Staying in Contact

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to have a friend, Beto, from Irapuato come and visit.  Well, actually he came to visit his then girlfriend, now fiancé, to put a ring on her finger and make things official. But while he was there he got to stay with me,which means that I got to have full-length conversations in Spanish!  My how I had missed that.  When planning for Beto to come I had thought that we would have him sleep on the couch, but when he arrived and as I was about to explain to him the sleeping arrangements I had a though, what would a mexican do if they had me in their home.  They are so hospitable, and so I offered him my bed and I slept on the couch for the few nights he was there.  Late, on the night before we was to go home, we even got to play some Super Smash Bros together and I had tons of fun while my roommates laughed to here me jeering and crying out in Spanish while playing the video game.  Overall it was a wonderful week that really brought me back.  I had forgotten how much I had missed it.  I need to make sure that I have a good Spanish conversation at least once per week.

But one of the best parts of this experience was the chance that I had to send a note back with Beto to give to my host family.  I wrote about some of the experiences that we had shared together, including some of my lingual mistakes and crazy stories.  I had a little section addressed to each of them wherein I addressed some of the special times we had shared and asked questions about their lives and interests.  I am glad that I had that opportunity to remember them and the fun times that we had shared and, in a way, relive those moments with them.

I talked about the time I used completely incorrect words to apologize for the broken tile on their staircase.  I mentioned the teeth-brushing dance parties that I tried to instigate with my younger sisters, and the times where we shared favorite songs with each other.  I reminded them about how I was the most chicken of them all and didn't like watching all the scary movies that they like.  I assured them that I am still an avid superhero lover and a kid at heart.  I asked the kids about the games that they play and the friends that they had.  I, unfortunately, forgot to mention Psycho, their dog - a huge Rottweiler puppy that had absolutely no self control, haha, I would always say that he is psycho, and his name is Psycho too.  It was great to be able to reminisce about the summer while I wrote the letter to them.

I was happy to receive this notice on Facebook from Hermana Navarro the following Monday: 

"Querido ben ayer me hiciste llorar pero de felicidad, gracias por acordarte de nosotros, te amamos mucho y nos da gusto que estes feliz en tus estudios. me entregaron tu carta al empezar el sacramental y ya sabras todos querian saber que decia, daira,saul,etc... asi que la tuve que guardarl y al estar en la comida la saque y la lehi,nos reimos,te extrañamos,etc, etc, ojala pronto puedas venir te prometo hacer rica comida y claro montañas hawaianas,ja,ja,ja, te mando un abrazo con mucho cariño de parte de todos."

I'm so glad that I get to stay in contact with my host family.  They have become a special part of my life.

Post-Field-Study: The Effect of Retrospect

It has now been several months since I have returned from my muse-ful experience in Mexico, and it has certainly been interesting to see those three months in retrospect.  As I look back in this very blog I found a list of what I was hoping that I would accomplish during my time in Mexico.  Here is a link to that post:
http://amuseofmexico.blogspot.com/2012/01/mis-esperazas-y-mis-suenos.html

But, to sum up, my main goals were as follows:
1. Learn Spanish
2. Collect "Pioneer of the Faith" stories
3. Get to know the Mexican culture
4. Build lasting friendships

As I look back I can see that I was able to accomplish, or at least get underway, each of those goals.  I still have a lot of work to do in improving my Spanish skills, but I took the dreaded "Oral Proficiency Interview" and scored an "Advanced Low," meaning that I have about the language skills of a returned missionary, and that I can hold a conversation easily with native speakers.  I still make mistakes, and have a lot to learn, but I would consider myself conversationally fluent.

I also did collect a lot of great stories! It was a great experience to be able to talk to the members of the LDS church about how they or their families met and joined the church.  I still have all these stories, and sharing them will be another goal for another time all together (transcription in a foreign language takes FOR-EV-ER!) but I have started and in fact have another blog where I posted just a few short stories so far.  Be warned- they are in Spanish.  Here is the link to that blog:
http://historiasudestacairapuato.blogspot.com/

As for the last two goals, I was able to get a lot of experience with Mexican culture, eating the food, learning the idioms (and the double entendres behind them), and just getting a feel for Mexican life.  Obviously three months is not nearly enough time to gain an accurate representation of what it means to be a Mexican, especially for a tall, white, gringo with an accent, but I have learned a lot that I didn't know before and done a lot that I never had before, and this experience has given me a lot to think about, especially in that retrospective light.  There is a sense that if I don't hold on dearly to these things, small in number though they may be, that they will slip from me like a dream.  I do NOT want this to happen.  Mexico has become a part of who I am.  Because of this, my final project will be an essay about how my experiences in Mexico have shaped who I am, and changed me for the better.  More on this later.

As for the final goal, I am glad that I can say that I have made several friends during my stay in Mexico, and that I am still in contact with quite a few of them.  Most importantly, I feel, is my host family.  I miss them often and I wish I could go back and visit.  I'm so glad that I was able to have this experience with them, that they were so kind to share their home, food, and lives with me.  We still talk, but I am really looking forward to seeing them again in person.

Well, that's a quick update.  More to come later on that effect of this retrospective thought!

Benjamin

Meta Reality in a Business Analogy

These past few weeks seem to really have been flying by.  They've been filled with interviews completed, surveys passed out, YSA activities, and surveys never returned (sort of the frustrating part) but the project is moving forward.  I have just a few more interviews to do, but I'm hoping to start planning the final project this week.  I want to get my introduction written and have an outline for the rest of it, that way I can simply fill in the stories of the members as they come.  I hope to be able to get this project enough underway that the members will be able to continue it after I leave. It is, after all, their project and not mine; I am just the initiator of it.  I also have this crazy idea that I will upload my project to the internet, that way the members here can all get online and write their own stories and it can become a virtual database of inspiring, personal, and local stories about members of the Irapuato stake.

It's hard to believe that I already have been in Mexico for 2 months, and during this time I have learned a lot.  I have learned, mostly, about the difficulties of undertaking a field study.  Working alone in a foreign country with a language that you are still learning has its many challenges.  I know that I'm not supposed to come home from my field study and talk about what I learned about myself, but I definitely have been learning a lot about how important it is to know yourself in order to work well and productively.  I think that we sometimes forget that when we work alone we don't really work alone, but with ourselves, and it is important to remember to treat ourselves well as we work towards our goals.  In our daily field journals we kind of need to be Sherlock Holmes in order to view not just those around us, but the reasons and patterns that we ourselves follow.  I think I explained this concept well in my field notes the other day by comparing my field study to a business:

Today I realized something interesting, and that is that a field study
is like a one-man company.  Not only am I all the workers in all the
different departments (office boy, interviewer, clerk, etc) but I am
also in charge of planning for the future, of productivity, of HR,
employee morale, and customer satisfaction.  I am every employee and every
boss.  The trick is being a good boss to yourself, and giving your
best work as an employee.  Just as a good boss needs to treat his
employees well and show that he or she loves them, so I need to do so
with myself, and, in like kind, I need to reciprocate that by being a
good, hard-working and dependable employee.  It really is a rather
interesting analogy which, if I can master, can bring me light years
ahead of where I currently am not only in productivity, but also in
understanding myself and how I work with myself and others.  Hmm, if I
can learn how to teach myself, then I will be much better at teaching
others.  If I can love and lead myself, then I will have so much more
of an understanding and a preparation to be able to do so with others.

Now to apply some of these findings and get to work getting to know better the language and the people here.  My next blog post should incorporate some of what I have learned from the application of this knowledge, and, hopefully, talk a little more about the actual progress of the project that I came here to do.

