Here's where the dreams live.

Dream on 6 August 2021: Treacherous Traveling

I am in a foreign city, something like an eastern hub - perhaps in China, Japan or Thailand. It is a modern and well established city with large concrete buildings. The architecture is western. It is well organized and sombre - not vibrant and social. I am in a Chinese restaurant that also sells unprepared food and I am looking for my favorite dumplings. It is the first time that I am in the shop (either that or the attendant that assists me is new) so am not sure whether they will have the dumplings and go through a number of items that are similar but not exactly what I was looking for until I find something that is close enough to what I was looking for. I buy them in their dry form yet go outside and find a table on the street-side where I sit down and start eating them - now prepared. I find the outside air fresh and revitalizing even though I am sitting at the side of a street in a large metropolis where pollution is supposed to be a problem.

The next stage finds me on a tour away from the metropolis in a canyon like area. We are traversing a landscape of stone terraces with areas of boulders and loose rocks. We are doing so with mountain-bikes and on foot. I am with a small group of people (friends or colleagues) and we are going this for recreation but also in pursuit of an objective that feels work related. It feels like a mission - a bit like an archeological epic where we need to discover an ancient artifact. After a final traverse where I show off my balancing skills by passing over a number of unstable rocks (as opposed to going around them as the rest of the small group does), we arrive at the ancient artifact. The artifact is now a well presented item prepared as a tourist attraction. There are paths, hand-rails and special lighting illuminating the artifact. We are not disappointed that the artifact is so un-secretive and I feel as if the path we have taken to discover the artifact validated the significance of our mission rather than the discovery of the artifact itself (which is obviously not difficult to attain or reach).

I should mention that in the canyon-like environment, we were surrounded by similar other small groups of people who were shooting at each other as if it was a game-hunting area, yet the people themselves were the game. When they shot another, they would prepare and eat them. This did not concern me nor was it unusual in my eyes. I also never really felt like I was a target or at risk of being shot. I knew I had to keep clear and stay out of the "hunting" activity in order to avoid getting shot, and even had to spend some effort avoiding other groups as to not create unnecessary opportunity for being a hunted. We kept close to water pools and puddles as we traveled, which meant we kept low in the canyon. The hunting and shooting appeared to be deliberately in the higher positioned areas of the canyon and remaining low seemed a way to avoid the shooting.

Along the way, we came across a camping site where a specific team of highly skilled resources (from my real life career) were camped. The camp was set up as a type of school where classes were presented that this team was attending. One of the team members (generally considered to be the most skilled of them) appeared to be of the opinion that the classes were not necessary - but was happy to attend as he acknowledged their procedural significance. He did not think he would learn anything new but knew that he was obliged to attend and did so happily. One of the teachers of the classes approached me and highlighted to me that the team was shockingly "behind" in their teaching - contradicting the perspective held by the leader of that team that the teaching was unnecessary. The teacher told me that they had to be very careful not to make the team feel like they lack the knowledge, but at the same time teach them many new things.

Some friends of our family (a family from real life) were attending a coffee-break amidst the teaching schedule where a group of people were gathered around a coffee and snacks table. The mother of that family were remarking on the snacks that we were taking (or not taking) saying that "we are getting thinner". Her comment were referring to the diet that the family was on, but she was also referring to everybody there, suggesting that we may eat some of the snacks as we can be satisfied that it is not interfering with our objective of losing weight.

Dream on 29 July 2021: The Greatest Escape (by Hemera)

I am on a roof of a tall building with my husband and another couple that are friends of ours. The building is a parking lot and we have been kidnapped. The kidnappers have a box shaped red car. We are then in a room where the kidnappers are holding us. There is no apparent reason why they are holding us, and although I am anxious there appears to be no immediate danger.

I keep trying to get hold of my phone to contact someone for help, but every time I get hold of the phone one of the kidnappers take it away from me. I also attempt to escape a number of times but am "fetched" by one of the kidnappers every time. This attempt to gain access to my phone and to escape goes on for a long time but I consistently fail although I very almost succeed many times.

Towards the end of the dream, the kidnappers give-up on holding us and allow us to go. There was no apparent event that gave rise to this outcome other than what appears to be the kidnappers becoming "bored" of the continuous escape attempts and the effort needed to either prevent or re-capture me from my persistent (yet unsuccessful) attempts.

