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!

Lawrence May 2010

Before leaving for Guatemala, I made sure to get some good quality time with my amor. One of the things that we love doing together is taking walks, so we took advantage of a beautiful spring day to take our stroll. And, yes, we did stop to smell the flowers.....

Early American Borderlands Conference

Dolphins!

On May 12-15, the Early Americanists Society hosted their annual meeting in St. Augustine, FL. At the conference, apart from giving a paper, I also served as Professor Arias's Graduate Assistant. It was my first time helping organize a conference, so it was a really good experience in terms of professional development.

The conference was a very intellectually stimulating environment. The panel presentations addressed a wide variety of topics, and the keynote speakers were amazing (José Rabasa in the line-up). The conference participants were very well known scholars in the study of Ibero - Anglo Early America, who were very collaborative in spirit. I ended up with a sheet of paper full of contact information, bibliographical references, academic organizations, etc. that were recommended to me over the span of four days that I was there.

Plus, after it was all said and done, there was even time to hit the beach on Saturday afternoon before the historical cruise of the St. Augustine bay that the conference organized to conclude the summit. Watching the sunset over the water was a spectacular reward for a successful conference!

KU2Bros - Bossa Nova Nite

On April 30th, 2010, KU2Bros held their semi-annual fundraising event to raise money for Instituto Dois Irmãos (Two Brother Foundation), an NGO that provides educational opportunities to the children of Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This semester, the theme of the party was Bossa Nova, and musicians Ricardo Vogt and Leala Cyr performed at Cielito Lindo in downtown Lawrence.

Heather and Adam's Wedding

April 10, 2010 was Heather and Adam's wedding day. Brian and I flew back to Asheville, NC for the weekend to take part in the festivities. As with any wedding, it would be impossible to do a recap of all of the pictures on a blog post. There are lots more pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Heather and Adam's Wedding Pictures