Guanajuato and Project Perspective

Guanajuato is amazing!  This past weekend we went to visit Guanajuato, and I've never been in a more romantic/ cool looking city.  I love cities that are built on hilltops, so that you can see all the houses and different neighborhoods spread across the valleys and hills.  Below the city is an intricate tunnel system of roads and free parking for University students.  Above the ground, around the hills and between the markets and museums lies a network of callejones, or little pathways paved with cobblestones.  Of all the streets and callejones in the city, nearly half of them have a specific story and a special history.

Our first night there we were taken around on a guided tour of the most romantic parts of the city (including El Callejón del Beso) by a callejoneada, or Mariachi Band.  They sang cultural songs, told stories and jokes and provided great entertainment.  At the beginning of the tour the all had us promise to ourselves that we would leave behind any worries and have a good time, and that we did.  That is to say, we did until we got home that night and ate the pizza that we had bought on the street.  We were up all night... I'll leave it at that.

The next day we went to see the mummies of Guanajuato, and they had one mummy there that had only passed away in 2001.  There is a unique phenomenon in the soil there that causes the bodies to mummify quicker than anywhere else in the world.  Before and after the mummies we just went exploring/window shopping.  I got a painting of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and a sweet fadora, which I am pretty excited about.  I also found a luchador mask that was Captain America themed!

In our group meeting this week Tanner and Yvette were able to get some really great ideas to get their projects moving, but I still felt that my project was rather stagnant.  However, after talking with Tanner and Jonny on different bus rides I felt first, by Tanner, inspired to re-think my project, and second, by Jonny, to further the idea that I had of a collection of conversion stories.  I might even be able to hold a fireside at the end of July and present some of my information to the stake and have a bunch of these pamphlets full of conversion stories that I will pass out for free.  

Thinking about these pamphlets made me realize that I wanted it to be the collection of conversion stories, and thinking about the conversion stories, and with some help from Jonny, I was able to not only find new purpose in my project but to find new methods to collect my data.  I may not even need to have a whole lot of interviews if I can find other ways to have the members share their conversion stories with me.  I want to re-write the encuesta that I pass out each week to a different ward, and I want to encourage the members to even type of their stories and email them to me – anything that I can do to increase the amount of stories that I can share.  In the front of the pamphlet I also would like to share my testimony and what I hope that my pamphlet will do.  I want to aim for 30 stories.

A Few Weeks In

Wow.  Mexico sure is great.  These past few weeks have been very interesting indeed, and I've been able to spend them kind of just getting used to Mexico.  Several really cool things have happened since I have arrived...

I find that I am understanding a lot more and my Spanish is improving (YAY!!!).  I make sure that I am reading in Spanish every day (El Libro de Mormon, Harry Potter y El Prisonero de Azkaban, lo que sea) and what helps a lot is just being able to get out and talk with people.  This helps my comprehension as well as my speaking capability.  Some days are better than others and at times it is hard to express myself, but I'm trying to have patience and inasmuch as I have done so I am beginning to see that I really have been getting quite better.

I have gotten to meet a lot of cool people.  Joshua and that family that I mentioned before with the book store have proven to be great "gatekeepers," meaning that they have opened doors for me in the community.  They live right in the middle of town so whenever I need to know where I can do something or need a place to sit and think for a while they are there for me.  I have almost become part of the family there as well.  Joshua and I are great friends, and Carmen, the mother, and I really get along.  The other day I was just walking into the shop when Carmen was walking out to go and pick up her niece from school.  She asked if I wanted to come along so I did.  We picked up her niece and went shopping and just spent time together.  I am beginning to learn that spending time together (especially if their is food) is an important part of the culture here.  What a wonderful cultural aspect.  I wish that things in the US were more like that.

They are also good friends with Martin, a history expert at the museum across the street whose job is basically just to help college students with their research.  Martin has been extremely helpful so far because even though he doesn't have information concerning the LDS church, he has tons of information concerning the history of the state of Guanajuato.  This is great because for my classes I need to be read quite a bit about the history of the area here, and because Martin has provided me with so much, I basically can choose to read about the things that most interest me.

I also have gotten a good start to my project.  I have completed two interviews so far which have helped me think more about how my project is going to work methodologically.  I decided to create a survey for members to fill out if they have interest in the project, and through this manner I will be able to get contact information for those who have an interest and are willing to share more, possibly in an interview.  What is more is I will be able to prepare more individualized questions for the interview based off of the information they provided in the surveys.  I started passing them out yesterday in one of the wards and they were way more popular than I anticipated.  I still have several wards to go to, but I can't wait to start getting back some of these surveys and really getting to work on the project.

All in all, I have really been enjoying my time here.  The only real problem that I have had is that sometimes I have been having a hard time getting out and about to get things done.  I always have course work I can do at home and it is tempting to stay inside out of the sun, but I also love just getting out and talking to people.  I have taken some time to get settled and to figure things out, and I want to be better at getting out and making things happen.  I feel like I have the tools that I need, and tengo muchas ganas de estar en trabajo y tener éxito (I'm excited to get to work and start seeing things happen).

Benjamin

¡Que Simpáticos Son!

They are so nice here!

I have only been in Mexico for 4 days now, but I am quite "whelmed" as to how nice they are here, indeed it may be said that I am "over"whelmed with joy because of it =) Everyone is super helpful.  In my prep-course they talked about the different stages of culture shock, being the honeymoon stage (everything is new and interesting here) the irritation phase (things should be like they are at home) the adjustment phase (just like it sounds) and the bi-cultural stage (Yay, I love both places!).  Besides a little bit yesterday when I was feeling slightly sick (all good now =) ) I have definitely been in the honeymoon stage, and I hope to keep the two middle stages as short-lasting as possible.

So, cool things... I already I have made several friends... we went to go see The Avengers on Wednesday and while waiting in line I met a family just as excited to see it as me (which is saying something, I brought my captain america shirt solely for that movie). They were excited to meet me because Felipe was really tall, but not as tall as me.  We´ve become friends and should meet up sometime to practice our Spanish and English respectively.

Today after the others left for the Racheritos I went and ate a huge lunch of delicious rice, beans, and puerco in a picante sauce, complete with lime and onions and everything authentic. I filled myself up for like $2.40 USD! Then went and spent an hour in the Museum of the City of Irapuato learning about the history and the culture here. I love museums and could spend tons of time alone in each. On the way back towards my apartment I decided to stop in a "libreria" (bookstore) and the guy behind the counter was playing guitar, so after talking for a bit he let me play his guitar (we both love the band Coldplay). We were talking and I mentioned my project about the history of the LDS Church in Irapuato, and he told me he had a friend who was Mormon... which happened to be one of the few people that I know so far in my 2 day stay in Irapuato. Long story short, we´re going to get together to play guitar, platicar (chat, converse), and help each other learn each other´s languages.

On my way home I saw a little girl asking for her dad to pick a flower from a high tree, I asked if they wanted help and helped them choose a good one. I met the whole family there in el centro and they were just so kind and talked with me for a while.

What a great place this is.

Basically, I´m seeing every sign that everything I hoped for and more will come to me in these few months in Mexico.  Each day I am learning more Spanish... the more I come to know the members here the easier my project seems to be able to complete... with every person that I meet I am reminded of how kind and hospitable these people are... the city is beautiful... I love spanish music and food.

Todo me trata bién =)

Early de la Mañana

Well, this is it!

Early tomorrow morning I´m off to México!  Still got to put a few more things in the pack and then to catch a few winks before I get up ridiculously early to catch my flight.

You know that feeling you get when your about to embark on a grand adventure that will change your life? Yeah, it´s pretty awesome :)

Well, to work, to bed, to Mexico!

See you, on the other side!