Dream on 22 July 2021: War and Games

I am in a very large indoor rugby stadium. It is much larger than the rugby field itself. There are stalls and shops in the stadium as well. My boss is accompanied by a number of his friends in a tented area and he is supporting his rugby team that is made up of high-school boys. Although they are still boys, they appear to be military draftees (or cadettes) as when they arrive at the stadium, they disembark a military vehicle and are clothed in military uniforms.

I am just a spectator and instead of watching the rugby game, I move to a play-area next to the rugby stadium. The play area is set up for a type of war-game where the player is stationed in a wooden look-out and has a device (like a computer mouse) that he moves around on a map (like a cardboard fold-out). The game is then played like a military strategy game where imaginary characters and equipment is commanded on a real battle-field over which the player looks out onto.

There are two adjacent fields. I play on one of them, and a girl is playing on another one. The girl is my younger sister and is still at school. We are not playing together or against each other, yet we can help each other out by moving some of our resources to the others' fields of play.

She initially does quite well and gets the upper hand quickly over her opponent. I struggle initially and am almost defeated. I somehow escape defeat and suspect it is because of help from the girl. I then start building up a formidable attack against my opponent and swarms of characters attack. There are also rockets and missiles delivering bombarding attacks on my opponents and the field in front of me looks like a real miniature war-zone.

Suddenly there is a massive explosion in the middle of the field. Like a rocket that hit - but of a much different caliber than is typical in the game. And then another - on the same spot. And another. It continues to explode in the same place with a timed interval of about five seconds. At first I think it is my attack that is causing the explosion, but it becomes annoying because it is too loud, too annoying and too powerful in order for the rest of the game to continue. In short - it is disrupting my game.

I leave my lookout to go to the girl's lookout next to mine and find that she is about to be defeated. She has been all but overrun by her opponent and only has a few characters left. But the attack was interrupted by the massive bombardment on my field next door with every character abandoning their attacks and running for cover. She is surprised and also annoyed by the massive and loud explosions but she is also glad that the explosions have averted her defeat.

A couple of the rugby-player boys also arrive (presumably because of the distraction that is the massive persistent explosions) and we walk back to my field's lookout. Although I don't climb to the top of the lookout where the cardboard fold-out map is, I have my mouse and start directing the characters on the field without the fold-out map. It is obviously not as effective as I am guessing where to move the mouse.

Dream on 21 July 2021: Integrating

We are hiking to a camping spot in the mountains. There are about ten of us and I am taking somewhat of a lead as I know the route and have been on the trail to the camping spot before. Everyone have proper hiking gear and attire. Most of the people in the group are from my school years. On our way, one of our party is missing. Someone goes back down the mountain to go and look for her. He finds her and brings her up to re-join the group. Although she appeared to be one of the fittest and most experienced members of the party, she indicates that she was unable to keep up and after resting at one point decided not to hold us up. We are happy to have found her and that she is back. She suddenly looks older.

As we arrive at the camping site, the cabins are very well kept for a secluded mountain retreat. Although built and finished in a classic (perhaps even medieval) style it seems like they were recently built and deliberately in an old style. One of the cabins remind me of the cabins in children's stories like Hansel and Gretel - but without the ominous witch that lives inside.

There are a handful of cabins on the camping site and the group divides up as we choose cabins. Upon entering our cabin (the Hansel and Gretel cabin) I notice that it is fully furnished with old but neat and functional furniture. The mostly wooden furniture is old but too recent to qualify as antiques. I also notice that there is a lot of half-built Lego standing around on the floor of the cabin. I immediately start carrying it outside onto the porch of the cabin so as to clear our the cabin inside as I want the cabin to be neat - like a hotel room upon entering for the first time during one's stay.

After neatening up the cabin, I go outside to find a small boy re-building the Lego. This makes the Lego look nice and neat, and as he re-builds them, I carry them back inside and place them all over the cabin as ornaments - as I do this, I find myself debating with my daughter where they should be placed. The boy does not re-build them exactly as they were meant to be built and some of the building is a bit shoddy but mostly in a way that the models were intended to look.

Going outside, I notice the camp site dog sitting around. The dog knows me and I think of it as "my dog" although it lives at the camping site.

