Arts Lab 3.0: Leire Saenz - Lonely

On 11/11 I turned 22. I spent the first hours of my day making tortilla de patata for Mr. Ciobanu and his family, as we spent the morning at their place. Our visit to their place was incredibly peaceful, as always, and we had such a great time. For lunch we had tortilla and baklava, two of my favorite things to eat.

I spent the afternoon at home, resting. When I came downstairs to clean the plate I used for my popcorn, I saw the local volunteers entering our house. I was so shocked. We had an amazing afternoon chatting and eating the things I had received from my family on a package that day. It felt really good to be together, and I felt really grateful.

The girls and I also became the mums of two cats. They brought happiness to our home and our lives. At the beginning we were a bit worried that they would not get along. The fought for some days in a row, but after that, they started to play and take care of each other.

On the 20th, some local volunteers invited me to play basketball with them. I was so excited for that moment! We played for some hours next day, and we enjoyed ourselves. Next day I felt pain all over my body.

The cine-club continued to happen every Friday, and more and more people attended. I am happy to be able to do this and for people to enjoy it.

We, the international volunteers, started to work more seriously on Alternative Cucuteni, the museum we are designing, constructing and producing art pieces for. Krista painted all of our faces and I took some portraits. We all were part of the process and I love when things like this happen at home. It gives us the opportunity to work together and share our knowledge and experience in our respective fields with each other. I find it so interesting to capture little scenes of us working together, or helping one another.

We also visited two Cucuteni museums with the local volunteers and got some inspiration for our works and of course, to create our own museum. It was a nice trip, since we could hang out together for some time.

During our visits to Mr. Ciobanu, I continued working on his documentary. I feel really lucky to be able to portrait him in this way. We love to spend time with him and learn from him. Even though there is a huge language barrier, he is capable of expressing his passion and love for arts and life.

For the past 6 months there have been ups and downs, but there were always more ups than downs. I feel like November was quite lonely, even if there were many positive aspects to it. I find it difficult for me not to ask too much of myself, and I need to distance myself a bit from all of this.

Overall, I feel happy and lucky to be here, and I am willing to see what the last months bring us.

An article written by Leire Saenz Quevedo. She is volunteering within Arts Lab 3.0 project, funded by European Solidarity Corps, with the support of European Union.