One More Year

2008-11-13T10:30:00.000-06:00

There has been plenty of political buzz recently and I can't help but to be following it like it's my job. I've always had an unhealthy interest in the game of American politics and that doesn't end just because the election has...after all in about a year I will in fact be a "degreed" political scientist, for whatever that is worth. But on to the purpose of my ramblings. Regardless of whose box you may have bubbled in on Nov 4th, there is no denying that President-elect Obama is doing things right so far. Just check out this article from MSNBC to see for yourself.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27690267/

Still alive...which means I'm still dying

2008-09-02T11:47:00.000-05:00

With complete foreknowledge that no one checks this blog anymore I am posting anyways. But what could be better than not disappointing readers with high expectations, than not disappointing any readers at all? Deep, I know. Try and piece that one together. But blogging is somewhat therapeutic and even after these first few sentences I can feel the effects of putting down thoughts on a template other than my personal journal, which can sometimes be so personal that I often omit topics seemingly less, for lack of a better term, "personal". I say "first few sentences" loosely as I have written and deleted numerous paragraphs about everything from what God is teaching me to lifelong frustrations to my disdain of ignorance among a supposedly education society to why in the world so many people like Coldplay.
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And once again I just deleted two full paragraphs about something God is teaching me and I don't know why I can't just leave it on the page. Maybe I will be able to share it soon. This past year has been one of great hurt, great growth, and great joy. All of which are necessary in the sanctification process. And maybe the reason I can't leave more details on the page is because people don't like the reality that God prunes us so that we "might bear MORE fruit". My prayer is that of Paul in Philippians 3:10. May I share in that fellowship that Paul talks about in that verse.

2008-02-12T11:07:00.000-06:00

Before:

After:

That transition happened much too quickly...

2007-12-19T11:06:00.000-06:00

My time in Mexico has officially drawn to a close. Tomorrow morning I am waking up at 4 o'clock to get to the airport for my day full of seemingly endless flights and layovers. I leave out of Merida at 650, get to Mexico City at 830 and have a 5 hour layover there. I then arrive in Atlanta after a 5 hour flight and have a 3 hour layover there before finally getting to Dallas at 11 tomorrow night. But that isn't the hardest reality that I am going to have to face in the next 24 hours. I already said goodbye to most of my Mexican friends last night, but the family that I have been a member of is having their Posada celebration today, where they will dress up and act out the part of the Christmas story where Joseph and Mary are searching for a room in an inn. I have been asked to play the role of Joseph so that, and I translate and quote, "the pictures come out very handsome." This will be fun but the goodbye process will be brutal. The 20 family members that have taken care of me and literally been my family for four months will all be there with gifts and cards to give to me hugs and send me off. Family is a huge huge deal in this culture so we had family gatherings quite often and this last one will be very tiring emotionally knowing that I will probably never see most of them again. Granted, I get to see my family and girlfriend tomorrow night in the states which obviously makes this whole situation much easier on me. But I will have so many restless hours of sitting in airports tomorrow to think about what I am leaving behind.

I remember before I came abroad and people would ask me why in the world I wanted to study abroad in Mexico. I have come to the conclusion that if you want to study Spanish abroad, you really should not go anywhere else. First of all, name 5 cultural elements from any other Latin American country than Mexico. Can't do it easily can you? But let's brain storm here...sombreros, tacos, Pancho Villa, piñatas, tamales, hammocks. Mexico easily has the richest culture in Latin America (bold and slightly biased statement, I know). As far as Spain goes, great place, but living in Texas with a degree in Spanish I really need the vernacular and accent of a Latin American. Seriously, have you ever heard a Spanish speaker in Texas using the lisp they use in Spain? And specifically this part of Mexico...the culture here in Yucatan is even more rich than the rest of the country. I live within 3 hours of 500 Mayan ruin sites and within 8 hours of over 1400. I live less than a 30 minute drive to the nearest beach. A 15 minute bus ride to the oldest Cathedral on the Continent. I can walk to the nearest Cantina. And I haven't been cold since getting here. Not to mention Merida being one of the safest cities in the world and Yucatecans being as hospitable and helpful as your average small town Texan.

I guess I just say all that because this has been a really good semester full of tons of memories. But to be honest, my time has come to an end here and it is time to go home. I can't wait to be close to my friends, family and Ashley. I can't wait to go to Crossroads on Sunday. I can't wait to eat Tex-Mex, i really miss it. And I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. So until we meet on the other side of the border...

Hasta luego México. Te he disfrutado más que podrías creer.

2007-12-16T09:37:00.000-06:00

Today my beautiful little sister, who is on her way to becoming a beautiful young woman, turns 11. I hope that your day is amazing, Dana. You are a giant blessing to me and I look forward to being able to see you grow in who you are as a person, but most importantly in who you are as a follower of Christ. I love you sis!

So here was the problem. 3 days in the 2nd largest city in the world really doesn't give you enough time to do much of anything. But, with the help of an eight hour tour bus ride I got to see a good portion of the center and south of the city. I would say that everyone needs to see the Center of the town where the Cathedral is located at least once in their life. It is built on top of the Aztec city of Technochtitlan and the ruins are visible in the square AND all of the building from the 1500s onward that were built by the Spaniards are sinking because they were constructed on top of old Aztec pyramids. It's way cool.
I also got to celebrate the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the home of a Chilango family. Chilango is a word people in Mexico use to describe those from Mexico City. It was really neat, mainly because they gave me enchiladas verdes. Side note, in Mexico City all types of non carbonated beverages are called "agua". So with my enchiladas I had agua de manzana which was more or less homemade apple juice. The tour bus took us by some really cool places, most notably the house of Frida Kahlo, the infamous artista. The following day I went to the ruins at Tlateloco and the 3 cultures plaza where the Mexican government opened fire on 14000 students during a protest in 1968 and killed about 2000. After that venture we went to the Basilica where 8 million people had been the day before and saw the original cloak with the Virgin's imprint. Then we trekked it out to Teotihuacan to see the ancient city there and saw the 3rd most massive pyramid in the world. That was a very quick overview, but here are some pictures to help fill in the gaps. I'll be home in 5 days so I can show you all of my pictures then.

Cathedral in the center square

One of Diego Rivera's paintings criticizing the Spanish rule

The Old Basilica

Teotihuacan

More Teotihuacan

2007-12-10T10:25:00.000-06:00

Alright, I have no more options. Today I have GOT to finish my papers. I have been procrastinating enough with things like checking my Facebook profile 2954 times a day and trying to find the Mayweather-Hatton boxing match from Saturday online somewhere. But seeing as both of my two remaining papers have to be turned in tomorrow before I hop my flight to spend a few days in Mexico City, I really have no more time. But for one last activity of procrastination I decided to blog today...

Tomorrow I'll be going to Mexico D.F. (That's the real name for Mexico City folks) to witness one of the biggest celebrations in Mexico. The celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe. We have all heard the story in elementary school about the Mexican Catholics belief of the virgin Mary appearing in Mexico. The story goes as follows, Copied from Wikipedia:
According to Catholic accounts of the Guadalupan apparition, during a walk from his village to the city on December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a Virgin at the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in Nahuatl, Our Lady of Guadalupe said to build an abbey on the site, but when Juan Diego spoke to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the prelate asked for a miraculous sign. So the Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the hill, even though it was winter, when normally nothing bloomed. He found Spanish roses, gathered them on his tilma, and presented these to the bishop. According to tradition, when the roses fell from it the icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared imprinted on the cloth.

So I'm going to the Basilica in Mexico City to see this image along with 8 million other people who have traveled world wide to do so. I'll also be going to see the ancient site of Teotihuacan which had it's peak as a civilization between 150 and 400 AD. Most ancient tribes in Mexico claim their ancestry back to this city. It is quite significant and should be a very fun trip. Well, I'm off to what should be my last bit of school work this semester.

Nos vemos pronto

2007-12-06T08:07:00.000-06:00

Is it really two weeks to the day that I come home? That is really bizarre to me. But contrary to popular belief I actually HAVE been busy writing papers recently and still have plenty more to do before this coming weekend is over.

This past weekend I hopped on what turned into a 15 hour bus ride to the southern mountains of Mexico close to the Guatemala border. It was beautiful. I stayed in a little city from the colonial era and every building had those awesome red brick roofs. The city is named San Cristobal de las Casas, and it is pretty much THE place in Mexico to buy very quality artisan goods for a very low price. These people are all very talented in their trade, whether it be jewelry making or knitting..., but they have no means to come down out of the mountains and sell their products so the prices are naturally lower. Saturday morning my friends and I woke up and took a boat tour through this beautiful canyon that was an average of 1 km over our heads most of the time. I wonder how it compares to the Grand Canyon...it can't be far off. The Grand Canyon is probably a little bigger but you don't get to see crocodiles and Spider monkeys there. Sunday however, was the coolest day of all. I went and saw three breath-taking waterfalls on my way to the Mayan site of Palenque. I'd argue that Palenque is the most impressive Mayan city of them all just for the fact that it sits at the base of a giant mountain chain. Well, that is really all I can do to explain this past weekend. It's unbelievable how hard it is to try and portray this stuff in writing...

Pretty Church in San Cristobal...there are many more, but I liked that this one was yellow...

The beautiful streets of San Cristobal

Entrance to Sumidero Canyon

Waterfall at Misolha

Behind same waterfall

Waterfall at Agua Azul...yes the water really was that blue. More actually

Palenque

2007-11-29T11:51:00.000-06:00

I fear it is very obvious that I haven't been putting much effort into my blogs recently. Last night I threw a couple of poorly written sentences in with a few cool pictures in hopes to appease those who might get on my case for not blogging, and for that I was wrong. But today!, I'm having one of those mornings that starts slowly and continues slowly until all of the sudden it is now afternoon. It is one of those mornings where I have time to lay in my hammock, have a cup of joe and ponder about things, such as where in the world did the phrase "cup of joe" come from? Yes, today is starting off well. Just a few moments ago I took a stroll down to pick up my laundry from the lavandería and enjoyed the 82 degree morning air and the sunshine that most people can't on November 29th. It's a lazy day and I'm going to enjoy it because when I get back from my trip on Monday I will have so many papers to write that I won't notice anything having to do with the climate. Actually that probably won't start until Tuesday because I kind of want to go to the beach on Monday...But after Monday it's all business here.

