Diego Ferrari Workshop 2011

I'll have to write about this all later - you can see it may take some time to explain.

Happy Belated Birthday Papa! I promise as soon as I buy some credit for my phone I will call!

Love from Spain!

Fresh Air

Sometimes when you haven't had real, true fresh air for a while and then you get it, you want more of it. There's this smell that it has that you don't smell when you're in Ciutat Vella all the time. When I went shopping the other day at the Forum area, which is a strange combination of some of the richest and poorest housing in a wierd semi-north american ideal of a community - I could smell it. And then there's my roommate - who closes the godamn windows every time I open them. And then proceeds to either go out, or leave the room. So why does she close them you ask? Great question. Maybe you could help me understand.

Anyhow, so we are doing a workshop this week with Artist/photographer Diego Ferrari - he is very interesting! He is a bit eccentric (maybe all photographers are?) but I admire his passion for his work. I don't really like the way he teaches, but I can get over it. We are doing some wierd photo intervention things this week - the final day will be at the Mies Van der Rohe pavillion (which I haven't seen yet!) so I'm quite excited. I have no idea what I'll do yet - but I'll let you know.

So that's it for today - Congratulations to the twins for graduating! I'm glad it's over!

Becky

PS- Grandpa are you alive?!? Haha!

Wohoo!

Okay I want to just take 30seconds to tell you all about Primark - the Euro version of Forever21. It's amazing. today for a small 50E I got 3 tank tops, 3 tshirts, a dress, a scarf, a pair of flops and 2 ballet flats with 4 pairs of socks!!!!! It's AMAZING!!!! Now I have clothes to wear again which is also super excellent!

I also went and did my NIE card this morning, was in and out in 2 hrs :)

Love to all!

Barceloneta

Hola! Finally I have a moment to sit down and write about what's been going on. Last week we had a really intense workshop with an architect from Madrid - Jose Luis Vallejo who is from Ecosistema Urbano - they do some very interesting work. So the workshop was about becoming more involved at the actual human level of architecture, not just looking at maps or statistics but by being socially concerned with the area. So he left it up to us in groups of 3 to come up with some sort of social intervention to better understand the community. So!

In short here is what my group did Marol (who's from Greece) and Rafael (from Israel) and I stole an election campaign board at night and walked it down to Barceloneta neighbourhood - which is the neighbourhood right along the beach, has a large population of elderly and is one of the last areas to really be gentrified in the city center. There are a lot of multi cultural issues and economic harships in this neighbourhood. SO! We stole this board, no taxi or bus would take us with it so we walked it there (around 1.5k). We then turned it inside out and provided papers, crayons, snacks etc to people (targetting seniors and children) to ask them about their memories and ideas of what Barceloneta is to them. Here are a few photos of the process!

At first we had to kind of approach people and push them to do it, but then we went to sit and have a coffee about 100ft away and people started to come up on their own! So then when the schools got out and the children were coming, they just came and totally took over! It was really great! It's kind of sad that yesterday (only 2 days later) the boards were already gone. Who knows why, but for a day it was interesting. So one of the more interesting results was that an older man (late 40s) came and wrote a long note about how the barri (area) has been invaded and the morals are gone etc etc because of the pakistanis and other groups. So then a young boy, maybe 11 came and read this and right beside it on the adjacent board he wrote "open the doors for Barceloneta" which was quite nice. It's a struggle around the world to coexist. Maybe one day we'll get it right.





The yesterday we went to beach! Barceloneta, coincidentally. It was crazy busy, the summer has really come and the tourists are everywhere. I don't think I will go to Barceloneta on the weekends anymore because it's seriously just way too packed and there are much nicer beaches nearby! Then actually Ciro's friend Francesco, who is also italian, made us dinner at his house which is really far away, basically in the ghetto. It was a long day but beautiful weather, so how can I complain?

I've also been remodeling my room - for the safety of my roomates mostly. I need to put a small desk in here so that I can work and be alone sometimes or I may just snap and kill them once the stress really begins! I have a problem with full garbage bins and dirty dishes. I'll mop the floor every day, clean the cobwebs, organize every room in the house but there is just really little tolerance for the garbage and dishes. So that's that.

I should get to work, I'll be better about writing this week. Today is election day here so there is a huge protest/hippy camp set up in Placa Catalunya - I'll try to go take pictures. It's a turning point election so it's big news!

Ciao for now!

A Day at the Beach

Mataro Beach, the Renfre trainline takes you on a really scenic route (Blanes) along the beach from Badalona - Mataro - Blanes. We left just in time because around 6 a big rain storm rolled in!

Urban Farming

Well! What an eventful week!

