Nuski Between The Retama
It’s been a hectic week and yet, the weekend felt like 7 separate whole days.
If you’re luck to find yourself in Gredos, where the retama grows plenty and pine scents the quiet river, you will find yourself surrounded by open hearted people. About a year ago I wrote about Grab Galayo, a very small festival organised by friends from school. The text referred to the genuine need of connection and how good it is share with others
This year I want to emphasise how nervous I was to share not Nuski but the actual process of how she came to be or they famous “why” in sort of comic or build-your-own-character workshop. I know my “why” but it comes naturally, like a reflex. Might be at work during a long meeting, or your average rant outside a bar at night and Nuski is already working away in my head with an unimpressed face while politely nodding. So, if I think of thousands of Nuskis I cannot assume that people have their own Nuski, a few people were reminded of the infamous Lizzie Mcguire cartoon so in a sense it was easier to explain what the workshop was about, to try developing different emotions or situations your character might come to.
My greatest achievements were 1, packing up my tent in under five minutes and 2, getting people who having reached adulthood have installed in their brains many more barriers for themselves of what they can or cannot do. Drawing or creative expression seems to have an aura of predestined selection of a few “geniuses”, sometimes you associate back to school days where your cartoonish figures where not academically encouraged. I can’t take all the credit because I genuinely believe that the space created by these four people is truly one where any kind of positive expression is welcomed. I don’t know how easy it is for this sort of vibe to flourish but it does seem special. A few people approached the table with some hesitation, however even they came out with all sorts of interesting moments for their characters.
Another thing I’m grateful is all the dancing I was able to do. I hardly ever go out and Gran Galayo is the one place where I feel I can be by myself and never really have a lonely feeling. I stopped drinking two years ago, and somehow all the music and a few water bottles, chapstick and sunglasses are able to carry me till dawn. Then, once the sun rises, I go into my sleeping bag snug as a bug, by midday the Nuski will have a quick dip in the cold river, a few magdalenas, heartfelt hugs which funnily remind one of the last day of summer camp and begin the quiet return on the winding road with the brightly flowered retama waving goodbye.
Hope you find some quiet moments this week.
Abrazo,
Nuski
Que chulada !! ❤️