The Sound of Music

In the WILK at BYU (Wilkinson Student Center) there is a wall. Against that wall stands a piano. Upon that piano lay fancy fingers of talent. My first day at BYU, I thought it was really weird to have a random piano in the school "cafeteria" and thought it was even weirder that people actually want to sit and play it in public (piano performance in front of others might be my biggest fear in the world). That's BYU though. It's cool I guess to have dramatic LOTR music in the background on my way to take a test; it's rather appropriate, actually. I'm not mocking. Only the truly talented and fearless do this and that's admirable.

I started playing the piano when I was 8. I think my sister Bethany was taking lessons and one day she was sick or something so I went to her lesson for her. (What? IDK) Anyway, that was that. I played for about 10 years...whenever I could find a teacher I liked. I was picky, but I learned from some really amazing women (namely Deanna Beams and Nicole Scarbrough). At BYU, though, this is the story for 99.9% of the student population and needless to say, I wasn't about to practice drills and "amateur" songs on the public pianos. It's been three years now since I've played and today I realized that music isn't the same to me anymore. That makes me sad. I really miss playing and I miss being a part of creating music. It's a really cool feeling. It's definitely one of the only beautiful things I could create. I'm not throwing a pity-party, I'm just saying I miss it. AND, if anyone has a spare piano in Utah that they want to give me, I have space in my apartment. Just saying ;-)

It's so

COLD!

The Next Step...

Wow. I don't know why the GRE gave me so much worry... it's not like I've never taken a standardized test. I'm horrible at testing. That's true. But this was especially overwhelming and I hardly slept last night... but now its OVER! I forgot how good it feels to accomplish something really important or big and am ecstatic to get my degree in April.

I also feel an overwhelming gratitude. I am so excited to be a speech-language pathologist and help people everyday. I love going to class and learning about all of it. I am also grateful for wonderful examples in my life, friends and family who take what they have and make something of it... who make it part of their lives and let it change them for the better. There are a great many talents I wish I had, or that I wish I hadn't given up on, but right now I just feel very blessed that I am moving forward towards a goal and loving it. That is something I haven't been able to do by myself. I know it's been given to me, academic success, through a pretty amazing principle called consecration. And I'm really, really grateful.

Wish me luck on graduate school applications. I'm applying to:

1) Arizona State University
2) University of Utah
3) University of Hawaii
4) University of Texas-Dallas

GREat!

It just might kill me... but it's totally worth it, right?

Wish me luck and send me a miracle!

In Conclusion

We are finally home! Okay, we've been home for about 5 weeks now, but still. Mexico was so. much. fun! We ate amazing food, saw amazing places, and met amazing people. Sometimes just thinking about our lazy Saturday walks down to the center for Don Sebastian's ice cream or vacations on Ruben's bus or watching crazy guys jumping into the harbor to catch the peso I just threw in brings a happy and familiar feeling to me.  Everyone should take the opportunity to travel if they get it. Even if it isn't out of the country...there is something about seeing something new, and experiencing that with friends or family or both that offers a little something extra to your memories and to your life and to YOU!

First preschool we ever saw in Mexico so we thought this was pretty dang creepy. Then we learned that all preschools are called "jardins" or "gardens".

Chiles en Nogada

Christmas on a Plate! or The Mexican Flag on a Plate!

No, but really isn't this absolutely beautiful? And to be quite honest you have not had true Puebla (the state we lived in) Mexican food until you have had this. It is unlike anything I have ever tasted before, takes about 3 days to make, and is a dish that comes only once a year (because of the season of the "nogal" or walnut tree from which the sauce is made). We were SO lucky to try it with our friend, Julietta's family. She invited us over the last week we were in Mexico to celebrate her sister's birthday (whom I had only even met once!) with the fam. These people are the friendliest you will ever meet!

July y Kami

Since I'm a month behind with all my posts...

So, one month ago we celebrated the blessed 4th of July. In Mexico. Because there are cheap fireworks here. Just kidding! We celebrated because we have all come to reflect on and more sincerely appreciate the place we call home. Mexico and the Hispanic culture have been fun and wonderful to experience. There is a kindness and spirit of togetherness that I have felt only here. Plus, Spanish is just an awesome language and I'm not afraid to speak it if I'm talking to anyone under the age of 6! (Even Ukrainian KIDS are intimidating.)