Benjamin

Cultural Activities

Because I am taking a Cultural Proofs class while in the field I will have the opportunity to visit, see, and participate in many cultural activities and places.  Some of the suggested activities that seem particularly interesting include: 

"Learning from someone how to cook a traditional meal," "Making a language log of 30–50 local, commonly-used expressions or phrases such as metaphors, idioms, analogies, proverbs, and clichés" "Interview 3–4 elderly people of the community on what life was like when they were growing up (represent each gender)" "Creating a vocabulary log and build your own dictionary with examples, illustrations, or photos." "Reading literature important to the local identity in the target language." and "Keeping a grammar and vocabulary field notebook."

This got me thinking more about the local culture and the experiences that I will have there.  I found this really interesting blog (in English) that is kept up to date by a local high school in Irapuato: Technológica de Monterrey.  Here is the site:

 http://irapuato.wordpress.com/

I also wanted to look into what holidays I will be celebrating while in Irapuato, and I found this neat list on mexonline.com

May 1: Primero de Mayo is the Mexican national holiday that is equivalent to the U.S. Labor Day.

May 3: Holy Cross Day Dia de la Santa Cruz, when construction workers decorate and mount crosses on unfinished buildings, followed by fireworks and picnics at the construction site.

May 5: Cinco de Mayo is the Mexican national holiday that honors the Mexican victory over the French army at Puebla de los Angeles in 1862.

May 10: Mother's Day, Due to the importance of the mother in Mexican culture, Mother's Day is an especially significant holiday.

June 1: Navy Day is an official Mexican holiday.

June 24: Saint John the Baptist Day is celebrated with religious festivities, fairs, and popular jokes connected to getting dunked in water.

June 29: Fiesta of Saint Peter and Saint Paul notable celebrations in Mexcaltitan, Nayarit and Zaachila, Oaxaca.


Basically, I´m pretty excited for this trip.

Tener Asistente?

I have been pondering a little bit about the transcribing process that I will have to go through in the field and all of the work that is required for it.  The article about transcription that I had found early did more than just re-assure me that I can live in Mexico for three months (though thank goodness it did that).  It also got me thinking more about the actual methods and process that I will undergo while I transcribe these interviews, and the idea has arisen- should I ask for help? Should I look for a part-time assistant to help me with the transcriptions?

As I have spoken with other students going on a Field Study this summer many of them have told me about how they will be requesting the use of, and recruiting the help of translators.  I don't need a translator, but it would be very useful to have someone, a local speaker, familiar with the accent and the language, to whom I could go to help me interpret the audio recordings of my interviews.

Of course, this brings up several questions, like, how much of this wonderful learning experience and opportunity for growth do I want to delegate to others?  How will I make sure that I don't become reliant upon a transcriber and do not take up too much of his or her time?  Where will I find such a person who is willing and capable to help?  How can I show reciprocity for the extra help?  How ethical would it be to incorporate another researcher into this project?  What parameters would I need to go through in order to approve a transcribing assistant.

I will attempt to answer the questions, though I will reserve the right to change my answers for the better in the future and the field.  I do not want to put off experiences that will help me grow and learn the Spanish language, entonces, I definitely don't want to delegate all my transcribing to another; perhaps I can have help with just difficult sections.  This would also be beneficial in making sure that I don't take up too much time from anyone that I ask help from; possibly I can find someone who is willing to help me once a week for an hour or two and I can just reserve the difficult passages for them to help me understand what has been said.  I could then pay for their dinner or something to show reciprocity for their help.  This shorter time commitment also opens up doors as to how many people might be able to help.  I'll probably first ask my host family if they know of anyone.  Ideally I could find someone who is an informant, who has an actual interest in the work that could help me listen to and transcribe my interviews.  As for registering my "assistant" or helper with the IRB to make sure that they can view the "raw data" (if this is even necessary) I can ask my mentor, Mark, if he knows anything about that, or at least who I could ask.

Wow, that seemed like a good thought-discussion with myself.  I certainly am getting more and more exited for this trip!

Benjamin 

Horario... 2!

So I think it was last week that I wrote my first post concerning horario, or schedule.  I've been meaning to flesh it out a little bit and so I guess today's the day.  Here is what I had so far...

Week #

1- Get to know my host family, the people, and the area, building rapport the whole time.

2- Cultural proofs and language practice, networking and rapport building.

3- Language practice, networking and rapport building, slowly begin interviews.

4- Language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, and transcribing.

5- Language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, and transcribing.

6- Language practice, group retreat (tentative), transcribing, and planning for final product.

7- Language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, transcribing, and planning.

8- Language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, transcribing, and planning.

9- Language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, transcribing, planning, and writing.

10- Language practice, rapport, interviews, transcribing, writing, and translation.

11- Language practice, rapport, transcribing, writing, translation, and thank you's.

12- Language practice, rapport, writing, translation, goodbyes and thank you's.

(13)- Language practice, writing, translation, see Mexico City

First off, let me explain a little bit about each of the activities that I have planned and why they are important.

Getting to know my host family, the people, and area - This is possibly the most important thing that I will do while on my trip.  All of my research, as well as my level of enjoyment in the experience, will hinge entirely on how well I understand the culture and the people and how well I get along with my host family.  That is why this will be done first, and why for every subsequent week I will be continuing to build rapport.

Building rapport - How can I expect to make friends, much less get any good information, if I don't build a relationship of trust with everyone that I can.  I should always be meeting new people, new informants or possible interviewees, and so I will consistently be working on building rapport.

Language practice - This was the primary reason why I originally wanted to go on a field study.  I have since grown to love my project greatly, but even so my ability to successfully complete my project is contingent upon my ability to communicate and understand the Irapuatenses.  This also ties into everything I am doing in my Cultural Proofs class.


Networking - Preach My Gospel says "Nothing happens in missionary work until you find somebody to teach.."  This is also true with field studies; until I find people to work with I will not be able to get any good data complete, as such I will be consistently seeking to find.


Interviews - Now, I do want to make sure that I spend enough time in the field to solidify my language skills and to build good relationships with those with whom I will be interviewing.  However, I believe that the most time consuming activity will be transcribing these interviews.  Because of this, when I do start to interview people I will want to get as many accomplished as soon as I can so that I can get to work on transcribing these interviews.  If I were to make any adjustment to my previous schedule it would be, not to start interviewing sooner, but to try to complete the bulk of my interviews before my mid-semester retreat.


Planning - This process of planning the final work will take place gradually throughout the entire program.


Transcribing - This should be the most time consuming of my activities, but fortunately it will also be very beneficial to my language acquisition.  This is the last step that is absolutely essential to get finished while in the field.  More on the practicalities of transcribing later.


Translating - After the paper is written in Spanish I will be translating it into English.  This section could move into later August, after returning from Mexico, though it will definitely be started and completed as much as possible while in the field.


Thank yous - I will always be trying to show gratitude and reciprocity, but most especially during my final week or so in the field.

Teaching and Transcribing

I discovered an amazing source today about the use of transcribing techniques to teach English to non-native speakers.  The article, entitled "Learning from the Transcripts of an Oral Communication Task" by T. Lynch,  talked about the practicality and effectiveness of using transcribing activities in classrooms.  The reason I am dedicating a whole post to this article is because of how it answers so many questions I have recently asked (and should have asked) about my project.

The article analyzes a study completed concerning the effectiveness of using recorded oral practice in classrooms and having the students later transcribe the recorded conversations.  This is exciting for me because the study showed that having students transcribe their own conversations greatly increased the attention that they gave to the language and how it works.  In other words, transcribing is a wonderfully effective strategy for language acquisition.

This is splendid news!  That means that the thing that I was dreading as taking up the most time (transcribing) will actually help me to achieve the thing that I wanted most out of my trip to Mexico (that is, bettering my Spanish skills).  Not only that, but the two methods that were tested gave me some great ideas about how I can be more accurate, and get the most language learning, out of my transcribing time.

