Thoughts and Reality

Upon coming to Costa Rica and seeing that the mystic exoticism I expected to find either A.) doesn't exist at all or B.) exists in places I have not yet visited, I have been forced to rethink my life here and the expectations I hold. Being that I am an artist, as is everyone that exists, I have the power to physically manifest the reality I want in my mind into a tangible existent object or practice. Maybe this mystic experience and power I have come to search for has existed within me the entire time. I believe that any reality one wishes to live in is entirely possible; it simply must start from within and spiral outwards from oneself. We are the ones in charge of our surroundings and ourselves; we must merge the two in order to live in the reality we wish. This goes along with Tantric Principles of fusing the self with the cosmic to create inner and outer realization. 

Explanation of Tantra

Keeping this concept in mind, many images I have created while being here exist as a physical representation my self and surroundings interacting, existing in two realities in order to find for what I am searching.

The world around us may not be what we want it to in the present, but that doesn't mean we can not change it. The resources required are all around us, inside and out.

Warrior Pose XXI, 2011

The Lesbian Warrior Princess I Know You Could Be, 2011

Sketch for Hat, 2011

Magazine Drawing Study, 2011

Cut Paper Stencil, 2011

Random Weave, 2011

Self Portrait with Fruit, 2011

Drawing on Hand that Probably Makes Me Look Like A Devil Worshipper, 2011

The Internal Conflict of Growing a Beard, 2011

 Screenprint on Old Shirt, 2011

Map to A Furby's Inner-workings, 2011

Visions, 2011

Highlighter Study, 2011

Amy Winehouse Fan Art, 2011

Rebekah Brooks as Amy Winehouse, 2011

Cut Paper Study, 2011

Cut Paper Study, 2011

Cut Paper Study, 2011

Notebook Drawing from A Lonely Day, 2011

Front of my Notebook, 2011

Back of my Notebook, 2011

El verdad

Soy un soltero y un extranjero. No creo que eso cambiará.

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. 

Pura Mirada

So, when you tell anyone that you are studying in Costa Rica, what do they picture?

-beaches
-jungles
-markets
-exotic animals
-indigenous people
-environmentally friendly
-cheap everything
-and so on.

I say this because these were all things that I thought. I pictured it to be nothing like the U.S.-- to be a tropically colored wonderland of new food, music, and dance, free of pollution or any other terrible trait of "my homeland." Alas, I have been proven wrong. Most of the time, I feel like I haven't left the U.S. at all, and sometimes I feel it even worse than where I live at home. No, this isn't meant to be some huge post on reasons why Costa Rica is horrible and why the U.S. is better. I simply want to address a few misperceptions about where I am studying.

There are lots of cars, and there is lots of smog here. When trucks and buses drive by I always hold my breath to stop from inhaling the thick black exhaust. When you walk through town in Heredia, there is garbage along the streets-- plastic cups, bags full of trash, etc. There is a lot of of non-point source pollution- oil, soap, and more on the road that runs into the sewer system. Just as much disposable containers that we have in the U.S. I've just seen so much garbage and pollution in public that I wonder where Costa Rica gets this rep of being so "Environmentally Friendly." Yes, there are copious amounts of jungles and beaches and so on, but It just doesn't seem to be living up to being the number one environmentally friendly country in the world as I have heard.

As far as the exotic animals and indigenous people and cheap everything go, you can find them in this country. But you can also find them in any other country. All of the cities here for the most part are just like ours in the U.S. You see people in current styles from the U.S. Music from the states is popular here, there are McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc. . . Small businesses everywhere selling every kind of ware. Walmart is here. People don't go out of their way to talk to someone they don't know or make eye contact and smile with a stranger. It rains frequently and is often cold.

I simply want to say that the image people have of Costa Rica isn't necessarily the reality of the matter.

I created "Pura Mirada," meaning Pure View-- a play off of the token saying here, "Pura Vida," which means Pure Life. Is Costa Rica a terrible place? No. I am simply approaching the stereotype from my experiences walking around town everyday, and how my perceptions have changed. I have seen quite a few examples of the above listed ideas, but in the same breath, every place has its flaws.

Notes and Music

I will preface this blog entry by explaining an interesting routine I've been performing.

