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Mittwoch, 10.05. Schönes wetter. Nicht so kalt, not so hot, few moments of sunshine. 

As explained yesterday, we chose to have a “writer of the day”, for the sake of keeping our singular voices and perceptions while sharing a few insights of this collective experience in Gries-Graz. We chose the path that is not about agreeing, but about listening to each other. Listening and learning.

So today, I am Daniela in charge of the keyboard, writing mostly in English, as this is the language I am comfortable with at these late hours (depois do Português, é claro, mas aqui essa parte é dos colegas da Mouraria…). I hope you can smoothly go through my loose thoughts, or that the internet translator can improve this text by making it a bit more lost in translation.

I am always lost (and found) in translation, somehow. So welcome! 

This is much of what the Secondary Residence is all about. Searching for commonalities within the diversity of a neighbourhood where many languages are alive, in an European Project that deals with different modes of translation – linguistic, cultural, political, territorial, … An intense project that challenges us to live together, try out, get confused, open up and take the risks …… with the certainty that we are privileged enough to always go back to our comfort zones.

Well: Dia, Jour, Day, Tag#3. 

Gries andava un poco gris, pero hoy no tanto. O céu mostrou um pouquinho do seu azul, and through this my energy also got much better. The forecasted rain still hasn’t arrived. Wonderful day to stroll around, by bike and by feet……. Yet, it feels like we spent most of the time inside…..inside different places, wonderful worlds, complex stories, amazing people, in planned and unlikely encounters.

A lot happened, a lot is happening. It flows, we learn, and we trust it. 

…….

the warm Burek in the breakfast table

the time hold still at Hugo’s blue eyes and his café on the corner,

the delicious coffee with Rose water

the laughter from Moses radiating energy on that crossroads,

the kids playing football at the Dreihackengasse, 

the spirit of generosity and abundance of the Koha Kitchen, 

healing wor(l)ds and Peninah’s connectedness to the land,

the vitality of the secret life in the clubs and associations we are not really welcome in, 

the coloured curtains and plants of the windows, 

a couple of oversized white cars honking with arrogance,

the baskets woven some(unknown)where, the hanging brushes made of horse hairs.

old family businesses still surviving the big corporations and digital flood.

funny gossips,

networks of solidarity,

ancestrality

strong women.

layers and layers of old posters peeling down of the walls of too many closed buildings,

loneliness, solitude, tristesse,

the questions of work and dignity,

structural racism, ableism,

acceptance, assimilation, dissent

…

the struggles for peace

the pace of life

…

Day#3 ended up in the Base Verein with a discussion round organised by Südwind and the Migrant:innenbeirat

Day#3 in Gries, what a day!
Generous enough to finish with Irina Karamarković beautifully singing Gracias a la vida, by Violeta Parra….
All these moments, questions, feelings, people and things listed above are exactly what I needed to feel myself a bit more DAHEIM in Graz.

So I could write this blog and go to sleep with a real feeling of gratitude.

…