A gift for Diego
Diego and I went to the Master’s rooftop, on the 4th floor of Emily Carr. We sat on one of the picnic tables under the sun and started talking. Diego doesn’t like rain. He comes from Mexico and when arriving in Vancouver he was happy to see how sunny it was. But as we all know it… grey and rainy days will come.
How will Diego, coming from a mostly sunny country, will be able to feel good when the rainy days will come?
I lived in the Netherlands for four years for my undergraduate program. It rains. It is windy, grey, and cold. I decided to use my own experience to make a gift to Diego.
This was outside of my school on April 6th, 2021. A beautiful spring day as you can see… And the snow was not even staying so it was just cold and grey.
I find it important to connect to the things that make one feel good when the weather is sad and gloomy. I decided to create guidelines for Diego, to invite him into a ritual for those rainy days.
The ritual – Elements
A- Corn tortillas
During our conversation Diego mentionned how Mexican tortillas, made with corn were going to be missed by him. I asked if he knew how to make them but he doesn’t. He mentionned that the process was long and difficult. As a food lover I took it as a challenge. And decided to look into Mexican tortillas making. Two of my friends come from Mexico, but none of them new how to make them from scratch. I asked the internet who guided me through the making of them and was able to quite quickly identify the ingredients needed. I went on a trip to a Mexican store to buy the right ingredients, and ask a few questions.
I then made the tortillas following their advice as well as the different online recipes I could find online, to make the tortillas as easy and good as possible.
B- Activities
Along with the tortilla making I wanted to invite Diego to connect to the things he enjoys. We talked about his lover who is still in Mexico, the sports he loves, the movies he watches, his family, and food again… Out of all those elements I suggested to him a few activities that I think he would enjoy will making tortillas.
Understandings
Through this assignment, I learnt a new recipe from a country I do not know very well. I also connected to Diego and understood him better, and maybe make a friend. It was also interesting to reflect on my rainy day rituals. I hope that when they will come, Diego but also I will be able to go through them with a lot of comfort and happiness.