Before I left the Cincinnati Airport for Costa Rica, my Mom, Grandma, Boyfriend, and one of my best friends was there to wish me off. While there was still time before I had to rush to my departure gate, my boyfriend went off by himself for a good fifteen minutes. I was wondering why he was separating himself when I was going to be gone for five months, and this was our last chance to spend time together for a while. As I was saying my goodbyes and walking towards the omnipotent force of airport security, he handed me an envelope that looked like it had just finished stuffing its face in preparation for a five month hibernation. It was clearly an envelope from my mom's work with the logo and all stamped on the top left corner. He had scratched out the logo and drawn a furby underneath it saying "Me better than CCSA," along with instructions to not open until I was bored on the plane ride. And it said "From PupPup," the affectionate title that I have dubbed him.

Upon opening it in my room at my host family's house later, I found it to be a bundle of folded up notes held snugly together by a slightly faded maroon rubber band. Inscribed on the front of each folded note is the date in which I should open that individual one and the number of task I am working on at that point. One for each week while I am gone, for a total of twenty or twenty-one notes I believe. I would highly recommend this system to couples that are going to be in a similar situation, it has proven to be highly enjoyable, clever, and comforting when I'm feeling lonely.

The tasks so far have ranged from describing new food that I've tasted to making a new friend to haggling at a market. Each has a cute little drawing of a furby saying something clever and a signature of one of the many names I call him. One of the latest tasks I have been assigned is to find some cool new music, whether it be on the internet, on a cd, or on the street.

I was walking to class last friday and noticed out of the corner of my eye and ear that there was a little trio of college-aged musicians playing in front of the cafeteria. At first I was going to simply continue walking, but then all of the sudden remembered my task about finding music and thought it perfect for the assignment. After gaining permission to videotape their performance, I stood and recorded as they played together. It was a trio made up of Victor Julio Rodríguez on Darbuka (a type of hand drum), Randall Perez on Violín, and David Muñoz Morales on Guitarra. It was so neat to not only find a group playing in public, but to actually find the music really appealing and unique, and on top of all of that; it was the first time that had played together. Crazy. Check them out.



and P.S. I want to say thank you very much to Sara Drabik for being a great video-blogging and street-interviewing teacher in Scotland. That experience has provided me with so much more confidence and ability to do what I want while I'm here. Thanks!

A SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY PEOPLE

In the week before I came here, my baby boo and I made a little song together. We both enjoy making music, and both have experience from different manners in doing so. It is interesting to try to combine our experiences into harmonious works that reflect our selves in both emotion and style. I feel as though this song does just that quite well. Expanding upon this idea of harmonious relationships created through shared emotions and experiences; I would say that I feel this way with every person in am close to. If you have friends and family, you contain a set of individual relationships built by sharing of emotions and experiences unique to each and every individual that you know. Some sound nicer at times than others; it is simply the chemistry of those particular shared experiences in the given moment.

Again, I've been soaking in a hot tub of nostalgia, smiling and laughing at pictures and videos of all of the different people that I am close to. I assume this is a normal ritual performed by all study abroad students at some point or another. If I'm wrong, maybe I'm just a baby, but oh well. I love all of these people so much and value their relationships endlessly for various individual reasons.

Being in a new country, (yes, I've been here for a month almost, and yes, there are still many new things), I haven't had the luxury of being able to call a good friend at any time to ask if they want to hang out. The number of friends around me has gone from a number I couldn't count on all of my fingers and toes put together, to barely one hand. This is something I think study abroad advertisements fail to mention. You always see a group of young, smiling faces living to the fullest in some exotic place, seemingly living in this carefree paradise of boundless opportunities and friendships. Maybe I'll be on that poster eventually. I'm still trying to figure it out. I've made more friends slowly, and a guy in one of my classes today responded when I told him I didn't have many friends here that "Es una pregunta de tiempo," or "It's a question of time." I think that's what he said at least. I agree with that. It's all a question of time. Bettering my language and understanding, making friends, enjoying my stay here, returning, living life after all of this. It's all a question of time.

In Five Months.

When I told my friends and family that I was planning on going to study in Costa Rica for a semester, lots of questions came up about what I was going to do while I was here. I told them about wanting to try new food, find new music, see nature, go to the beach, work on a film, and more. After being asked the same question over and over, I thought that just because I am going to another country doesn't mean that everyone else's lives will stop. So, I decided to turn the question around on them and see what they had to say about their goals.