The Congress of Emotions... via Giving Thanks

The Congress of Emotions… via Giving Thanks

“A Road whose very Preparation scared
The Traveller who yet must be prepared.
Who then this Travel to Result would bring
Needs both a Lion's Heart beneath the Wing,
And even more, a Spirit purified
Of Worldly Passion, Malice, Lust, and Pride.”

                    From the Mantiqu ‘t-Tayr by Farid ud-Din Attar

It is delightful and fulfilling to verify that some of our notions regarding time, and the relationship between culture, and actual people, are nothing but fallacies once you are in the midst of community, as defined by Martin Buber, that is, when community is decidedly “the overcoming of otherness through living unity.”

No doubt, Kat & I have experienced a great deal of intensity in both sensation and emotions, in a good way, since we first landed in Managua, five months ago. At first, it might seem that living intensely, or what we commonly regard as intensely, is in fact overwhelming. To further explain this point, we shall make use of the following example: One of the many, perhaps apocryphal anecdotes about Gautama, the Buddha, tells us that a certain follower approached him and asked him: “Master: what is the chief characteristic of the most spiritual being?” to which Gautama only replied: “the day has many hours, and those hours are made of smaller chunks of time, and so on and so forth ad infinitum.” And fell back on his silence. The master spoke, closed his eyes, and dismissed the neophyte.

What we can infer from the aforementioned anecdote is that the most spiritual being is that who is perpetually aware and sentient of all that is happening around. This is in fact what we have been experiencing since we first landed over here: an endless chain of good people, meaningful words, situations, events, discoveries, celebrations, travels, food, change of sceneries, etc.

Basically, our universe has been as shifting as your eyes right now, going from one word to the next as you read this note. For helping us attain this depth in existence we can only be grateful to each one of you, since it is because of your love and support (in one way or another), that we have managed to experience life so fully, and in such a fashion as to feel like the most fortunate and happy of all newlyweds. To further exemplify, here are a few updates since we last spoke to one another through these forum of our diaries:  

-While Ario has been working to improve the academic skills of Chico (one of the youngest nephews), and working on his novel, Kat has been volunteering at the Preschool run by Yeca, and even gave some English classes to the enthusiastic munchkins there. Unfortunately the last two weeks of the school year Kat got pink eye and therefore wasn’t able to see the kids till the very end, but we did attend their end of the year celebration. The school year in El Salvador begins again in mid-January.

Chico's Volcano school project

Maternal (2 year olds) class getting ready to perform at the end of the year celebration

- Kat’s visa renewal- Since the most that Kat can be in El Salvador is 90 days (and the neighboring countries, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua all have a deal which makes it so that we have to leave not only El Salvador, but go past these countries as well to be able to reenter and get a new visa) we decided to request a visa renewal in October. Arriving with rose-colored glasses at the last minute, we were disappointed when we had to bring back the next day passport pictures, our marriage certificate (which of course we didn’t have and so instead had to provide the authorities with an affidavit certifying that in fact we are married –oh! Bureaucracy, you have the same face everywhere…), copies of Ario’s ids, and bank statements to strengthen the application. After all sorts of last minute travails and tribulations, luckily Kat did get a visa renewal, although for only 60 days, so next week we will be visiting Belize for a few days so that Kat can return to El Salvador and get another 90 days visa. Life is giving us lemons, and we are headed to a beach in Belize where lemonade under the palm trees can only mean bliss. (As a side note we must add that, in preparation for failure on this one task, we were ready to transform Kat into Katalina, and we were going to pretend that she was from Chalatenango, one of the provinces where people with features similar to hers come from in the country. Since the province was heavily affected by the war, many city halls were destroyed , and thus records lost (providing us with the perfect alibi for Katalina’s lost papers, if she failed to produce them). Fortunately, we did not need to forge Kat a new identity as Katalina Macazar (a hybrid between McAvoy & Salazar).