The study was conducted to measure (in part) the difference in effectiveness between two methods of transcribing.  For both of the methods the students will complete a first-time transcript of the oral practice, but for the first method the students will come back to their transcript and edit it along with their peers, paying special attention to words and sections that were problematic during the first attempt.  This methods is intended to greatly increase the attention that the students will give to the language and require them to look more closely at words at familiar to them.  The second methods requires more teacher involvement, meaning that the teachers would provide their version of the transcripts for the students to learn from.

The study showed that the first, peer-review method, provided more long-term learning for the students.  Which is great, because it gave me the great idea to find a friend that I can have help work with me through the tricky sections of the audio recordings.  This article has taught me things that will help me to not only improve my Spanish, but the methods therein will provide assistance during my transcribing periods, granting relief during some of the most challenging portions of my project.

Las Cosas Demas

It's hard for me to believe that in just over a month I will be living in rural Mexico. Wow. So for this journal entry I just want to ponder a little bit about the things that I still need to do before I leave on my trip.

First off I need to focus on my research.  There are a few things that I need to get done before I go.  I need to talk to Fernando Gomez at the Mexican Mormon History Museum to get a better idea of how the church first got to Central Mexico, and then to the city of Irapuato.  I also have been talking with my mentor, Mark, about taking a trip up to Salt Lake to look into the official LDS Church archives to get some names and dates of the original members of the church in Irapuato and the time of their conversion.

I also need to work with Mark and with whoever my new contract mentor will be for the cultural proofs class.  I need to discuss with them more about the actual course work that I will be doing in the field.  I also need to set a firmer reading agenda for the classes.  Right now I have three books that I think will work for my Academic Internship class reading, one is about Church History in Mexico, another is Octavio Paz's "Labyrinth of Solitude" about what it means to be Mexican, and a third is about translation between Spanish and English. I will need to verify these texts with Mark, and find probably 1 or 2 more books in order to fill the classes page requirement.

I will also need to prepare for the international travel part of the trip.  This will include completing the Kennedy Center Proposal for my prep course, as well as doing the routine pre-trip preparation such as doctor's visits and shopping for supplies.  I will need to be sure that I am prepared for daily life in the field, for all things necessary for completing my project, and for any medical emergencies or preparation/prevention strategies and materials that I may need.

Overall, it should be a great trip!

Benjamin

Field Studies y Agradecimiento

I found out recently that the Field Studies program will be shutting down later this year, in fact, I am going to be part of the last group that gets to experience the miracle that we call a Field Study.  It's hard for me to describe my feelings when it comes to this one; it's an interesting mezcla of potent sadness and extreme gratitude.  But I want to enfocarme on the positive and all of the wonderful things that I have learned so far and that I look forward to learn because of this great experience.

So far in the prep-course I have learned so many things about research, ethics, and preparing to get the most out of a foreign experience.  I am so grateful for the teachers (Ashley and Malcolm are amazing!) and for the Field Facilitators who have provided me with an idea of what I'm getting into in Mexico; after all, "where there is no vision, the people perish..." (Proverbs 29:18). From the head teachers I have learned aspects of culture assimilation and of ethical research.  From Natalie, my Field Facilitator, I have learned about Mexican culture and of research methods that will be invaluable to me while in the field.

For me, the Field Studies program was perfect; I wanted an opportunity to really get to know the people and take part in their culture.  I wanted to be able to talk with them, improve my Spanish, make friends and get to know and love a people.  I wanted autonomy in my research, and encouragement to become a scholar rather than a student, to push forward pro-actively in my career and stretch myself to accomplish something challenging and worth while.  I wanted the Field Studies Program.

I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have had to be a Field Studies student, an opportunity of a life time that not many students are able to receive; a program that makes a scholar out of a student by placing him or her into the world and telling them not just to learn, but to work and to achieve.

Benjamin

Transcription and Translation

I have been trying to discover some Spanish music that I like, and luckily I have found some to help me get in the mood-- artists like Gaby Moreno and Reik.  I'm still searching and finding new things, but listening to Spanish music has got me thinking recently about a few of the most challenging aspects that will come with my project-- transcribing and translation.

As I think about what lies ahead, those are the two things that scare me most about my project.  I mean, I believe that I have the gumption and the moxie to get out and start talking with people and improve my speaking skills, but what if I can't understand the interviews on the audio recordings? What if I don't know any of the words that are used in the interviews? How am I going to even hope to translate these stories into English? And what about translating my own words into Spanish?

 I will, of course, need some supplies such as a great dictionary (both an English/Spanish dictionary, as well as just an amazing Spanish dictionary), I will need some of the best audio recording supplies, something that picks up great sound, is portable, and has an easily manageable playback capability. But besides supplies, I will need a definite skill set to take with me to the field, for without that experience I will come to a complete standstill.

I have therefore determined that I need to be doing a few activities that will help me practice my transcribing and translation.  I have a book about Spanish translation that I will be reading, but I want to get some actual practice in.  I'm sure there are many ways to do this, and I am open to suggestions, but I think I have had one great idea... with a little help from Gaby and Reik, I have all the material I need!

Listening closely to the songs that I have recently discovered, and trying to transcribe "la letra" [the lyrics] will be a great way to help me practice, and give me some practical ideas and tips that can only come from experience.  I'm sure it will be hard to understand all of the lyrics over the music, but that's why I'm practicing right?  Then I will try to create my own rough translation of the lyrics.

The best part about this, is it means listening to more music that I like... :)

Benjamin

Horario- a rough sketch of schedule

¿Listos?

Who's ready for an adventure?  I'm about to embark on a journey through the "desconocido" --that is, the wild expanse of the unknown?  What shall I do on this adventure? What shall I accomplish on my quest?  Let's make a map, find the X that marks the spot, and discover the lost treasure shall we?

Okay, 3 months in Mexico, let's break it down.
Month 1- build rapport, get to know the people and the area, determine potential interviewees
Month 2- try to do the majority of the interviews, transcribe and translate, begin work on planning the paper
Month 3- continue work on translation, finish up the interviews, compile and write the history

May 1st - July 30th: 12 weeks total

Week
1- get to know my host family, the people, and the area, building rapport the whole time.
2- cultural proofs and language practice, networking and rapport building.
3- language practice, networking and rapport building, slowly begin interviews.
4- language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, and transcribing.
5- language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, and transcribing.
6- language practice, group retreat (tentative), transcribing, and planning for final product.
7- language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, transcribing, and planning.
8- language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, transcribing, and planning.
9- language practice, networking, rapport, interviews, transcribing, planning, and writing.
10- language practice, rapport, interviews, transcribing, writing, and translation.
11- language practice, rapport, transcribing, writing, translation, and thank you's.
12- language practice, rapport, writing, translation, goodbyes and thank you's.
(13)- language practice, writing, translation, see Mexico City

Of course, all this is tentative, but it's good to have a general idea of where I'll be going, I mean, I want to spend as little time lost in "el desconocido" as possible. Por esa razón, I will continue to try to plan my horario effectively, and map out "the uknown."

'Benjamín

The Impression I have Inherited

I thought that the discussion that we had in class on Friday was very interesting and covered many important points concerning the viewpoint with which those in Mexico might view me.  I had failed to realize before that even though I have never been to Irapuato, or even Mexico, before, I carry with me a certain impression that I have inherited as part of who I am.

As an American I will be viewed in whatever light the people in Irapuato already have established in their minds regarding Americans.  I also come as a college student and a BYU student which is particularly significant in the minds of the members that I will be spending much of my time with.  In addition, those who have gone on this field study to Mexico before me will have made an impression of field studies students upon the locals there which will affect the way I am perceived as well.

