学校からのお知らせ
本校勤務のアッシュ先生（ALT)からの、メッセージ（第３回）です。 年末年始にメキシコを訪問して、貴重な経験をしたようです。
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Article 3: Experiencing Global Cultures
It was an incredible honor to visit Mexico for the first time this year. I left Japan for a few weeks and went to Mexico in order to marry the love of my life! This is an important story, but for another day, because now I want to share some of my thoughts after reflecting on my time in Mexico! This country is a beautiful and complicated land filled with some of the world’s most ancient civilizations. I was able to see many temples and ruins from Mayan and Aztec civilizations. There are over 30 UNESCO world heritage sites in Mexico. That’s even more than Japan has! One such place that I have seen is the remnants of the ancient Mayan city called Chichen Itza. Inside these ruins there is a famous temple called, ‘El Castillo’. In 2007 it became known as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. If you visit here, you can experience a mysterious phenomenon which involves sound. If you clap your hands together, a mysterious bird, which sounds exactly like the Quetzal, will respond to you. The legends say that the bird calling back to visitors is a greeting from the God of Air. Mayan culture believed the Quetzal bird was the embodiment of that very God.
I had so many more interesting experiences in Mexico. Some that changed my life! Please feel free to ask me about them sometime! If you want to see something really intense, try looking up the ancient Azztec and mesoamerican tradition of ‘El Temazcal’ ceremony. Now that was fiery! I experienced this ceremony and it changed my life! I think that as students, you should take any opportunities that you can to experience the beauty and be amazed by how different and wonderful other cultures can be. It will enrich your global understanding of the world and even help you treasure your own unique culture all the more.
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