Well, my friends, I had my first physical contact with a scorpion today. As I was getting out of the shower today, I stepped on something that squirmed beneath my feet and I immediately jumped. A sizable scorpion (about the size of a baby crawfish) scurried as fast as it could away from me. I was able to use the little stool beneath the sink to kill it. So, that’s how my day began … with an enormous scare. And, no, it didn’t sting me. How? I have no idea.
School was pretty normal today. In grammar, we are still reviewing the subjective tense and in literature we are beginning to talk about the Mexican Conquest. I find the history of Mexico extremely fascinating. If you thought our history in the United States was extremely violent and turbulent, you have got to see what these people have been through throughout the years. Bloody civil conflicts, dictatorships, political corruption, death squads … you name it, they’ve had it. I think it’s extremely interesting to look at the Mexico of yesteryear and compare it to today’s Mexico. Modern Mexico began as a very strong Aztec empire. It was thought that Tenotchtitlan (now Mexico City) was one of the most scientifically advanced and well planned cities of it’s time. The Aztecs reined over people and land all the way from Central Mexico all through Central America. Then came the Spanish, who defeated the great Aztec empire and killed off an astonishing number of people. As a matter of fact, it is believed that the population of Aztecs went from near 25 million at the time of Colon’s (NOT Columbus … that was NOT his name!) arrival to 6 million only 30 years later. War and disease were the main culprits. Out of this ruined civilization has risen a relatively prosperous country. Sure, they have problems, and they tend to me much harsher than their more developed peers. However, when you take into account all that this country has been through, they are doing incredibly well. You can compare the problems of Mexico’s history to the problems throughout the history of African nations. Yet, in Mexico, prosperity has ruled whereas in Africa disparity has gained an awful grip. Even democracy has taken hold here, although it just really arrived 8 years ago. More on Mexican democracy later…
But, back to what I did today… this evening we went to our newly found favorite café, Bagel Cafetin. The lady that runs it, Bere, is extremely nice and even struck up a conversation with us. I think we will be returning quite frequently. I had a bagel sandwich with 4 cheeses today and it was heavenly. Not to mention the lemonade … yum!
This is going to be an extremely busy week. I have a paper and a presentation due by the end of it. And, yes, both of them have to be completely in Spanish. I’m curious to see how I will do on my first true Spanish paper. Anyway, that’s all for today! Hope everyone’s week got off to a great start!
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4 comments:
Hey, glad you didn't get stung by the scorpion!! Be careful!!!! Good luck on your paper and presentation you are giving. Have a good week.
Wow, I totally would have shat my pants over that scorpion. (Side note: my spell-checker has not underlined "shat"; therefore it must be a viable word.)
In my great neglected diseases class this past semester we talked about the disease outbreak that killed off most of the Aztecs in early colonial times. For a long time historians assumed the culprit was some European disease introduced by the Spanish at that time, contributing to the amount of blame we're able to cast on them as a colonial force. I know that's what I was always taught. Recently, though, immunologists have gotten hold of some documents from that time outlining symptoms that are actually more in line with an indigenous disease the Aztecs had seen before, one that was probably similar to the hantavirus that cropped up on the reservation in the Four Corners area a few years ago. The hypothesis is that persons of European descent have some genetic luck of the draw that shields them from the ill effects of the hantavirus (which would explain why the virus never got far in Europe), whereas indigenous American ethnic groups are highly susceptible to it (which explains both the Aztec mortality rate and the fact that the more recent outbreak was limited to the Navajo population). It's very controversial research, though, because people want so much to have more reasons to characterize European colonial powers as evil, and to have something other than chance to blame for the bad parts of history.
Sorry if I'm the only one who finds that fascinating, but it just blows my mind.
Wow! That's incredibly fascinating! I would definitely like to hear more about that. There seems to be something not PC around here about learning about history from the Spanish colonial perspective, so I'm willing to bet we are not getting the FOX News version of the story. :)
I *hope* you're not getting the Fox News version.
I think I still have an article about it somewhere; I'll have to try to dig it up. A lot of your MUN cronies were in that class too; they might have it. It's a good article.
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