That being said, there just isn't another place like the good ´ole U.S. of A. In all honesty, I´ve thought a lot about what to say to ´´honor´´ my country in this 4th of July post, but I feel ignorant this year. I took an amazing class by Elder Holland´s son my first semester at BYU called American Heritage. I felt and learned a lot of truth about our founding and our growth as a country and since then I´ve felt like a knowledgeable, patriotic, and grateful citizen. And then, as life usually goes, something happens to make you see you don´t know as much as you thought. For me that was the death of my 31-year-old cousin, Sgt. Glen Jacob Whetten, in Afghanistan this March. I never really got to know him well (I was afraid of ALL the ´´old´´ cousins when I was a kid) but his family are my closest relatives (and truly amazing people) and seeing them hurt was a poignant reality for me.

I think ´´sacrifice´´ has been a word that I have tossed around in expressions of my gratitude for this country I GET to live in, but not one I understood. I still don´t claim to understand it fully, but some people I love definitely do. And I am sincerely grateful. Grateful that so many are willing to choose and/or accept to bear the weight of that reality (sacrifice) when they or someone they love serves in our country´s armed forces.

Aunt Amy, Pink family, Lee family, Whetten family, and Jake... Thanks for your testimonies, courage, and strength. You are thought of often and are in many prayers. We love you and feel blessed to be your family. I really do love this country and because of Jake will forever act to honor it in the ways I can.

From Jake:

I was not scared of dying,
I did what I was trained to do,
Face Adversity on the battlefield,
Head to head.
With my rifle in one hand,
And my faith in the other,
I faced Adversity.

Know that when I went down,
I went down, standing up,
That I fell forward, not backward,
Not running away, but charging ahead
And that I faced Adversity.

I tell you now,
It wasn’t death that I feared;
It’s not knowing what I was made of,
That’s what I feared.
It’s knowing that I fell for what is right,
That I embrace.

As far as regrets,
I had none,
Other than not enough times saying,
That I love you.

--Glen Jacob Whetten
3/19/78 – 3/12/10
KIA Afghanistan

Empty Holes It Fills... My Precious

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,

Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.

It lies behind stars and under hills,

And empty holes it fills.

It comes first and follows after,

Ends life, kills laughter.

(answer: darkness)

So, when I was just a wee-little-tot, 5 let's say, I have a memory of sitting in our basement. All was dark except the humming glow of our giant box T.V. My older siblings were all lounging about watching a movie and I was curled in a ball on the floor looking at the descending light from the stairs. I really wanted to go upstairs but I distinctly remember a sibling (who will remain unnamed) saying to me, "You have to watch it! If you don't you're lame. Everyone loves this movie." (or something to that effect). Anyway, I remember 2 scenes from this animated gem: a large, dark, red-ish mountain with a spiraling trail with little colored dots (people I assume) on it. And second, I remember this:

For those of you who are "lame" and never had the privilege, this is the 1977 animated version of J.R.R.Tolkein's classic: The Hobbit.

Now, as a 5-year-old I was very impressionable and you can only imagine what horrors that raspy voice and slimy green creature left me with. Okay, so not really any, and I hadn't even thought about that childhood memoir until our day-trip to Cuetzalan. It...Was...Awesome! We went spelunking and obviously it was my first time, WHICH come to find out was totally a deprivation as a dating college student. Apparently everyone has gone by age 22, but nonetheless-- I love it!!! There aren't any good pictures, but think of Gollum and the movie clip. That's all I could think of while I was down there!

delicate

3-year-old showing off outside the caves

Really pleasant park with lots and lots of birds

For the Beauty

You know that charming scene in Little Women where all the sisters and Marmy gather round the piano in their rag curls and old nightgowns? They sing "For the Beauty of the Earth," light their candle, leave Marmy with a kiss and one-by-one continue up the stairs and off to bed. That's how Veracruz was. I mean, the song is how Veracruz was, but referencing it in Little Women adds the charm factor. In other words, we loved this vacation.

We started at dawn on the beach. Really, the ocean is unmatched in it's majesty. I sit and watch it for hours and it still leaves me amazed. It's hard to see it and not think of God and His grandeur. I love it. I always thought that if a guy wanted me to marry him, he would have to propose on the beach because nothing is more thoughtful or romantic. Girls... So silly. 

We also saw some more ruins, which quite honestly didn't come close to Palenque so I was a little critical. From here, we went to the Veracruz LDS Temple. It was good and despite the awkwardness that can come from language barriers, it was a wonderful, much-needed experience. We also went to the Veracruz Aquarium which was SO COOL!!! I sound like a 7-year-old on their first field trip but seriously, I never realized how many amazing creations God has filled our beautiful earth with. Example:

 

The Blind Eye Tetra! For real!? That is a fish with no eyes. Crazy. And so cool! I also loved the mini jelly-fish things. I stood and watched a 3ft glass box with hundreds of them for at least 15 minutes. They were unreal! Oh and speaking of real or unreal... they currently have a Ripley's Believe It Or Not exhibit in the same building and it was one of my favorite museums I've ever seen. Pictures don't do anything justice, so we stopped taking them after about 3 minutes, regrettably. We did get this one though:

 

Can you guess what it is? Good job! It's a chastity belt!

