Casa Robino

- 'Meow, have you heard the news yet?'
- 'Purrrrrrrrr, yeah, isn't it great? And so unexpected!'
- 'Huh? What do you mean "great"? I think it is rather sad, isn't it?'
- 'Ah, you're talking about that! Meow. You are so right, it is kind of sad. But it was bound to happen one day and at the same time it is good I guess.'
- 'Yes, we all need space once in a while. I just hope people will come back again one day. I miss them already. I am just new here!'

Taking my break last winter I had quite some free time to float around and recap. So I also used my time to write for shareable.net the article Every Guest a Host on what this casa is all about: What is it that makes me wanna do this, why do people like it so much, and what are the little things that make it a challenge to live here?

But more important, how do I find the right words to actually describe something that is so fluid, so creative and so dynamic? Is it possible? Well, let's say I got pretty far with this article and that for a large part it sums up at least how it feels.

Casa Robino is a dynamic, ever-changing place where things happen on the go. It has been a home for many people in the past three years, an experiment to overcome boundaries between guest and host: together we try to host each-other while being hosted. Here we all live together and share what we can!

If you think you ought to be part of this experience, there is something for us to learn from each-other, or you feel like scrubbing the toilet with Robino's nose (when he's there), contact him, or even better leave a host-request that is visible on the website for those signed-in.

"Casa is my home and so it is yours. Our home. Post-revolutionary, for travelers, nomads, hippies, punks, cyclists, pilgrims, peaceniks, kitten-lovers and anti-heroes. To share, to learn and to give. Give care, give hugs, to be honest and truthful to oneself and eachother. To cook, to eat, to dive, to clean. To live together. Unique in its kind, as everything else.

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).

Finally our wonderful september masterpiece. Hopefully many to follow!

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!

courtesy of wordle.net based on http://casarobino.org/2009/06/12-questions-you-never-dared-ask

0. What is CasaRobino?

A self-organised travelers home, a nomad base. It is also a real social network of traveling friends that keeps on expanding, who comes to their «Amsterdam based house» once in a while, to stay for just a couple of days or for much longer, who comes here to learn and or to contribute.

Casa Robino is an apartment in Amsterdam. casarobino.org is the collective web presence of the people who are, have been and will be at Casa Robino.

The house needed a permanent place online to store its inputs and outputs, feedback and creativity in a format accessible for the hackers-artists-storytellers-nomads-in-residence gone and to come. So here it is, share (yes, you can also post without registering) and enjoy! Ah, and if you create an account, your passsword e-mail is considered spam by most e-mail-hosts!