 |
| Sky City |
First of all, I saw fantastic huge scenery from the airplane. It was altogether sundrenched and temperature was higher than Spokane. Everything such as nature, geography, and weather was very different in New Mexico and Arizona. When I arrived at Albuquerque, I was really surprised to see the buildings which are called Adobe. It was totally different from Spokane’s houses, because they were made of mud and straw. It was interesting for me to see the different types of buildings. Now it was time to start this trip!!!!
Second, I found interesting thing through conversation in Japanese with people who attend the University of New Mexico. I joined the Japanese class when I visited the UNM. I met a guy who can speak five languages. For example, He can speak English, Spanish, German, Chinese and Japanese. At first, I felt his Japanese is very good, because he can speak Japanese fluently. I asked him “Why are you studying in Japanese.” He said to me “My girlfriend is Japanese and she attends in Ritsumeikan University in Japan.” I felt it was so fabulous, because even though Japan is far away from the U.S. Japanese is spread out all over the world. If people study Japanese, I can speak with them. They inspired me as a second language learner.
Third, I felt big differences between Southwest churches and Spokane churches. I think the most important church is San Miguel Mission, because I researched about it during American West class and I found the most important point. Why do I think of it? It shows mixing of Spanish culture and Native American culture which is the big point. When it was built long time ago, the story of Native American was terrible. The Spanish took away everything from them and they had to obey Spanish people. Native Americans believed in “Mother Earth” and “Father Sky.” However, Spanish people wanted them to change their own religion. They obeyed Spanish people. When I visited this church, I saw a painted Jesus on a buffalo hide. It was my first time to see the painted Jesus. I have never seen it before. It makes me very sad, because Native Americans had no choice to choose their own religion .
 |
| Grand Canyon |
On the other hand, I learned some cultural thing at Acoma pueblo. It was called “Sky city” because it is on top of the mesa. Native American people still live there. I met a guide who lives in Sky city. He speaks two languages, English and Traditional Native American language. During the tour of Sky city, he always said to us “We try to study our traditional culture.” I thought that is very hard work for them to keep their own traditional religion such as cerebrating something in Kiva with only men. However they are still doing that these days. I felt that they live with their own culture and we live with our own culture.
Finally, my favorite place was Georgia O’keefe Museum in Santa Fe. I saw a lot of paintings which is written by Georgia O’keefe. There were a lot of fantastic paintings. I felt a energetic and sorrowful from paintings. Why did I feel like this? It's because Georgia used light color and dark color for her abstract painting style which means “NOUTAN” in Japanese. She learned a lot of painting patterns including Japanese style. I never thought that Georgia is related to Japan. I also got a little part of her life and I was interested in her life. When I heard her story during tour, I thought she was a very strong independent woman in the U.S. at that time. It influenced me to find another opinion in my life.
As you can see, through the days of this trip, I learned new things every day. It was like a puzzle for me because I had a piece of puzzle before trip, and after this trip I could add more information about this trip. I was glad to go there. It was unforgettable trip in my life. How wonderful this trip will be to me forever!!!!