It is interesting to think that before the people and members of the Church in Irapuato even meet me, they will have an idea (whether correct or not is yet to be determined) of who I am.  I am grateful, however, that I will be able to spend some time making my own impressions.  Obviously there are some existing ideas that are true and good and that I will want to strengthen, but I also may be working against some misconstrued ideas and expectations.

Once again I am grateful for the fact that my project will be about, and help, the people that I will be focusing my work on, and taking the most time from.  I hope that the reciprocity of my project, along with friendship building tactics such as showing genuine interest and being kind and funny, will be able to build some strong bridges with the people in Irapuato.  And though I cannot make their choices for them, it is my hope that they will use those bridges to overcome any incorrect and inherited impressions that may keep us from sharing a wonderful experience together.

My Best,
Benjamin

Sources

I have been having a really hard time finding sources lately.  I thought that I would be able to find a lot through the church archives, but it turns out that the archives are not accessible online, so I will need to go to Salt Lake City in order to complete my research on that end.  From my searches through BYU's library website, and on the world wide web itself I haven't been able to find anything very pertinent.  Another possible source has been Irapuato's newspaper, El Sol de Irapuato, which has some articles online, but I don't think they have much of their older stuff and I don't really know how to search in Spanish very well, for instance, I probably still wouldn't have any idea which key words to search for, even if I had the vocabulary.

What I really need is an expert.  I am going to go later this week, Thursday, and talk with Fernando Gomez, the curator for the Mormon Mexico History Museum here in Provo.  He has spent most of his life collecting information about the history of the LDS church in Mexico, so I hope that not only will he have some pertinent information for me, but that he will be able to point me in the right direction for the rest of my research.

Rapport Repor...

The other day when I was speaking with Mark he advised me to make sure that I have a good handle on the language before I go into any interviews.  This will certainly help my interviewees to feel more open and will help me to conduct the interview better so that I can ask for the important information without using circumlocution (asking something in other words sometimes, and in this case, because of a limited vocabulary).

But one of the greatest benefits that this will give me is a greater opportunity to build rapport.  During the first 3 weeks or so of my experience I may just want to be talking to people, getting to know the language better, and getting involved in the culture.  That is one reason why I am glad I am taking a cultural proofs class, which will require me to attend these cultural events and get involved with the people in Mexico.  I'll probably just spend my first while in Mexico working on that class.

The nice part about this though is that this cultural immersion will actually be helping me to complete my project.  It gives me a chance to not only build my Spanish skills, but to get to know the people better, to search out my potential interviewees and build rapport with them.  That, in my humble opinion, is going to be one of the best parts of my Mexico experience- the relationships that I will make with the people :)

Benjamin

The Little Big Things

As time goes on this semester the realization that I am actually going to be living in Mexico for 3 months is sinking in more and more.  It is rather daunting.  I remember when January of 2008 rolled around and I realized that by the end of that year I would be serving a full-time mission for the Lord.  There was never any question about whether or not I should do it, it was just the weight of that realization settling in, reminding me that this was something that was going to be different, hard, and most of all-- very real.

Strangely it's not the really big things that have been occupying my mind, but the little things.  For some reason the strangest things keep entering into my head, like what am I going to eat every day? and what clothes should I bring with me? and how what do I do when I blank on how to conjugate a verb and no words are coming out of my mouth.

But, I guess that it's the little things, the things that happen every day, that are really big.  They are important because they happen every day, and I guess that's why I worry about them.  And hopefully I won't let those little things turn into big worries.

Benjamin

Return of the Jedi

Last week my mentor, Mark, got back from his sabbatical leave in Morocco and it was really great to meet with him.  Mark has traveled over south America to complete over 70 of these types of interviews in different languages;  he is just the man for the job, and now he is back.  We had a great meeting on Tuesday wherein he was able to point me in the right direction concerning my research and preparation.

One of the great things that I learned was how to access the church archives online.  Because I have already conducted a lot of general research, the study that lies before me is now merely two-fold;  I will do research on the secular history of Irapuato and the surrounding area, and I will use Church archives to get a general idea of dates, time periods, and names for the early church within Irapuato.

Interestingly, another idea came up that if I can find any of the missionaries who served in the early days of Irapuato, then I could possibly interview them before my trip to Mexico.  The odds are good that there are a few that live nearby as BYU does lie within the center of the Mormon community.

In essence, I am just grateful to have Mark on board, I couldn't do this without him and I feel that his contribution to my learning will be invaluable.  Mentorships are the best.  I am glad that I am planning to a teacher so that one day I may also be a mentor to a young padawan, and train him in the ways of the force.

Transcribing

For my third methods practice I transcribed an interview that I had with a friend of mine.  We spoke for 10 minutes or so in Spanish about his mission, and I later took the time to painstakingly write down every word that we said.  I find these new skills that I am learning particularly interesting to put into practice.

Nearly every day in the field I will be interviewing somebody, and then taking time to write down everything.  My interviews will usually be longer than 10 minutes and my interviewees will be speaking in Mexican accents at a much faster pace.  The frequency which I will have to transcribe means that itis a skill that I definitely need to work on.

I wonder what tips and tricks of the trade their are for transcribing?  I definitely can work on my listening comprehension, for which I am going to start watching some movies in Spanish.  I also need to become more familiar with typing in Spanish and using the Spanish keyboard.

It is interesting to me how much I really need to learn and take into account as I prepare for Mexico.

Benjamin

The Flood

During my studies this week I learned about a major flood that swept through Irapuato after a dam broke due to heavy rains.  The death estimate was around 200 people and the city was devastated.  It was the worst flood in Mexican history!  I actually found out about the flood from and Ensign article that told of the one small branch that was in Irapuato in 1973.  Luckily no members were harmed in the flood and there was a lot of humanitarian work that was done.

I found it so interesting that this major event happened in Irapuato and I hadn't even heard of it.  The flood will give me a definite starting point, something that I know happened locally and effected the members.  The article also mentioned the name of the branch president during the time, Octavio Arrendondo, who by now would be about 60 years old. This means that many of the first members in the Irapuato area might still be alive; I have a good chance at getting many first hand accounts! And I even have a name to start with.

I really am getting rather excited to see the final product.  This is a good sign for me, I am gaining an greater interest in the actual work that I will be doing with history, in addition to that which I had for the language and the culture.

Fears

I've been meaning to do this post for a little while, and I hope that I can do so in the right way.  You see, it is important sometimes to acknowledge our fears so that we can take a closer look at them and realize that they may not be that scary after all.  Fear all really stems from one thing: the unknown, think about it and you will recognize that most of your fears will come from, at least in part, the fact that you don't know how things will be.

What are some of my fears in going to Mexico?  First of all one of my major fears is not being able to communicate well.  I am still learning the language and I don't want to be stuck inside my head surrounded by people that I don't understand.  I am practicing Spanish everyday, and I am overall not too concerned, however I do sometimes wonder what hinderences will bar my path because of my inability to express myself fluently or understand others completely.

I suppose this stems from not know the full extent of my Spanish abilities, coupled with me not know how well I will be able to understand the native speakers there.  There are a few things I can do about this: first, I need to get a better understanding of my speaking level.  This is tied to the idea that I need to create a better study plan to acquire the Spanish language.  Second I need to practice my ability to understand native speakers.

Both of these problems are primarily solved by practicing speaking with people from Mexico, and I am lucky that I have a few Mexican friends.  But I can also practice comprehension by watching movies in Spanish and practice speaking by setting a certain amount of time each day that I will speak Spanish with my roommate or class mates or others.  Lastly, I can always ask for help and advice from a large group of friends that served foreign language missions and have more skills and experience in language acquisition than myself.