-Birthday celebrations! We celebrated Betti’s (Ario’s Mom) with a surprise lunch at our house. Needless to say, Ario’s mom was beside herself seeing that all those who love her confabulated with the master confabulator (that is, Ario) to provide her with such delight.  Yessenita (Edenilson’s daughter) turned 10 years old, and we celebrated at World Games (a kid-like Gameworld), Vanessa (niece) turned 14 years old and we celebrated with a lunch for her (she enjoyed her fried chicken from Pollo Campero) and a cake made by Kat. Kat’s birthday was specially marked by a love for BEING TAKEN CARE OF, at the famous Royal Decameron, a posh and luxurious resort with Edenilson’s family. Thank you everyone for your lovely birthday wishes, cards, and gifts. Today, as you read this post, Ario’s birthday celebrations are under way, and although siding on the mellow, reflective side of things, it promises to be yet another excuse for friends and family to get together and enjoy good food prepared by Betti and desserts by Kat.

Beti enjoying her cake on her face with some of the family surrounding her

Kat hanging out with the clown at Yessenita's Angry Birds themed birthday!

Vanessa's bday

-On November 18^th Kat went with Yeca and her kids to visit Yeca’s (and Kat’s) alma mater, the UCA (The Salvadoran Jesuit College par excellence), to attend the Anniversary of the Jesuit Martyrs who were killed in ’89 during the civil war. The traditional celebration includes a candle lit vigil preceded by a sand and salt mandala making contest representing an aspect of the martyrs’ character, faith, vision for the future, or contribution towards the making of a more modern and just El Salvador. As you can see from the pictures, people still feel very deeply about the magnicide committed by government troops twenty three years ago. Kat was also able to say hi to the directors of the Casa program which she studied through in El Salvador and a couple Salvadoran friends. 

-Salvadoran Thanksgiving: Ario and I hosted our very first Thanksgiving for 30 people. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies, pasta salad, sweet potato pie, apple pie and peach crisp filled the plates of family and friends. Betti made a ridiculously delicious gravy sauce and we put out Raspberry jam (in place of cranberry sauce, since it could not be found anywhere). The night concluded with people exteriorizing before one another the multiple blessings in their lives for which they are grateful, and, of course, Salvadoran style (and we suspect Nonna would approve), with lots and lots of singing fueled by wine drinking peoples…  umm huh!!

Showing off Beti's Gravy!

Beti, Ario & Kike enjoying the evening

Chico, Kat & Mima serving the masses

Kat enjoying Sangria and Pie

-Besides the writing of a few chapters of his book, Ario has been giving poetry her due as well. Here’s an example of one of the latest poems that have stemmed from his pen, please bear with him:

“Seré un sol diezmado, atónito.

Beberé de tu sonrisa

La flor extensa, fluida,

La única madera que me queda

Por devorar.

Beberé salvajemente

Cada trino de ave ancestral

Acunado en tu vientre.

Seré la gleba seca, íngrima

Que descreía de las historias

Del diluvio universal.

Seré sorprendido

Por el clima fluvial

De tu cabellera

Entre mis manos/

Beberé de tu estrella matutina

Y el coágulo de luz

Que yo había eternizado para mí

Será tuyo, como el instante,

Y no quedará en el aire

Ningún testigo, ningún repente,

Ni la sombra, ni la noción del tiempo.

Diezmado, atónito,

Anquilosado en las fauces

De lo indeciblemente ubérrimo

Un sol herido

Voy a ser.”

Approximated translation…

"I'll be a stunned, decimated sun.

From your smile I’ll drink

The vast, fluid flower:

The only wood left for me

To devour.

Wildly I will drink

Every chirping of every ancestral bird

Cradled in your womb.

I will be the dry, lonely clod

That disbelieved the stories

Of the universal flood.

I will be surprised

By the fluvial climate

Of your hair

Between my hands /

I'll drink your morning star

And the clot of light

I had immortalized for myself

Will be yours, as yours will be that moment,

And there won’t be in the air

Any witnesses, nor any regrets/

Neither the shadow

nor the notion of time.

Decimated, stunned,

Stuck in the jaws

Of all that’s indescribably fertile

A wounded sun

I will be.”

May the Spirit of Giving Thanks carry You All nicely into the Spirit of the Holidays, and may those timeless spirits bring to you all the warmth, joy, unity, laughter and goodness that your hearts can store in the company of those who cherishing us allow us to cherish them back.

Welcome to December Family & Friends!!!

As always: Lots and lots and lots of Love from down South.

The Passion Fruits.