Casa Robino

Happy birthday casarobino! It is one year now that we have been able to keep up with you. You little weird house that nobody understands, house of punks hitchhiking through love, eclectic magical communal place! To give you something nice on this special day I prepared a silly speech for you. Please ... don't hate me for it.

- Si?
"Hello, is this casarobino?"
- Yes, how may I help you?
"Well, we would like to book a room for next month"
- Oh, I am so sorry, but we are completely overbooked!
"Really? Oh that is such a pity. Do you maybe know anything else that is available for us? I am coming with a friend."
- Hmmm, that depends. What are you looking for?
"Oh, something close to the center, and not too expensive...
- ...
"Ah, and something that offers the same kind of experience, of course"

Right. If you would ask me to tell one of the funniest things that happened to me in relation to 'casa' in the past year, it must be this phone-call that we received sometime early Summer. Of all things we expected, one year ago when Anu created the foundation of this website, it wasn't this... for sure.

One year after it is not easy though to sum up all the wonderful things what the casa did for so many people. And what beautiful things people did for the casa - and for all other people who were around and those yet to come. But ok, let's try to make a short list:

# it created beautiful connections between people and gave them a sense of belonging, in a way that comes close to how life should be (at least for us)
#it opened hundreds of eyes that it isn't so hard to create something that appeals to our imagination
#it makes everyone of us understand what it takes and what it creates to live together in highly dynamic temporary permament communities.

We also had our issues -thankfully- but also some unfortunate events in the past year. Let me mention the two most obvious:

#we had a robbery and lost several laptops, some other equipment and a bag with personal belongings
#we had a hearthful experience when we learned we would not be able to see Aris again.

But at the same time these events also brought us together stronger and created an even deeper sense of community. The mutual support that we gave each other during these events were extremely powerful and will-be-always-with-me... giving shape to who I am.

In the past year we have seen many amazing people passing through the house. They came to stay and host, they came to enjoy the open dinners on Thursday's, they came to dumpster dive, to cook, to share, to ride your bikes, to fix them, to enjoy life and... to be. But you know what's even the worse part? They keep on coming!

Some names? Meatbal (start with the best name), Zsuzsanna, Dumlovesyou (he really does), Dcarpano (don't trust him, he is maffia), martina (hope I will meet her too), Kardan (the-worst-hitching-trip-of-the-universe), Moises, Shaun-treehuggingfool, alishonshine, Guaka (mole), Sarah (she who lives in the water), Abbe (dancing girls), Valentina (fruits), Rene (fruitsalad), Xo (who?), realitygaps (seriously), mirto (light), Adancito (warmth!), stove (did I ever see you cook?), viking-pet (you got it), r3353 (come back!), zuphit (In the army!), lilylove (sailor!), hekeq, dennis collective (we love you all!), bholley (you are sure you want to stay?), pgalaxy, marieke (explorer), amylin (amyl.in), narnua (is magical), caveman (aka Charlie the First, Caveman the Fourth), jeremie, monika, atopia (I don't believe in faith), lauralou (I never ask questions!), El Marcel (our own deportation case), Paxus (big nose), Sky, Kassia, Willow, Caroline (and the rest of the Tupelo family), Willow again, Dante (yes, Dante), Caroline (always inspired), Pastamadre (THANKS!), kitten (fuck off and die!), Lindsey and her mom (the smoking windowcleaner), Anca (shit, we let her go), Alex (big guy!), Neo (the one), the rem, gutuAter, Ramon*, Lousia (fresh from the dumpster!), Tofu (sorry, Topher), Nitai (to do a Nitai), Giorgio (give us a hug!), Hans (laugh), mārtiņš (I only eat meat), Ineke (cuty), Jaap (savior), giveaphuk, chicalote, leimac, the texel-family, sitarane (yes you are african) and many others (sorry for not mentioning you, it was getting a bit too boring).
...

Ok.

And now for something really cheesy (oh yeah, we all gotta sing now):

[someone gets a guitar and starts playing 'give a little bit' in the background]

Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
Give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my love to you
There's so much that we need to share
Send a smile and show you care.

...

Now's the time that we need to share
So find yourself, we're on our way back home

Going home...
Don't you need to feel at home?
Oh yeah, we gotta sing

Cool.

To finish this off... before it really is getting painful.

Just recently I finally found out what "casarobino" actually means. The latter part does not refer to this fool who wrote this piece of lousy text but, as my Italian drivers were telling me on my most recent hitchhiking trip: "House of little things".

Well, Finally now I also can be happy with the name Anu and Kasper came up with, one year ago.

House of little things.

Thanks for
1. whatever.
2. never taking yourself seriously.
3. always letting go.

Hugs!