Casa Robino

Two years ago we introduced the concept of "sustainable hospitality exchange", as an approach to understand hospitality and as a framework to see how we can be hospitatible 'sustainably': on a personal level (that we can remain hospitable), on a group level (host-guest relationships) and on a network level (the social networks behind hospitality exchange).

You like the Casa and its people? Did you visit us and do you live in the area? Then maybe you have offered us to host casa-people when we get somewhat overloaded? We heard you but we never created a list of you friendly people!

So now we ask you that if you have the ability to host someone, to let us know.

It´s my third day in the green tunnel and I'm exhausted, I see a big wall of entangeled vegetation in front of me. I have no clock and mist has been hiding sun since I've started walking but birds tell me the night will fall soon, so I decide to set up my tent.

As we look for ways of bringing in revenue to the house, the question has risen, what is SHE? Are we referring to the act of being hospitable as being sustainable? (Meaning, we are hospitable for an enduring amount of time) Or, is it in the context of environmental issues? Since the current situation is not sustainable financially, it is not the former definition. And in the environmental context, there are much more things we could do differently. Among those briefly brainstormed include producing less trash (opting out of trash bags, avoiding plastic containers, etc).

As some of you know I was planing to hitch Casa-Praha-Budapest-Istanbul but then I got a miracle ticket (hello Shaun :) from Vienna to Budapest. A friend from Berlin texted me that I could get it at the morning of my departure from the casa - and she even started working in Amsterdam at Monday so it was only 10min away with Isolator!

Dear Casa,

bumping into you was like diving my head into the wizard's ball. I have seen an underworld teeming with life that I had no idea could exist. But soon I had to breathe in again, and everything faded out in the edge between dream and reality. Hugs, voices and smell of home-baked bread. Was it really real?

I have given too little of myself and taken too little of yourself. It does not end here, my dear, bewitching Casa.

Diego

We've had quite some cyclist passing through the house. Cycling around the world, or just the Netherlands, or people cycling from Paris to Copenhagen for example. Most of these people found out about the house through friends or through hospitality exchange networks such as Couchsurfing (closed-source and top-down structured) or Bewelcome (which is more grassroots and based on open source/ free software). But so far none of the cyclist had contacted us through Warmshowers.org, a hospitality exchange network for touring cyclists.

http://berlin.projectvolunteering.net/

"We plan this ultimate dynamic-stable place to be self-sustained eventually. First we want to live there, but at the same time there will be space for travelers to sleep, but also and more excitingly to meet, share passions and activities! We hope to provide space for all peaceful, and independent initiative, a place where any traveler can feel at home. It seems that we found our place :

http://berlin.projectvolunteering.net/where

Starting Febr. 1st 2009 we are living in Schönhauser Allee 146 in a 5 room 140sqm apartment.