We had gone to the farmer’s market in Des Moines the other day. With it being my first time there, I was excited to walk around and see what every vendor had to offer. I didn’t expect to see furniture, jewelry, and a station for pets. There were even people singing and playing instruments. One thing that caught my eye and made me want to check every vendor was seeing the variety of food from different cultures. I saw dishes from Lebanon, Thailand, Mexico, Venezuela, and El Salvador. Curtis kept saying how the pupusa, a typical food from El Salvador, is the most popular item at the market, so we got in line to get ourselves one. I never had one before, and yet I got filled with nostalgia the moment I took my first bite. It’s been almost a month since arriving in Iowa and I already greatly miss the Peruvian dishes my family makes, but at least I got to fulfill that desire with another latin food. Another thing that I took away from this trip is the fact that I found the courage to buy myself something in person all on my own which I rarely do, and it was worth it since I got to enjoy a strawberry smoothie and, later on, a cup of homemade lemonade.
We had also done light painting. I had no idea what this was, but doing it was very fun. At the auditorium, we used our phones to emit light of different colors in the dark and swung them around as though they were paintbrushes. My favorite image that we created was a scene depicting two lightsaber wielders clashing against each other, which you can see in Allison’s post titled “Week 3 Wrap Up” . I also enjoyed creating the scene of someone shooting their blaster at another person (I was one of the blaster shots), the image depicting one of our favorite foods (pizza is so yummy), and the ones with “VRAC BUNCH” and “SPIRE-EIT” (I was the ‘B’ in “BUNCH” and the ‘R’ in “SPIRE”…I think I might’ve miscalculated my height in relation to the rest oops).
Another fun activity that we did was visiting some parks. At Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake, we found Glen who had brought his dogs to come say hi to us. They were very cute and friendly. Then we took a lap around the lake, and Tim began to share with me his experience so far at Grinnel College. I’m also studying at a liberal arts college, so it felt nice to share our experiences and see how we’re doing. After walking around the lake, we were met with another dog, and at that point, I just started missing my dog and my cousins’ dogs who I would always pet and throw myself onto the floor to play with. At Ledges State Park, we hiked to Crow’s Nest before we went to a lake where I was met with so many butterflies. I had also seen a weird plant, some tadpoles, and different kinds of birds. I don’t really know the names of species when it comes to identifying certain plants or animals, but when observing the birds flying around, I was reminded of my college English professor who expressed so much enthusiasm when naming a large hawk that flew by our classroom window. After class, as I was walking back to my room, a large hawk, which may have been the same bird as before, swooped down and flew right by my side before going up and landing on top of a post light. I got so spooked, but I was also in awe because of how majestic it looked. Overall, I enjoyed my time at the two parks as I hiked along trails, hopped on rocks, and just immersed myself in the natural environment.
