“Technical blog:” Living in Community Part I

(some of my views may change as time goes by)
There are 8 interns. 3 of us live in the 2 cabins and everyone else lives in tents. Our ages range from around 20 to around 30. Here’s what’s working for us (this is my opinion). Respect. We come from pretty different backgrounds but it’s working so far. Willingness to work hard and willingness to do whatever work is at hand. Teachability. We learn from our materials from K&M, from each other, and from observation. Breaks. We have our most labor intensive session in the morning when it’s coolest, then lunch/siesta and another shorter session. Shared spaces and private spaces. If you want to be with people, you come to the dining area. If you don’t, you go for a walk in the millions of places to explore or you chill in your living area. Structure with flexibility within the structure. Yeah we have a schedule, but sometimes that doesn’t work out. Like with moving heavy wheelbarrows uphill. The plan was then changes. Sense of humor. We laugh throughout the whole day. Shared, rotating duties. We have group tasks and individual tasks, including bread maker, breakfast maker, lunch helpers, garden tender, cleaners, and dinner maker. We sign up for a different chore on a different day so we all learn each task and then teach the next person the task and move on to the next thing. There are a lot more things that are working, but those are just some basic observations from the beginning stages.