Travel

Well I'm at the salt lake airport (finally). Yesterday was slightly stressful--I ended up missing my flight, which meant I also missed my other flight and...my other flight. I was supposed to be getting to Guernsey today. But there were a couple really bad accidents on I-15, so after 2 hours of going 20 mi, I gave up and went home cause it was too late anyways. Then I had to call and get all my flights changed, thank goodness for BYU travel, they took care of all of it for me, which was so so so nice. She even got up at 1 am to call the Guernsey airline when they opened and fix that flight. I'm definitely getting her a thank-you something when I get back. After all that, I had to figure out out to call the U.K. to let my professor know that I'd be a day late.

It was pretty weird being home for an extra day. My apartment was all packed up and everything, cause I (obviously) thought I wouldn't be back for 2 months. Needless to say it was a looong day, I was so bored haha. Luckily I still had some food cause Annica hadn't picked it up yet, and a book I was going to read on the plane. I went and got lunch with Anna and played volleyball with some people in my ward, so that was nice. But it all worked out eventually, and at least I made it to the airport today! Let the adventure begin.

Life

This last week has been so crazy. I've been running all sorts of errands to get ready to leave, getting wedding and birthday presents, going to weddings and receptions, enjoying the beautiful weather, and saying too many goodbyes--it's been kind of chaotic.

This weekend especially was really busy. Friday I went to Caleb's reception with my other friends from Study Abroad. It was really fun, I'm so happy for them. (And it was fun to get all dressed up haha. Annica curled my hair and I was so happy with it). It's super crazy that he's married--you know you're getting old when all your friends start getting married. Plus on study abroad he was all sad cause she left him to go on a mission. haha. And almost a year to the day our study abroad started, he married her. Adorable. It was so fun to see everybody but bittersweet at the same time--it's probably the last time we will all be together. Caloux (Caleb) is married, Erin and Sarah are leaving on their missions this summer, and life goes on. Here are a couple pictures from it.

The whole gang! (+ Courtney) I love these guys

haha they took pictures with her tag cause she came home for him :)

so cute

After we got back from the reception Erin spent the night at my place cause I was taking her to the airport early the next morning. It was so good to just talk--I probably won't see her for a while, since I'll probably be graduated by the time she gets back, and who knows where I'll be then. So it was really fun, but sad at the same time. (Plus we didn't get much sleep...haha. About 4 hours I think).

Saturday morning I went to the temple with Catherine to wait for Miriam (my roommate) and Brandon to come out of their wedding. That was fun to see them so happy. Then we went to their luncheon later that day and took pictures and everything. I can't believe it finally happened. It didn't really sink in until I came home that night. I kept expecting her to come home like normal, but of course she didn't. It's weird living practically alone, good thing I'm only here until Thursday.

Their first dance-love her face here. 

(former) roommates!

A year ago today I arrived in France for study abroad. I cannot believe it's been that long!! So crazy. I still miss it. So much has happened in a year, but at the same time it feels like it was yesterday. I can't believe it. And now I'm off on Thursday for another adventure....gah. I'm really trying quite hard to be excited and not nervous/worried. For the most part I've been successful, but I'm getting nervous again since I only have a couple days left. It's mostly just the research that is making me nervous. Living in another country with a host family I've done before (exactly a year ago!) and that was awesome. So I'm not at all worried about that. It's just doing anthro research, for real this time. And gathering enough data to write a thesis!! and talking to strangers about their lives...aaaah. It's crazy. I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of writing on here, to document it/vent/keep everybody updated.

Oh I got some study abroad pictures from Caleb that I'd never seen. Ah memories. Good times.

At BHV-the crazy expensive department store

hahaha I love this one

The failed sunrise-watching day

At the train station in Lyon

Life is funny sometimes. A year ago I couldn't have imagined myself doing a field study, and yet, here I am! And right now I can't even imagine what I'll be doing next summer--internship? graduating? mission? working? in school? Who knows. Luckily things always work out. That's the hard part, just having the faith that there is a plan, and that things are always better then you think they will be. I'm so glad I don't have to go through life alone, God is always there to help every step of the way! 

Summah

It's officially summer and I am loving it. It was was 85 today...so hot. It's still April, Utah!! It felt like August. But I'm super excited to have time to do fun things. My ward has a ton of activities in the summer so I'm a little sad to be leaving a week from Thursday. There are a bunch of awesome people doing super fun stuff. Oh well I'll be back in July!! That's going to be sooo fun. We had ward fhe tonight out in Lehi and then had a dance class--super fun. I forgot how much I miss dancing. I really hope I get into 380 for the fall, I'm currently waitlisted, #7.

BUT I also leave for Guernsey a week from Thursday...so I can't complain haha. There's so much to do before I leave. I have grading and errands and weddings and all sorts of things. Caleb's (from study abroad) wedding is Friday and Miriam's (my roommate) is Saturday so it's wedding weekend for me haha. It'll be fun though. I've also had time to read books for fun, which I have definitely missed.