So... that's the plan (rule the world).  It's simple right?

Benjamin

Interview Method Practice and Language Acquisition

This morning I interviewed my roommate, Gordy, about his mission.  I wasn't going to find anybody to interview about the history of the church in Irapuato, Mexico, so I figured that because he served in Samara, Russia, that was the next best thing... right?

Luckily I did find some correlation to my project.  While I was learning about missionary work in Russia, Gordy brought up language study, which is something that I didn't have to do on my mission.  In response to my questions he explained the difference between a good language study plan and a bad one.

A bad language study plan errs very close to not having a language study plan at all.  For a little while on his mission he said he would just read the scriptures in Russian and, though it helped a little, there is only so much you can learn from this approach.  It is important to try lots of different approaches.  As he taught me, "you are going to speak the language about 5,000 more times than you will read or write it," so it is very important to incorporate that usage of speech into your language study plan.

Some of the things that he found effective, that I want to try not only while in the field but as I study the language before hand, include activities that he would do throughout the day.  For instance, if he was talking with someone and he heard a word he didn't understand, he would write it down to look up later.  Also, if he was trying to communicate something but didn't have the right vocabulary or grammar structure in the moment, then he would be sure to make note of that and learn how to correctly say that at a later time.

As language acquisition is one of the main focuses of my field study, I am very grateful for these methodological insights into language study plans.  I feel that this interview/methods practice proved more helpful than I originally thought it would be.

¡Chido!

Individualism: Ser, o no ser.

Reading about the Ophelia Syndrome (accepting the framework of being told how to think/act or what is important to learn) really made me think a lot about my education and everything that I am learning in school.  Quite fittingly I heard today that Mark Twain, among his many other witty words, said "Don't let school interfere with your education." I think there is a lot of truth in that. He also said "If God had meant for us to be naked, we'd have been born that way," but that seems a little less relevant.

But seriously, there are the things that we are going to college, and paying tuition, to learn, and then there are the hoops that we need to jump through in order to get the grade we need.  Usually they are unrelated.  It is unfortunate that so much of our time is spent jumping through these hoops that we don't learn the truly valuable lessons like what type of people we are and what is important to us.

Now I understand that my field study is not supposed to be this amazing "self-realization" experience, and I will be focusing outward and seeking to learn about the culture that surrounds me, but I think that overcoming the Ophelia Syndrome for field studies is completely applicable.  In order for me, or anyone, to be successful in learning about others and their culture they must first understand themselves.

We have talked a lot in class about recognizing "the water that we swim in" or the cultural views that we take for granted and then trying to compensate for them.  But it is also important for us to understand who we are personally so that we can see where we are coming from that personal standpoint.  And the better that I understand myself and what I want to learn, and how I can best learn, the better I will be at learning those things and completing a successful and meaningful field study.

 Sometimes the most difficult search we will conduct as Sherlock is trying to find out who we really are.  It's as Ezra Taft Benson has said: "Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul."

Framework

Up until today I was fairly worried that all of my research that I have done has been somewhat irrelevant to my actual project.  As I have mentioned previously, my mentor for my project has been out of the country for the past few months and I have kind of been shooting in the dark.  Each class period I have been required to come up with a source (such as a book or article) that is "related" to my project in some way.

Luckily, for me, there is a fairly decently sized collection of Mormon Mexican History within the BYU Library, which means that I have been able to do some research on what the basic history of Mormons in Mexico, as well as the history of several of the original Mormon colonies.  There is, however, quite a lack of readily available information concerning what I will actually be doing my project on, that is, Irapuato's Mormon history. Without my mentor here to guide me to the right information, or at least methods of searching for it, I feel like I have been hitting all around the target with my research, but have yet to get a bulls-eye shot.

In class today, though, I was able to take a closer look at the research that I had completed and what it tells me.  Because I have been, as I said, hitting all around the mark, and now that I have taken a step back I can better see what I have been missing in the middle.  I can now better define what I need!  I knew what I had been aiming for all along, but sometimes it's rather hard to define until you frame it and determine what it is not; "eliminate the impossible and what remains must be the truth!" as my good friend Sherlock put it.

So what am I looking for now?  I'm still getting the idea, but from what I understand, I am looking for things like: historical documents from Irapuato itself, statistics concerning religious affiliation during the time period of the first Irapuato Mormons, church records concerning early members of the church, and dates and names of the first appearances of Mormons within Irapuato. Where am I going to find this, and similar information? Well...

"You know my methods, Watson"

A Changing Perspective

Reading the Family and Kinship article was interesting for me.  It brought back a memory I had of some pacific island people in my high school.  I remember thinking that it was really crazy that their whole family had moved to the same town in rural southern Utah because all of the islanders I knew always called each other "cousin."  I once asked about this and found out that they weren't really cousins and thought that was interesting that they all were cousins, apparently through simple mutual agreement.

Now that I have learned more about how family and kinship structures differ in other cultures it causes me to pause and think about those things that I take for granted.  I never would have assumed that something I took as basic as the perception of my family would differ in other cultures.  I wonder how accepted I will become within my host-family in Irapuato.

The article said that kinship units were sometimes established by geographical boundaries.  In some cases all those people within a certain area would share a name.  In America we seem to use geographical boundaries to differentiate between different school or college preferences, and especially different sports teams, but we don't have a name given to these fans collectively; my name isn't Benjamin Provo-ite Cougar-fan Jones.

I wonder what other established social systems that I take for granted, and in what other ways I may be like the fish who doesn't know that he is swimming in water.  The views of education (especially public education) in Mexico probably differ greatly from that in the U.S.  The views of work and benefits are probably very different as well.  What is the average occupation within the area of Irapuato?  They probably have a lot less "white-collar" office jobs than we do.

I wonder what I can do while I am there to truly see the differences and similarities between our cultures. Wouldn't it be great to receive reverse culture-shock upon my return?

A Spanish Sherlock

In order to complete my first Methods Practice I had to become a participant observer in a social situation (which is defined by three factors: place, actors, and activities).  I chose to observe the groundhog's day party that my roommates and I were throwing last Friday.  The place: My apartment.  The actors: my friends.  And the Activities: cards and party games.

It is interesting to me that each of these three elements, especially the first two, were very personal to me.  Because the setting and the actors were familiar I felt at ease, comfortable and ready.  The activities were also familiar to me, and as party games for me have the a positive effect, I once again felt at home and comfortable in the environment.

I wonder how this factor of familiarity played a role in my role as an observing participant.  I admit that it was easier to loose sight of my task in an environment that I had done almost everything but field work before.  I had to be careful not to get too wrapped up the the activities that I left my role as an observer.

In Mexico I think I will have a different problem. Here all of the actors were my friends beforehand. There I will be an observer, an outsider from the start.  I may have to take into account some skewed results from reactivity. At my party I could easily hide the fact that I was an observer, but in Mexico it will be blatantly obvious.  It may take some time for me to gain a level of trust with the people whom I will be associating with.

I really enjoyed that activity, even the part about writing the notes up afterwards. I felt a little like Sherlock Holmes, recording all of my observations. Yes, yes, quite smashing actually. I shall have to keep up my observations once I have reached the field; it's elementary, really.

Unofficial Interview Questions

Here are a few questions that I might use while interviewing members of the church in Irapuato, Mexcio. Mark Grover has his own interview rubric that I will be using, but these questions will help give me a general idea while I am waiting to talk with him.

1. Who were the members of the church when you were first baptized?

¿Quienes son los miembros de la iglesia cuando se bautizó usted?

2. Do you remember who had joined the church around the same time as you did?

¿Usted puede recordar a quienes la unieron a la iglesia acerca de usted?

3. Do you remember the names of the missionaries that taught you?

¿Usted puede recordar los nombres de los misionaros que le enseñaba?

