December was spent for the most part absorbed in the wonderfully fulfilling planning and painting of my first mural here. So many things happened from my first brush stroke to the last (still pending) that I am still trying to digest and figure out. Ofelia, my supervisor who is the greatest person I have ever known, and I decided to break up the mural into sections and spread it out over the course of about a week which was eventually stretched into about two weeks through unplanned events. The painting started normal enough, ups and downs, frustrations over the kids painting everything and everyone. The third day in I had brought my camera, as I had normally done, and spent the morning alternating in between painting and trying to document the progress and joy of the mural. Around noon I noticed my camera wasn’t in the place where I had set it and immediately Ofelia organized a search party going door to door with the kids that were painting and talking to parents. It came out through one child or another that the same girl that had stolen the camera of the prior volunteer here, also had stolen mine and had been planning to do so for a while. For all the joy that comes along with having a camera, getting one stolen for me at least was maybe more rewarding. What a reality shock on poverty and what it can turn people into if they allow it to. It was hard for me to know that a girl that I had been teaching guitar to for the last 3 months would steal and throw our friendship aside, but it was ever harder on Ofelia. Ofelia has a hard time in the barrio because she is so loving. She allows kids that normally are not given a chance, a chance to participate and learn, but when things like the aforementioned happen many “I told you so” are thrown in her face. It inspired so many wonderful discussions between Ofelia and I about the realities of the barrio and how loving and encouraging ,while they are the hardest to do at times, are and always will be the best actions to take.
Day 6 of the mural brought on the worst fever I have had in my life. The heat and stress finally got to me and I was in bed for 3 days hallucinating my life away. Being sick away from home is never fun, but Irma, my adopted mother here, took it as her personal responsibility to cure me. Special soups and teas, my cup always have ice in it, made whatever I had leave without doing any permanent damage. Friends from the barrio came to visit me and give me every suggestion that has ever existed on how to break a fever. Ofelia won with ice under the armpits and on my neck. I returned to paint much more slowly and with more consciousness of what my body was telling me. We are at about 99% done with the mural at the moment and we are planning on finishing it in February. End of year activities slowly took over the mural time and we decided it would be best to finish it calmly after vacation.
Christmas in Argentina was certainly distinct and beautiful. Gifts weren’t all that important to the holiday in the houses where I spent my 25th of December. It was much more important that everyone was gathered and ate the fruit salad, than who gave who what. In fact the grandest present that I saw given was an umbrella. I think the dynamic of the holiday was summed up well when I asked a little boy in the barrio if he enjoyed Christmas. Instead of listing off the cds, game systems and toys that he received, he smiled and said that it was wonderful because he threw more firecrackers this year than the last. Midnight on Christmas Eve I passed with a glass of sparkling apple cider in my hand and kissing everyone that I have ever met in the barrio on both cheeks. Love and energy in the air.
I will leave you all with a quote that I have been pondering quite a bit lately as seemingly bad things occur to me and around me, it makes them seem more valuable and beautiful.
“Our whole business therefore in this life is to restore to health the eye of the
heart whereby God may be seen”-Saint Augustine.
Day 6 of the mural brought on the worst fever I have had in my life. The heat and stress finally got to me and I was in bed for 3 days hallucinating my life away. Being sick away from home is never fun, but Irma, my adopted mother here, took it as her personal responsibility to cure me. Special soups and teas, my cup always have ice in it, made whatever I had leave without doing any permanent damage. Friends from the barrio came to visit me and give me every suggestion that has ever existed on how to break a fever. Ofelia won with ice under the armpits and on my neck. I returned to paint much more slowly and with more consciousness of what my body was telling me. We are at about 99% done with the mural at the moment and we are planning on finishing it in February. End of year activities slowly took over the mural time and we decided it would be best to finish it calmly after vacation.
Christmas in Argentina was certainly distinct and beautiful. Gifts weren’t all that important to the holiday in the houses where I spent my 25th of December. It was much more important that everyone was gathered and ate the fruit salad, than who gave who what. In fact the grandest present that I saw given was an umbrella. I think the dynamic of the holiday was summed up well when I asked a little boy in the barrio if he enjoyed Christmas. Instead of listing off the cds, game systems and toys that he received, he smiled and said that it was wonderful because he threw more firecrackers this year than the last. Midnight on Christmas Eve I passed with a glass of sparkling apple cider in my hand and kissing everyone that I have ever met in the barrio on both cheeks. Love and energy in the air.
I will leave you all with a quote that I have been pondering quite a bit lately as seemingly bad things occur to me and around me, it makes them seem more valuable and beautiful.
“Our whole business therefore in this life is to restore to health the eye of the
heart whereby God may be seen”-Saint Augustine.
-james
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