Didn’t get a chance to write yesterday because I was tired, but things happened. There are always things happening. We’ve been having Spanish classes in the morning since we arrived, from 8:30 am to noon, which has been in the past 2 days. I notice myself getting more comfortable speaking Spanish the more I practice conversing with Emma and our Spanish teacher, Indira (which is the prettiest name in my opinion). Last night we visited the studio of the David Alfaro Siquieros Collective, where Maria led an exercise where we made drawings responding to the following questions:
*Who am I?
*Who are we?
The first was a drawing made by each person individually, which we then shared with one another in Spanish/English. Then we passed our drawings to the person on our left and responded to the second questions by drawing over the original, as a way to complete it. After taking time to do that, we hung all of them up on the wall to see what everyone did. It was interesting to see how everyone creatively approached completing the other’s drawing. We then proceeded to do a PowerPoint presentation of our work. I still have some anxieties about showing off mine because of the degree of vulnerability but I know they stem from being concerned about what other people think. Everyone else’s work — Maddie, Carrie, Emma — was awesome. I am working with such talented people on this trip and I am so grateful for it. I thanked Maria this morning for keeping a trip like this going strong for so many years so that we could all experience her country. I told her I couldn’t remember the last time I smiled this much so consistently; i’ve been smiling since the day I arrived. Twice for lunch we have gone to this all vegetarian / yoga + meditation center called Ananda. The food there is good, although my stomach hasn’t desired much food lately because I’ve been stuffing it with so many new things. It’d be cool to come back once I’m a certified yoga instructor and teach classes there. Or better yet, have my yoga teacher training intensive in Estelí (actually it appears that the former might be better). As we were waiting for our food Maddie and I had a mini yoga / meditation session in one of the open rooms. It was humid and full of mosquitos but a peaceful place. It was a really nice session. She followed every gesture and pose I did; she let me lead her. Over Chinese food later she was telling me how much she loved doing yoga and meditation with me. She says that I breathe very well. That lady is so full of love <3 Today, after our Spanish classes we walked with our teachers to Las Mujeres Ambientalistas, a collective of women who make recycled paper goods. We saw some of their works —notebooks, posters of Che Guevara & Augusto C. Sandino, bookmarks, cards. They were simple and fun. I got a few things for my sister’s birthday / going-away-to-college things (sheesh, I can’t believe she’s in college now). I decided to do a watercolor workshop with my students when I arrive in Limay. I’ll show them a few techniques, even though I”m not sure what because the way I use watercolor is pretty free-form and intuitive. But I have plenty of watercolors and supplies for a 3 hour class in it, and I was thinking of just having people paint what they see in front of them. Well see how it goes. A few more days til we are on our way to Limay.
No comments:
Post a Comment