School has been going really well, but it's definitely a full time job at the moment. I met with my thesis advisor yesterday afternoon and we spoke for about an hour and a half about what I want to do, how I want to do it and some of the things I should look into. He's quite helpful, really easygoing but Canadian enough that he will hopefully appreciate my productivity! He knows the area well so it's nice because he already has a good understanding of my topic. I also finally got my registration so that's great! That means that now I can get my NIE card and do things like take out library books! The students all seem really great, there were soccer championships this week, so I went with a few of the 2nd years to chat more about our topics and watch the game. Barcelona won and so it was a big deal! Then there is also a "pirated films club" haha, where we all take turns choosing films (which vaguely or somehow relate to the program) and we watch them on the projector then discuss after with drinks. Yesterday we watched Noviembre - can't say it was that great, but it was okay. Takes place in Spain so atleast I could attempt to listen to the Spanish and match it with the subtitles. I'm not sure which one I'll show yet... Ideas?

Hmmm so yes, we have been doing some walking tours in Tony Luna's class which are great because his knowledge of the city and it's history (and it's fake history) are quite fascinating. It's really quite political. It's also amazing the changes in Barcelona in the last 15 years. The photo here is of the original Roman walls - they are very proud of this history so they kind of protect it like this and once the buildings are torn down they make courtyards for schools and things.


The weekend is here now and I'm going to try to get some real work done as well as school work BUT first! This morning I went to La Boqueria (the market nearby) and got some excellent fresh fruit and vegetables for the week - my shelf was empty! I also got a nice scarf to match my orange dress. It was 3E - not a big deal. And then I went back to buy some plants! I would like to convert our balcony to a nice little oasis rather than just a place where Martina leaves her clothes for weeks at a time and occasionally there is a place to sit and munch on something. It's a great spot for growing plants because it gets a lot of light, but the direct/hot sun is only for a few hours a day. We had a bunch of old useless ladders in the storage room when we cleaned so we are using them as decor now. Why not? There are also a bunch of old pots that are left from when Ciro and I cleaned the balcony a few weeks ago - there were dead plants in them before you may remember. Here is the start of hopefully my little urban farm! (click on photo to see full size)



Other than this I'm going to the beach and IKEA today, hopefully the weather is gorgeous for everyone and you are outside taking advantage of it - have a car free day because I hear the gas prices are insane!

Lots of Love

Earthquake...

I was just informed that there was an earthquake in the South of Spain - I AM ALIVE! I will have to read the news to see where this actually happened.

Also! Barcelona won the soccer championships! YAY! I walked home from Gracia with some friends from school which was nice, because I got to truly see the chaos that is BCN after a serious win like this! Placa de Catalunya is FULL of screens, stages, people, cheering, honking - it's quite something!

Anyhow, busy day tomorrow. I'll write more this weekend :)

Happy Belated Mothers Day!

I hope that all the moms got spoiled! I spent the day here, got a bit of a tan/burn and did the nice walk to and from the beach (I think its about 4k there and back).


Then Sunday evening I asked my italian roomate if he could make us some pizza (because I had been told about it) so I got back from the beach and there was a heaping pile of blankets on the couch with a little note that said "do not touch - pizza in progress) and at first I was very confused - not sure why there was pizza under a blanket? But then I realized he was letting the dough rise! So it sat in the prime seat of the house ALL day until dinner time when he prepared 2 massive pizzas for us :) From l-r in the photo is Nima, Ciro & Martina. My friend I met at the hostel (Martin) also joined us for dinner. The pizza was sooooo good though! He takes it very seriously hahah! There was an incident with pizza sauce on Ciro's sweater so I got the stain remover and was spraying it on the jacket and he was VERY concerned that it was going to affect the pizza lol. Anyhow, I think we will do it again this Sunday because it is my "award" for helping clean out the storage room.... yesterday I got home from class around 8:30 and the moment I walked in the door Ciro (who is loud to begin with) is yelling that I need to QUICKLY QUICKLY get over here! So I think something is broken... nope, he needs help to clean out the storage room which is almost the size of my room and FULL of crap that who knows what it even is? Most of it is from people who don't even live here anymore. Well - that storage room is so fricken clean now! And since we have the 2 small rooms in the house, now we can use some of the space. I'm giong to use some shelves to store my models/drawings etc once I get going.



I got a Thesis Advisor! He is Spanish Canadian, no longer practices architecture but he reviews it for magazines etc.... I think it will be great! Now I need to run to class!

Talk to you all soon!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

It is the Birthday of the sweetest little 5 yr old girl today! Hooray! Everyone tells you when you're young that the older you get, the faster time flies. You never imagine yourself saying or feeling these things, or relating with these "ancient folk" but it happens. It's also amazing how sometimes the most honest and deep conversations are had with little kids who haven't yet really formed bias or stereotypes about the world and don't have the same filters that I guess we develop over time. Anyways - that's a diversion from the point! Happy 5th Birthday to Miss Lucy :)

Anyhow, I find it TRULY amazing that 4 days ago I couldn't find something to do if I tried.... well besides clean and shop. And 4 short days later I am overwhelmed by how much I NEED to do and how little time there is to do it. Not that I am complaining, but I am certainly amazed! The ramp up period was a short one and already tomorrow I need to submit my thesis proposal (maximum of 5 pages - which is impossible to begin with) and the problem is not so much that I don't know what I want to do.... it's that I want to do everything. Here is a short sample of the first draft....

