Everyday heroes

That Saturday in May, the alarm rang earlier than usual. My friend Ulas and I were meeting in the lobby to go together to take the bus to go to West Philadelphia. It was the first time we were taking that bus, and we didn't know the system yet. We didn't know where to stop either, but the people in the bus helped us, because it was really important for us to arrive there on time. And so we did, we arrived 45 minutes in advance. We went to the address they gave us, where the trolley was supposed to be, but there was no signal of the red trolley. We went up and down the street around 4 times, until it became important to decide where to go, since the trolley was going to leave at 10 am sharp with or without us. We ran up and down, trying to find the correct number of the Bank of America's branch, where the trolley was supposed to depart. Number 400 and there was no trace of bank there... it was in the number 1. We had to take a decision, only 5 minutes to 10 am, up or down, but if we took the wrong path there was no time to change our minds later on. We followed everybody's judgment and went up, to the number 1, where the people of that neighborhood told us to go. But once there, there was no sign of trolley. We decided to take a taxi down again to arrive at the address we had on the paper. The taxi driver was not really sure of where to go, but he finally took us there, but it was too late. 10 am and no sign of the trolley that was supposed to take us to West Philly to have a free mural tour. We went there for nothing and decided to take the same bus back home.

We were going to meet Xianjian for lunch. He wanted to take us to the chinese buffet outside the city, the Empire Buffet in South Philadelphia. Few hours after missing our trolley, Xianjian appeared in his car, smiling, in a big queue of cars that seemed never ending. We went in and he synchronized his GPS to take us to South Philly. But, for unknown reasons we ended up in the North... and in the way, like magic, murals were appearing in our way. What a wonderful city where it does not matter to get lost since you can always find wonderful things! These are some of the pictures I took from the car.

Be stronger than diabetes

This mural is for people to focus on eating healthy food.

Tropical landscape

In the north there is an hispanic community, where the murals are as beautiful as this one, representing landscapes of tropical forests.

Pedal thru (Bikin' in the O-Zone)

This mural is on the side of a fitness center and next to one of the most traveled highways in the country. It is a 300 foot long slice of a bicycle cruising through the city with a background of vast expanses of clouds. If you have a look at it you can see the pedals and the big wheels on each side. The city is also represented in the mural by its green space, Fairmount Park, its river and bridges, and its blue skycrapers on the right, symbol of Philadelphia. You can see the mural in big here.

The value of family

After several tours around the city and after synchronizing again the GPS, we arrived to the restaurant. We went there to eat Chinese specialities, and it was all delicious. What we didn't know at that time is that it was going to be an unforgettable day. When we went out of the car, my friend asked where were his keys. Mmmm... if you don't know... We went to the car, and there they were, shining. We could almost touch them if it weren't for the windows and doors that were locked. We couldn't stop laughing! It seemed that the day was not becoming easier, but we decided to laugh at it. Xianjian called his wife,  several months pregnant, for her to bring him the keys. She had to take several buses to bring him the keys, which in principle was going to be more than one hour. We decided to explore the neighborhood during that time. We started to walk and saw there was a park real close, so we went there. When we arrived, we couldn't believe the amazing mural standing in front of us: Everyday heroes.

Everyday heroes

The mural, situated in the Murphy Recreation Center (I knew this had something to do with Murphy), was painted by the artist Jason Slowick and a group of young people. This was an iniciative of the Mural Arts Program called Big Picture. It is formed by a group of young people between 10 and 18 years old. This way, they have the opportunity of working in big murals with an artist. This teaches them how to work in a team, dedication and creativity, and at the same time they will remember the experience forever. In this case, the mural represents people of the neighborhood, everyday heroes for these young people. Volunteers, doctors, teachers, fathers, mentors, policemen, ... everyday workers that make the lives of others a bit easier.

Here we can see the list of people represented in the mural and what they do for a living.

A heroe does not necessarily have to be someone famous, it can be someone of the community that impacts the life of others. In the other wall they have drawn symbols of the jobs that they value.

We decided to start jumping in front of the mural and take pictures. This is one of the things I love to do since I got my SLR. I make everybody jump!

Xianjian and Ulas

And it is at that time that they came, one in a bike and two by foot. The children started to look at us really amazed, while we kept on jumping, taking photos and laughing with the results (especially with Xianjian's expression...) And then, we saw that look in their faces, really anxious to become part of our crazyness, so we invited them to jump with us. You cannot imagine the jumps they offered us. And these laughs will remain forever in my memory. 

360 degrees jump. It was clear that they loved basketball...

Each time they jumped they were running towards me to look at themselves in the camera. I doubt that they ever saw a camera like that in their lives, and even less likely themselves jumping in it. They wanted another one and another one and I was having such a wonderful time with them! The oldest of them maybe thought that this was just for kids, but I saw his face like wanting to jump as well, so in the end he joined the jumping group. 

Jumping has many benefits for the soul. Have you tried? Seeing those everyday heroes jumping couldn't be better. 

We said bye to the kis, thinking that Xianjian's wife was going to come soon. I would have loved to send them their pictures, but they told me they didn't have a computer. The kids said bye until they couldn't see us anymore. We went again to the mall, and then Xianjian's wife told us she was going to take a bit longer because a friend was going to bring her there, but first they had to go buy a fresh chicken. Therefore, we decided to explore the area a bit more, and we lost ourselves again into the streets of that neighborhood to find more things to see. And we found many, but I will tell you about them at another time.

Xianjian and his wife when she brought the keys.

Finally, nobody could have guessed it for how it started, but it was a perfect day. And even today, after several months, I start to think about that recreation center, where my imagination takes me, and I cannot avoid to smile.