SPCC A Casa Amarela

after 2 weeks away from lisbon, i came back to some minor conflict and tension. the main issue seemed to be that lea was feeling left out of the planning process, and tatiana and joao were feeling that their big plans for the place were going to be compromised. in my opinion, both were very valid concerns. i think conflict can be a very important thing, as long as it's not pointless conflict. in my experience, most 'conflicts' aren't conflict at all. just miscommunication from people not talking and listening enough. these types of conflict are a waste of time and energy for everyone, and i find it really irritating when you're trying to be productive and people are wasting time arguing over something that doesn't even exist. anyway, this was one of those conflicts, so after some minor mediating, talks and hugs everything is back to normal. we've agreed to keep each other in the loop with our plans for the place, and to bring up any issues that we have with each other to keep everything open. we've had a couple of informal meetings, one in english and a couple in portuguese, and this seems to be working out fine for us. joao and tatiana explained their (awesome) plans to us and everyone is more than happy with it. i'm really enjoying the combination of heads coming together and the incredible ideas and momentum that are coming out of it. things are good. i've learnt through leading teams at work that keeping people happy isn't just a nice thing to do, it actually has a very real effect on productivity. when people feel happy and passionate about a project, SO much more can get done. personally, i think it's really important that we try to actively maintain this kind of communication we have going through regular discussions and such. it doesn't need to be in any kind of structure, but i think it would be too easy to fall into the same trap again and waste time.

when i got back to lisbon there were a few more practical issues that we had to deal with.
1. ownership of the building. some sleuthing around revealed that the building is owned by a huge company, not planning on using it until 2014 when the building will be demolished. ours until then, not an issue.
2. mystery neighbour on level 4. lea and i made a peace offering and joao was able to speak to him while i was away. turns out he's a decent guy (called maciero) and has no real problems with us being there. he's even been helping us out a bit. not an issue.
3. angry train station neighbour. cranky and loud, but not there all the time. doesn't seem to be an issue.
4. arrival of pedro, oman and maura (and four dogs). i really thought this would be a problem. i don't think we're ready to start filling the place with people, and the idea of four strange dogs shitting all over the place is unappealing. but, after meeting them i've backtracked completely. they're all very friendly, hard working, have way more squatting experience than us, and most importantly, have a vision for the place that is completely compatible with everyone else's. you can really feel their excitement and attachment toward the project already. the dogs are well behaved (and super cute). all in all, i'm happy that these three have joined us. definitely not an issue.

yesterday was another really productive day for us. when i got there around lunch time, maura and oman had already built a makeshift wall to keep the dogs in, and had hosed and cleaned down level 3 (while pedro was out on the obligatory cerveja run). it looks amazing. the water lifted a lot of dirt and the whole level looks a lot brighter and more welcoming.
a couple of nights ago there was an issue with maciero and the top floor. we had cleared it out during the day, and he took the hose to it that night. there was a bit of water leakage into level 3, so tatiana asked him to stop hosing inside. the leaking wasn't as bad as i thought, but that wasn't really the issue. i was more irritated by the fact that he completely ignored tatiana twice when she told him it was leaking downstairs, and asked if we could hose it the following day when it was light and we could see what we were doing. anyway, yesterday we went to check it out and it turns out that the water helped lift a layer of old carpet glue and hidden under the years worth of filth is the same nice green floor as level 3. so pedro and i re-watered the top floor and will start scraping the glue off once it softens enough.
we then moved on to level 2 with oman and cleared it out in the same way as the other two floors. we're getting through each level faster than the last, thanks partly to more hands and partly to joao and tatiana's invaluable "bulldozer method". level 2 wasn't too difficult to clean, it was mainly scrap wood, but had a LOT of broken glass and rocks from the street. to make it worse, i had to check outside the window before dropping each rock, to avoid killing one of the unsuspecting graffiti artists or prostitutes that frequent our new neighbourhood. lea and silverio turned up and helped us sweep down the room, then oman attacked it with the hose and we did the increasingly tedious sweeping-the-water-down-the-elevator-shaft trick. we REALLY need an industrial broom. and a wheelbarrow would be great too.
pedro found a construction site with a lot of good glass that we can use, and i found a bunch of perfectly good squat toilets just down the street. so hopefully tonight i'll be able to use joao's car to go pick it all up before it's thrown away. we could also pick up some tyres to start on the bed. tatiana's been sewing the rainbow fabric to make the bedroom walls. she's having some technical difficulties with the sewing machine, but hopefully we can figure it out.
when it was too dark to keep working we all sat down together and had a beer. the conversation switched back and forth between english and portuguese, and we all talked about what we were going to do next and our ideas for later on. from what i understand there's going to be a full size swimming pool out the back, punk shows in the big warehouses, waterslides connecting the different floors 'cause stairs are boring and some kind of nazi torture contraption.

all in all i'm feeling really good about the whole project. people are working hard, getting along and sharing great ideas. all of the hiccups that we've encountered so far have either not been a real problem for us or we've been able to solve it and get past it. i was somewhat optimistic all along, but now i'm starting to feel like it's justified. for me, i think i'm most excited about the things that will go on on level 4. i think it's a great opportunity for us to provide a free space where people can come to learn, think, debate and share ideas and knowledge. i'd like to have english classes going there as soon as possible, and once we're ready i'd like to organise some kind of regular political discussion group. we could have a different topic each time and eventually try to get experts or guest speakers in.

things to do in the near future:
clean out level 1 and rooftop
scrape up soft glue from the 4th floor (big job, might need something other than a shovel for this)
pick up glass and toilets. joao has a glass cutter and pedro's offered to install them
board up the rest of the elevator shafts for safety
try to acquire a big broom and a wheelbarrow
collect tyres and build a bed
finish sewing the rainbow curtains, get the wood and screws to install them
start thinking about how we're going to move joao out of his house. get packing boxes, try to borrow a truck?
build the unicorn mobile
LEARN PORTUGUESE!!