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!