Arts Lab 6.0: Savanephone Riand - Month 4

By this month, we are already in the middle of the project. Before the holidays began, I don’t really remember a lot of what we did. But one thing I remember is that during this month we had to give gifts for our secret santa, and receive some, then, at the end of the month and right before the holidays, we had to do the reveal. I really enjoyed searching for gifts every day for my secret santa, I think it made me happy to see her being excited for chocolates or things I made. The reveal was also very fun, to see what the other’s expectations were, and who the real secret santa was.

Then, the holidays began. For the first time since the beginning of the project, I really stopped working for two weeks, because from now on, I was always working, even on our free days. The first week we were alone with Sona and Rahaf in the house, and I found it very peaceful without anyone in the house, of course I missed the people but being not that many people in the house made me rest a bit from social stuff and it was really great.

The second week, my girlfriend came to Romania, and I was so excited about it, I even had a countdown for it, and I was always thinking about it. We spent a few days together in Iași. It meant a lot to me that she came, we spent the new year together, she met some of my friends from the house, and we ate with my mentor Cosmina. We didn’t do a lot since she was staying for only 4 days, but we enjoyed being with each other and it made me very happy. Before she had to go back, she also met Cappuccino, and I really like to see both of them liking each other. It was very cute and I’m happy that Cappuccino likes her a lot, because she will stay with us in France.

Then we had another few days free before the holidays ended. I wanted to get back to work but I couldn’t. I think having a rest from all of this work made me very relieved, and it felt good.

The holidays ended by the beginning of January, and we started to work again. This time, we have to work on the Rroma museum. We learned a lot about their community, and I am really glad we did. I grew up without knowing anything about them, and I was surprised about what I’ve learned. In France, I live in a town where a rroma family lives, and they are so famous and popular in our town, but not the good kind of famous. They were known for the bad stuff they did, such as stabbing animals and hanging them in the van the person lived in, and they were the kind to bully the others, rather than the other bullying them. I think because of their family, I’ve never tried to interest myself in their community, their culture, I didn’t really care about knowing their history. But now, I’ve learned so much about their history, about who they are, and why they are discriminated. I realized how important it is to know and learn about everything we don’t know, about every fight, and especially the ones we are not told about.

Even though we have to work on the residency and the personal artwork, I think since the holidays ended I feel a bit less motivated than at the beginning of the project. I think some stuff got too much into my mind for a little while, and now I might feel too much of negative emotions and I don’t know how to handle it. I might just be ignoring it.

For the next few months, I would like to do Cappuccino’s papers as soon as possible. I want to make her ready to be in France.

Also, even though I feel a bit depressed, I will try to put some effort into how I work with the kids, as I might want my future job to be with kids.

Report written by Savanephone Riand, she's from France and she's one of the 14 volunteers participating in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.