4. What challenges did you experience while you were preparing for baptism?

¿Cuales retos tenía usted cuando estaba preparando para el bautismo?

5. What challenges did you experience after you were baptized?

¿Cuales retos tenía usted después de bautizarse?

6. Who strengthened you the most as a new member of the church?

¿Quien le ayudaba la más cuando era usted un miembro nuevo?

7. How big was the church in Irapuato when you were baptized?

¿Cuantos miembros tenía la iglesia aquí en Irapuato cuando se bautizó usted?

8. What first brought you the church?

¿Que cosa le gustaba más a usted cuando conoció a la iglesia?

9. How much time was there between when you met the missionaries and when you were baptized?

¿Cuanto tiempo hace el momento de conocer a los misionaros, y se bautizó usted?

10. Would you mind telling me the story of how you came to know the church was true?

¿Usted puede contarme la historia del momento en que supo que la iglesia es verdad?

11. Have you had any experiences in helping others come into the church?

¿Usted ha tenido algunas experiencias de ayudarse a otras personas para que se unieran a la iglesia?

12. What did the missionaries do that most helped to strengthen your testimony?

¿Que cosa, que hicieron los misionaros, le ayudaba más a usted para fortalecer su testimonio?

13. In general, was your life like before you came to know of the church?

¿En general, como era su vida antes de conocer la iglesia?

14. What changes in your life have you experienced since joining the church?

¿Cuales cambios ha visto usted en la vida desde se unió a la iglesia?

15. Do you have any further experiences that you would like to share with me?

¿Tiene usted algunas experiencias más que le gustaría compartirme?

Modismos and Sayings

On class on Wednesday we had a really interesting discussion about some idioms used in the Spanish language. You can tell a lot about a culture from the idioms that they use. Our idioms in America are very centered around time (such as "time is money"). Where as Spanish idioms seem to deal a lot with food (such as "me vale queso" which means I don't care, but literally means something like: that matters to me as much as cheese).

Last night I was watching Ocean's 13 and there is one part where one of the "mormon twins" is working in a factory in Mexico. One of his co-workers warns him "algo es peligroso" (something is dangerous), to which he responds "Peligroso es mi nombre medio" (literally: Dangerous is my middle name). I thought this was funny because the subtitle read "danger is my middle name." It's interesting how we try to get our idioms to fit in another language and sometimes it doesn't work, especially when we translate wrong.

I wonder sometimes what impression my use of the Spanish language is going to give the native people there; I still have a lot of Spanish to learn. Every time that I mess up my grammar or use the personal tú instead of the formal usted I am labeling myself as a outsider. Of course, with my pale skin and 6'8" I will stick out like a sore thumb, but language is something else.

The nice part is that I will be able to use my lack of language proficiency to my advantage sometimes. If I admit my mistakes and inadequacies but express a real desire to learn, that should open up the hearts of the people of Irapuato. Who doesn't like someone who is struggling hard to learn your language and culture? They should be happy to help, and as I seek to learn in friendship, I am sure they will respond in like kind.

And I will be feliz como una lombriz (happy as a worm).

La Vida Cotidiana [or daily life]

I was looking through some of the past readings for the class and was really impressed by the reading about field notes and I really liked the picture that the author portrayed of the actual field studies. He had spent most of his life doing field research in countries other than his own, and I liked the idea of daily life that he spoke about in his article.

I wonder how my actual daily experiences will be once I am in Mexico. How much time will I be spending with the people? How much time will be spent doing homework, especially taking field notes?

I really liked the system that he had for note taking, the jottings, diary, time-log, and field notes proper. It reminded me of my mission, especially when he talked about the time-log where he would plan what he wanted to do for the day and then what he ended up accomplishing. In a sense, I believe that my daily life in Mexico will be a lot like my mission.

Just like my mission I will be planning nightly for the following day, during which I will be trying to meet with people and have discussions/ask questions with them. I will need to be keeping a personal journal (diary), time-log (planner) and giving a report at the end of my experience.

I feel that my mission experience has prepared me a great deal for what lies ahead (if I only had a dollar for every time I said this, I could retire on Tuesday coming). But there is one aspect that is definitely going to be different and quite a challenge for me: I will be learning another language.

With this challenge comes a whole other wave of questions which I will have to consider in another post, maybe I won't even know the answers to some of these until I am in the field. These questions include: What language tools should I bring with me to the field? Which should I bring with my on my daily excursions? What is the best way to study the language while at "home"? Should I take another Spanish class while I am in the field? What note taking and other remembering methods can I use while out of my living quarters? And what do I do if I simply can't understand someone?

I hope to be able to answer some of these soon, and some later, and when I do I will let you know.

Come Together

I finally got an email from Grover with a little more insight into my project! This is what he said concerning the purpose of the project:

"The purpose of this project is to help under the Church in Mexico by collecting the stories of the early members and their conversion and coming into the Church."


Excellent!


This is one of those great moments where exactly what you were hoping to do connects with what what you are required to do; this purpose lines up directly with my desires and intentions in completing the project. You see, I wanted my project to be something personal, something that would be a benefit to the saints in Irapuato. I wanted them to be able to read this history and say: ¡Qué gran herencia que tenemos! (What a great heritage we have!). This purpose fills all of those desires that I had by making my history personal for the people. This path will also help me to get the members excited to participate in my research.


The way has become clearer. The questions before me now are more focused. The first two of these being:


Primera: How will I publish this in Spanish so that the people can read it?
Segunda: Who will I interview? How will I know who to interview and how will I find them?

To the first one- I have a great resource in Fernando Gomez, curator of  The Museo de Historia del Mormonismo here in Provo and Mexico City. Perhaps he will be willing to help me translate my history into Spanish. He also might be able to give me some pointers in the right direction as to whom I should interview as well.

¡Felicidades!

When in Rome, Haga Como Roman

(do as Roman does)

Today I met again with my friend Roman and we helped each other practice our languages. I like studying with Roman because he is in a similar situation to the one I will be in in a few months. He is the one from a different country, el extranjero, trying to learn to speak the language, and so I can relate to him. And though none of us has ever been to Rome, we both realized that sometimes it's hard to do as the Romans, especially when it comes to something as "simple" as conversation.

Roman explained to me about the vocab tests that he has to take to learn English, and the difficulty he had when asking some Americans what some of the words meant. They knew what the words were and what they meant, but they had difficulty trying to explain them, even in their own language. Our conversation has become so much of a second nature to us, that we can't even explain it, and so when someone wants to learn why things are done or said that we, even if we are willing we have to be able to explain it.

There is so much to learn when you visit another country, and, try as you might, you can't learn without proper communication. Without you having the ability to ask, and they having the ability to explain. I was trying to explain to Roman today about how I wore a beanie today because I had hat hair. From this I learned that a "sombrero" is only a Mexican or cowboy hat, but that a "gorro" is most other types of hats and the "gorra" is the baseball cap. I was trying to help pronounce some words and as I looked at them on the screen I couldn't believe that that was how we pronounced that random sampling of letters. I mean how come "accepted" and "accused" don't rhyme?

Sometimes we learn the most about our culture while trying to explain it to others.

El Desconocido: Or A Sketch of The Unknown

So I've discovered that planning for my project is a rather interesting challenge. I know so little about what is actually going to happen that sometimes I feel like I am shooting in the dark. I have discovered, however, that I can sort of map out what I do know and get an idea of what where I am headed. It's kind of like being given a blank canvas and being told to create a masterpiece. Where do you even start? But I suppose that if I start sketching some ideas in pencil that something will come to me. I mean, I don't have to fill in all of the shading and color until I am there in the field right? So here's a rough sketch...