Then it's onto dinner at the mess-hall. It feels more like a small restaurant with a seating area that is hardly separated from the kitchen area. The furnishings and building is not as well appointed as the living cabins with cheap damaged wooden tables with plastic covers, plastic cupboards and a concrete floor.

At dinner, an old colleague of mine and I have a discussion. She is old and I can tell that she must have been very attractive in her younger years but also that some bad fortune had aged her. She still thinks of herself as attractive and is well groomed for a mountaineering trip. Her attitude is one of having surrendered to her fate and she is content with the hand that life had dealt her. She has found happiness although she reminisces about her younger years.

The second night that we do dinner, the sponsor / patron of the camp-site is also there. He is a wealthy bachelor and there are stacks of wine bottles that we can take from. He is there as if with a date, but not his partner. He is also not there to socialize with us and is merely using the facilities for his dinner with the other person.

I notice that one of the waitresses is a younger woman that looks very familiar - as if she is an actor or a celebrity - but I cannot make out who she is. She later comes to chat with us as the night settles down, people relax and she no longer has to run around serving people.

What was remarkable to me is how the people in the group were all familiar with each other, but that they were getting together as if they only do very seldomly and in an unfrequented but very familiar setting far away from normal society. And how the interactions and relationships are very counter-intuitive. The emotions between people in the group are not typical yet they are very natural and familiar to us. There is no insecurity or posturing: it's just a place and an opportunity where everyone can be part of a group with no set expectations or agendas.

Dream on 17 July 2021: Garbage In, Garbage Out

I am at the house of a colleague. It is a very nice house and I like the architecture and finishes. He is there as well, but although I am a guest of his, he is not hosting me. It is as if I am around but not a guest. I also have certain responsibilities in the house even though it is not my house. One of my responsibilities is to entertain his guests that he is not eager to entertain. The few guests that he is close to are around him. They are old friends and not colleagues. I can watch them as they are together: they seem vulnerable and almost "weak" which is not how this person presents himself in normal working circumstances. He looks at me from time to time almost as if he knows he invited me, but he just wants to see if I am doing what he wants met to do - which is to entertain the guests that he does not feel like entertaining. Like he is checking up on me.

At some point I go into the scullery and sit down over a sandwich with one of these unwelcome guests and we have a conversation. We spill bread-crumbs as we talk, and I clear them up. The host sees me wiping up crumbs.

I then find myself taking out trash - as if the few breadcrumbs I was wiping up turned into something enough to take out. There is a large channel outside of his kitchen where he floats large black plastic crates with things to "dispose" of in. These crates then float out of the property towards a garbage disposal destination. The channel is already packed with crates and I am looking for a place to dispose of the garbage. I start walking out on the crates further and further away from the house until I almost reach the waste disposal destination. The destination is just a large black void in the side of a mountain into which the crates that are floating on the channel move slowly into. Before I reach the end, a man appears and offers to take the garbage from me. It is a friendly and humble man showing signs of hard work. He is wearing a hard-hat and thick leather gloves - and is muscular, tall and lean.

After I hand the garbage to him, I start walking back but instantly realize that the crates on which I was walking earlier are no longer stable. They start to sink away under my weight as I step on them and I have to work not to lose my balance. I don't struggle and am not afraid, but realize I should take a different approach as it is too uncomfortable to walk like this. At this point I also realize that I am not invincible. Realizing this is interesting as I did not think that I was, but when I realized I was no longer - it is only then that I realize that I was invincible earlier.

I climb onto a wall that forms the one side of the channel and notice it's firm but "cheap" construction. It was built using large sturdy concrete bricks, but the brick-laying was not well done. I realize that the host had the wall built because the channel was declared unsafe without it. It was not something he was planning on doing, and not much care was taken in its construction.

As the wall offers a broad walking surface on account of the large bricks, I can easily walk back to the house like this. At one point, there are tree branches that I have to climb through in order to stay on the wall and I notice, hidden in the branches, a sluice that is operated by a pneumatic piston. The sluice is there to stop the flow of the crates away from the home, but it is never used and in disrepair.

