Thursday, September 17, 2009

What I was meant to do!

I must say I am really lucky, I really have found what I am meant to do! I LOVE ANTHROPOLOGY! I am in my last year of classes and I love every single one! I get really excited about all of my reading and homework. This is why I have spent my whole life in school, so that I could get to this point and study what I am passionate about.
I really think this all started when we moved to Guatemala when I was 14. I had grown up in white and conservative suburbia and then I was thrown into the third world. I will always lay claim that that experience as the one that has molded me to become who I am today.
Every since my time in Guatemala, I have become fascinated by travel and throwing myself into other cultures. I love to observe and just enjoy how other cultures view the world. They often have insights to the beauty that life here on this planet has to offer. Not that any of you care, but I just want to share some of my favorite anthropology moments. If you don't care, I understand and you have my full support in just looking at my pictures.
I think that by far, my favorite moment was when I was 17. It was my last April in Guatemala. At the time I was dating Jonny. He was half Guatemalan and half American. In Guatemala there is an extremely dominant presence of the catholic church, therefore Easter is a very important holiday. In fact they make a whole week of it. They call it 'semana santa' -holy week. Guatemala is known for the amazing processions and reenactments of the last week of Jesus Christs' life. Antigua Guatemala is especially well known for its alfombras that are made of saw dust.
For this last semana santa in Guatemala, Jonny and his mother took me to a small Guatemalan town named San Critobal for a few days. This is where Jonny's mother had grown up. Her sisters and cousins all lived there. San Cristobal was situated in the middle of the Guatemalan jungle. They had even had reports of jaguars killing off some of the livestock in the area. It really was a charming little town. The streets were all made of cobble stones. I remember walking around with Jonny the night before the processions. Everyone was preparing their own alfombra and the streets were lit by candles. We were pretty far removed from any large city, and so the stars and moon were clear that night. The air was calm and warm. The only word that I can think of that captures the atmosphere of that night was - charming. I would actually say the same of the whole weekend. I spent the week cooking, dancing and participating in their 'semana santa' traditions. It was something that I will never forget. Experiences like those, fueled my addiction and now I am trying to turn it into my career. This really is what I was meant to do!