We Meet in Chairs and Shade

The way I ended up working so closely with Ramona, the Peace Corps volunteer in my area, is such a random story that I am convinced we were meant to be partners in these crazy projects.  All of our interactions are serendipitous - one there to help the other when she needs it... synergizing our skills to create things neither of us had previously imagined. 

All of this began from a delay on a plane a year and a half ago when I looked behind me and saw a guy in a peace corps shirt.  The rest was set in motion, just because I spoke to him.  Life is crazy like that... the way talking to one person can influence your life so greatly for so long after when you could just as easily not reached out in the first place.

Standing in line to get off the plane, I never imagined the things Ramona and I would be working on together now.
I brought her into the theatre and we did the play together.
She supported me in building my improv troupe and showed up to practice even when she was tired. 
She wouldn't let me give up when kids stopped coming, encouraged me to send emails, and went with me to hand out flyers. 
She helped me become a better English teacher and showed me the new techniques I needed to tame and engage my high school class.
She listened to me while I thought of how to create my creative presentation for my grad school interview.  She stopped me from "laminating" at my grad school interview ;]
She got us our first improv show.
She bravely yelled with me and joined the craziness that was guerrilla improv.  
She got me involved in Kids Saving the Rainforest and worked with me to create a "theatre for dialogue piece" for the camp.

Together, we learned lines we didn't even understand. We traveled to rural schools sharing the joy of theatre. We went over bridges in buses that normal people would be afraid to walk across. We processed life and the quirks of life in Quepos.  We laughed, cried, and continued on.  One batido at a time.  One crazy bus ride after another.  From airport drop offs in the middle of the night to trying to get our teenage improvisors home from a far away town... we always made it through together - "yes anding" all the way. 

Ramona and I.... we meet in chairs and shade.  We reminisced the other day about how we never really have planned or organized meetings, and yet we meet in the most random places at the perfect times that things need to happen.  We have planned camps on "a group's bench" at the colegio in the middle of the morning when we really had no reason to be there, planned the subbing of my English class at the "malecon" during the carnival parade, invented the plot of my process drama on the bus to San Mateo, learned lines in the batido shop, and randomly developed a theatre for dialogue piece/ rehearsed it in the oven like courtyard of PANI (child protective services) office.  We don't need fancy rehearsal spaces or offices.  We meet in chairs and shade and change the world one project-we-never-thought-we-could-do at a time. 

Thanks, Ramona. You've helped me to believe in myself and the projects I've created as well as the projects I know I can create in the future.  I am so grateful we were able to share this experience together.  And we sure did meet some incredible people along the way ;]

Aguaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!