This piece really got me thinking, Anna. I knew that this purposeful community infrastructure was a big part of what attracts me to Spain, but I hadn't considered them "third spaces" before. Love the idea! Looking forward to hopefully meeting up with you and your kids and one such space down the line once I'm settled in!
We lived in a cohousing community in urban Oakland for a decade and this was very much the vibe within the confines of the community. I am so grateful for that experience, and yet it felt pretty insular because outside our area was a lot of drug use, gun violence etc. Now we live in a more suburban setting which is safer to let our kids wander to the local park without us etc, but feels more isolating for the adults.
Interesting - and what a cool experience to live in a cohousing community. My stepbrother and family live in Oakland and love it. It makes sense that attempting to create this type of community in just a small area within the confines of a completely different one wouldn't work the same way. I love how you are breaking in with new neighbors via pear offerings though! <3
The first day my dad wandered in the US, it was into the next door neighbor's garage. They called the cops. I'd moved my parents from Miami where no one cared about an elderly man wandering and would likely run him over to Charlotte, NC in hopes that they would be more communal. They weren't.
After the first incident, I took my dad around to the neighbors and explained that he has Alzheimer's and if they saw him to please bring him home. They didn't. The called the cops instead.
Soon after, I moved my parents back to our home country, Trinidad.
I moved them because if there are wandering elders there, people inquire about who the person belongs to. There is, indeed, community surveillance.
Thanks for sharing, Nneka. How strange a place we must be in when our minds go to calling law enforcement rather than checking in with another (vulnerable) human. <3
This piece really got me thinking, Anna. I knew that this purposeful community infrastructure was a big part of what attracts me to Spain, but I hadn't considered them "third spaces" before. Love the idea! Looking forward to hopefully meeting up with you and your kids and one such space down the line once I'm settled in!
We lived in a cohousing community in urban Oakland for a decade and this was very much the vibe within the confines of the community. I am so grateful for that experience, and yet it felt pretty insular because outside our area was a lot of drug use, gun violence etc. Now we live in a more suburban setting which is safer to let our kids wander to the local park without us etc, but feels more isolating for the adults.
Interesting - and what a cool experience to live in a cohousing community. My stepbrother and family live in Oakland and love it. It makes sense that attempting to create this type of community in just a small area within the confines of a completely different one wouldn't work the same way. I love how you are breaking in with new neighbors via pear offerings though! <3
The first day my dad wandered in the US, it was into the next door neighbor's garage. They called the cops. I'd moved my parents from Miami where no one cared about an elderly man wandering and would likely run him over to Charlotte, NC in hopes that they would be more communal. They weren't.
After the first incident, I took my dad around to the neighbors and explained that he has Alzheimer's and if they saw him to please bring him home. They didn't. The called the cops instead.
Soon after, I moved my parents back to our home country, Trinidad.
I moved them because if there are wandering elders there, people inquire about who the person belongs to. There is, indeed, community surveillance.
Thanks for sharing, Nneka. How strange a place we must be in when our minds go to calling law enforcement rather than checking in with another (vulnerable) human. <3