Licensed Childcare Center in Pictures.

The outside "play area" complete with a new storage shed and Sun Sails.

Close up of the Sun Sail, hung exclusively by women :)

The newly licensed early childcare center.  Doesn't it look fun?

The newly painted yellow plexyglass wall.  That is where the babies sleep.

The paint was dry and therefore time for the big reveal.  A little help from Wa Da.

Big hands, little hands.

Ta Da.  It's complete.

Peek-a-boo!

Each child has their own cubby with their name and picture.

Group Pic. Play time.

M.I.A.

I know it has been over a month since I have written.  Horrible.

I do not have an excuse but rather an explanation.  Work at the International Rescue Committee has been busy.  From fixing fences, to setting up classrooms, finalizing excel attendence sheets, confirming adult and intfant/toddler enrollment at our first ever licensed childcare center, to creating videos, beautiful images and many memeries; my mind has been elsewhere, everywhere really.

I have thought about blogging several times.  Thought about announcing our passage of the licensing inspection and how we now have the first ever licensed facility at the IRC.  Thought about raving about how Pae Pae finally wrote her name in English and wrote it over and over and over again. Thought about telling the amazing story of Leh Ler Si Htoo and how he finally jumped into my arms for the first time and smiled.  Then I decided I would wait.  I said to myself, I will write about each highlight separately so I do not miss a detail.

Following this brief comeback blog entry I will update you on the past month via pictures.  Many pictures,  highlighting our progress and success over the last month!

It has been said that a picture says a thousand words, right?

This has nothing to do with Co-Op.

And everything to do with mi familia.  I love my family.

This past weekend I took a much needed trip home to visit my parents, eat with my parents and hang with... my parents.  And my two wonderful, adorable and intelligent cousins too!

The older I get the more I realize that my family is THE BEST. I don't know what I would do without.  We have the best conversations together.  We laugh and yell (like in a talk really loud kind of way).  We smile and discuss.  Sometimes even tickle and tackle, all in good fun.

Now, that I'm older I'm able to socialize with my parents in a much different way.  We have real grown up conversations.  For example this weekend we talked about our well and the well water we drink.  We talked about pull tabs and even bought a few (we didn't win).  We talked about life, growing older, traveling and people.  I had so much fun basically doing nothing.  Just enjoying my wonderful parents.

On Saturday, we went to the Minnesota State Fair!  I haven't missed the fair once in 21 years. I definitely wasn't about to miss it this year.  The fair was filled with food on a stick, power washers and trailers, dippin' dots, dancing and my favorite, my cousins :)

Ella and Tate came to the fair just to hang out.  I have not seen them in sooooo long and it always makes my day visiting with them.  Joking with them.  I just love them.  Ella and I went in the haunted house.  Surprisingly, it was scary.  I have not been in the haunted house since I was about ten when I peed my pants.  Now, 11 years later, I sucked it up and tried it again!  I probably wasn't the best one to accompany my eight year old cousin.  I was most definitely more jumpy then she was.  Half way through she looked at me though and trembled, "Abby, will you carry me!"  I chuckled, imagining what I must look like carry this long, not so much a child anymore, through the haunted house.  It was soooo fun though.  The look on her face as we exited the haunted house made my night!  She was so proud.

After a few breaths, Ella, Tate and I made our way to the River Raft Ride.  The whole way there they joked with me saying, "Don't worry Abby. You're not going to get wet!"  Tate repeating over and over, "Don't worry Abby, you're not going to get wet!"  I only half believed them.  Tate got soaked on the first wave.  The wave hovered over him gulping him in it's attack.  He was soaked.  I was just smiling, thinking I made it out of this one.   We made it through the whole ride when suddenly we make our last turn and I get sprayed directly in the back my a hidden fountain.  I was soaked.  They were just laughing.

O, the fair.  The Minnesota State Fair.  The best in the nation.  With my family, cousins, and soooo much great food.  What a splendid weekend.

Ella, Me, Tate after our collapse!