Dream on 16 July 2021: Work Life Balance

I am at the office and there is a computer in the open-plan area that acts as a kind of console for everyone to use. The console represents a real world work-task but it is a simulation and not an actual task. The task is to block-select a number of cells in a matrix and change them to my specific color. My color happens to be a burgundy, and I am quite good at it. I am able to quickly select all the blocks and having them all as purple shows the entire office just how good I am.

At some point, I walk over to the Managing Director's desk, which is an unassuming open-plan desk with all the other desks on the floor. At that moment, he is interviewing an old colleague of mine whom I knew well. Seeing as I know the candidate, I didn't think it rude to interrupt the MD and ask him an arbitrary question. He responds and I walk back to my desk thinking "that was rude of me to interrupt". I feel bad for having interrupted and am anxious that there may be consequences for being as rude as I was.

Later I then also move on to an interview. The interview is with an obese lady that struggles to breathe. One of my female colleagues sit in on the interview together with the MD. We end up discussing the candidate and the questions more than we actually interview her, and the candidate never gets to say a word. I feel bad for her as she looks really uncomfortable on account of her obesity. I realize that the side-discussion we are having is instigated by myself to relieve her from the need to actually speak or participate in the interview.

At this point, I notice that the console's screen where I had block-selected all the cells has been changing colors as other employees over-write my selection. Knowing that this is how the challenge works, I immediately start re-selecting cells that I had earlier marked but that were being over-written by other employees. It becomes a battle and I compete with them. I am clearly the best at this and manage to maintain the upper hand - but realize that in order for me to stay ahead I would be unable to leave the console. Eventually, I abandon the "game" and see how the other players gobble up all my marked cells with brighter colors and animated fillings.

Walking back to the interview area, which is now a whole boardroom desk with multiple candidates sitting around the desk being interviewed, I notice a childhood friend also sitting at the table. His hairstyle is very "progressive" as the front part has been shaved almost entirely off with the back half still as it used to be. I realize that he is struggling in the interview and does not really have any answers to give, so I "relieve" him by calling him aside, making as if I would have a one-on-one interview with him somewhere else. As I walk away with him, I am carrying a glass terrarium with two birds in it. I also struggle with my pants that are riding down my hips as my belt had malfunctioned. Fidgeting with my pants, I can't help but to notice the terrible material it is made of and the light grey coloring which I also don't like.

We go into a small interview room which is well appointed with nice furniture albeit a bit dated from the 60's. We sit down and have a bit of a discussion and it is clear to me that he needs help - and he needs a job. I am a bit confused why he would keep his haircut as it is while he is looking for a job as I don't think it is a very professional haircut.

While we are having the discussion, the two birds escape the terrarium and start flying around int he room. At first I try to get them back in the terrarium but after a while I realize that it makes me look incompetent in front of my old friend, and then convince myself that having the birds fly around freely in the room is actually an improvement on having them captured - and make as if it was planned for them to be flying freely.

Dream on 14 July 2021: Don't Belong Conference

I am at a conference where I have arrived with two other friends / colleagues. We arrived in a car (same model as my car in real life) that is branded and painted with the corporate colors of the corporation that is hosting the conference. The car appears to be prepared for an off-road rally and is branded and painted like a security patrol vehicle. The hosts of the conference parade the cars as they arrive and although I am standing as an onlooker, the car moves past as if it is in a parade. For some reason everyone seems impressed with our car - it is not a fancy car, but it apparently the fanciest car there.

It's not obvious what the conference is about but after the parade we move out into a field where the various teams group together. I form a small group with the two other people that are with me and although no other group appear more "at home", we feel especially unwelcome. We are also not sure what we are supposed to be doing as a group, or what the other groups are doing. The field is arranged as if it is a music festival where people are sitting around randomly and informally.

At this point the dream scene shifts to me in an airplane - most likely on my way home from the conference. It is an unusual airplane with bulky wooden paneling inside - the type that coarse children's toys are fashioned from. The finishes are not modern although the plane is not old. I have a compartment that is unusually large and specifically for me - although it is not closed off from the other passengers. Because of the unusual layout of the plane, I feel unsure - where to put my luggage, how to use the space and what everything is for.

The whole dream is a continuous sequence of events and I never feel familiar, comfortable or welcome - yet I am perfectly capable of functioning in the environment notwithstanding. It is also not the people that make me feel unwelcome and awkward - it is the physical environment.