Well I'm off to San Cristobal this evening. I'll be on a bus for 15 hours tonight but will wake up in the mountains wondering why it has to be so cold there. So until Monday, or maybe Tuesday...

Se vayan bien

2007-11-28T22:46:00.000-06:00

This past two weeks have been crazy busy but so much fun. First, my girlfriend came the weekend of the 16th and then my parents came the following weekend. I can't possibly retell those entire adventures but I wanted to post some pictures that may be able to help you see what we did. I'm in the process of finishing up my classes. I'm completely finished with 2 of my 5 classes, and all I lack for the remaining 3 are 3 papers (10 pages each) and 2 tests. It'll be an interesting couple of weeks. Tomorrow I'm off for a weekend in San Cristobal de las Casas in the state of Chiapas. This state, run mostly by the socialist group of the Zapatistas, has some of the most secluded Mayan peoples and beautiful scenery. It's located in the Mountains of southern Mexico close to the Guatemala border and should be in the 30's (Fahrenheit). I'm a little nervous because I don't have clothes here for that kind of weather seeing as it is almost in the 90's everyday here in Yucatan...but I'll make the best out of it. Pictures from the past weekends....

2007-11-21T09:14:00.000-06:00

Last night while I was walking home from a restaurant with some friends I saw a few houses with their Christmas lights up. Naturally two thoughts popped in my head: 1) isn't it a little early for that 2) It's like 80 degrees at 8:30 at night? How can it be Christmas time? Traditionally my family, and many other families I know around the Flowerplex area, use the Thanksgiving holiday, starting of course the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving, to begin the process of Christmas decoration. We get out the tree, untangle the lights, dust off the giant Santa collection, and assemble the Christmas village complete with ice-skater on pond. My brother's and I liked hanging the lights on the house, but we used to hide so that we wouldn't have to clean out the gutters on the roof. That never worked. But I think the reason that this process started a week early here is because this past weekend was their holiday weekend. Mexico celebrated (if they can have a party for it...they will) its second revolution this weekend and most people had Monday off so they naturally used that time as we do in the good'ol U.S of A to get a hop on the tree lighting. Being from Texas I'm not really used to the whole White Christmas thing anyway, but here it seems extremely warm to be thinking about anyone dressing up in a big red suit and granting Christmas wishes without finding themselves on the floor, medics on call to bring an I.V due to Kringle's heat exhaustion. It's less than a month till I come home an I think getting in the Christmas mood will be much easier once I hit that cold (55 degree) Dallas air on the 20th.

2007-11-15T08:08:00.000-06:00

Not too long ago I was sitting on a gorgeous, white-sand beach on the Caribbean at midnight listening to the waves rock the fishing boats that were tied up for the night nearby and watching the reflection of the moon on the water. For some reason I thought back to that night when I woke up this morning. I really need to go do that again before I leave Mexico in a month.

I'll be catching a bus at 5:30 tomorrow morning to take me to Cancun to pick up Ashley and her friend Caitlin from the airport and then hopping back on the bus back to Merida. I have a lot of bus riding to do this weekend (16 hours to be exact as I will be making the trip to and from Cancun twice) but I'm so excited. The pain will be well worth it. Who knows what could be in store for the weekend...

2007-11-13T09:04:00.000-06:00

My time here in Merida is drawing to a close. Granted, I don't technically get back home until late on Dec. 20th, but classes are ending and I can see the sign in the distance that reads "Dallas 953 miles". There is the part of me that is sad to see my time abroad coming to a close. It's the adventuresome side of me that realizes every morning in Mexico that I have no idea what I am going to be doing today. Will the bus come? Will my professors show up for class?(not as uncommon as you might think) Will I decide to skip everything I have to do and go to the beach? It's kinda nice living this way for a while. But there is also the side of me that has been secretly waiting for the day that I fly into DFW, partly because it will be nice to see friends and family again. It will be nice to sit in front of my TV and watch football. And it will definitely be nice living in the Flowerplex for a semester working to pay off debt, save a little money, and be close to my girlfriend and flomo network of people for once. There is something about having a rigid, definite schedule that helps me stay disciplined and on task in other aspects of life, and I look forward to having one. Needless to say the 35 remaining days I have in Mexico are packed with excitement and fun. My oh so cute girlfriend is coming to visit in 3 days and then a week later may parents are coming to visit. After these two weeks I'm off to Mexico City for a week and then back to Merida to pack up my things. It's the home stretch and I don't know how to feel.

2007-11-11T18:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I played in a basketball tournament at my university here in Merida. I arrived at about 9:30 because I was told everything started at 10 and I wanted to shoot around a bit beforehand. I have no idea what I was thinking because a 10 o'clock start time in Mexico means 11, and a 10 o'clock start time in Mexico at an event run by college students means 12. Well sure enough, I played my first round at 12:30. We won the game, in fact we won all of our games and my team won a 500 peso grand prize. Which is really only about $10 a person when it is divided among 5 people. But hey free money is free money. But what I found most amusing yesterday was that in the final game of the tournament, my team played the school's team. By that I mean the team that represents the Anthropology campus in competition within the entire University, and they lost to us. They lost to 5 guys (of whom all but one were shorter than 5'7) who hadn't really ever played organized basketball before. They were all about 6' or taller too...it was kind of interesting.

This morning I woke up and met some Mexican friends for church. It was a Presbyterian church about a 40 minute bus ride from my house, one of the only protestant churches I've run into down here. I really enjoyed both the service and the college group class afterward. It was a really refreshing experience and I made some great new Christian friends. I'm looking forward to grabbing some coffee with one of them this week. Good Christian fellowship can be hard to come by down here.

I've started to notice that I am beginning to make fewer and fewer grammatical errors while writing in Spanish, but my errors in my English writings have increased from zero to many. I only write in English when I'm writing emails and blogs etc..but if I don't proof read first then my English writings are full of scattered spanish words and weird phrases like "i played in a tournament of basketball" due to the positioning of the adjective after the noun in Spanish.

O well...lo que sea

2007-11-10T09:01:00.000-06:00

A couple unrelated things:

Finals are starting to hit for me. But there usually are not final exams here in Mexico, just final papers. Unfortunately I have a final paper for all of my classes, which means that I have five 10 page papers in Spanish over the next couple of weeks. Two of which of due this Wednesday...

Last night I bought the official jersey of the Mexican national soccer team. It is AWESOME!

At the mall where I purchased said jersey, some friends and I went to see the movie Lions for Lambs. The important part of this story is not how the movie was. It was the theater. We were in the VIP theater. What is that, you might ask. Well I shall tell you. In said theater you sit in your own personal reclining lazy boy style leather chair. Oh yeah, there are also waiters that come around taking your order. They offer all the normal movie stuff as well as mixed drinks, full course meals...etc. It was the nicest movie theater I've ever been to. Definitely VIP...

I am playing in a basketball tournament at the university today. I'm really excited because for once I may actually be one of the taller players. 6'2'' is pretty tall here. I'm not particularly skilled at this sport, but what I lack in talent I will make up for in enthusiasm and height. Wish me luck, I gotta go inflate the tongue on my Reebok's...

2007-11-05T16:06:00.000-06:00

I face the harsh reality that no one who reads this blog will ever understand want I have seen in the last 5 days unless they too have been. I have now visited about a dozen ancient Mayan cities, some of them dating back to 1800 BC and each one amazes me a little more than the previous. Part of it may be that I am also taking classes about the Mayan culture that help me understand how truly advanced this civilization was, but my pictures just never do any justice to the remarkable architecture of the buildings and the beautiful art that decorates them. I left last Wednesday for a 4 day trip through part of the Mayan world in the Southeast of the Yucatan Peninsula. I saw the ancient cities of Cobá, Muyil, Xelha, Tulum, and Ek Balam. I also swam in the sacred cenotes that were the source of water or these cities as well as a common place of sacrifice. My favorite by far was the city of Ek Balam. The way that most of these cities are arranged is very symbolic of where the power in the city would lie. For example there is often a giant pyramid (usually decorated with the heads of a certain god), and then an alter close by to show that the gods had a very large role. Then there are government buildings and official's palaces facing the courtyard in front of the pyramid. And as the buildings get further away from the center of the city their importances lessens. This is why common people usually lived a pretty good distance away from the center of the city. But the part that strikes me the most is the preservation of decorations and hieroglyphics that are still readable today. In Ek Balam there is part of the facade of the King's Palace (the most beautiful building I've ever seen by the way) that was perfectly retained because a giant tree formed an air bubble around it. This air bubble kept the original stucco in place. You will be able to see it in the pictures below, but just try and imagine that every building that you see in the pictures used to have stucco on it like the first picture with engravings and statues, and the entire building would have been painted with very bright colors. This is how the entire empire would have appeared. Unbelievable! Here are a few pictures that can try and portray what I just experienced.

Can you imagine from these first two pictures what it would have been like to see all of the buildings with their original stucco and bright colors? This is amazing!

This is the ball court at Cobá

cool skeleton carving in the ball court

Coba pyramid

Temple of the goddess of fertility. It has an astronomical observatory on top (the round thing)

This is an artificial canal the Mayans made through the laguna to the ocean for a trade route. To this day they have no idea how they were capable of it.

Can you see the soldier hidden in the stone on the corner?

Oh yeah, and we slept in cabins on this beach...

2007-10-30T19:43:00.000-05:00

Hola a todos!

I wanted to share some pictures with you from my latest weekend adventure to Punta Allen, Mexico. Punta Allen is a tiny tiny fishing village of about 400 people on the Caribbean sea about 2 hours away from any other population. Now this was one of the towns that was devastated by Hurricane Dean, so parts of the peninsula were still in complete disarray. For example we went snorkeling one afternoon and discovered that the hurricane had killed most of the reef, kinda sad. But the area is still beautiful. On the east side of the town are the beaches of the Caribbean and on the west side is a giant Laguna. The whole town is the point of a long and skinny peninsula, a 5 minute walk to completely walk from water to water. As you can imagine the town is nothing but white sand, palapa houses on the beach, palm trees, and hammocks. But that is exactly what we wanted this weekend. We saw a few small Mayan ruins, but the majority of out time was spent enjoying the slow life of the Caribbean. Tomorrow at 9 I leave for a 5 day trek through the jungles of the Yucatan to scuba in some of the most exotic cenotes and explore some of the least known Mayan pyramids and cities. I'll be sleeping in a hammock on the beach at the Mayan city of Tulum (see post Oct 11 for Tulum). I'll have unbelievable pictures in about 5 days. But here are a few pictures my friends took this past weekend as I forgot my camera.

