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Marvelous Memories

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How amazing a Southwest trip was! This word is the first feeling when I went back to my dorm form the Southwest trip. On October 17 to 23, I took a trip to the Southwest with Extension students and our teachers. Through this trip, I could really enjoy and learn many things such as, cultures, religion, language, art and nature. This trip was absolutely fabulous and it became the best trip in my life.

Mexican Food
First, I had experience about different cultures between the Southwest and Spokane. When I arrived at Santa Fe, I felt that a life style is slower than Spokane. When I first visited Spokane, I felt the same things but I thought that Santa Fe is more slowly. People who live in Santa Fe are very calm. I really liked this style and I felt that I was released something. Next, I had free time at Santa Fe and I ate Mexican food. Mexican food was very spicy and hot because these foods were included “chili” and “salsa”. These food are traditional ingredient and famous for the Southwest. Other cultural differences are architecture. Buildings of this area were called “Adobe”. It is the traditional way for people who lived at Santa Fe to build buildings. Moreover, it used a mixture of mud and straw and dried under the sun. The color of adobe is reddish brown and the color of the sky is pure blue. Therefore, these colors of contrast were amazing so I can’t forget this view.

Second, when I visited the Pueblo Cultural Center, I learned about Native Americans religion. At first, Pueblo means village in Spanish and Pueblo Indians are the indigenous people of the Southwest. Their religion has been connected with nature. It means that they believe nature the Gods such as, God of earth and God of rain. When I learned this religion, I recalled Japanese religion, Shinto. The reason why I recalled Shinto is the way of thinking about God is very similar to Indian religions and Japanese religion. The symbol colors of Pueblo Indians are white, red, black and green. Each one of these colors has meaning so, white represents lord, red represents hardship, black represents signs of thunder and Green represents people. Therefore, these colors were used for many things such as, clothes and painting. When I heard these meanings, I was impressed by them and also, I was proud that way of thinking to God is very similar between Pueblo Indians and Japanese.

Third, fortunately, I could visit two schools which are New Mexico University (NMU) and Acoma Pueblo High School during this trip. I mediated well what is language through these good opportunities. I would like to tell two things about them. One thing is English dialect. When I talked with a boy who is a Acoma Pueblo High School student, I couldn’t understand his English at all because of his intonation. I was very shocked about that, and I leaned that there are many kinds of English even by American speakers. Another one is the importance of language. I talked with a man who studies Japanese, and also he can speak 5 languages. I was so surprised by that fact, so I asked him why can you speak 5 languages. He said to me that languages allow us to go to the next world, so I like to learn language. When I heard these words, I thought, “How wonderful it is! ”.  As he said, I thought to learn language is really important to know other countries. Moreover, I want to learn English more.

Forth, I went to so many museums such as, painting and pottery during this trip. Honestly, before this trip I was not interested in museum but my mind was changed!! On the contrary, I really enjoyed them. Especially, I really enjoyed seeing to the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art. It is located at the Grand Canyon and there are many paintings of the Grand Canyon. I was really moved by these paintings so I looked at them carefully for a long time.

Grand Canyon
Finally, I was moved by huge nature especially, the Grand Canyon. When I first saw that, I just screamed. It was beyond my imagination. The Grand Canyon is 277miles length, 1 mile depth, and 18 miles width! To my surprise, it was once under water!!! As proof sharks teeth have been found in rocks near the top of the Grand Canyon. There is a long, long history in the Grand Canyon, so, I could see many kinds of stratum. The bottom of this stratum represents 70 million ago. When I saw that, I thought how tiny I am and also, it took a inconceivably long time to create these superb natural places.  Moreover, I was released from some worries somehow.

Marvelous Friends
During this trip, I learned many things every day about culture, religion, language, art, nature. Moreover, these memories changed my view points about myself. I had many superb experiences through this trip. This great trip became an unforgettable trip for me.

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