Mi Madre con los primos :)

Me and Mr. Tater Bug

All Women.

This week the work at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has been filled with hard, manual labor!  And I mean, not wimpy tasks, but what some might call a mans job.  I helped my manager put up a fence, like one of those silver chain fences, not easy. (Thank goodness for the rachets)  I built a shelf, with cubby holes, helped put up wall decorations, almost moved a small shed (keyword, almost) hauled old shelves out of a classroom, put up a shade tarp to cover a little sandy area that reminded me much of the movie holes and used a screwdriver and hammer babyproof a classroom.

A man's job, pffff.   Five remarkable women have been hard at work putting together a childcare center that is going to be built, decorated and designed with love.  TLC.  For the last month the IRC's First Things First department has been working hard to fill out licensing applications, restructure their curriculum for adults, put in place a more structured center for infants and toddlers and make the program the best in the U.S. or at least San Diego.  

The adult First Things First program is in place to teach refugee parents to learn English.  It starts with the very basics, like how to hold a pencil, what a piece of paper is, moving on to the alphabet and slowly but surely short phrases.  The program is phenomenal!  To make it even better there is a childcare supplement.  The parents can drop their children off while they attend school, that way their children are in a safe zone learning English basics and being looked after by the best staff evaaa!

Next week is our licensing inspection which is why this week has been filled with the real stuff.  Good, hard, labor.  And lots of laughs, giggles, stories, and sweaty women working together to complete the first things first.

Fro-yo to the rescue.

I just got back from Yogurtland because I had yet another craving for yogurt.  Fro-yo to be exact, my guilty pleasure.  While standing in line at the cashiers, I saw a young gentleman in a TC hat and an SDSU shirt.  Naturally, the first thing I thought was hmmm... this man must be from Minnesota.  I always get excited meeting a fellow Minnesotan in a foreign place.  Yes! California is still a bit foreign.  So I spoke up in a jolly mildly high pitched voice, "Hey, are you from Minnesota."  He awkwardly put his head down and whispered "yup."

"Me Too."

He didn't care. He took his change and rushed out the door. 

Weird.  Most Minnesotans are friendly to the extreme.  I just don't know what happened this time.

Nonetheless, my Fro-Yo was delicious :)

International Rescue Committee

A brief introduction to the organization I chose for my second Co-Op experience!  Very Very rewarding.

http://www.theirc.org/irc-a-glance

Namaste to all and to all a good night!

A love affair with Julia Roberts.

No. I did not actually have a love affair with Julia Roberts, but I bet it prompted you to read further :)

I just returned from watching the movie Eat. Pray. Love. Sad to say it, but that movie, the divine scenery and language of Italy, the serene peace and chaotic beauty of India, and the calmness and solitude in Bali have urked my hands, my mind and my soul into writing again.  Now my fingers move at lightning speed.  Thoughts bump into one another flying around in my head and my liver is smiling (line from the movie).  Not only my liver but my inner being is smiling because finally I found the passion to update my blog again.  It has been two months since I have written.  How sad!

I have been to Minnesota, Stamford, New York, through Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California in that time.  I have seen the Rockies, blue rivers, desolate desserts, sharp rocks, thick clouds and vast landscapes since then.

I am now living in San Diego.  I arrived here five weeks ago to begin my second Co-Op, thanks to Northeastern and my parents of course.   Surprisingly, this transition has not been as smooth as my other million.  In my time at Northeastern I have moved a lot.  Almost every six months for the past four years.  I enjoy seeing new places.  Diving into a different culture, lifestyle and routine.  San Diego has been completely different than all of my other experiences though.  I have struggled more, which I believe is good. Not necessarily to fit in, or meet friends, but more so to find peace within myself.

I do love it.  This city.  Don't get me wrong.

Now that I have seen this movie and began to reflect I am feeling a bit better and more ambitious.  I am excited for what life has in store for me and the new opportunities that I believe will arise.  For a moment or rather a month, I lost sight of the positive direction my life was headed and got wrapped up in well, other thoughts.

