Random photos to end the month

Thanksgiving at the Central House: Great food, bad photos

In contrast to the Thanksgiving extraganzas of the past two years, this year's dinner was decidedly low key and just for students and staff. The cooks were in fine form including yours truly who this year prepared the pumpkin pies, whipped cream and macaroni and cheese. Yes, mac 'n cheese. And, no, I did not simply open a box. I prepared the dish from scratch. A majority of students said mac 'n cheese is a staple on their Thanksgiving tables. Who am I to argue?

A special note to any Grimsleys that may be reading this: the family scalloped corn recipe has become a staple on regular the Central House menu.

The last, and possibly best, field trip of the semester

We have just arrived "home" in Merida following a 2-night stay in the Mayan village of Tinum, located about 2 hours from here. I admit I was not looking forward to the trip and had considered cancelling it several times. This group has been a tough group mainly because they have no tolerance for uncertainty in any way, shape or form. Staying in a Mayan village with local families is loaded with uncertainty. Study abroad is loaded with uncertainty. Life is loaded with uncertainty. Step up.

In preparation for all of our field trips, I provide detailed logistical information both as part of the course that all students are required to take, via email and via an information sheet posted on the main bulletin board. We have a reading or two followed by discussions plus plenty of time for questions. Preparation for this trip included a discussion of possible topics of conversations with their host families. I suggested small gifts that they could bring as a thank you. Students filled out a form about how much "comfort" they require in terms of bathrooms and overall living conditions that was then forwarded to the ex-Central College professors who live in the villages and who coordinate this trip. My one return student talked about his experiences during his previous semester here. We reviewed vocabulary that could be used to turn down food without sounding ungracious. I drew the line, however, at power point presentations and detailed information about the families each student will be living with mainly because I do not make the final placements.

In spite of all of the preparation, tension was high as we rolled into Tinum early Friday afternoon. As we arrived in our immediate neighborhood, I started pointing out the houses in which "our" families live. The silence was profound; there was a definite odor of flop sweat in the air. Unloading the van and assembling in our central meeting site took forever. Finally, there was no avoiding the inevitable and each student was accompanied to his or her home for two nights.

Without going into all of the details of the weekend because I am tired and need to get home to take a shower, the ride home today was full of chatter, stories, laughs, Mayan words that they had learned, good feelings and plans to print pictures to send back to their families.

The Program Evaluation

Last week was the longest week of my life! Already tightly scheduled, everything had to be changed because two of the three members of the evaluation team arrived 24 hours later than expected. Their levels of preparation varied greatly, too, in spite of the information they were provided prior to the arrival date as they had requested. The binders I had prepared were indexed, cross-indexed, alphabetized, color-coded and about a foot thick. I had not included any extra or extraneous information; I had followed the directions set forth by the evaluation requirements. There simply was no time to prepare upon arrival or to play catch up during the shortened week. I swear at least one team member never opened the binder.

By the time we finally met for an exit interview over dinner late on Friday night, I was too tired and too frustrated to care. Luckily, the verbal report was mainly positive. Some of their recommendations were helpful while others were not. All agreed that they had no idea of what was involved in running this type of program and the opportunities that are available to students whether they are language majors or not.

The team is to submit a written report within 30 days.

This week has been much better!

The Chiapas Report

Taking photos is prohibited in the indigenous village of San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, but, as usual, someone did not honor the local rules. These photos are once again courtesy of Google. I am happy to say my students did not take photos (at least none that I know of) yet, as you can see from these photos, the temptation to do so is great, and I actually had mixed feelings about posting these photos.

My admonition to my students to not take photos received a great assist from the authorities inside the church who confiscated the camera of a tourist who was videotaping one of the processions. He looked outraged that a mere native would dare to do something like that; I doubt he got his camera back. We all cheered silently.

At the same time, students realized they were truly the outsiders and that all of the ceremonies, processions and customs were not being staged for their benefit like a ballet folklorico. The ability to observe the local rituals both in rural Chiapas and in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas generated much thoughtful discussion and many, many questions about what we were seeing, about our own customs and beliefs regarding death, and about our role as tourists.

We saw howler monkeys, tucans and wild parrots in the archeological site of Palenque, our first stop in Chiapas. Everyone shopped. Only one student got sick. None were robbed. No one was injured.

The trip is long...a total of 14 hours of travel time each way. While en route, students have several assignments to complete regarding the changes in geography and how those changes affect daily life (housing, clothing, politics, food, transportation, etc.) On the way home, we turn to the DVD player in the bus to keep us from losing our minds. This trip, I was the only one who came prepared with DVDs. As a result, we watched 24 episodes of "Modern Family" which turned out to be an excellent choice especially compared to last spring when we all had to sit through such classics as "Stepbrothers." "Modern Family" is witty and entertaining. We laughed.

In other news, a program evaluation team arrives on Sunday evening and will be here until next Saturday. The team consists of a biology professor from Central, a Spanish professor from Dakota Wesleyan and the director of a study abroad program from Susquahana University in Pennsylvania. They are charged with evaluating the administrative side of the program, the academics and what they are calling "opportunities for experiential learning" which means homestays, internships, cultural activities, excursions, classes at our affiliated universities, and any other thing they can think of. They will be using an evaluation tool created by an organization called the Forum on Education Abroad. Their schedule is packed.

I have been preparing for this visit for about a year and feel confident and sick to my stomach all at the same time. Tune in next week to hear the results.