#2trimester

I have been running for 5 weeks, 2 times per week. this last month could be considered torture at the beginning, I didn’t want to run and I was very lazy about it, so the third day I started watching a TV series only when running, this made the experience much better. 

As I only watch this series while running, I see this activity not as a torture but a mean to watch the series. It’s like receiving a price and I think it completely changed the experience.

I have already done the two days that had to be done this week on this Sunday and Monday, and I counted the Sunday as part of this week because of exams.

I have loved ice skating since i knew what it was. When I first heard about ice-skating, I thought it would be quite poetic, like walking on water or soaring trough the sky.

We all met here to have fun, enjoy and practice. And even though there was a lot of people, I couldn’t avoid remembering when I was little, and I skied with my family. Sometimes, despite the music playing in the background I remembered hot chocolates and cookies I ate when I was little. From my 4th to my 7th years I lived in Sweden and an activity we almost did every week was ice skating. 

I must confess that until now, I haven’t skated in years, and at the beginning I noticed. However, as the time passed by, my whole body felt more accustomed. 

I have a friend that hasn’t been ice skating very much and helping her was super satisfying. At the beginning she didn’t move from the wall, but with a little bit of confidence she let go and started to enjoy it more.

As I go to spend the weekend in Madrid every two weekends, I asked my grandma if she knew any social dining room near home where I could help. WE decided on the one offered by Las hermanitas de los pobres in Doctor Esquerdo street in Madrid. We helped to serve the dishes, to collect them and to and to organize the food that was left for future use. 

As it was our first time, we were a bit lost, but the sisters guided us all the way and instructed us how to do everything. I really hope to come back the next weekend I can and to help out.

I was originally going to take a photo inside, but then I decided, that as it was my first time there and because of respect that I would take the photo outside, next time i will take one inside with the apron, but not showing anything else.

I must say that I couldn’t complete the challenge, as almost 4 weeks have passed, and I haven’t done 5 drawings per week. However, I absolutely adored and enjoyed my time spent designing the drawings.

As ideas don’t normally appear in my mind from nowhere, I had to seek inspiration in my garden, some songs and even a movie. Well, It is better said that the ideas came to me while watching the movie or listening to music.

Drawing is an activity that relaxes me completely, it makes me forget about my surrounding’s and I love it. I even told Elena, a friend, that we could work together to really make something for us to wear. I would design it, and she would sew it.

Hunger is a problem that is part of every society, it’s not far away in another country, and this project tries to make us more conscious and to act with more solidarity. In our school we took part in the kilo operation, we announced in the classes what non-perishable food and the hygiene products that they had to bring or not. 

We collected the bags with these products, and we helped to store and organise them. It was a cool simple activity to do with my friends, but as there was no direct contact with the people it wasn’t as gratifying as other activities.

We know that the elder people that are at the residence for different reasons. Some have tragic backstories, interesting families or difficulties with short or long-term memory. Some of them have lots of grandchildren to visit them, but they are still lonely. It’s hard not to, surrounded by people that are as lonely as you, or worse. And even though sometimes it makes me cry, each visit is unique. We talk about our lives or help them with specific exercises, but we always end our time together with smiles.

I may not see the world completely different from how I did yesterday, nevertheless each conversation, tear or hug has made me understand things that I didn’t before; that at  a point in our lives we will find ourselves tired and wishing for death, but it isn’t strange or bad. It’s just the moment for it. It is also normal to cry for what we don’t have, even for what we do. Life is only lived once, yet it’s impossible to be happy all the time, because life is more, life is full, and tiring and unique. Each day I am demonstrated that my life without my time spent in the residence would never be the same. 

At the same time I’m proud of myself for continuing the visits. Even though they are emotionaly hard it would be worse, i would feel worse, if I didint do this.

We all eat too much on Christmas, this delicious piece of cake or chocolate. The first day of school after vacations made me think of the next big vacation; Summer. And I realised that If I wanted to lose the kilos I had gained this Christmas, for the rest of the year I had to do something more; this activity had to be implemented in my routine.