More to come, on my Co-Op job, life experiences, and the friends who are currently shaping my life!

This blog, writer, bloggest, friend, hija, chica, lady, amiga, or just Abby is back in action!

Still smiling.

I've been so caught up in my art project lately I have completely neglected writing about the little things.  The moments that have kept me smiling.

Let's meander back to Sunday morning.  It's 10:00 am, I had my tooth brush in my mouth, I was wiping off the counter and suddenly my phone rings.  My phone.  Every time my phone rings my ears perk up.  It rarely happens here in Spain and when it does, the sound echos through the room of apartment 3C. I ignored it assuming it was a telemarketer and continued on with my Sunday morning routine.

38 seconds later, the noise returns.  Who must it be?  Two phones calls in one minute.  I pick up my phone from my night stand, glance at it and smile.  Do I answer and suffer the bill?  Noooo. Skype.

It was John Paul Vaith.  The One and Only.  My bestie.  My brother, in another life.  I dialed him back, from my computer of course, as fast as I could and when he picked up I started cheering.  Yay!  John Paul.

It was this small occasion in my day that made my week.  We talked for an hour about school, summer, friends, girlfriends, love, family, new york.  We laughed, we yelled, we discussed, we didn't cry.  It was amazing.  We only talk a few times a year.  Not enough. It's sad.  But when we do it's like we've never been out of touch.  He is one of my best friends and always will be.

It was after this conversation, I started thinking about our time together two summers ago.  We hung out together EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. whether it was for five minutes or 24 hours.  We stayed up until sunrise reminiscing.  We went to Olive Garden or ordered it in at least twice a month.  It's thinking back on times like these that make me wish time would stop.  I wish life would allow you to see those you LOVE every single day instead of just once or twice a year.  The older I get the more I realize this will never happen.  The more places you go, the more people you meet but it's nice to know that your favorite people are just a call, text or skype chat away :)

Wood Carving and Bronze.

It started as a block of wood.  After chiseling and chipping and pounding and sanding it became a palm, with a thumb of course. 

This will make for the base of my world cube.  The whole world on the tip of my finger.

My fingers are made out of bronze and my thumb and palm made out of wood.  My livestrong bracelet finishes out the piece and was caste in bronze and colored with patina.  It was my first wood carving so be nice.  Very challenging but sooo rewarding.  Below are a few photos.  Not quite the finished product but close!   

El Mundo en Mosaic

My art project is a mosaic of the world.  Each country composed of different items I have found around Cuenca to represent different aspects/characteristics of each continent.  Ultimately it will be placed on the tip of my finger, which I casted out of bronze, and displayed as a sculpture at the exhibit this coming Friday.

Africa is composed of chicken bones, while Asia is composed of old electric parts to represent the technology that is skyrocketing in Asia.

This is a view of Canada and the United States.

A better view of the United States, composed of American dollar bills and coins.

Artist's Statement

The exhibit is coming up on Friday! Yikes.


So little by little we are preparing.


Here is my artist's statement:

My name is Abby Wagner.  I am a twenty-one year old student, tenacious traveler and avid volunteer, studying international affairs and human services.  My ultimate goal is to be the CEO of a social enterprise company; creating alternative resources for people living on less than dollar a day. I am influenced in life by the anomalous experiences I have had through travel and the diverse complexity of cultures I have crossed.

            So you may be wondering, why am I here, making art?

I decided to participate on this study abroad experience to dive into a new part of my brain. To express my beliefs in new methods, aside from writing.  I have never painted, drawn or sculpted but the challenge and desire has always lingered. 

            My artwork is inspired by themes of peace and unity, as seen in the serene beauty of Cuenca.  Understanding how interconnected, and broken, yet beautiful the world is all at the same time.  In my mosaic I hope to portray the uniqueness of many peoples having a piece of the world, a fingertip that leaves a dent in some way or another.  How each person views the world is entirely different, nonetheless we come together, tiny pieces, molding to form one versatile society. 

In honor of... Papa Bear.