Oh, and this was cool too. Some guy created a lovely painting as he swam across the English Channel. Who thinks of such things??

Be grateful for all the fascinating and even mundane creations all around you. They really are SO COOL!

This Won't Do It Justice...

Welcome to Palenque! This is the beautiful Mayan civilization which was once absorbed into the jungle and is now a famous archeological site in Mexico's Chiapas!

It's hard to judge how massive these things are from a picture, but in the bottom right corner you can see three girls at its base.
When we were there, a few buildings were being excavated. This meant that some entries were closed off, but it also meant that several reliefs and inscriptions were newly awakened before our eyes...


One of my favorite ruins was this quaint little moss-covered abode on the top of this hill. The steps leading up to it were so unlike any other buildings'. Little things like that make me want to know the stories of the people inhabiting this place so so so long ago. Do you sometimes wonder about the people you will be sitting down with in the millennium reminiscing about your mortal sojourn with? I sometimes wonder about walking past a group of friends in such a conversation only to realize they are the Mayan laborers who laid the crooked steps which I climbed to reach the top of this hill 2000 years later. I'll stop often. And I'll spend long periods of "time" finally learning of and knowing these people who left traces of their mysteries for me to ponder.
I also loved the ruins which weren't grand and monumental temples or palaces. Those are awe-inspiring for sure, but I liked this community of homes we wondered upon. It's just snug up tight in the jungle and full of living. There was one particular opening with no roof and covered in vines and moss. I could easily see myself in a simple wild-animal-hide dress and dreadlocks carrying a slab of stone and chisel settling down in this little nook to record my daily journal entry.

...Or not...

Good day... for sure.

Do-da-do-da Dip Dip

Ruben (awesome bus driver): "You want to go to a swimming pool?" (in Spanish)
13 sweaty, unbathed tourists, "For sure! That sounds really refreshing."

Bus enters jungle.

Me: "Oh, I thought we were going to a pool?"
James: "We're probably still on our way."

Bus stops...

 

Seriously? What could be more relaxing than a natural pool surrounded by jungle and waterfalls?

Then we explored.

LARSP

Ugh! You don't even want to know...

Well, I secretly find it really interesting and am way excited to be a pro and actually use it (Language Assessment and Remediation Procedure) but learning it... not cool.

...So over it.

BarBarA

Sometimes I wish Barbara was here. Licking wires and sharing her black cat Barbie and scraping away at an apple with her one front tooth. She makes me laugh. I love kids. I love crazy kids! I hope I have some of my own. I hope I get to work with kids when I graduate.

Culture

When I first got there, all sorts of judgments swirled about in my head: joyless; calloused; detached; cold... very cold. Arriving mid-winter, it's needless to say that they personified their gray surroundings rather perfectly.

Fast-forward a bit...enter the rickety elevator, approach the tall dark door in the dimly lit hallway, and as it opens...a strange warmth ekes through.

"Haullo! Welcome! Welcome!"

Confused. I know everyone is different and that forming an opinion about a culture, place, or people from the initial 5 minutes isn't fair, but her hospitality caught me off guard. If this is Ukraine, what is that cold place I left at the door, and who are those cold faces which "greeted" me while there?

Inside. Outside. They really are two very different places. 5 months and that didn't change...but my understanding did and it's something I was reminded of just the other day. See, it has to do with sacrifice. It has to do with respect for a whole. It has to do with pride.

I remember asking Olga for the first time about the public attitude, the public face of Ukraine.

"The Great Patriotic War. Our life has been very, very hard. Why should we act happy. We should remember. So many of our people died." That's the gist of what I remember. Depending on your source, the number is around 30 million... Do you comprehend that number of souls? I struggle to. 30 million USSR soldiers and civilians died in the Great Patriotic War.

Whether or not their philosophy of solemn remembrance is the best, and unfamiliar or controversial as it is, they as a people honor a memory, honor a time, honor what has been and what now is... and they do it in their joint way. I think the easiest explanation is, "It's culture." But that really doesn't tell much. I'm just grateful I saw it and lived amidst it and was in a small degree part of it. Despite the personal effects the differences had on me (depression), it's better to have experienced for myself ... In experience, an inimitable love grows and that's something you can have forever.

My mom sent me this video clip. It really is amazing, and it reminded me about how real and undeniable life is outside of my little bubble and how learning from people who are different from you enriches life.

This video shows the winner of " Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II.

The first monument our native coordinator took us by was this: The Monument to an Unknown Soldier