Looks like a Corona commercial

Beach that had hurricane "residue" from Dean

Sunset over the Laguna

Me on the beach. Lucky picture...accidental combination of 2 flashes.

Ha llegado el "norte"

2007-10-24T19:08:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning freezing. Last night a huge northern cold front hit us in the Yucatan. When I say cold front I mean weather in the 70s...but cold nonetheless. People here say, "ha llegado el norte", or quite literally, "the north has arrived". Which I think is funny. But the cold front comes each year and stays for about 3 days, so we should all still be a go for my trip back to the Caribbean this weekend.

Exactly a week from today I will be leaving on my excursion through the Inner Mayan World. I'll be sleeping in a hammock on the seashores of Old Mexico by night, and treking through the jungle to see rarely visited Mayan cities. I'll be seeing some of the tallest Mayan pyramids and scuba diving in their ancient cenotes (see post from Sept 22 to learn about centoes), I can't wait to post pictures.

2007-10-22T21:53:00.000-05:00

I'm going to take the lack of comments on the last blog as a "you've said it so well that we have nothing to add" rather than a "no one reads this dumb thing..." But all of that aside. Do you remember when you were between the ages of like 12 and 14? Every time that I would walk into a store the employees would stop and stare to make sure that I wasn't stealing anything. Well sometimes I feel the exact same way here. Maybe they stare because I'm clearly a foreigner, but there are times when I know it is because they don't trust me. For example, tonight I was walking back from the bus stop on the sidewalk as a guy was getting out of his car. He walked up to the front door of his house and just stopped to make sure I walked all the by and didn't stop at his car. I don't know what he thought I was going to do, or if they have a lot of American thievery in Mexico... Whatever it is I thought it was really humorous, because that is a stereotype that I wasn't aware of.

This weekend! I forgot I haven't written about it yet. I went scuba diving in the Caribbean. The water was the most turquoise water I've ever seen. We saw barracuda, a sting ray, and tons of colorful fish. I didn't have the ability to take any pictures while I was down there, but it looked a lot like this...but it was a much bigger reef.

2007-10-18T11:02:00.000-05:00

Why hello friends and family. It is such a beautiful day here in the Yucatan that I would really just prefer to hop a bus to the beach (only a 20 minute ride) and waste the day in a hammock with a non-school related book and a margarita. But seeing as I had class that technically started an hour ago and 2 more that I actually will be attending today, I can't go sit on the white sands of Mexico and watch the guy in his motor operated parachute that keeps him flying above the reef for hours at a time. (side note, I really need to become friends with that guy...) This is my first time in like a month that I have had more than 10 minutes to blog. It feels kinda nice to be able to write about what is going on without being rushed, and while recounting my weekend tales is fun and I'm sure you appreciate them, I think it's more fair to people like my parents and grandmothers who read this to know that I'm doing well. Saturday I have scuba practice again, but this time we are taking 2 Caribbean dives so I'll be heading over to Cancun at like 4 in the morning on Saturday in order to be ready for the dive by 9. It is funny the way that studying abroad effects your mentality. I find it almost impossible to be motivated to do school work, which is hard enough when you live in a town like Lubbock but when you live in Mexico near the Caribbean... Especially because all of my credits transfer as pass/fail. All I have to do is get a D and I get the exact same credit as I would if were to get an A...it's a dangerous system. Well, a few hellos to some people I've been thinking about recently..

-family: Mom, Dad, Adam, Brian, Dana & Grandmothers
-Ashley, Scott, and Mrs Seal
-CBC buddies (can't be individual, i don't have 3 hours but it's all love here)
-Tech Navs
-Cactus Shooters!!!
-Jeff, Julie, David, & Rebekah
-Tech Goin' Band
-Nurgypoo & D-Steve
-Kamp bros

Well, I need to get out of my hammock and get to school, but it feels like its going to be a good weekend. Hope it is for you too!

2007-10-16T08:55:00.000-05:00

Today is this woman's 21st birthday. (I know what you're thinking, but standing next to her, everyone looks this bad...)

For whatever reason, she has allowed me to be in her life for a year and two months. But today isn't about how lucky I am, which I am. It is about how wonderful Ashley Nicole Seal is, and about how amazing I want her day to be. So, to once again steal the style from dear old Brent..

in honor of Ashley's 21st birthday today I will be...
-singing Broadway musicals at the top of my lungs
-being the sweetest/most genuine person anyone has ever met
-laughing at stupid jokes told by significant others
-text messaging all 24 hours of the day
-finding out how God has gifted me and using that to the best of my ability
-wearing a Kappa Kappa Gamma party t-shirt
-crushing on Zac Efron (won't really be doing this)
-having a great attitude about everything
-being the most lovable person in the WORLD!

Sorry fellas, she's kinda taken.
Happy Birthday Ash!

2007-10-13T09:53:00.000-05:00

I woke up bright and early yesterday morning to meet my group for scuba practice. Right as I was walking out the door my scuba teacher called me and told me that he wasn't going to be able to make it early this morning because he had been robbed the night before. While he was in a restaurant someone broke into his van and stole his computer, which contained all of his work information, and thousands of dollars worth of scuba gear. So Memo, the scuba guy, worked all morning to get the window of his van fixed as well as find us the proper equipment so we could still have scuba practice...after being robbed. That is the most selfless thing that I have seen in a long time. And scuba ended up being really cool. I mean, we just practiced in a pool, but it was fun nonetheless. Pretty soon I'll be at the bottom of the Caribbean swimming with the dolphins and looking at the coral reefs. Wish you could all be there with me.

In honor of the Texas Tech vs A&M game today I will be...
...dressing like a pirate
...throwing tortillas at kickoff
...poking fun at those who have practiced yelling
...and just all around getting my guns up as high as possible

Go Tech!

2007-10-11T20:48:00.000-05:00

I promise the days are going by too quickly. I really meant to blog on Tuesday, but the next thing I knew it was Thursday afternoon and I was leaving my last class for the week....it is the weekend again already. (At least for me because I don't have Friday classes) But this past weekend was unbelievable. For those of you who are not aware, my beautiful girlfriend Ashley and her friend Caitlin came down for a little visit to Mexico. They were unable to fly into Merida, so I met them in Cancun and we hopped a bus to Playa del Carmen for the weekend. Beautiful beaches, Mayan ruins, ridiculous condos...you couldn't ask for anything more. The first day we all just kinda hung out at the beach and met some of my friends from my program at their condo they were staying at. We're talking like a $2.5 million condo. Ridiculous! So beautiful, overlooking the beach with an infinity pool. Then Saturday, us three woke up bright and early and went to Tulum, a beautiful ancient Mayan city right on the beach (See pictures below). THE MOST beautiful beach I have ever seen in my life. I don't really want to continue this story because it gets sad...Ashley had to leave the next day. But I hope you enjoy the pictures below of our weekend.
Tomorrow I have my first SCUBA practice in a pool. Just a couple more weeks till I'll be scuba diving in the Caribbean. I know my posts recently have kinda just been about my weekends, but my weeks are very normal. I wake up and go to school, come home, do homework and start it all over again. Except for last night when I went to a place called Mambo cafe. It is a salsa club here in Merida with live Music. The band members are some of the most talented musicians that I've ever seen. They are all Cuban and play every instrument, sing, and dance very well. I didn't try, but there is no way that I could ever dance like that...Mom and Dad, when ya'll come to visit my host parents are going salsa dancing with us. Get excited. Anyways....pictures!

2007-10-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

I want to apologize to all of the faithful readership out there. This past week I have not blogged for no other reason than my terrible habit of procrastination. I'll admit it, and take full responsibility. So, it is time to play catch up. Here are some of my pictures from last weekend's trip to Uxmal. This ancient city has one of the coolest pyramids in the world. These pictures don't even close to do it justice, but I hope you enjoy!

This is just me in front of the pyramid.

side view...
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This is one of the business squares in the city. The architecture is very ornate with Mayan gods sticking out the the walls and stuff. Very cool.

I think this was one of the government buildings.

Pyramid from far away.

The city is much bigger than you can tell from the pictures. It has a really cool ball court. The Mayan's sport was very similar to our present day basketball, but you had to get the ball into the ring without using your hands. And then the losers, and sometimes the winners as well, were sacrificed to the gods. The ring and ball court is the picture below.

Skip ahead 7 days. My wonderful girlfriend Ashley and her friend Caitlin came to visit me in Mexico this weekend. They were unable to fly into Merida, so I met them in Cancun (a 4 hour bus ride from here) and we spent the weekend in Playa del Carmen. The weekend was amazing, the Caribbean was beautiful, and we went to an ancient Mayan city called Tulum. Now, I didn't take my camera this weekend so I'll have to wait until they send me copies of theirs before I can post some of them. But I'll try my best to post about this weekend before the next one passes...haha. I hope everything is going well for everyone.

2007-10-01T15:06:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I went to one of the most famous Mayan archaeological sites, saw one of the coolest pyramids in the world, and toured an ancient city. I have some really cool pictures that I'll post at a later date. But right now I have a funny story that literally just happened about 20 minutes ago. It all started this morning with my test in Cultural History of the Mayan Area. I had an 8 am exam in this class and apparently did not study as much as I should have, a crime I am often guilty of. After the exam I was talking with some other students in the class and they agreed that the test was very difficult. So difficult in fact that it required a word other than the normal word for difficult or hard. And the word seemed very harmless, especially since the only definition they gave me was that it means "really difficult". I'm sure you all know where this is going by now, but one last thing about this part of Mexico is that are a ton of Mayan words that are still common in the everyday language, so hearing words that I didn't know previously is not an uncommon experience, so...I thought nothing of it. Until....I came home for lunch and my host parents asked how the test went. I proudly replied with what I thought to be a demonstration of my expanded vocabulary, only to get a wide eyed look from my host mother, and a 2 minute long laughing episode from my host father. No real harm was done, but in essence, what I was saying was "the test was (insert expletive here) hard". Lesson learned, don't repeat words you do not know the meaning to. You'd think I would have learned that lesson back in high school after repeating that phrase in Dutch that Justin told me to say only to be slapped by his sister. I mean, the kid was a missionary kid for goodness sake. I'm way too trusting. Well, blog topics have to come from somewhere....