I'm getting more excited about Guernsey--a couple weeks ago I was just stressing out about it. But then I realized that all anthropology is, really, is talking to people. And I thought, oh, I can do that! Plus I'm sure it'll be super interesting to hear their perspective about their culture so I think I'll be too interested in what they have to say to be shy. At least that's what I'm banking on haha. I really am kind of a shy person, it always surprises me when people think I'm outgoing. I guess that's good though, that means I get out of my comfort zone a fair amount, and that's definitely healthy.

I do wish I had gotten to go home before I left. But at the same time it's been really interesting being here after most people leave. I've never stayed through graduation weekend before (next year that'll be me!! aaah). And it's been weird to see people move out and not be one of them, I'm never stayed in one complex more than a year before. It's kind of nice though, not having to move out. And hopefully I'll go  home for a bit in July, that's the plan anyways.

It's also nice to have time to do fun things and not feel bad about not doing homework. It's still a little surreal. I know it happens every year, but for some reason it seems new every time.

In other news....I survived finals. Even got the high score on my film one!! I was not expecting that. I also got to go to the Ingrid Michaelson concert on Thursday--she's amazing live. So that was pretty fun. Also Erin and Sarah (also from study abroad) got their mission calls! Erin's going to Temple Square and Sarah's going to Russia. I'm so excited for them, but a little sad, since they won't be here next year. So we had our last crepe night--it was bittersweet.

Last crepe night! I love these guys.  

Erin opening her call!

Ingrid!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

I sometimes wish that Easter was a bigger deal. Along with Christmas it is one of the most significant days in the entire year, but often it passes with extra candy and the easter bunny. I think it is really sad that the meaning of the holiday is often overlooked. Easter is a time of celebrating the Resurrection, an event that gives us the chance to live again, that gives us hope of a better world.

I was watching the new mormon message on Easter (you can watch it here) and Elder Wirthlin's talk "Sunday Will Come" kept coming into my mind. He puts the hope of Easter into words much better than I can:

"Each of us will have our own Fridays--those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death--Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come." (you can read the whole talk here.)

That quote...I'm not sure why it is so powerful to me. But it truly embodies the hope of Easter. No matter what happens in life, how lonely we feel, there is one who has gone below it all. Christ understands me more than I can even comprehend, and we are never truly alone. He will always be there to catch us when we fall.

And that hope..isn't that what we are all searching for? The hope of being happy. Those "Fridays" when I feel like I have no idea how the future is going to work out, when life just seems overwhelming--it is hope, and faith, that keeps me going. I have my Plans A-D yes, but the faith that it will all work out somehow, is what gives me hope.

I recently heard a friend talking about "existential depression", or the feeling of wondering what the purpose of life is (a true existentialist would argue that there is no point, of course). It made me really sad to realize that people deal with it, because I don't have to wonder about that. The questions: "where do I come from?" "why am I here?" and "what happens after this?" I know the answers. And that faith and assurance, or as Paul would put it: a "hope for a better world," is what keeps me going. The answer to Job's question: "If a man die, shall he live again?" is yes. We will all live again, because of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, because of Easter.

HELPS

The view from the hospital in Tejutla-we were on a mountain

Guatemala was amazing. I'm so glad I went. Even though I don't speak very much Spanish I still met some incredible people in Tejutla. It was really eye-opening to see how the people in the mountainous villages live. They are so incredibly impoverished but so much happier than most people I know. They were so grateful for the medical care they received and so devoted to their families. Especially the husbands, it was really neat to see how patient and devoted they were--they just stayed by the bedside of their wives or children the whole time they were there, making sure they had everything they needed. I got to learn how to take vitals and helped out the nurses for a couple days. And I got to watch a couple surgeries too, which was fascinating (after I got over the initial queasiness haha).

The little boy Carlos was so cute, plastics operated on his hand

These two are sisters

The little kids were so adorable as well. A couple of girls we were playing with one afternoon asked us what it was like to ride in an airplane, and Sophia was trying to describe it to them. We played games with them for an hour or so one afternoon and they were trying to teach me the Spanish alphabet haha. And laughing at my prononciation. We taught them a couple English phrases too, it was so cute. Their favorite was "thank you veeery much."







A day or two later they were peeking under the crack under our door one day and recognized Sophia (they called her Sophie). But they couldn't remember how to say my whole name, so they were asking her: "Donde esta Kenni??" haha it was so cute.







We had a military escort the whole time in Tejutla, so there were always soldiers around. Haha they totally took this picture seriously and posed with their guns. I think they were trying to look menacing haha.

One of the last days we got to go on a hike down the mountain and up the next to this really colorful cemetery. The view was absolutely amazing. We also got to look at a real flour mill powered by a waterwheel--they diverted the river and everything. So cool.

