an organization that promotes ethnolinguistics and ethnomedicine in the Highlands of Guatemala, providing medical care for the Kaqchikel Mayan communities in the area.

Here are some pictures of the house that I am living in along with the other students in the course. All in all, there are 11 people here, so it has been a lot of fun getting to know everyone.

Arriving to Santiago Sacatepéquez

For two months this summer (until August 2nd), I will be in Guatemala taking part in two Kaqchikel language schools and doing some field work for my dissertation. I arrived to Santiago Sacatepéquez on June 5th, and so far things are going well. Once I got here, I went with some of the other people in the first field school (Kab'lajuj Ey) to explore the town and get some lunch at Wicha's house. Here is a picture of us strolling around the town!

Ad Astra Archestra - Unionfest 2009

For this year's Unionfest: Seasons of a Jawhawk, i.e. the freshman orientation called Hawk Week, Ad Astra Archestra played in front of the Union at KU. I have to say that my favorite part of the evening was when the Baby Jay came and stole the tambourine....

Kansas Storm

Sunday night as we were driving back from St. Louis, we got caught in a terrible storm just as we crossed the Kansas-Missouri border. Even after we got back to Lawrence, the thunder and lightning was relentless.

To be quite honest, I was freaked out by the storm and couldn't sleep, so I decided to take advantage of my insomnia and take pictures of the lightning. I never said I was the brightest apple in the bunch....

Road Trip Back to Kansas

After we left the St. Louis Art Museum, we hit the highway back to Kansas. The only problem was that 30 miles outside of St. Louis we realized that we were slowly losing pieces of our front left tire!

When we stopped, there was a six-inch strip of rubber missing with the wiring of the tire visible. By the time we got home, however, there was a good 12 inches missing.

A bit of a stressful ride back, but we have the higher powers that be to thank for making it home safely.

St. Louis Art Museum

Mayan Column with Hieroglyphs, Late Classic Period 600-909

Mural Fragment from Teotihuacan, Early Classic Period 250-600

Part of the doors from the Convent of St. Isabel in Spain, 16th-17th century

16th century Turkish wall fabric

Medieval Spanish Christ Statue, 13th-14th century

El Greco

Titian

Rembrandt van Rijn

Claude Monet

Vincent van Gogh

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Paul Gauguin

Juan Gris

Pablo Picasso

Henri Matisse

Andy Warhol

Brian and I both really enjoy visiting art museums, so we try to make it a priority whenever we travel. And, St. Louis was certainly no exception....

Located in the ground of Forest Park in St. Louis is the impressive St. Louis Art Museum. When we were reading about the collection in our guidebook, it described the museum as "holding works from just about all nations and historical eras." At first thought, I was skeptical, but now, after having spent the day there, I would wholeheartedly agree!

If you would like to learn more about the St. Louis Art Museum, feel free to visit their official website.