I kind of have two halves of my painting that I have started sketching, the first is my look into the interest that I have, which I will discuss more in another post. The second aspect of my parameters and requirements though I have thought through a little more, so here goes a quick dumping of my mind art into black and white letters on this blog.

First I must first ask myself if I am bound by the interview techniques and specified outcome that my Mentor Señor Grover uses in his research. Will my findings be in collaboration with his work, or just tailored after that manner? If I do follow his structure completely then that gives me a greater sense of direction and I am not shooting in the dark as much. On the other hand, I don't even know to a full extent what the finished outcome of his work looks like. I may have to adjust my plans and my interests.

If I do work in tandem with Grover's work, then what do I have to work with? I do not yet know what the structure of his work looks like, nor have I seen an example of the finished product. He is currently on sabbatical leave right now, but should be coming back soon in February and I will be able to get a clearer idea of his work. But for now I only can speculate, which doesn't always provide accurate results.

If I mentor with Grover, but do a work separate in style and function from his, then I also need to consider my options. However with more options to consider it may be harder to decide on matters. I will also have the challenge of making sure that my project retains academic experience and fits within the requirements for the ORCA scholarship (which I have applied for and am hoping to receive).

As you can see there is a lot to think through, and so far this is just considering what I may or may not be required to do. I still need to consider what I would like to do, and the practicality of those views. But instead of starting with oil paint or pastels on the canvas, I have definitely found it helpful to create a few rough sketches on some scratch paper and see what I like.

Ahhh, art. :)

Statement of Intent

I will collect and compile historical data and short stories concerning the beginnings of the LDS community within Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. I will then write a history of the LDS church within that area that I will submit for publication in the BYU Studies Journal. If time permits I hope to write a simplified version of this history in Spanish as a gift to the members in that area. It will be on display at the History of Mormons in Mexico Museum in Mexico City.

I hope that through the conducting of interviews and other oral research that I complete in the field that I will enhance my skills with the Spanish language. This immersion into the Spanish and Mexican culture will hopefully provide me with such skills, which will come in useful to me in my career as a high school teacher.

My purpose in this field study is to discover the cultural, spiritual, and historical significance of the historical experiences of the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints within the area of Irapuato, Guanajuato Mexico, and to discover what affect this history has upon the current members of the church in that area. This will bring a sense of unity to the current members within Irapuato, and will provide an academic look into a particular part of Mexican history.

Me Gusta Esta Clase

I had a lot to think about for class on Friday. I really liked what our teacher Ashley said about putting all of the pieces together for our project. She articulated quite well different ideas that were still floating around, half-formed, in my brain over the past week. She spoke about the difficulty of combining ideas such as our level of interest, the parameters and qualifications we have upon us, and the location and time we will be there.

I loved the analogy of of the jigsaw puzzle because I could see how everything in my project was related. As I was considering my different options, like I did in my last post, I noticed myself going through the process of critical and careful project reform that we talked about in class. I now have a better idea of my interests in Mexico, and I wonder a lot about the parameters that I have to work within.

What is remarkable to me is how much I am learning about my project. I came into this semester thinking that I was extra prepared because of the work I had done to apply for the ORCA grant. Now I am beginning to see how little I know about the area, the project, and my interests.

When this class first started I thought that the question assignments were rather redundant. But they have been one of my greatest helps as I really begin to question WHY I am going to Mexico and WHAT I am going to do there.

I hope to take these next few months in this class and really put them to good use. I am glad for this preparation class. Ya me enseñó muchas cosas ayudables. (It has already taught me many useful things).

Benjamín

Amigos y Ánimo

Amigos

I just got back from a "study buddy" program tonight which connects people trying to learn English with people trying to learn their respective languages. I got to make several friends like Roman, Carlos, y Gabriel while I was there. They are from different parts of southern Mexico y ellos me cayeron muy bién/we got along really well.

We were only supposed to talk for a few minutes tonight but I stayed and talked with them for over an hour. It was so much fun for me to practice my Spanish with nativohablantes/native speakers. I asked them a lot about the different words that they use in México and had tons of fun learning about little things that they say.

For instance, I learned the difference between tal vez (maybe) and quizás (perhaps). I learned how to say "Yo medo dos metros aun cuatro centímetros." (I am 6 feet, 8 inches tall [2.04 meters] ). I also learned the difference between chiste (joke) and broma (prank), and that "padre" and "chido" are the most common ways to say cool. Needless to say ya estamos buenos amigos/we are already good friends.

Ánimo

Ánimo is an interesting word in Spanish, there is not an exact word for it in English, but it basically means Excitement, excitement mixed with faith and hope and courage and all good things (or so is my faulty understanding). But while talking with my new friends I grew more and more excited about going to Mexico, I gained ánimo. One of the people I talked to served his mission in the area of Guanajuato and told me that I would be eating a lot of strawberries in Irapuato. Several of them said that my Spanish was pretty good (though I know I still have a lot to work on). But it was just the fact that I spent an hour talking in Spanish with some native speakers, and that we got a long well that got me so excited. I was practically skipping on my way home and had I started I may not have stopped until I got to Mexico.

I am now good friends with Roman and the others, and we are going to spend a lot of time together this semester. I can think of no better way to prepare for my trip to Mexico than to pasar tiempo/hang out with some Méxican nativohablantes. Y tengo ánimo por eso.

Benjamín

Thesis Question [o, la necesidad de preguntar]

There is this song by Jack Johnson called Questions which has been on my mind and my speakers lately. The further I get into my project the more questions I have about it, and the more I realize I don't know what to do yet. Like Jack says in his song: "Please tell me that there's time to make this work for all intents and purposes--and what are your intentions. Will you try...?" And though I don't know all of the answers and outcomes yet--I will try.

So here goes. What are my intentions? First, before I give my "working" thesis, I'm going to put a few questions before you, my wonderful readers, that have been on my thoughts concerning this work and my intentions, as Jack puts it.

Q. What, with my given parameters, can my history of the LDS Church in Irapuato be? and what possibilities lie before me for what I can do with my project?

This answer must be prefaced with a little background. As I was looking into a field study I had no idea what type of project I wanted to do. I heard of the ORCA grant, which motivated me to find a mentor to help me on my project. I was lucky to find Librarian Mark Grover, who has done a lot of work collecting and compiling histories of units of the Church within South America. I was (and am) excited about doing a project connected with the Church, and especially one that focuses on communication like the interview based research of this project. I gladly signed up!

The problem here arises that I don't know exactly what the finished product will look like. I will be using the interview rubric that Mark Gover has used in his research, so I feel as if I need to be working towards a specific end, one that I am not familiar with. Entonces...

A. As my first order of business I need to get a better idea of what I can do with what I have chosen. I have had a few ideas like compiling a history of the Church with an analysis in patterns in growth and compiling a collection of short inspiration stories from early Mexican members of the church to name a few. But I will need to get a better look at what options are really available to me with the path that I have set out upon.

Q. What do I want my project to do? or What influence do I want it to make?

Answering this question will provide valuable insight that will shape everything I do with my project including the way in which I approach it.

A. I want my project to be meaningful to the members currently living in Mexico. I want it to be valuable to them in some way, whether it be a collection of inspirational stories from their fore bearers, or if it will provide an insight into what they can do to develop a rich environment for growth in localized membership.

All these things taken into consideration I have learned that I still need to think a lot more about what I want my project to be, in collaboration with my mentor of course. Because of this I feel as if I can at this time only present a working thesis question.

Thesis Q.

What is the cultural, spiritual, and historical significance of the historical experiences of the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints within the area of Irapuato, Guanajuato Mexico? And (optionally) what affect does this history have upon the current members of the church in that area?

A. ... ?

Yo vaya a mostrarles cuando la descubro.