Thanks for your message and raising the point about the agenda—it’s a valuable perspective. We definitely want everyone to feel agency over the weekend and not feel like they are on a rigid schedule.
You are correct that Team Community has much responsibility, primarily related to the logistics. Compared to our last getaway, this one is significantly more complex: the location is further, the group is larger, and arrivals/departures are spread out. This takes considerable time and effort to coordinate (transportation, cooking teams, etc.).
Because of these logistical demands, our priority was setting a framework that allows people to relax, rest, and connect— rather spontaneous activities, for which we did not feel there was a need for an agenda. We will post a message about the activities that are available, only one of them requiring to book in advance. We felt a too-structured approach would feel overwhelming given the time we spend at the location.
Should the plenary foreseen for 15 Nov not take place, maybe we can use that time differently ? And in that case your idea is an excellent fit for the “work” part of our Reef Rehearsal theme.
However, given the current workload to finalize the complicated logistics, Team Community does not have the capacity to take on organizing the agenda for the slot of the plenary (should the plenary not take place) according to that specific workshop structure. Would you or somebody from @team-facilitation be willing to take this on ? It would be indeed a great way to ensure that the working part of our weekend is collaborative and productive!
Are you also counting down the days left until our weekend getaway? We certainly are!
To give you something to look forward to, here’s a little post about the activities we have scouted for, focusing on nature, culture, connection, and just spending time together. Only one of them requires a booking, if we chose to do it. All the other activities can be done at your pace, if and when and with whom you feel like (don’t forget we have a plenary slot though, most likely on Saturday afternoon).
The area around our cabin is perfect for some fresh air and exploration:
The Signal de Botrange: We’re close enough for a walk to the highest point in Belgium, standing proud at 694m altitude. It’s a great spot for bragging rights! For the most courageous, it’s a 1h30 walk, but those who prefer it by car, it is 10 minutes drive away.
Château de Reinhardstein: If you’re interested in a bit of history, the beautiful Château de Reinhardstein is nearby, along with a very beautiful scenery of a waterfall. If we can gather at least 10 people, we can organize a guided visit inside the castle (€11.50 per person), most likely on Saturday fist half of day. Please fill in the poll below if you’d like to join:
At the cabin:
There will be food. I think I need to say no more…
We’ll be bringing a copy of the group board game Two Rooms and a Boom.
Feel free to bring some of your favorite non-voluminous* group games! *(“Ryan Air” luggage restrictions will be very likely enforced in the cars, so please keep it compact.)
Quiet boom party: You missed our last dancing hangout ? Fear not, we’ll definitely have music this time, and if you’re nice, we might even bring a disco ball to have a small, intimate boom party in the evening!
Please fill the poll if you want to visit the Castle - accepting input until Sunday 9 Nov.
I want to visit the Castle
0voters
Can’t wait to disconnect from the daily grind and finally connect with all of you!
I just had a quick chat with Lucia, and I realised that I didn’t explain myself very well.
What I am proposing is a method that is helpful to bring self-managment into big group events.
The key feature consists of participants putting notes on a wall (“the market place”), where they can indicate what they would like to offer, or what they would like to receive. People who are interested to join an offer, or to offer what is being wished for, can they express their interest by writing something on the paper.
The way this could work, is that we make a short moment of being together after every meal. There would be a facilitator, who then as a first things goes into the practical things, i.e. what is needed in terms of washing dishes, cuttting veggies, cleaning or what else. In function of who feels like it, they can then confirm their willingness and that will be that, without any further need for coordination or preparation.
And then we can turn to how we want to spend time together. The facilitator can read out loud what’s being desired and what’s on offer, and based on that it should be relatively straightforward to form groups and/or engage in certain activities. Maybe someone wants to play lego (children or adults?), maybe someone wants to organise a chess tornament, maybe three people want to spend half an hour reading in silence, … maybe there will be no takers for certain activities, and that’s perfectly fine of course. It’s just by making wishes and offers more explicit, that the method facilitates the organisation of whatever wants to be organised, without too much need for any intervention. And this of course doesn’t mean that we are bound by what is on the papers, or by what is discussed after the meals. It’s just a method to organise a space consisting of many people with a bit of structure and a lot of spontaneity. What you think @reeflings?
PS: the things that I look forward to offering (with of course no pressure for it to happen): a crea activity with the kids (shrinking paper), the werewolves game, the anthropologist game and possibly (still need to think about it) a “mourning the state of the world” circle.
Hi @Adonis2 and thanks for your interest in The Reef!
This forum is the communication tool that we use in Cohousing The Reef as a substitute for email. You’ll find more about our project here: https://staging.thereef.brussels/
The forum is open, because we want to give access to everything related to cohousing knowledge and how we set up the governance of our group, but other than that the big majority of the posts are addressed to members of the group, who tend to meet up several times per month to make the project a reality.
Weekend Getaway: A sneak peek at the fun!
We certainly are!
!
Marius