Blog Posts

SEEING THE SUN

BY PAUL KLEIN

All my life I prayed for a miracle: to have a voice. My thoughts were mine alone, and that is the loneliest thing on earth. The first day I met Judy was like the first day I saw the sun. Within minutes I was talking to her on the laminate. I could talk! My world opened up, like a flower unfolding. Now all those thoughts that were trapped inside are bubbling out, like a soda can that’s been shaken. What is more precious than talking? What is more precious than friends? What is more precious than sharing who we are with each other?

2/6/2025 0 Comments

My Friend, Fernando

Fernando is a bartender at our little bar at the polo fields. Visitors come to watch polo tournaments and order drinks or coffee. He is the coolest guy I ever met. He makes me the best drinks! I certainly love the maracudja [passion fruit] he makes! He is an expert in making the Brazilian drink, caipirinha. [This is a Brazilian cocktail, with cachaca (which is a hard liquor made from sugarcane), sugar, lime and ice.]

Fernando has a girlfriend named Sheila, who is also Brazilian. They are the perfect couple. They are always happy and very nice to me. It is always great to be around them. They are only here until March and then they go back to Baia - and I go back to America.

Fernando tells me great stories about his country. He loves fishing and his mom comes along with him. I asked him a little more about himself:

P: How many brothers and sisters do you have?
F: I have 5 sisters and 2 brothers.So there are 8 of us in total.
P: What do you miss from Brazil?
F: I miss my 3 dogs and the beach. The water at the beaches are warmer than here where I’m from in Brazil. What do you miss most from America?
P: Going to Mouth to Hand! What is your dream city?
F: Singapore. What is your dream city?
P: I don’t have one special city, but I want to see kangaroos in Australia.

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1/30/2025 1 Comment

Juan

In Uruguay, I met Juan who works at the stables and helps me to care for my horse. My horse’s name is Lafe [Fate] and she is really easy and quiet to ride. Every day I help Juan to saddle my horse, and we ride to the lagoon. The view is very special, especially during the sunset.

Juan is from Argentina and he knows a lot about horses, and he tells me stories from when he worked in his country. Once he had an accident with one of the horses, but nothing serious. He only hurt his shoulders, falling from the horse and after that he never fell from a horse again.

Juan speaks only Spanish. I can understand when he talks to me, but I feel badly because I can’t talk to him. I can spell in Spanish but he has not seen me spell.

He invited me to visit him in Argentina; he goes back there after the summer is over. My horse stays here (with the other 5 horses that we own), living off our land during the winter. They eat grass and drink water from the lagoon, and roam freely in our big fenced area.

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1/3/2025 0 Comments

Uruguay Food Traditions

In Uruguay, people eat a lot of meat. The traditional dish is asado, which is barbeque, usually sausages, lamb and beef with chimichurri on top. [editor’s note: chimichurri is a sauce native to Uruguay and Argentina. It is made up of olive oil and vinegar, oregano, salt, pepper, and chilis.] Salad, tomatoes and peppers are served with the meat. Also, they eat bread and cheese along with the meal. The region produces blueberries and peaches. On our farm here, we grow limes and many vegetables. This morning I picked a lot of tomatoes, eggplants and strawberries.

Uruguay has different types of weather; where I live, near the coast, there is lots of fishing. (I live 4 kilometers from the ocean.) Brotola is a fish similar to cod; it is very popular to eat on the grill. The country has a large production of wine: Alvarino is a white wine and Tannat is a red wine, both of which are local to the area where I am living.

My favorite dessert is alfajores, a kind of shortbread cookie with dulce de leche sandwiched in between. They also eat crepes with dulce de leche.

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12/19/2024 1 Comment

Christmas in Uruguay

Today I would like to write about the Christmas traditions in Uruguay. Here Christmas is very different from the US. I don’t need to wear my winter jacket because it is summer! It is hot during the day and chilly at night.

There are not as many Christmas decorations as in the US and the trees are fake. People spend most of the time at the beach. There are no Christmas stockings but they do “secret Santas. (We write down, on a pieces of paper, friends’ or family names, and we put them in a bag and pick.) Then we exchange presents on Christmas eve. Santa Claus is called Papa Noel here, and like in the US, he flies on a sled and brings toys to good children. (He comes when people are eating dinner!)

