It’s been about three years since I worked at City Repair, and about that long since I stopped writing this blog. But I’m back! Back at City Repair with a turn of events and decided to pick this blog back up as a way of documenting my experience.

After I graduated from Evergreen College with a focus in community projects and studio art, June of 2019, I traveled around Israel and Europe for about 6 months. It was a beautiful and difficult wide-open experience. I broke up with my boyfriend of 4 years on the road, I spent time alone, & more love came. the biggest pain came from this period of travel, but tons of beauty and love too.

There is no way to write it all, but I will include highlights –

Some highlights were swimming in the blue waters of Croatia, paddle boarding, finding hidden spots in the craggy rocks and late night music, wild paths, and long walks to the grocery store to pick up a great assortment of things – like mustard in a metal tube, salami, potato chips. Eating them by the shore. having espressos. This feeling – the freedom, worn out muscles, salty skin, easy picnics, vibrant blue blue blue water & sky. This deep happy moment made me feel like myself and my mamma mia fantasy at the same time. When i think of happiness, and living my essence, this in my very core, is what comes up. This time, joy, freeness, open exploration.

The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam was another highlight that I still mentally revisit regularly. Thick dabs of paint, incredible bright and earthly colors and his struggle and triumphs as an artist beautifully and reverently documented. I loved seeing his letter correspondence with his brother in law. I loved getting to hear his voice along with his work. He was tender and gentle and wanted to depict the working class with admiration and respect. His sunflowers and grassy plains absorb me completely. Those lemony greens and dirty oranges…

I also loved Amsterdam Norde and exploring the interesting regeneration happening there. I was inspired by the action taken on by companies and cafe’s that were working to repurpose old ship yards and boats, and clean the very polluted banks. They planted native plants to help purify the soil and regrow the area, and put in boardwalks that led to beached boats dotted along the shore of their property. Those boats turned into office spaces for creatives, and they had a big cafe for the public facing the water. There were docs to laze around on, and a warm and cozy cafe for working. I loved community feeling of the space. There were plenty of boardgames and couches for working and playing. the food was all local and much of it was preserved nearby. They made their own elderfower syrup for drinks. The combination of loveliness in community oriented placemaking of the cafe, regeneration of land, and creative resource distribution was powerful and quickly got me thinking about one day creating something similar.

This is all I will write about my 6 months travels for now.

So then I came back to Portland right before the pandemic hit. I got a job, and mostly tried to calm my fried nerves during the beginning chaos and fright that the pandemic had in store. I made a lot of complicated dishes and craft projects and documented the processes on my instagram. It was a reaction of trying to be in control of something and deep dive on small details I could touch with my hands. Overall it was soothing.

By late summer I had applied for a teaching internship program through Masa, an Israeli government sponsored program to teach english to middle schoolers. I was excited about the prospects of getting experience as a teacher in a school when the pandemic made that very difficult here. I was also excited to feel less stuck in an other country during the pandemic, and I really wanted to see my love.

I loved working with my teaching partner Sydney, leading and designing creative lessons, and connecting to students. I discovered that I’m less excited about teaching classes as I am talking to kids about what is important to them, mentoring, doing art projects, talking about feelings. Personal connection and influence. I am continuing to figure out what I am chasing and what success with look like for me.

Through Kirk at City Repair, I got connected to a man who lived in a small town in Israel riddled with factions and conflict from extreme orthodox to secular Russian and conservative and impoverished Ethiopian communities living in very close quarters but without cross-cultural community. He wanted to utilize City Repair styles of community organizing and maybe a T-horse structure to do placemaking work. This is a community where a restaurant couldn’t open in a mall complex because some Orthodox Jews rallied to not have it open because the seating of the restaurant could encourage young people to go on dates. Despite some grumpy pushback from neighbors he keeps a very large lending library at the garage floor of their apartment building. He organizes the books regularly and kids love to use the resource especially during shabbat when the best option for entertainment is books.

After over a year of being in Israel, I came back to Portland to be home and with family, and show my love my place in the world. City Repair and the concepts I learn that I hold dear have been in the forefront of my mind despite my 3ish?! year hiatus. I connected with Kirk, and surprise surprise, I’m back for now! I’m elated and can’t wait to share my experience and thoughts on being at City Repair 3 years later.

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