"The phenomenon of Urban Sprawl and the seemingly unwavering “All American Dream” has had significant impact on Urban culture and development of private, public and collected spaces throughout North America. It may have been possible at one point to trace the relationships and interactions between people, spaces, physical and ideological exchanges and to map or quantify the successes and failures of a very physical and tangible lifestyle. In a digital age where people are inundated from a very young age with digital communication, over stimulation, pseudo interactions and mass information do these connections and relationships exist in the same way? Is it true that one could question whether or not the physical world as a result holds more or less significance while life is continually lived less in the physical and more frequently in the digital. Can physical space be designed to consider this cultural shift and to encourage or promote a reasonable balance of physical and imagined interaction?
In Alberta particularly, the rapid growth and development of oil industry has led to boom and bust economies which at times experience unprecedented growth in terms of physical size and proportion. Development patterns and construction methods in residential areas have progressed very little in the last +/- 50 years while the culture and society have been greatly influenced by incredible advances in technology, intercommunication and scientific understanding. The common themes of this Thesis include questions related to Human scale and Sustainable Living with particular attention to residential spaces and healthcare projects within the Urban sphere. "

Right? What the crap am I even talking about? There are about a thousand ideas in there and if you have no idea what my point of it all is... don't worry, I don't think I do either. If someone figures it out before 7pm my time tomorrow - please! Email me. I guess I kind of thought that an extra year off would help me clarify my intentions and goals, and instead it just muddied the waters even more with more ideas and interests! I would like to know, study and design everything.

So I'm not going to write too much more, but that's where I'm at. I hope that everyone is doing pretty good and I'll try to keep writing somewhat often as the craziness continues!

Love you all!

First Day Review

Well! It was in interesting first day! Not quite like any in Canada that I've had, that's for sure! It started off that we went to the school, upstairs to where the classes are held and everyone was given course outlines, binders, things like this and name tags. Germa (the program Coordinator) told me that there were a number of people who would arrive late to the course because of visa problems etc. So in total, there were only THREE people there from the 1st yr class! Hahah, anyhow it should fill up by the end of the week to about 15.

So they introduce themselves, the courses etc and talk for a total of about half an hour and then tell us we should move down to the Cafeteria (the bar on campus, which actually IS a cafeteria during the day... most bars in spain are like this) and continue an informal question/answer meet and greet. So we do this for about an hour and a half and I get lots of other good information and then about 1/2 the students who were there we went for Vietnamese for dinner. It was nice. The other 2 first yr students are Malore (sp?) and Rouis? Spelling is very difficult, she is from Greece and he is from Brussels. Both very nice.

A few other things that I learned yesterday! The program is not going to be accredited in Canada (this is a 90% sure thing) which I had a very good feeling about BEFORE I came, so I'm not really dissapointed and I'm quite okay with it. The program is made up of mostly people who are already architects, engineers, landscape architects etc etc. So the program is geared largely for those proffessions and they actually make it so that if you want to leave in July and return several months later you can. This allows those people to go back to their jobs and such. Don't tell my work this hahah! I will stay obviously because I want the person to person contact with my tutor and being here is half my education at this point.

Also, I need to turn in a 5 page thesis proposal by Friday! Ah! I have no idea how to narrow down my interests, I have so many. They say that's a good thing though, usually easier than being very set in your ways. Hopefully I get a tutor I like. Unlike Dal - where they juggle 15-30 students at different levels our tutors only have 3 students to manage typically. Nice hey? But this is going to be a VERY intense 10 weeks which means the Spanish classes are on hold. In July my schedule will be up to me so that will be a better time. I don't have a "regular" schedule. Each week is different.

Also! Being part of the CCCB allows me access to TONS of other lectures, music festivals, cultural events etc which normally you would need to pay for but I can attend whenever I want! Hoorah! Also I have access to all the university facilities (obviously).

Going to be an interesting few months :)

Hope everyone is doing well, as my classes don't start til 6pm today I'm hoping for a nice beach day - to contemplate my thesis of course!

Miss you all lots, hope everyone voted!

Last Day of Vacation

Well it has been a glorious month of being a tourist, doing housework and shopping! Tomorrow it all comes to an end at 5pm when I officially start school again. How has a month passed already? Not that I mind... I'm nervous but quite excited to start school and as soon as I have a schedule I will also be signing up for Spanish classes at a local language school nearby. It's fairly cheap and I think I will do 6 hrs/week. I can only learn so much on my own and so I think this is necessary.

Other than that, today has been a day of serious cleaning - serious. At least today I had some help from one of my roomates :) The other one (from England) STILL isn't back - I'm starting to wonder if we need to be concerned? Maybe later this evening I will go with Ciro to the opening of a new bar on the beach.... Macarena... how unique ;)

Anyways, just a quick update. I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!

<3