I am not a girly girl but I am not a boy.  Anybody who knows me, especially mi familia, knows I do not like to hammer nails. Do not like to touch wood (it gives me slivers). Do not like to clean really dirty areas. I don't like cement. Rocks. Pulling weeds. Yard work.

... (I think I'm starting to sound like a princess).

There are those occasional days though, where I would hop in the back of my dad's diesel fueled, American flag decorated, truck, with my hard hat on the dash and my Carhart boots tied tight.  Ready to set off into the danger zone, never knowing what project I was going to be assigned.  That's right, me, employee of the day for Wagner Construction of Hampton Inc.  And dad I would like to thank you for the lessons, sense of strength and determination you taught me, on those days spent doing a "man's job."

That time I had to crawl in the boiler room, the walls hugging me tightly as I snake crawled through the slimmest hole into a room that was 98 degrees Fahrenheit .  That time the hammer decided it wanted to get intimate, and tapped me nicely on the shoulder.  That time you told me to swing my arms, widen my stance and walk like a man.  These instances, snapshots rather, of concentration and absolute challenging work, are a daily reminder that I can finish this art project, and finish it successfully.

It may have taken me 3 hours to build a 9x9x9 in. cube.  It may have taken me three attempts at making the perfect cement solution. (I now know it takes three parts mixture and one part water).  It may have taken me a whole class day (6.5 hrs) to figure out how to assemble the base of my sculpture.  BUT I have done it.  Slowly but surely I have begun to mosaic the world, on a cube, rested on the tip of my fingers.  A "man's job" some would say.

All I have to say is I'm a woman

... And I got the whole wide world on the tip of my finger.


THANKS PAPA!

Yes, TOPLESS.

Location: Valencian Beach
When: This afternoon
Who: Me, Myself, I and all the other beautiful women in this world.

Today was a glorious day.  I layed out, in the sun, surrounded by the bluest beaches I have ever seen, topless.

Yes, topless.  I never, ever thought I would do anything like it!  In America, well, it just doesn't happen.  But why?

I was thinking about this today as I was observing elderly women, young children, mothers, teenagers, dark skinned, a little over weight, wrinkly, women enjoying the day freely.  Some swimming, lying down, reading a book, talking on their cell phone,  enjoying friendly conversation, all without their tops on.  It was beautiful.  The female body, natural body, at it's finest. Confident women being themselves with no judgments.  I felt confidence explode inside of me as I untied the knot keeping the garment around my neck, throwing my top in the air like it was my graduation cap, three years earlier.  I felt beautiful.

I am looking forward to tomorrow

... when I do the same thing again with a grin spread across my face.

Pablo Picasso

So, as you know from reading this blog, I am NOT an artist.  Or at least literally speaking!

But I love to visit art museums.  I have been to several including the MET, the MOMA, the Walker Art Museum, several in India, Mexico and now the Prado and La Reina Sofia.

A few of my favorite artists: Dalí, Palencia, Miró, Bosch and of course Picasso!  On Saturday I got to see his most famous painting (the real original piece) Guernica.  I took a picture for proof but I took it illegally, or snuck it rather, so I'm not ready to put it online.  It was magnificent.  


And I learned something interesting about the piece as told by our tour guide, Paco.  It is assumed Picasso found inspiration for the idea from the painting The Horrors of War (1638) by Peter Paul Rubens.  


http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/img/rubens-horrors-war-NG279-fm.jpg


Copy and paste the link flick the picture and compare it to the Guernica by Picasso.  You can see the images abstractly!  It's amazing!

Madrid... or Manhattan

I spent this last weekend in Madrid!  I loved it.  I can't tell if I loved it because it was an international city and I saw people from all over the world and heard languages I have never heard before OR if it was because it reminded me of my time in NYC last Spring.  Nonetheless, the weekend was bittersweet because of the latter.

I missed my friends.  Had several instances of dejavue (sp). Visited both the Prado and La Reina Sofia Museum, which was amazing.  Took a flamenco class.

