a week at can mas deu

i continue to be very impressed with can masdeu's awesome radical and collective culture. here's the normal flow of their week, the requirements for each community member:

Sunday: Big day for the social center. 100-400 people show up each week. they serve up a delicious mid-day meal (usually 4 euros), host several workshops each week, give a big tour of the place, sell beer/wine/cake/empanadas, and provide a comfy hang out space into the evening. Usually about 1/4th of the people that show up are new to can masdeu, the rest of regulars or infrequent visitors.

this past sunday, 3 person polish circus showed up (and performed) and a gypsy-swing guitar player set the mood in the main room. lunch included polenta, artichoke, salad, and pumpkin soup. people hung out in groups inside and out, attended workshops, checked out the propaganda, library, free store, t-shirts and buttons, drank beer and ate cake until about 10pm. the money from this weekly event goes to support the house. each person is responsible for running 2 of these sundays/year.

Monday: chill day

Tuesday: work day in the house. tasks were collated on a sheet posted prominently during the week, and the day is organized by one member. community members are supposed to be were around to participate in this big fixer upper day, and the majority were. lots of stuff got cleaned, fixed, and rearranged. in the evening, everyone gathers for a movie or other communal activity (this week, a slide-show presentation about Twin Oaks!)

Wednesday: Bread day. 2 members run the brick wood-fired oven, and lots of other folks pop in to help out and hang out. they make bread for the house, as well as for other communities and CSAs in town. this system is called "auto-renta", in which community members run small businesses out of the building. they contribute some to the community and keep the rest.

Thursday: Garden day! all members are supposed to participate and most do. its also open to the public, and many friends and satellites of the community come by to work.

Friday: Bread day 2: officially open to other folks as a "workshop" day.

Saturday: chill day

The community´s labor system is called "minimums," a total of about 20 hours per week. the minimum that each member must do is: 2.5 cooking shifts/month (2 solo and one shared, or some such combo), one house-cleaning task/montrh, attend the community meeting every other week, the tuesday work day, thursday gardening day, and take one one large or 2 small areas of responsibility. they pay 25 euros/month towards food.

they own a collective car and of course, the rent is free. unfortunately, they are CLOSED to new members for the forseeable future....

prague-paris-barcelona

i guess we've been moving to fast to find time for blogging...we just descended into a solid week of tourism! its exhausting to be a tourist!

after a delightful time at k77 in berlin, we moved south to prague. in 2 words: freezing and beautiful. we were staying with paxus' wife out-law on the total siberian end of town, a long and bumpy tram ride to the edge of nowhere...it certainly never got higher then 32 degrees the whole time we were there. we did lots of walking around, saw beautiful palaces and cathedrals, ducked into cozy restaurants and cafes, and tried to stomach chzek food (still more potatoes and cheese). prague is hopelessly touristy, even in the bitter cold of late november. its also unbelievably beautiful. we took a day trek out to kutna hora, a small village an hour south that is also cute and beautiful, and features a giant cathedral and a church that is decorated with human bones from their cemetary!




we rode the night train (with sleeper beds! and unfortunately, no heat!) to paris. it was our cheapest option for getting to the other side of europe, and a good opportunity to visit my (favorite) uncle, saied. he's the youngest of my dad's brothers, and i hadn't seen him and his family for 15 years. he's a total sweetie, laid back, good-natured, and generally fun to be around. his 3 daughters were around some, too, and my aunt cooked us lots of yummy persian food. 3 more days of tourism, wandering around the louvre, monmart, more cafes (unavoidable in paris), and the eiffel tour by night. the subway was totally overrun by buskers, but i tried anyway and did alright, in the station and on the train itself (always a bit nervewracking...). i tried again on top of monmart, in front of the cathedral overlooking the city, and became a photo-op for many passing tourists. some even posed with me!

and now, we're at our final stop, Can Masdeu. Its a formerly squatted community on the edge of barcelona. they squatted it 7 years ago in a dramatic action in which they hung chairs, tables, and bathtubs out the windows with ropes, and then "hung" themselves there for 3 days (sitting in the chairs, bathtub, etc.). after 3 days with no food, water, or proper clothes, and massive protests and support in barcelona, the judge ruled that the right to life was more important than the right to property! they're still a bit nervous about being evicted, but in the meantime have created a beautiful and bustling community of 28 folks, lots of gardens, communal meals, regular community work days in the garden and in their bakery, and weekly sunday open-houses with workshops, food, and a bar.