This boy was wearing a BYU shirt and didn't even know what it was

Grinding flour

The mill

One of the farms

The cemetery

The view

Most of the nights we were just too tired at 8 or 9, so we just went to bed early. The roosters started around 4 am, though so the last two hours of sleep were usually interrupted by them or the dogs, or firecrackers haha. One of the nights I went and played cards though, which was really fun. I had never heard of the game 500 before, but it's basically a more complicated version of hearts.

I already posted about Tikal, which I got to go to on Monday, but after the week in Tejutla we went to Antigua for a couple days to do touristy stuff. Tuesday we just laid by the pool and had a banquet that night, where everybody got dressed up. It was fun to see everyone again but sad having to say goodbye.

Love them

Guatemala was amazing. I definitely want to go again, but next time I want to go on the stove team, cause there were too many helpers this trip. It was definitely still a great experience though. I loved it.

Tikal

Tikal was sooo amazing. I had never realized how monumental it is. You really have to be there to understand the scale. So cool.

Temple 1

After leaving at 4 am, a shuttle, a plane, and a bus, we arrived in the Tikal national park. Our tour guide was studying archaeology but he wants tone an ethnobotanist, so he pointed out different medicinal plants in the jungle. He grew up in Guatemala but his family is from Honduras so he was going to go back and learn the indigenous language of his ancestors. That was really cool because, since he's Mayan he was really invested in the history of Tikal. (the real pronunciation is Tik'al, with a click in the middle).

Allspice tree

One of the plants he showed us was the allspice tree. The leaves totally smell like the spice, usually they get it from the dried berries but sometimes the leaves too. What's crazy is that when you chew the leaves it produces an anesthetic, my tongue went numb!

The other one was the ficus ficus parasite vine. I remembered it from Costa Rica, it takes over other trees until it looks like a tree itself. But I didn't know that the sap is an antiseptic, they put it on wounds and it stops the bleeding. It's amazing how much knowledge ancient people had, and so sad that so much is being lost.

Anyways, that all happened in between the amazing ruins. And I thought the first one we saw was big! They left half of it covered to preserve it but also to show how quickly the jungle can take over. We passed a bunch of them that have some pretty good sized trees on them already, and that was after being excavated partway.

Climbing Temple 2 was super scary, the "stairs" were more like a ladder with huge gaps in it. But the view of Temple 1 was amazing.

The grand plaza also had dormitories for the out-of-town people to stay in, we got to walk through those, and the original wood in the ceiling is still there. So cool.

Ladder up Temple 2

The "hotel"

The collapsed burial temple in the grand plaza had some incredibly preserved masks, also huge.

wooden beams

One of the masks

The astronomical building is part of the Lost World complex, and they have found previous structures dating to 800 BC underneath it! I was trying to wrap my brain around it, and I couldn't. That is so old.

Temple 4 is the largest and from it you can see all of the other temples poking through the treetops. (if you've seen Star Wars IV, they filmed from above when they show Alderan).

Top of Temple 4

View from Temple 4

Another one of my favorite things was the acoustics. The way the plazas are designed, at a certain spot in the middle you can hear them amplified, as the sound bounces off the temples.I don't know that much about engineering, but I know that is pretty remarkable, especially for their time period.

Oh and this tree is really cool, it's called a Ceiba tree, they are really tall, but Temple 4 is even bigger.

Aah basically the whole day was awesome, and so worth the hours of traveling. I love ancient things and always have. I have a distinct memory of checking out books on the Aztecs and the Maya at the Chapel Hill library, so I must have been 7 or 8. Different cultures have aways fascinated me. Good thing I'm an anthropologist!

3 day weekends and other fun things

Last weekend was basically the closest thing BYU has to a spring break. It's the last break until April...usually. Good thing I'm making my own spring break to go to Guatemala! Only 4 weeks, I can't wait. For some reason winter semester in Provo is just hard. It's cold and long and...winter.

Anyways, my mom came down to visit for 4 days, and it was awesome. Since I don't have any class on Fridays, just work, she got to come to the class I teach and hang out. We went out to eat, loaded up on food at Costco, went to Ikea, and hung out at Annica's dorm. Super fun.

In other news it's been really sunny lately and I am so ready for spring. I can't wait until summer on Guernsey! It's going to be awesome. I got a letter from the IRB approving my research so I can officially go. That's a relief, I thought I was going to have to wait a month or two to hear back, and that proposal was a beast to fill out. But it's done!! I have my plane ticket even. It's official.

Also I've had 3 crepe parties in the last two weeks. That is the life!

My new goal for the semester is to be more social. I've been a total homebody lately, but I want to start going to more stuff and enjoy the rest of the semester, not just wait it out until May. So we'll see how that goes.

Happy Sunday!