I remember entering in the tunnel while you all were in a circle, standing and with your hands up, playing with your voices…. and then you started calling my name and I joined you :) so powerful
I have this very clear image of all of us sitting around in this wobbly circle, some on the ground, a few on a staircase and some on chairs, in front of this small kebab shop one evening evening on what I think was the 2nd day of the workshop. Everyone looked exhausted but also veeeery pleased about having a very pleasant and successful workshop day. The street in the old town of Benidorm was full of noise and full of tourists from all over the world. I had this amaaaaaazing, delicious, chicken kebap that I had Erik order for me the way he gets them for himself usually while I was finding a shop to buy cigarettes. we ate, talked about the day we had and left to find the next adventure
The time we were in the tunnel and don’t know how we all started doing “weird stuff”. It was amazing, we all followed each other, everything was so smooth and looked like it was script but it wasn’t. I don’t know how to explain it better but who was there will understand the feeling I’m sure.
This memory was super important for me.
Also the day of the loser walk in town, the day we all worked in the tunnel to make it our sweat home. Of course Paco’s night too amazing
carrying sofas in tunnels. Also when we drank in beach at night and we played foot jenga
Among the cracks.
Or “The day I’ve met Paco”.
The Sweat theory says that if you are open to the unknown, life will come to you.
On the 5th day of workshop, a Sunday, we decided to leave a free few hours to gather leftovers around to decorate the abandoned tunnel we had found. I went for a walk by myself around the accommodation for the very first time. After half an hour under the sun, at noon, my hands fell on a sturdy plastic round table. I decided to roll it to the accommodation, realizing one minute later how bad the idea was.
The Sweat theory says that if you somehow commit to very complex choices, life will untangle them.
A van stops in the middle of nowhere and a man, Paco, offers me a lift.
The Sweat theory says that if you trust, life will give trust back to you.
So I said yes, of course. Paco happened to be a very cheerful Venezuelan man in his 50ies, born in the same town as my mum. And Paco happened to be a hoarder like me, living his life as a technician, with the side hobby of finding leftovers on the street, collect and re-use them. An EASA match. He had the whole material to furnish the tunnel, toilet included.
So he offered me beers and a swim in his pool at his self built caravan house, went back with wood and paint to the tunnel and planned a Paella night with the participants at his place.
Two days later 15 people, our entire group of participants, were being lifted by him on his van, having dinner at his place and half of us slept in his guest caravan house, coming back at the easa site after 24 hours.
Paco had lost his wife 4 years before, went for the Santiago Pilgrimage and decided to leave his apartment and start living his self-built way.
After EASA I continued traveling this way for 10 days, going a bit with the wind, heading towards Portugal. The amazing people I have met along the path all had this element of slow reinvention of their time in common. Easians taking their post graduation time after a huge amount of sacrifice for the community; Paolo taking his time from teaching to cross spain by car; Antonia and Jane, Brazilian retired high school teachers on holiday in Europe; Margarita recovering from a burnout; Bianca traveling alone with her camper in her 60ies since 2 years, after the loss of her son, her husband, her job and her dog; Francesco, Alessio, Emma, Lucia, Morgan, Lobster taking a month to just walk and discover how to be at ease alone with themselves.
Before I always had the impression of running through the cracks between the things, a bit on my own, now I took my time to inhabit them and therefore discover that they are already inhabited as well by actually all the people that wake up every day.
Diana,2024
Hello! It's October 2024 and all the memories of the summer are blurred. What the fuck has happened? Let's merge all the glimpses and fragments of what happened. Only the first question is mandatory, you can choose to answer the others or not. It's all about relaxation, don't think too much/use too much of your time. Love you.*
*answers from a google survey submitted to participants two months after the workshop
I learned about living the present, without caring too much about what comes next and to let myself go and be brought by others
That my comfort / uncomfort zones are way different then I thought. that playing is an integral part of learning. you can learn a lot just by experiencing new things. the experience is way more important the the result / goal
A lot, about how I see my life in general.
I learned that sometimes doing nothing it’s still doing something, that sometimes we need a rest, we need some time off to recharge. I learned that so much can happen without planning it. That sometimes you just need to see what’s coming and follow your instinct and stop plan all your life. The best things that happen are the ones that you didn’t even think about.
Ps I hope it makes sense ahhaah, but for me really was a big change
I learned how to be in the right moment
Sweaters learning how to make paella and hosted by Paco, a man encountered on the street. Paco helped us gathering leftovers in the tunnel.