2007-09-28T09:33:00.000-05:00

Last night I went with my host brother to the gym that he attends and bought a membership. And by the way, it only put me back $20 a month and that includes a personal trainer. I wasn't planning on getting a personal trainer, but I did because apparently everyone here does because it is so cheap. From what I can figure out, this guy's job is to just tell you what exercise and how many sets, and then he walks away and works out while you do your sets. This guy obviously works out all day every day seeing as he was only 5'5'' and outweighed me by a good 100 pounds of muscle. But back to the point of this blog. I've been working out for a good part of my life, not saying that I'm in great shape or anything, but I know what to expect when I go into a gym. Or so I thought. Well my PT, Orlando was his name, worked me for 2 hours of weight training, upper body only, and then told me that he'd see me tomorrow for legs. Well I can't move my arms. My elbows and shoulders are stuck in that painful soreness that you get after you've had surgery. It really feels like my elbows have been operated on and I'm terrified to go work out my legs, because those always hurt anyways, and with this guy I'll be paralyzed. Either I'm just a wuss, he's great at his job, or a combination of both...no answer needed.

On a side note, I've watched Dumb and Dumber and The Count of Monte Cristo over the past two days. Sometimes a good movie in English is all you need to make your day.

2007-09-25T14:09:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning with the strangest of realizations. I am used to living here. For the past month I have opened my eyes each day and been in someone else's home, and gone to someone else's University. But today I woke up in MY bed and took the bus on MY bus route and went to MY school. I guess it is the adjustment we all make in new situations. That's just how the cookie crumbles i guess.

But moving on, my friends and I are making plans to spend a week in Mexico City in December during the week of the Virgen de Guadalupe. That'll be a very culturally rich experience, putting aside the fact that Mexico D.F. is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. (I probably shouldn't say things like that on a page that my parents, grandparents, and girlfriend all read) And on top of that we are in the process of figuring out the best way to get four Americans into Cuba. It turns out that it isn't as hard for Americans to get to Cuba as you would think. As long as you go through other countries (ie. Mexico) it is very possible. The only scare is that if you get caught getting off of a plane from Cuba by American officials you could get slapped with a $5000 fine, but the guides all say that this is a formality and doesn't really have to be paid..mainly because it isn't constitutional to tell an American citizen that they are unable to travel where they please. All of that to say that these upcoming months will be full of...well..let's just call them experiences. Until later.

2007-09-22T19:18:00.000-05:00

As promised…here is what went down. I woke up bright and early at 6 am yesterday morning in order to be in the center of town by 8 because me and some friends were traveling to the nearby by town of Cuzamá. The guide book told us to catch a bus at a specific intersection downtown, but when we arrived there were no buses to be found. After asking around and getting 5 completely different sets of directions, we found out that we were about 10 blocks away from where our bus was going to be. So we walked…We finally found our bus and began our one hour bus ride to Cuzamá. None of us had any idea what to expect when we got there. When we pulled up to this small Mayan village, there were taxis waiting by the side of the road to take us to the Hacienda that we were going to visit. By taxi I mean there were children between 9 and 12 with bicycles that had a seat for two on the front…this is what they called taxis. Feeling very uncomfortable with having the child labor that should, without a doubt, be in school at that very moment bike us around in the 100 degree heat we asked the bus driver if he could take us 2 miles up the road to the Hacienda. He said he would, thankfully. We stepped out of the bus, paid our fare, and hopped into what they called a “horse drawn carriage” which was a little cart that rode on a miniature railroad and pulled by a horse. Really neat actually.

The house and business part of this Hacienda no longer exists but the main tourist attraction, as it turns out, are these three cenotes. Three of the most beautiful cenotes in the world. Now if you remember back to my post where I discussed what cenotes were, they are natural pools of water that the Mayans used for many purposes…everything from bathing to spiritual purposes, ie) sacrificing. These three cenotes were covered cenotes, meaning that they were inside of caves. We had to climb down into the cenotes and the water was (depending on which cenote) about 40-80 feet under the surface of the ground. I can’t even explain the beauty of the water in words, nor do the pictures I took with my camera do any justice, so here are a couple of pictures of these cenotes that I visited that someone else took as well as a couple that I took. The water is turquoise blue, and clearer than the water in a swimming pool. There were places in the cenote that were almost 100 feet deep and you could see the rocks at the bottom. UNBELIEVABLE!

That part of the trip was beautiful, fun, and unforgettable…but it doesn’t end there. Back to the bus ride that brought us 2 miles off of the normal route to a secluded Hacienda. The bus driver told us that he would meet us where he dropped us off at a certain time. So like anyone who wants to eventually get back from the middle of nowhere, we were where we were supposed to be when we were supposed to be there. And we waited. And we waited. And waited. It got to the point to where the “taxi” drivers/riders were telling us that he wasn’t coming. But we held out. Mainly because, like I said, we weren’t big fans of child labor. It became very clear that the bus wasn’t coming so we took matters into our own hands. A man and his family were getting into their truck and so I walked up to him and asked if he could drop us four off in the middle of town 2 miles down the road. He immediately said no, and rolled his window back up and started to drive off. Then he reversed back and said that they could, so we hopped into the back of his truck and were officially hitch-hiking in Mexico. When we got into town the man told us that he and his family were going to stay at a Hacienda close to Merida and that we could ride along if we wanted. So we naturally accepted his hour of free transportation, but we were unaware of how terrible with directions this man was. He took more wrong turns than I thought were possible, but we finally started going the right direction towards Merida. And then he started to turn the wrong way again, so we all started yelling from the back of the truck to turn right and he did. It struck me as odd that he would listen to directions from four hitch hikers in the back of his truck but we got to the right place. As we pulled up to the Hacienda 10 kilometers outside of Merida, a window rolled down and the man’s wife said, “Your ride ends here.” Weird way to put it, but we couldn’t complain so we hopped out of the truck, asked some locals how to get into the city, and took a bus on into Merida.

2007-09-21T19:39:00.000-05:00

I know some of you are curious to know how the whole sick thing went. Sorry I didn't post sooner, but I'm fine. It was more or less just a 24 hour flu virus that came and went. I've just been so busy that I haven't had the time to post. The same holds true today...BUT, please tune in tomorrow evening because I will be writing about what happened today. Today was probably the most crazy, adventuresome, awesome day in Mexico EVER. I hate to leave you with that, but I want to make sure that I have the time to sit down and record every detail, and this evening does not offer me that opportunity. I'm sorry for the short absence, but I can only hope that you will all understand today's events in the near future...Let's just say it may involve hitch-hiking and caves...

2007-09-19T09:10:00.000-05:00

Well friends, I'm sick again. Not like last time, today it's the flu. Body aches, slight fever, and I'm exhausted. Nothing more, but nothing less either. And my throat is killing me. Is that normal with the flu?

Besides that I have tons of homework due today that I didn't do last night because I needed to get sleep, including a class presentation. We'll see how that goes.

I'm off to class...

2007-09-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

Saturday night, which I just haven't had time to post about, was Mexican Independence Day. I went, along with 70,000 other people, to the center of town to watch "el Grito" Spanish for "the shout". This is a tradition in which the Governor comes out on the balcony of the Governor's mansion and shouts "Viva Mexico" five times in honor of their Independence. Well, I'm not going to lie, it was quite the experience seeing all of these people united by this one event. It caused me to think about our Independence Day celebrations in the US...where we usually have small gatherings of family and friends, maybe some fireworks, and then we all go home. It's a fun day. Really it is. But I realized this weekend that Americans celebrate the present America on July 4th. We celebrate where our country is now, what is going on at this moment. I love our country and our traditions, but I feel that because we tend to celebrate the present, someone who may not agree with current policies or leadership feels less of a desire to celebrate the current position of our country. I would never call anyone unpatriotic, but you know where I'm coming from. And of course, this is America and that is their freedom. But Mexicans celebrate the past. For one day, ok for a full month, they put aside all of their nations problems (which is a lot to do) and remember the fight against Spain. They remember the first time a leader of their country stood up in front of a crowd and shouted "Viva Mexico." They remember what it was like to not be Independent, and the pride that now exists. It brought chills to my spine listening as 70,000 people crammed into a square block, all shouted "VIVA!" Kinda cool. I guess I would just really love to see someone dressed like Paul Revere riding down the street in every major American city shouting "The British are Coming, The British are Coming!!!" I think that could do a little something to unite us.

2007-09-16T14:39:00.000-05:00

What an amazing weekend! I went to Campeche with no idea what to really expect, and I discovered one of the coolest cities in all of Mexico. The city was, at one point in time, completely walled it and much of the wall is still up today. Campeche was constantly under attack by pirates in the 18th and 19th centuries, and so you will find huge forts enforced by dozens of canons throughout the city. But apart from being the obvious historical goldmine that it is, it is such a comfortable city. The streets are lined with 200 year old, two-story buildings all the way down; each building being a different color than the buildings to either side. It honestly felt like I was walking through a town in 1820 Mexico. Way cool. So after touring some forts and walking on parts of the city wall we decided to check out this whole Festival of the Black Christ thing. So we starting walking the direction the nice Mexican lady pointed us in and began to see this in the distance.

It was no different from your normal American fair...other than the obvious lack of certain safety regulations. Hysterical. Oh, and the part from last week about the Christ being burnt during a period of persecution...absolutely not true. The story is even cooler. Apparently, El Cristo Negro is just made out of ebony wood and is naturally black. Not the cool part of the story, however. The story goes like this: It was made in Rome in 1554, shipped to Venezuela, and then purchased by the people in Campeche. In order to get the black colored crucifix to Campeche they need two things: 2 weeks and a Catholic captain to get it there. On the first day of the 2 week trip from Venezuela a huge storm hit the sailors and they were seemingly unable to keep the boat on route. The captain and the crew went beneath the deck for safety while one sailor volunteered to steer the boat through the storm. No one on the crew knew who this sailor was. Meanwhile, back in Campeche, someone had informed the city that the black Christ would be arriving on the first day of the voyage so the entire town was waiting on the beach with torches. And sure enough, the boat makes it through the storm to safety, to arrive in Campeche on the first day of the trip. However, when the captain tries to find the mystery sailor who had maneuvered the boat through the storm, he is no where to be found. And when they open the box containing the crucifix, the box is completely dry but the black Christ inside is dripping wet. Who was this mystery sailor??? Was it Christ himself? Anyway, and so to this day the black Christ hangs in the Church of San Roman and has never been painted and hasn't rotted even slightly in 400 something years. Kinda cool. Here is a picture, I couldn't get close to the crucifix because they were having their daily mass.

