Lately

So, lately. 

As in this week, or the moments building up to, the culmination of everything until right now; things have been getting better and busier. From yoga and swimming classes, to making more friends, to making more art and music, things are coming together.

In my Indigenous Ecology class, I am researching Swami Sri Yukteswar, who wrote The Sacred Science, relating yoga, Hindu teachings, and Christianity through scripture, astronomy, and astrology. He also disputed the length of the Great Year in the cycle of human spirituality and suggested that our Sun had a twin star that it rotated around. Such an interesting class!

I built my own screen from boards, fabric and a staple gun in my Screen Printing workshop.

I'm learning to use Adobe Premiere to edit the documentary I''m working on while I'm here in my Artistic Audiovisual Production class.

I learned that a Costa Rican, or Tica wedding is almost identical to those from the U.S. in my Spanish class In the past, they were more similar to Spain due to history, but overtime due to tourism and trade from the U.S., our weddings are very similar.  Apparently a tradition that still goes on is that of the groom and men serenading the bride and women during a party the night before the wedding. The men will be forced to leave the house, the women turn off all of the lights, then the men come and knock on the door and serenade the wife. I think that is only something a guy would do for his wife in the U.S. if he cheated and was desperate to get her back. haha.

In reading for my Latin American Art History class, I have learned about Neoclassical and Baroque architecture in every single Latin American country during the XIX century. I've read all about doric columns, gothic arches, eclectic mixing with Baroque, Neogothic, and Classic architecture. I've read about the heavy influence from France and Italy in the architecture at the time. I am currently reading about the Modern Art movement in Mexico in the XX century. It's all very interesting, but I am so behind in the reading. It is so difficult.

  

In my Textiles class, I have learned how to do Batik, and am learning how to make a pattern from a pencil and paper. Below, I am sporting one of the patterns i put together out of paper. 

I don't think I will be using this one.

Additionally, I have been frequenting a 

ropa americana store here called Tienda Sinai. 

If you read my earlier post about ropa americana, 

I talked about the pools of clothing. This is one. 

                                       

You really have to work for a lower price when 

digging through this small ocean of mixed apparel.

An example of the random clothing

 one might find while searching:

Finding comic relief while searching profusely 

for something of value is a great metaphor for life. 

When situations happen that you don't expect or want, 

you can just laugh at them, take a picture, 

and keep searching. 

I've bought some cheap clothing with cool print on it 

to recycle into something new in my textiles class. 

I am getting so excited about it. 

Here is the Batik from earlier:

Also, I've been learning how to tie new types of knots 

online and making new necklaces from old tee shirts. 

This is my friend Tatiana. She is sitting with a "Granizado," a mixture of ice cream, condensed milk, powdered milk, diced fruit and slushie. It is delicious. 

It's been really great to make a good, solid friend while I've been here. I had trouble making friends upon arrival, but this seems like a very real, deep friendship that is rare to find. I am so lucky!

Life will always keep coming, bringing new opportunities and challenges. 

We are standing in a sea of experiences that we can either get carried away by or sail on top of.