From October 14th to 20th, we, extension students, underwent the
trip to New Mexico and Arizona state. Though we encountered tons of
difficulties such as our two flights being cancelled, using a day just
for moving, our traveling days being shortened, it raining in Arizona,
and having no time to visit some places, the trip was the most memorable
in my entire life.
First of all,
we explored Santa Fe in New Mexico. I felt typical "New Mexican taste"
there. At the Capital of New Mexico, I saw the veritable drawing painted
by Anita Rodriguez. The title was "My Lowrider Heaven". It was
extremely colorful and it seemed like the skulls in the picture were on
the verge of moving and dancing. The other thing that I felt "New
Mexican taste" was at The Plaza. Some vendors were colorful including
light blue, red, and light pink. Plus, some flowers at the plaza were
pretty. At The Palace of Governors, there were many Zia flags along the
wall. The building is adobe style. To tell the truth, most of the
buildings in Santa Fe were built with the same style. Some buildings
have vivid blue window frames.
Next we enjoyed the ride to Arizona. Since I'm attracted to the
indigenous studies of Australia, learning a lot about Native Americans
was also fascinating. In terms of Indians, we felt their cultures a tiny
bit at The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Acoma Pueblo, and Acoma
and Laguna high school. I was impressed by one woman's words. She was
our guide at the museum and she is from the Navajo tribe. She stated
"this is my country, this is my home". Indeed they were the first people
who inhabited the U.S., I somehow used to assume Indians gave their
lands to the Euro-American settlers. At Acoma Pueblo, I realized there
might be a common way of thinking between Acoma Pueblo Indians and
Aborigini people in Australia. Both of them believe that life and
spirits live in everything and they are compatible with Mother Nature.
They underwent slavery from settlers, also. About the blow hole, the
Wapatuki people believe that there's wind and that is a voice from God
who tries to communicate with the Wapatuki. At Acoma and Laguna high
school, students introduced their traditional songs and typical Mexican
food such as chili, corn chips, and their handmade bread for us. I was
moved by their kindness such as welcoming everyone, and their time for
showing dance and the time for making the handmade bread.
Finally, at the Grand Canyon, four of us participated in the park
ranger historical tour. The most astonishing thing was that believe it or not, the ranger said the temperature goes down to
about minus 100 ℃ at the very bottom of the canyon but still Native
Americans live there. Can you believe it? The Native Americans have been hunted and moved a lot there while
connecting and appreciating with nature and Mother Earth. Besides, the ranger told us so many behind stories relevant to the Grand Canyon so I reassured by myself that I do love learning history and new things. Plus the scenery was of course totally awesome. Moreover, all of the creature and nature which live there including beautiful blue birds which were tweeting frequently, big squirrels which were standing and ready to fight to some of the extension members that was hilarious, a lot of cacti which were exotic since I've rarely seen so many cacti, and so on were tremendously stunning.
First of all,
we explored Santa Fe in New Mexico. I felt typical "New Mexican taste"
there. At the Capital of New Mexico, I saw the veritable drawing painted
by Anita Rodriguez. The title was "My Lowrider Heaven". It was
extremely colorful and it seemed like the skulls in the picture were on
the verge of moving and dancing. The other thing that I felt "New
Mexican taste" was at The Plaza. Some vendors were colorful including
light blue, red, and light pink. Plus, some flowers at the plaza were
pretty. At The Palace of Governors, there were many Zia flags along the
wall. The building is adobe style. To tell the truth, most of the
buildings in Santa Fe were built with the same style. Some buildings
have vivid blue window frames.
Next we enjoyed the ride to Arizona. Since I'm attracted to the
indigenous studies of Australia, learning a lot about Native Americans
was also fascinating. In terms of Indians, we felt their cultures a tiny
bit at The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Acoma Pueblo, and Acoma
and Laguna high school. I was impressed by one woman's words. She was
our guide at the museum and she is from the Navajo tribe. She stated
"this is my country, this is my home". Indeed they were the first people
who inhabited the U.S., I somehow used to assume Indians gave their
lands to the Euro-American settlers. At Acoma Pueblo, I realized there
might be a common way of thinking between Acoma Pueblo Indians and
Aborigini people in Australia. Both of them believe that life and
spirits live in everything and they are compatible with Mother Nature.
They underwent slavery from settlers, also. About the blow hole, the
Wapatuki people believe that there's wind and that is a voice from God
who tries to communicate with the Wapatuki. At Acoma and Laguna high
school, students introduced their traditional songs and typical Mexican
food such as chili, corn chips, and their handmade bread for us. I was
moved by their kindness such as welcoming everyone, and their time for
showing dance and the time for making the handmade bread.
In
conclusion, this tour in New Mexico and Arizona was
tremendously exotic and rewarding because all of the architecture in Santa Fe were far different from
Spokane and Japan so that was totally fascinating, I felt the Native
American culture was terrific, and I totally fall in love with the exquisite view at the Grand Canyon, and we had the greatest encounter with the park ranger there.