Here are some other random pictures from the weekend. The first one is actually here in Merida, it is the oldest cathedral on the continent. Enjoy.

2007-09-13T13:02:00.000-05:00

Ok, a little more info on the Festival of the Black Christ. I'll obviously know a lot more when I get back, but apparently there was an era in Mexico in which the governing body was opposed to anything religious(surprising with how Catholic Mexico has always been). But during this period the government would destroy religious buildings of any kind. Well the church is Campeche was burned and all that remained was a statue of Christ that had turned black from the fire. The fact that it remained intact calls for celebration every year (still unsure how long it has been) since.

I thought it would be cool to have a word of the day that we could all celebrate together in three languages since my class of the Mayan language is so awesome. The words will obviously be very simplistic seeing as I will probably never be able to use complicated words in Mayan. So today's is:

Maya: Ki'ichpam
Español: guapa
English: pretty (in the attractive sense)

Used in a sentence....Ashley is very Ki'ichpam.

Hasta

2007-09-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

I went to a restaurant called "La Musa" tonight to watch the Mexico vs Brazil soccer game. Talk about intense. They sure do love their soccer in Mexico and, even though we lost, it was one of the most fun things that I've ever done.

This weekend, Saturday to be exact, is Mexican Independence day. I'm definitely going to buy a huge Mexican flag. And also this weekend is the Festival of the Black Christ in a little town called Campeche on the west coast of the Yucatan. Now, just to make things clear, there is nothing racist OR sac religious about this Festival. Apparently there is just this statue of Christ that is in black iron and they celebrate it every year. So a few of us from the program are going on Friday to experience whatever the Festival of the Black Christ might entail. Both of these events have tons of tradition built into them, especially the whole independence thing as you can imagine. Check back for pictures and stories. I can't wait to share them with you.

Viva México

2007-09-12T07:08:00.000-05:00

Definitely not adjusted yet to whole waking up at 6 after studying till 1 thing...

2007-09-10T19:09:00.000-05:00

Still making small observations:

-The same loud German shepherd jumps out and scares the daylights out of me every morning as I walk by his fence on my way to the bus stop...you'd think I'd see it coming after 2 weeks.

-You know those girls that talk really fast and use words like "like" and "whatever" too much, and despite the fact that they are trying to communicate something you can never tell just exactly what that is...well they have those here in Mexico too and it's even harder to understand the point they're trying to make in a second language.

-I brought my American study habits with me to Mexico and they're just not going to cut it. I have to get used to reading all of the material, something no one does in the US. A normal Mexican class involves about an hour of discussion over the reading from the night before, and when you don't read the material, well let's just say I've got to be a little more intentional with my time.

-I saw the world's tallest tower of tequila when I walked into Wal-Mart today. Yes they have Wal-Mart here. But literally from the floor to almost the ceiling was this huge tower of tequila. I don't think they can get away with that in the states. And just how in the world would someone be able to purchase a bottle without that bad boy toppling over and killing them?

-Mole is a type of sauce that is fairly common in Mexico and even in parts of Texas. But here in the Yucatan they eat Mole soup which is made out of tomatoes, chilies, and chocolate. Chocolate soup? You're darn right.

Well that's all I've got for today because I've got to get back to that whole reading thing we just talked about.

2007-09-09T14:59:00.000-05:00

Mexicans really know how to throw parties. Last night was my host brother's birthday so he had a little shindig. I helped him get the house ready to have company as we were expecting about 60 people (all of which showed up). But then I was really impressed when the rock band showed up. How many people in the states have live music at their parties? Not to mention they played full blast in the back yard from 12-2:30. I guess there is no law against disturbing the peace in Mexico. And for food...he definitely had a taco stand come and set up in our front yard. All the free tacos you could want. I personally went easy on the tacos as to be careful not to repeat the hospital episode, but it was awesome never the less. So I hung out at the party till about 3 and met new people, discussed Bush and Iraq, offered my opinions on the Felipe Calderon situation, learned new slang, and when I was exhausted (and no one was leaving yet) I decided to go ahead and go to my room and sleep. The party rocked on until about 6:30 in the morning, music full blast. And of course I woke up at 9:30 this morning completely unable to fall back asleep so I watched 6 episodes of scrubs and made myself some eggs and coffee as my host parents went to the beach house for the night. I say all of this really just to stress the same thing that I've stressed before...we don't know how to celebrate in America. Everything here is cause for celebration with friends and family. If there is one slice of Mexico that I want to bring back home with me, other than the salsa (not the dance), it is this.

These are 3 terrible pictures of last night, but in them you'll see the back yard full of people, the band, and the taco stand...all at my house.

2007-09-08T09:55:00.000-05:00

So maybe culture shock has set in slightly. I knew that it would be only a minor setback when it did, but here is what is going through my mind this morning...not to be a downer or anything:

I miss my...

-air conditioned house
-bed
-couch
-T.V.
-favorite foods
-Dr Pepper
-family
-dates with my beautiful girlfriend
-friends
-church
-car and all other forms of private transportation
-Frisbee golf games with Nurge
-university's football games
-routine of playing my saxophone at the previously mentioned...

It's a reality...we are all very comfortable within our own culture. It's a reality that we often don't realize until we are out of our home culture for a couple of weeks. And I never thought I'd say it but: Middle-class Suburban America, today I miss you.

V.I.P...Me?

2007-09-07T11:11:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to a disco...which is what they call clubs here in Mexico(unfortunatley there is no disco music, I was disappointed). I'm definitely not the club type, by any means, but we were invited by some Mexican students and I knew it would be a good way to make local friends. And believe me, it was. We pulled up to the club and there was a huge line of about 50 people waiting outside. We kinda stepped way to the back and away to show that we weren't yet waiting in line as some of our friends hadn't arrived yet. As soon as we were all ready we stepped up to the line and immediately the huge bouncer at the front points to us and says, "you", he lifts the rope gate, points in, and we walk in front of all of these people and into the club. I felt awful! But apparently having Americans in your club draws more business so they let us in. We were also able to get a table immediately..something that is very coveted at this particular establishment. We were getting stared at all night. People kept wanting to buy us drinks, which we politely declined because accepting a drink from a stranger....well, you are all aware. It was a pretty good time seeing as I don't dance, but oddly enough there really was not very much dancing going on for this to be a disco. It was more like a concert with a really good Mexican cover band that was playing Nirvana, Audio Slave, Metallica, and a few others. It was a good one time experience for me, but I would just prefer to sit back in a cafe and hang out with friends. I'm lame, I know.

2007-09-05T21:46:00.001-05:00

I'm finally feeling almost normal after this weekend. Thankfully my stomach should now be accustomed to almost any type of food that I should encounter here in Yucatán. On to new news, there has been one minor change in my class schedule for the semester. In stead of taking the Culture and Mindset of Latin America ( as I found it to be too abstract of a class to take in a second language) I will be taking Mayan Language. I’ll be learning my 3rd language through my 2nd language. I can’t even begin to describe how cool this will be. You see, here in the Yucatán there is a lot of Mayan spoken and I’ll have the opportunity to use some of the phrases I learn when I travel to some of the small pueblos around the peninsula. There is a common saying around here that in essence claims that you cannot know a culture until you know the language. Language is one of the biggest ways that a culture is lived out. So many insights into Mexican culture can only be understood in Spanish, and I imagine that it is even more so with the Mayan culture. We’ll see how it turns out.

Hasta luego

2007-09-03T20:25:00.000-05:00

Here are a few photos from my trip to Dzibilchaltùn on Saturday. The first picture is of the Templo de las Siete Muñecas. This temple is famous for its brilliant display of the equinox. The Mayas calculated exactly where to but the opening of the temple so that at the exact moment of the equinox the sun would shine perfectly through the door opening and onto the altar. Millions of people gather each year to observe this phenomena. The other pictures are of just random ruins at Dzibilchaltùn. The last picture is of the cenote, which is where the Mayas would bathe, swim, maybe even get water to drink. And yes, I did swim in the same cenote as the Mayas swam in thousands of years ago. It was awesome!

2007-09-02T10:03:00.000-05:00

I have some pretty sweet pictures of my trip yesterday but I'm just not really in the mood to put them up right now. You see, I got the opportunity to learn a lot of new medical vocabulary in Spanish last night as I spent the entire night in the hospital. I apparently ate something bad while I was at the beach yesterday afternoon and at about 6 yesterday evening I threw up. I wasn't too panicked because everyone throws up a little bit their first week in a foreign country with drastically different eating habits. It's a common illness known in Mexico as turista, because it's the tourists who have the weak stomachs. Well I started to get a little worried after my 11th time throwing up because there was nothing left anywhere in my body expect for fluids that aren't supposed to leave their location. So, my host family took me to the hospital. As is turns out, the average person who eats contaminated food has about 10,000 bad bacteria in their system that are making them sick. After my blood work came back the doctor told me that I had about 30,000 bad bacteria in my system. and on top of that, I was extremely dehydrated from the...well, you know...."water loss". Because of this, in the past 12 hours I have exhausted 4 IVs, many injections (in both arm and butt...the latter of which I'm still bitter about), and many trips to the bathroom. I write all of this with the knowledge that some of you will be so disgusted as to never want to read my blog again...I understand. But I have to hold true to you all, the readers, in writing about both the good and the bad. So for now, hasta luego my friends, and don't drink the water in Mexico...

2007-08-31T17:25:00.000-05:00

A few random picture of my trip so far...
The first a picture of the dining room. Taken from the living room.
The second is in my back yard. The stone cross has the family name on it.
The third is a picture of the new library...very cool
The next is a picture of the group waiting at the bus stop on campus with the Anthropology building in the background.
And the last is my bedroom, complete with blue hammock in the foreground.

There will be more pictures after this weekend of my trip to some Mayan ruins and the beach at Progresso.

