QUILT

I made a quilt about my mother’s culture since I think is very rich, and it was about Guanacaste, this place had given to Costa Rica a lot of different customs, culture, places, and it’s delicious cuisine. So, basically to make my quilt I used nail polish, and pieces of cloth; it had a bull which represented The most famous bulls at Guanacaste’s parties, their names are “Chirriche” and “ Malacrianza”, I really enjoy of these parties, and all the jokes that people make inside the arena.
Also there was a beach painted on the quilt, with the sea, a palm tree, and the sun, this last element was very important in my quilt because it represented Guanacaste´s weather which most of the time is very hot, because Guanacaste joined us we have these beautiful beaches, and now a days are very visited by foreigners, and famous people have built their houses over there.
Also I sewed the Guanacaste’s tree; there were many people under it because it has a big crown, its fruit is like a human ear, and its colour is brown, it works like a clothes’ bleacher, its wood is very useful to make furniture.
There was a “Tamal” which is a receipt from Guanacaste, but it has spread all over Costa Rica, it is a Costa Rican Christmas specialty , but some time it is eaten even though when is not December. Tamal’s preparation takes a lot of time and many steps. Tamal’s ingredients are: Corn flour, pork, beans, rice, and chili, all those ingredients are cooked separately, and then they are put together inside a banana leave, then you wrap them and tie them with a cotton string, and finally they are boiled.
I painted a mouth yelling “wipipia”; this yell usually sounds at typical parties, when people dance typical musica, so it expresses happiness.
On the other hand , It was supposed that we should made a presentation of the quilt at the university on Lobby I, but it was not like that, instead of that we had the opportunity to share with some students from Europe, they were from different countries, so the girl I met was from Finland, her name is Jeanette and we were talking about our countries, actually we talked more about Costa Rica than Finland.
Well, what called my attention about her opinions of my country was that she told me that not many people in her country know how to dance, and that here is very normal, so she told me about here wonderful experience when she went to a club here and she saw everybody dancing there…very close, so that was surprising because in her country people don’t dance very close, everyone has his/her own space, and men don’t ask you to dance at least they are drunk, but anyway the most important thing I learned from this was that in her country they pay a lot of money for teaching how to dance, so this idea is on my mind, may be some day I could go there to teach and make some money. I told her that I learned how to dance when I was 6 years old, and that I dance around of 6 kind of different rhythms, so she was surprised.
About our languages she told me that in her country she speaks finnish and of course English, and that her country’s population is like here, well there is different of 1 million of people more in Finland, but her country is almost 6 times bigger than Costa Rica, so wonderful they have more space!
Also she told me that she heard that here in Costa Rica is not a secure place, so I said the true which is that we have no rules, and that if she would walk she should see around her, and do not trust in every body, and always go out with someone else, this was something that I did not like to talk about but is true.
Finally, I felt satisfaction when she told me that most of her friends want to come here, and that they think we have the most beautiful beaches in the world. She told me that she would continue studying Spanish in her country, so she gave me her Facebook address and I told her that I would help her with her Spanish, of course, I would like to learn Finnish too, so and think that I got something good from it, definitely Culture activity was a good idea, and an input to our knowledge.