Madrid. I could definitely see myself living there in the future.  It was a bit touristy for me but I am sure after living there long enough it would be easy to find the dives and local hangouts.  Much like New York City.

So Madrid or New York City or Neither!


... we shall see.

I'm sorry

I'm sorry.  I know I am horrible at keeping up with this blogging thing.  My journal, that's loaded, but of course it is easy to bring that with me everywhere and whip it out whenever I have an intelligent thought lingering.  The following few posts are going to be tid bits of experiences I have had over the past several days.  Enjoy.

An artist becoming an artist.

I have never been defined as an artist.  I have never used the word artist to describe myself.  Of course I believe I am artistic in an abstract sense; painting images in my mind, sometimes etching through words, the tips of my fingers drawing noises on the piano.

But when people hear the word artist, most often times they think of a painter, literally using water color or acrylics to cover a canvas, or metal or weld together a sculpture.

In Spain, this literal kind of art is exactly what I came here to do.  I am receiving two art credits to create.  Create whatever I want.  As easy as it seems, I have realized a few things since I have been here:

1. Art is not an easy major.
2. Art hurts your brain.
3. Art takes more concentration and determination than almost anything ever attempted by me.
4. Art can be fun.
5. Art gives back a sense of satisfaction.
6. Art is a way to express when there are no words or actions to use.
7. Art and it's importance could go on and on and on.
8. I am making an eight because anyone who knows me knows I HATE odd numbers.

Moving on... The point of this post is that I have learned so much in just the two weeks I have been here.  And these lessons I have learned are not necessarily making me a better artist but a more patient and well -rounded person.

This side of my brain has never been worked so hard and it's gratifying!

On a hike.

This morning I awoke, or I suppose one would say was pried out of bed at 7:20 a.m.  I have tried to get up at 7:20 a.m. everyday this week to go on a hike with my friend Matthew.  This morning he was not letting me get out of it and I THANK him for that.

Every night we sleep, nestled between the looming landscapes that lie above and below us.  There are rivers filled with limestone, which turn the water a pastel green, flowing below us and boulders and cliffs hanging off the mountain above us, like piano keys.  At the tallest peak in Cuenca stands Jesus watching over the bustling streets below.

This morning, Matt and I went on a hike.  Jogging, running and fast walking our way up the mountain in a mere 28 minutes.  At the top we both sat in silence, our eyes dancing back and forth at the fascinating beauty surrounding us.  Looking up, only to see Jesus staring right back at us.

Standing on top of this mountain was peaceful.  Seeing the contrast between a bustling city popping with bright colors, built into a mountain with greens and browns.  Vegetation and wild flowers.

Cuenca, a city built within the hills is a hikers city.  Up and down, up and down, up and down.  To school and back.  To the grocery store and back.  To Jesus and back.

Spain...I think so.

Minneapolis a Boston.  Boston a London. London a Madrid. Madrid a Cuenca.  

Cuenca, España; my home for the next four weeks.  This long, seemly never ending journey landed us in the serene, rolling hills of central Spain.  A city not well-known to the average American, yet suffocating the mind and eyes with absolute beauty; the cannon walls hugging our wandering bodies with a tight comforting grip.

Two weeks prior: 

    "Abby, It's Ed, the art teacher at Northeastern.  How would you like to go to Spain?"

    Watching my ham, broccoli, onion and cheese omelet sizzle, while standing in the egg line at Colgate University, my jaw dropped.  Of course I would LOVE to go to Spain, but what about all my summer plans?  What about Beth?  My family?  Spain?

    "Umm, wow what an opportunity! Could I have a few days to discuss my options?" I replied hurriedly.

    "I need to know by tomorrow."

So, after several tears, smiles, swirling thoughts, fears and butterflies, I began mentally preparing for my five week adventure in Spain.  Two weeks to prepare. Five weeks to experiment with art, explore the vast hills and practice this language I love so much. 

This will begin a new series in my life.  One as an artist, mountain climber, "native" speaker.  Stay tuned for my adventures, ideas, and of course all of my realizations about this lovely life we live.