2007-08-30T22:26:00.000-05:00

Supposedly there is this thing called culture shock. Less of a shock and more of a clash really…A clash of your home culture and the one in which you are visiting. Supposedly it exists. Supposedly. And if this is true, then, in the next day or so I will start a downward spiral of frustration and annoyance of everything having to do with the Yucatecan culture…supposedly. To be honest, there are many things that I miss about home. I miss my family, friends, church, school, and my girl friend, whom I miss oh so much. But to go through a period of disliking the Yucatecan culture seems unlikely at this phase. Maybe it’s because I’m in the honeymoon phase of living here, or maybe I just fit so well here in Mexico, I don’t know. But as of now, things are going well. It is really fun to see how quickly my ability in the language improves daily. After studying Spanish for 6 years, such drastic improvement in just a couple of days is very encouraging. I’m to the point verbally where I can sit down and have an intellectual discussion over just about anything there is to discuss. For example tonight during la sobremesa, the period of time after dinner where the family sits and talks, my host parents and I discussed the differences and similarities between the Mexican and American public education systems.

I’ve decided which classes I will try to take. They are as follows (hopefully):

-Racism and Discrimination (Extra interesting because both are a big part of this

Culture)

-Cultural History of the Mayan Area

-Latin American Culture and Mindset, a Literature class

-History of Mexican/United States Relations

All of these classes will be in Spanish with native students. I’ll also be in an advanced Spanish class with a few other Americans that are in the same boat as I am.

One last thing about Mérida. It is probably the safest large city I’ve ever been in. The population is about 1 million, but they take pride in the security of the city as well as the way they treat foreigners. I feel completely safe, as well as the embassy here tells me I’m safe, walking through the streets alone at midnight. Something that you wouldn’t expect in Mexico.

Hasta

2007-08-29T23:59:00.001-05:00

The major differences between Mexico and the US are easy to pick out and more obvious to readers back home. Because of this, it is the small differences that bring a smile to my face many times throughout my day…

Small Cultural difference (cont..)

-Brakes are for emergency use only in Mexico…which makes many emergency situations as stopped cars approach quickly in front of our speeding bus.

-People walk very slowly here and it doesn’t help that I’m 6’2’’ with a stride longer than most body lengths.

-Things that appear to be the same in Mexico as in America tend not to be. For example my sandwich for lunch today appeared completely normal…until I bit into the jalapeños and ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise mixture.

-Toilets in public places sometimes don’t have toilet seats.

-There is a different understanding of time. Meeting someone for lunch at 12 means that they will stop their previous activity at 12 and start the voyage to meet you for lunch. They aren’t late because, technically, the activity of meeting you for lunch did in fact begin at 12.

-In Mexico if you don’t talk about a problem, it doesn’t exist. For example, you will rarely here open discussion about poverty, racism, homosexuality, or any other “hot topic” because they don’t exist…

And the best part about all of this is that I love it so much. My bus ride to school in the mornings is awesome. Jalapeños add an amazing flavor to ham sandwiches. I’m a guy, so who needs toilet seats? The relaxed pace of everyone being about 10-15 minutes late is good practice for my patience and flexibility.

One last thing, it is interesting how quickly I forget English. Not really forget, but I have to think much harder about which word to use and how to spell it in English than I did 4 days ago. And if your name is Ashley, don’t worry because I’ll relearn the language just for you on my flight back home.

Hasta

2007-08-28T23:01:00.000-05:00

Small Cultural Differences...

-I have been served soup 3 times so far in Mexico and each time I have been given a HUGE spoon, so big I almost can't even use it.

-The moment that a person steps on a bus here in Merida and pays his/her 5 pesos, the driver hits the gas with no regard for whether or not your footing is secure.

-When you put your bank card into an ATM it is not always a for sure thing that you will get either your card or money back.

I'm starting to get settled in here in Merida and I'm noticing some interesting things about the culture. First of all, Yucatecos have a very strong sense of state pride. They are above all else Yucatecans and then after this, Mexicans. Something that those of us from Texas can relate with. My family serves me food and then tells me whether its Yucateca or just plain Mexican food. Also, being an American here means one of two things. Either you get ripped off because the people know that most Americans will pay the high price...or you get a huge discount because the owners know that you being in their establishment will draw attention and business. Thirdly, La Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan is very beautful. The campus is not centralized like universities in America. Each different facultad, or major, has its own campus.

The night life in Merida is also unbelievable. It was Grandmother's Day nation wide in Mexico today and I went to a photography show of local grandmother's. And since many of the Abuelas, and people in general, here are Mayan there was a huge traditional ceremony full of singing and dancing. If you've never seen a 65 year old Mayan couple dance....you're missing out, sorta. And then there are endless restaurants, bars, clubs (which they call discos, and beautiful places just to walk around. I understand completely why so many Americans retire in this city.

Hasta

2007-08-27T23:22:00.000-05:00

Today I discovered that waking up early in Mexico is no easier than waking up early in the US. I started orientation today and have discovered that Merida is an absolutely beautiful city. I saw the oldest Cathedral in the continent, which is right next to my university, and sat in a coffee shop dedicated to Frida Khalo. Tonight I celebrated my birthday with my new extended family because two of my new family members are one year older today as well. Side note, birthday cake in the Yucatan is quite different than we are accustomed to in the US. People are very interested in your political views and are very well educated in world events. It welcomes different view points in a very tolerant, yet still opinionated manner. It almost makes it more comfortable to talk politics than in the US where people are easily offended. But right now it is almost impossible to think and write creatively. I'll be back tomorrow with more.

Buenas noches

2007-08-26T16:21:00.000-05:00

I'm here!!!! So after a night of sad goodbyes and a day full of flights and headaches I really didn't know what to expect when my host family picked me up from the airport. I screened my way through customs and walked through a door to see a woman, who looks oddly like my Granny, smiling really big holding a sign with my name on it. I knew right away that it would be a warm welcome. My host parents are probably the most friendly and lovable people I've ever met. I have 3 host brothers that are mid to upper twenties and my own room that is probably better than my room back home...mainly because in the Yucatan people sleep in hammocks. That's right, directly next to my bed is the most comfortable hammock I have ever laid on. As a matter of fact this very hammock will probably be the location of most of my blogs this semester seeing as my family has WIRELESS INTERNET. I was informed that no one in Mexico had internet in their home and I'd have to find some internet cafes....well that's apparently not true. One last small surprise i received today is that my host family has a beach house about 30 minutes away from here that they are taking me to the weekend after next. I'm roughing it so far, but I'll keep you updated.

Hasta

2007-08-21T10:58:00.000-05:00

Mexico sweet Mexico in exactly five days. Supposing the category 5 hurricane hasn't demolished my host home I'll be hanging out at a cantina on Sunday evening blogging about my first day in Mexico. My hope is that this blog will provide a way for me to let you all here in the states see what my days in the Yucatan are like (Yodeling will probably not be a part of it)....as well as give me the opportunity to think in English for fifteen minutes during my day, giving me a huge break mentally. So check and comment regularly. Who knows, maybe I'll learn how to put pictures on here.

Wild Heart?

2007-05-03T09:45:00.000-05:00

I'm in the process of reading "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. I'm aware that many in the Christian community are not huge fans of this, or any other or his books for that matter. And while there are some things that I don't quite agree whole-heartedly with, I'm finding this an excellent read that speaks into a lot of the growing areas of my life. On another note, it is finals week which may just be the best and worst week of the semester all hurled into 7 fabulous days. It seems that there is unlimited time because normal schedules are not afoot, but there are also exams to study for. Exams that could not be studied for in 2 weeks time. Exams that encompass everything that I never attended class to hear. Exams that have a great impact on those things they call grades. I happen to have two of those exams today, and what am I doing? Listening to Shawn McDonald and blogging....enough said.

2007-04-29T12:20:00.000-05:00

I decided to see what kind of coffee I was. I think this is more accurate than they could ever know.

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic

At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung

You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping

Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

2007-04-24T19:51:00.000-05:00

In less than 3 weeks I'll be at Kanakuk, then back to FloMo for the annual Mexico trip, then back to Kanakuk, then I'm moving to Mexico... Is it just me or will I be going between Texas, Missouri, and Mexico quite a bit in the next few months.

But seriously, I'm moving to Mérida, México August 26th for a semester. I will be living with a Mexican family and taking business, archeology, history, and grammar classes all in Spanish. I'm learning to deal with the fear that I'm feeling. I'm trying to apply David's experiences in the Psalms to my fear, knowing that it is the same Big God that came through for him that will come through for me. I want to ask all of you to be praying that God would put faithful believers around me while I'm in an environment that can be pretty dark at times. Out of all of the challenges that I'll face while abroad, including not being around any English-speakers for 4 months, the one I'm most concerned about is the potential lack of Christian fellowship that I will have. Why would God not come through to meet this need if He will meet all of my others?...He will, but for some reason my flesh still wants to doubt Him.

I know the updates have been very occasional, and probably will be for the next couple of months, but once August hits I will be using this blog to journal during my semester abroad. So please, continue to check.

Hasta...

2007-02-08T14:09:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating. You see, I'm a Spanish major. This means that my degree is going to be in something that I, at least partly, already knew a great deal about before starting college. Not only that, but after I return home from studying abroad, I will be fluent... After reviewing these facts I have come to this conclusion: I can float my way through four years of higher education, studying something that I will have already mastered halfway through, never step foot in an advanced science or math classroom and still get a degree from an accredited university? You won't hear me complain.

2006-11-30T10:04:00.000-06:00

Today's forecast-Lubbock:

Cold; slight powdering of snow.

ACTUAL forecast:

Cold; 5 inches of snow and still falling.

I'm not the biggest fan of cold weather, but if it is going to come snow better accompany. Snow in Lubbock is fun because there are people here from parts of Texas that never see snow. So last night a guy was outside running around in shorts and a T-shirt screaming about how he had literally never seen snow before. I wasn't going to tell him that at that time it was only sleet that was falling, so I let him have his fun.

2006-11-20T23:32:00.000-06:00

So I couldn't help but notice that I can hardly call myself a blogger as of late, but it isn't because I have little to say, or that I don't know how to say it, or even that I don't have the time to do it. My unfaithfulness to blogging is for no other reason than laziness. So for that I apologize...to blogger, to the once faithful readership, and to my dear mother who only reads this when someone else tells her to because i've written something that will upset her(See post on October 6th 2005 when I admit to piercing my ear...love you mom).