On Christmas eve, traditionally people eat lamb with vegetables and potatoes. For dessert, they eat flan with dulce de leche. After dinner there are fireworks. On Christmas day, people go to parties and dance.

I am really happy to celebrate Christmas my family in Uruguay!

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12/12/2024 1 Comment

Notes from South America: #1

As I write this, I am in Uruguay. I live here from November to March. My parents bought this land 6 years ago. They were looking to buy a place for vacation in South America. Uruguay is a safe and beautiful country. We built our house and decided to build summer houses for guests. We wanted to add services for guests like horseback riding, breakfast and polo lessons.

Also on our land is Cafe Feliz, a place where people with different abilities can work. It is located by the stables on our farm. It is a coffee shop where people can come and drink and eat what we bake. I work there four days a week, in the afternoons. The other days I work at the stables. My Mom and my sisters created Color Esperanza which is a foundation to help families in need with kids with autism in Bolivia and Uruguay. It helped to start and fund Cafe Feliz, and it also provides free equine therapy.

I enjoy living in Uruguay. My Dad bought me a horse, which I ride almost every day. The weather here is warm and there is a nice breeze from the ocean. I will keep posting my adventures down here.

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11/7/2024 0 Comments

Gremlins

It’s an awkward thing to discuss but there are a lot of things that we do unintentionally that,

when viewed by an outsider, make us look weird. Whether it’s jumping out of our seats or grabbing others drinks or passing gas or picking noses, we appear to be so much more impaired than we are, in a way. I myself grab letterboards out of people’s hands, and turn lights and fans on and off.

I am not really sure why I do these things. My cognitive brain does not even register the action until I’ve done it. What the hell that is, I don’t know. It’s like there is a hidden gremlin in my brain flicking switches. The fact is though that it’s the gremlin who makes us look like we don’t have a clue, socially.

Usually there are ways of demonstrating that we are socially aware when we are talking on the boards. But when we are not, we look so impaired. I wish there were a way of exorsizing the gremlins.

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10/24/2024 0 Comments

Empathy

There are upsides and downsides of the ability to sense others’ feelings. On the bright side, it’s wonderful to bathe in the happiness and love of the people you love and care about. But on the negative side, there are moments when it actually hurts to feel those people’s anger or sadness. When there is negativity, definitely I become dysregulated. Today I could feel Judy’s anger or upset as soon as I walked into the room. What is making her feel that way I don’t know, but I want it to go away.

Awareness of these things is the final thing that makes us different. What is the greatest part of this empathic ability is the understanding it brings.

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9/26/2024 0 Comments

Why I Love M2H

I am getting to a point where all I can think about is being at M2H more often. Happiness is a choice, I know, but we need help sometimes. I hate myself for complaining because I am blessed in so many ways. I have a wonderful family; I have the ability to partake in so many things I love, like swimming and horseback riding; and I can talk well to my Mom. But I also wish that I could come to M2H more often.

This is the only place where my disability doesn’t matter. That feeling is so wonderful that there are no words. It’s like entering an alternative universe where all the things that bother and upset you in the real world, vanish. And suddenly your heart feels light and warm, and you begin to smile all over. Appearances don’t matter, and the way you talk is irrelevant.

I know I am whining and for that I apologize. I just needed to say it out loud. And that is why having a blog is wonderful.

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9/19/2024 0 Comments

See Us

We are the most social people on earth, I believe. We love being with friends more than people understand. If I could, I would be here at M2H every day so I could be with my friends. All my life I dreamed of the day I could have friends of my own. It’s ironic, painfully and tragically so, that people believe the opposite of us. Judy often comments that we really don’t fit the definition of autistic because we understand others’ thoughts and feelings, and I agree. While I have almost zero control over my body, I am perfectly aware that what it’s doing is weird or inappropriate. People struggle to understand that simple fact.

So now I have a new prayer. That the world sees we nonspeakers as only that.

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SEEING THE SUN

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Notes from South America: #1

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