So, in a form that my buddy Brent uses quite skillfully, I will attempt to redeem myself.

These past four months I've been thinking...
-that I am ridiculously lucky to be plugged in with incredible followers of Christ who love me
-that I have an amazing girlfriend who knocked me off my feet back in June (I'm still recovering)
-that in July of '07 I will be moving out of the country for semester to live in Latin America
-that no matter how long I may go without talking to good friends, we pick right back up as if nothing ever changed
-that I am really ready to graduate college. Only 5 more semesters...ugh
-that God has given me an undeniable passion for Hispanic people and the Spanish language and I can't wait to see how it manifests itself in the future
-that I can't wait for Holiday break so I can catch up with old friends
And finally...
-that the 2006-2007 Red Raiders football season will be coined a "rebuilding year, whether or not any actual rebuilding occurs," as coined by the men of the square table

Thanks for bearing with me

2006-10-04T13:26:00.000-05:00

I have a friend that I have lunch with every wednesday. I love this guy like crazy, mainly because of his honesty. He is very young in his faith, not so much by years, but definitely in terms of growth in his walk. After hanging out and talking, he was very excited when I asked if he would be interested in meeting and reading through a couple of chapters of John each week. After this lunch I always feel way more encouraged than he probably ever could. But I have to say the most enjoyable part is the way he says things you wouldn't expect a normal believer to say, or asks questions that, as simple or awkward as they may be, are so honest that they challenge me to think. He is at such a fun stage in his walk with Christ. You know what I'm talking about, where everything is exciting...and truth is so alive, knowledge tastes so good. It's so much fun!!!

oops, he just called, he's out of class so we're heading to lunch....

2006-10-02T16:35:00.000-05:00

It is definitely October...and I'd be willing to bet that nobody checks this blog anymore.

This semester is flying by already because of my busy schedule...but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm co-leading a Bible study through the Navigators for freshmen guys. We have about 14 or so guys who are faithful in coming and it is so encouraging to see their hearts to grow in the Lord. God is doing so many awesome things that I can't even begin to cover in a blog setting, so give me a call if you want details. And now on to the girl.... Last time I blogged it was requested that I talk about "the girl". Her name is Ashley, she's from Plano and attends UNT. After growing up 20 minutes away from eachother we finally met in Missouri at Kanakuk and, for some unknown reason, she has hung around this long...trust me I'm WAY out of my league on this one.

Here It Is

2006-08-24T07:50:00.000-05:00

To be honest, I've put off for quite some time because there is too much to write about...terrible idea I know. I returned from Kanakuk a couple of weeks ago after 2 months of hanging out with kids, driving boats, and learning a TON. Oddly enough, God put three little kids from Mexico in my cabin that didn't speak a word of English. These kids were at a camp with a bunch of rich white kids, and the fact that they were there at all showed me that God was teaching me something, but that they were all three in MY cabin....Wow. Another awesome thing about this was that Kanakuk did not know that I speak Spanish and they did not know that these kids didn't speak any English. Coincidence??? Never. I'm starting to understand this passion for the Mexican people that I have had for years and I love it.

School is about to start and I'm busy with band, but that means Texas Tech Football! 9 Days till Kick Off! Get ready.

Much more to tell, so if you still read this make sure to look for more postings.

2006-06-12T11:03:00.000-05:00

It isn't really like me to go so long without blogging so I'll have to give a quick summary of my life this past month or so. Things are going really well. I spent two weeks in Missouri at staff training for Kanakuk and learned a lot about what it feels like to be unprepared and broken. I spent a week in Mexico leading a team in constructing a house for a family and learned a lot about what it is like to feel unprepared and broken. I leave for Missouri in ten days to be a counselor for the rest of the summer at a Christian camp and will learn a lot about what it feels like to be unprepared and broken. In all of this I have felt so blessed that God wants to use my brokenness to benefit His kingdom. I can't wait to see what God has for me the rest of the summer.

Thanks to Nathan and Steve-O for making my job in Mexico easy. I had a blast.

2006-05-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

I think that I have studied more in the past two days than I have all other times previously in my life combined. I am more mentally and academically drained than I've ever been, but the good news is that I'm done. Exams are completed and summer is here. I'm going to sleep for three days straight and then drive home...

2006-05-03T11:05:00.000-05:00

That's it! He's out...And you're out too...I don't even know if I'm in anymore.

2006-04-24T12:16:00.000-05:00

Last semester I had one final per day for five days. This finals week I have one final on the first day, and then THREE BACK TO BACK on the second day, and none on the rest. I have a feeling this is going to be very stressful.

2006-04-19T12:47:00.000-05:00

Man, I have had the worst bloggers-block recently. It seems that I have nothing to say. I'll be in the beautiful Ozark Mountains in one month from today at staff week for Kanakuk. In a month and a half I will be in Mexico building homes for God's children in Juarez. In a little over two months I will be back at Kanakuk to have the best two months of my life, thus far, being taught by a bunch of 7 to 13 years olds. I would rather not look any further into the future...it's so cool what God has orchestrated my summer to be like this year, just 9 MORE DAYS of classes and then a few tests. It's unreal.

2006-04-05T17:03:00.000-05:00

I've been getting headaches a lot recently. I think that I need to get my eyes checked, but I would almost rather suffer through the headaches everyday than have to wear glasses. This puts me in a rough situation.

Tonight all of the Texas Tech Kanakuk staff members are meeting to have dinner and discuss our school's kamp t-shirt for the summer. This is the last thing I need, I'm already way too excited about my summer plans and this is just going to fuel my fire.

2006-04-03T12:11:00.000-05:00

I'd have to say that I'm a huge fan of missing school. But I'd also have to say that coming back to school after missing three days sucks. I have WAY too much to do today.

Good news is only one more month of school. Last day of classes-may 4th.

2006-03-31T16:30:00.000-06:00

The surgery went well. I had a physical therapy appointment today and was able to walk on it a little bit. As of now things look great for me to be in full swing by Mexico/Kanakuk time. I'm feeling a little drowsy....

2006-03-28T18:29:00.000-06:00

I just flew from Lubbock to Dallas. The flying time was 46 minutes. 46 MINUTES!!! It takes 5 1/2 hours to drive the same distance. I don't ever want to make that drive again after this realization.

Yay for knee surgery tomorrow......

2006-03-27T12:18:00.000-06:00

There are few things that mark our society today as much as our desire to be politically correct. As annoying as it can be at times I found myself thanking God for it yesterday. I'm talking with a guy who, though he doesn't believe in God, has such a hunger to know the truth, and have formed a great relationship with him. I realized yesterday that it is all because of our culture and his thought process. In his mind set of being politically correct...willing to listen and interested in my beliefs...he has had the opportunity to hear the gospel. He has had the opportunity to ask questions, to get to know about the REAL God, and God has used that to open up a great relationship between this friend and myself. I have no idea what is going to happen...but it's just so darn exciting. As much as I hate society and its made up moral system called "political correctness" I have seen that used for His glory. I just thought I'd share my joy with ya'll.

2006-03-22T12:18:00.000-06:00

It is definitely 30 degrees outside with a 50% chance of snow.
I definitely just saw a guy wearing shorts and a hawaiian shirt.

I started to wonder if that was because of extreme denial or extreme ignorance...because if it was extreme denial, how do I get that?...I mean he didn't even LOOK cold.

2006-03-17T14:42:00.000-06:00

I hurt my knee last september when Nate and Steve-O were in Lubbock and now...

Lateral meniscus surgery...Wednesday, March 29.

I guess I can claim that I walked around (and ran) on a torn meniscus for 7 months....whatever that's worth. Doctor says that i'll need 6 weeks before I can run on it. I say that my thursday night intramural softball game will just be painful that week.

2006-03-12T19:31:00.000-06:00

Alright, I held out long enough. I had to put the word verification on. Stupid junk comments. MAN!

Spring Break!

2006-03-01T12:48:00.000-06:00

It's March. There is a high of 90 in Lubbock today. I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I'm 5 days of class, 4 papers, and three more tests away from spring break. All I really want to do is go play some frisbee golf...

(sighs)
(closes lap top screen)
(hangs head)
(grabs a text book)

2006-02-26T14:03:00.000-06:00

Which is worse...That today was the first day that I vacuumed my room since moving in in August....OR that today was the first day that enough stuff was off my floor so that I possibly could vacuum?

2006-02-23T17:14:00.000-06:00

I had a weird desire to change my major today. hmm

2006-02-21T12:40:00.000-06:00

I was in Fort Worth this weekend for a Navigators conference. It went really well. The speaker was hilarious, the fellowship was unreal, and God was working FOR SURE. Just thought that I would post a few of my favorite ideas that the speaker left me with:

"Now is the only time you will ever have to tell unbelievers about Christ. For the rest of eternity, everyone you come into contact with will know Jesus in a personal way."

"God never discredits effort...just trying to earn His acceptance."

"You should learn to be uncomfortable with certain issues concerning how big God is."

And my favorite by far...

"Bust it for the King!"

Thoughts?

2006-02-16T11:49:00.000-06:00

Right before I moved to Lubbock, my friend miles and I bought a few yellow jumpsuits to pay tribute to the movie Bottle Rocket and to leave our good buddy Brent with a little gift to remember us by. You can go here to see the jumpsuits. Well, anyways I hung mine on my ceiling in my dorm room so when you look up in my room it looks like there is a yellow sky diver about to land on you with outstreched arms. This has sparked so many conversations with guys on my floor about movies and then the discussion goes into how I heard about the movie which then leads in to us talking about church which then leads into an opportunity to share the gospel with people...not exactly what I would have had in mind when thinking about the term "creative evangelism" because it wasn't planned. So I encourage you...hang something weird from your ceiling. God might use THAT too.

2006-02-14T15:18:00.000-06:00

Things that are pretty sweet...

-college
-Kanakuk for 2 months
-Tech Navs
-Texas weather (seriously, I like it)
-coffee shops
-friends both old and new who deeply care about my spiritual growth
-friends both old and new who's spiritual growth I deeply care about
-my new espresso maker and milk steamer
-Mexico '06...you're darn right I'm still going
-AND.......my Jesus who pretty much rocks my face off!

By the way, who started the whole "rocks my face off" thing?

2006-02-12T13:30:00.000-06:00

Last night I went to a documentary made by three college-age kids in 2003. They traveled to Uganda to get a look at the war that is taking place over there. What is happening is that thousands of children between the ages of 5 and 12 are being kidnapped all over this part of Africa. The rebel group is targetting these young children because they are the easiest to brainwash to make them fight for their cause, which is to overthrow the government in Uganda. 7 year-olds carrying AK-47s and hunting knives being forced to murder other people. This is a war that has been taking place for over 17 years now. All of the children in the villages, out of fear of being abducted, travel to the nearest city EVERY night to sleep. They litteraly stay in the streets or wherever they can find, laying by the hundreds looking like kittens huddled up really close together with not a single adult in sight. They have very little access to food and own absolutley nothing. There is a traveling tour going on right now across the country...Lubbock was one of the first stops. If you have an opportunity then GO and see this movie. It isn't for entertainment, it isn't for fun...it is about real stuff that is happening every night, even tonight. You can go to invisiblechildren.com to learn more about it...and on April 29th, all across the United States people will be walking to the nearest big city and sleeping downtown to try and get some government involvement in Uganda. I know this probably sounds weird but if you get a chance then go and see the movie, because it will change the way you view things.

2006-02-08T12:33:00.000-06:00

This is my new profile picture on facebook. For those of you who don't know what facebook is, it is an online yearbook-type-deal for all college students where you can keep in touch with anyone else in college around the country. For some reason I have gotten a lot of feedback regarding my new style...

2006-02-07T12:45:00.000-06:00

Great News.

I received a phone call yesterday from a very important person...one of my heroes actually. This guy's name is Matt and happens to be one of the top directors at Kanakuk Kamps. Kind of intimidated that this guy was actually on the other end of the line of I stuttered out a "h-hey Matt." It was kinda funny. But getting down to it, he was calling to let me know of my acceptance to work at K-1 this summer. Further, he was asking if there was any way that they could twist my arm into working for two months. I said that it would definitely be something I would pray about. So that is incredible news, but I hoped that getting accepted to work there would be God's way of telling me exactly what I should be doing this summer, and now I have to see if He wants me there for two months rather than one. This is a good problem to have so pray for me in my decision-making process.

2006-02-06T00:38:00.000-06:00

Favorite Super Bowl Commercial:

I only got to see the first half because I had to work but...
-without a doubt the one with the mother and her daughter walking up to the father's room with a Get Well Soon balloon. One of the doctors graps the defibrilator and electricutes a fly that is buzzing around the room. The mother and daughter walk in just in time to see the doctor standing near the patient's bed still holding the defibrilator paddles, saying, "Well, that killed him." ...Balloon slowly slides out of girls hand toward ceiling. Then some insurance ad....

What was yours?

2006-02-01T12:37:00.000-06:00

I found out why my chemistry professor is so hard. I initially thought it was just because it was an honors class but it turns out to be much more than that. He graduated from Stanford, and then taught at Yale medical school for a number of years before taking the head honors chemistry professor job here at tech. What have I gotten myself into? And more importantly, why on earth would he want to be here?

2006-01-29T17:48:00.000-06:00

I just ate an entire family size bag of funyuns.

Suddenly my stomach doesn't feel so great.

2006-01-26T15:12:00.000-06:00

This weekend I am heading out to my grandmother's farm with my small group guys for a hunting trip. We are spending the weekend shooting things and having guy bonding time. I am so excited it's unreal. But the fact of the matter is, this is a weekend that we all need. Even though we've been together for a semester now there is still a real need for some extended time together to further develop the trust and brotherhood that every small group needs. This weekend will hopefully do just that.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to eat steak and shoot things.

2006-01-24T12:09:00.000-06:00

I saw the movie Glory Road the other night. I know what you're thinking..if you've seen one Disney sports movie, you've seen them all. The underdog rises up and wins it all. Well....yeah. But go see this one. It's well made and pretty thought provoking. It's $7.50 well spent for sure.

One more thing....I'm a little bitter that there are no student discounts at the movie theaters in Lubbock.

2006-01-20T14:29:00.000-06:00

New diagnosis on the knee. I have what they call Patella Femoral Syndrom. What it means is that whenever I put pressure on my knee...my knee cap rubs against another bone in my knee causing PAIN. It took 6 doctors with a combined college career of 60 years to figure that one out. COME ON!

2006-01-19T13:46:00.000-06:00

I finally went to the doctor about my knee that has been bothering me for the past 5 months. It turns out that when Nathan and Steve-O were down here in Lubbock in September, they witnessed me tearing my Meniscus. Stubborn as I am, I shrugged it off and waited 5 months before finding out the pain wasn't getting any lighter and a doctor should look at it. I have an appointment with Sports Medicine today. I just want it to be over with....ugh

2006-01-17T12:32:00.000-06:00

I love those times when physical drain comes at the exact same time as spiritual refreshment. It highlights that God is in control, often unconventional, and has your every need in His radar. This weekend was one of those times. I just got very little sleep, because my house was packed with family, which means Craig sleeps on the floor, But I had a great time teaching high school sunday school at my church, and had an incredible interview for an organization that is doing so much to further the Kingdom of God. It is really an honor and a learning experience have both of those opportunities.

Nap time....

2006-01-12T17:29:00.000-06:00

I had a professor last semester that told the class that everything was math. The walls were math, our cars were math, our lives were math. I had a professor yesterday tell the whole class that everything was history. I had a professor today tell the whole class that everything was chemistry. There seems to be a problem here, each subject can't be everything can it? If it is, then why am I taking so many different classes, and paying thousands of dollars to take 5 classes that will all teach me everything, if one class alone will teach me everything? Or maybe I would appreciate it if a professor would approach a subject as it actually is...a SUBJECT and not the only thing that matters in this world.

My chemistry professor actually said that we would be studying reality and analyzing it without applying our former beliefs. He said that he doesn't want his students to be too lazy to think for themselves so they put their beliefs in some fairytale. I can't wait until the day when reality is discovered by all.

2006-01-09T09:14:00.000-06:00

Alright...I head back to Lubbock tomorrow morning, early. But, I head back here next friday evening for my Kanakuk interview on Sunday. AND, I'm teaching the high school class at my church while many of them are off on a retreat. My Kanakuk interview was orginally in October, click here to see the earlier post, but there was some paperwork that I needed mailed in from places like Florida, and Kansas that took a little time, so I rescheduled. This week will be quite eventful as I try and learn my class load, work a few days, as well as drive back and forth from Dallas a few times...if only I had my own personal jet.

2006-01-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

A month off from school sure seems to go by fast.

2005-12-30T11:52:00.000-06:00

Well, I guess I forgot to say how the wedding went. It was awesome. She was amazingly beautiful, and he didn't stop smiling the entire time we were at the church, which was about 5 hours by the time the actual ceremony started.

Now, on to this week......Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Alabama. I don't care care how big of an elephant they may have as a mascot, they will need to bring a little more than that on Monday. Tune in and watch for me on TV....

2005-12-26T23:25:00.000-06:00

I don't know about ya'll, but I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt on Christmas day...

2005-12-22T11:08:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow, one of my best friends gets married. Tomorrow, I am a groomsman for the first time in my life. Tomorrow, I get to stand at an alter with people that I would have never even met if it weren't for our mutual love for Christ. Tomorrow, I get to answer the question, "How do you know Jonathan?" with the answer, "I worked with him at Kanakuk, and he encouraged me in my spiritual life more than he could ever know and it's an honor to be one of his groomsmen."

I'd have to say that 90% of my closest Christian friends, I would probably not hang out with if it weren't for the ONE thing we have in common, God. And it is incredible to see how that ONE thing in common sparks the most meaningful relationships. This past week of being with my friend Jonathan and his fiance's families, I have come to understand the unity that Christians should have...at least as good as it can get in this broken world.

So, soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Cherry, thank you for allowing me to be a part of this, and I wish the best for you in your future together.

2005-12-19T15:59:00.000-06:00

My grades came in. Funny story actually

Spanish: A
Trigonometry: A
Band : A (I think everyone gets one)
History: A (by far my hardest class)
Political Science: B

Wait a minute. Did I just get a B in my MAJOR? Haha, oh well. I can't complain because I did absolutely NO studying for that class. I'll take that 3.8 GPA, which I'm very grateful for and have a merry Christmas, hope you all will too.

2005-12-15T10:32:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm in FloMo but this Christmas break is going to go really fast. I'm in a wedding next week so I will be spending a lot of time this upcoming week helping with that. In fact I won't be at the college Christmas party Saturday because I'll be helping my groom-to-be friend move. The day the wedding is over, I will be heading directly to my Granny's house for Christmas. After a few days out on her farm I will be heading up to northern Oklahoma to visit my other Grandmother for New Years. BUT!, I won't get to stay for New Years because I have to report on Dec. 30 for the bowl game which keeps me busy until Jan. 2. Not much of a "break" but it will be fun for sure.

2005-12-13T09:45:00.000-06:00

My roommate left for home yesterday afternoon and left me with 2 exams and 2 days alone. Last night, however, was the best nights sleep I've had because I was alone in the room, but it still sucks being stuck here for 2 days studying when the entire student population is done with tests. There are very few sujects that have finals on wednesday of this week and political science just happens to be one of them. I guess I drew the unlucky card on that one. I'm outta here tomorrow afternoon.......

2005-12-11T17:13:00.000-06:00

My exam on Friday went really well. Only three more to go. Today when I was supposed to be studying for my other exams, I "wasted" three hours watching the 101 most outrageous moments of Saturday Night Live. I have to say, I don't think my time could have possibly been spent any better.

Church today officially put me in the Christmas mood. Bring on the eggnog and candy canes...

2005-12-09T15:02:00.000-06:00

I wasted most of dead day. Very little studying was done, lots of tv watching and sleeping though. I tried to study quite a bit this morning...Now I'm off to my first final.

A little scared...

DEAD DAY '05

2005-12-08T11:11:00.000-06:00

No classes
No band rehearsal
No leaving the room
Tons of studying for finals

At least the first three seemed nice...

2005-12-07T11:01:00.000-06:00

Wow! The coldest I've ever been in my life was about two hours ago. 7 degrees with 30 mph winds. I never really understood the true meaning of wind chill until I walked across campus in Lubbock in December. It was below 0 with the wind chill this morning. I guess the cold held off long enough.