Dream on 11 July 2021: Marketing are Us

An old colleague of mine and I are talking about where we would like to work if we were to be working in a physical office and not remotely anymore. We compare a couple of client offices, and the view that the office has wins out as a key feature. One of the retailer's offices near the coast are offered up as a candidate by my colleague, and having been there I agree that it is very nice. But I offer another option of a hotel and hospitality group whose head offices are nestled on top of a mountain in a large mountain range. The office is actually a hotel, but doubles up as their head office.

The dream then changes to us traveling to this hotel / head office as we were asked to provide a "pitch" for its marketing strategy. We arrive at the hotel through a winding tar road with multiple cut-backs as it makes its way up the mountain. The road has stone borders on the side of the drop-off so as to prevent accidents. When we arrive at the hotel, there are huge trees under which we park. The hotel is a high-rise yet some of the trees reach up almost as high as the hotel itself.

Although the surroundings are rustic and natural, the hotel is very modern and has a fancy corporate feel to it inside. We end up on the top floor of the building and I feel a slight fear-of-heights as we reach the top. It is apparent that the top floors are the corporate suite of the otherwise touristy hotel. The team and I are all dressed in suits and skirts in a very traditional corporate attire fashion being black and navy, carrying suitcases.

As we arrived with an escalator somehow, we need to take one last short trip down one level using an elevator for some reason. The path to the elevator is very steep down, and it is necessary to almost run-skid into the elevator as, once you start making it down the short path, it is too steep to stop or turn around. Given the momentum that everyone builds up as they skid down this little pathway, they also enter the elevator with some speed, bumping into the occupants that are already in there.

I am one of the last to make it into the elevator and by this time the elevator is already rather full and we need to huddle closely together. One of my female colleagues and I end up face-to-face with each other, rather awkwardly close and forced to touch as there is no space to stand apart. We face each other and both of us immediately become self-conscious of our appearance. The mutual self-consciousness made it easier to tolerate as it provided some grace for lacking grooming on both of our sides.

Leaving the elevator, we enter into a dimly lit but well appointed space. If we didn't know that we were at the top of a tower, I would have thought we were in a basement. Brown leather benches without backrests and small yellow scatter-cushions were positioned in a room of about 10mx20m. Vale curtains separated the benches so as to suggest cubicles, but some of these curtains were pulled back and benches pushed together to make enough seating for the whole group in a rough circle. There was a single representative of the client that brought us to this seating arrangement and sat down with us.

The ambiance made it feel like we were sitting around a camp-fire. One guy actually took out a guitar and started playing random tunes. Then another one of the team started singing "randomly" but rhythmically a sequence of colors to the tune: "Blue! Red! Green! Orange!...". I find this very awkward as it is not at all how I thought we would "pitch" for the marketing campaign to the customer. I am embarrassed but also suddenly feel estranged as I can't see myself joining in with the singing in addition to me being horrified at how the meeting is going. This is not what we prepared, and even though the client representative seems to be liking the casual interaction, I actually completely disagree with my team's approach. I try to break up the singing and convince them that "singing songs is not going to make anyone money and that singing will in fact lose money for the company".

The dream cuts over where I am with another client - a client that is a competitor to the hotel company that we were doing the "pitch" to. As I was traveling to the company, there are motorcycles passing us in the opposite direction towards the hotel company head offices.

This company is a Pet company, providing services and products for pets. One of their products is to alleviate flatulence in pets, and it seems to be a very successful product in the market. They are also very focused on profits - my kind of client. They understand "how things really work".

The next moment, a giant raptor claw lands by us, grabbing at money that is lying around - this was the owner of the company that was collecting the daily profits from trading. There is a young girl that stood closer to watch the event. She laughs as she sees the employees run around trying to avoid the claw from scratching or crushing them.

Dream some time in 2021: Bootcamp

I am in a resort that feels like a school campsite. I am working outside on a proposal for a client and some important Partners from a Management Consulting house become involved. We fumble around aimlessly with the proposal not making much if any progress and it is frustrating.

Out of desperation, I meet with the client for whom we are preparing the proposal. They give us constructive feedback that we do not have a very good Management Consulting story to tell and that we should focus on that in our proposal. As I leave, I buy cheese and meat for the team. When I arrive back at the team, they have moved indoors to an indoor pool area and are working on the proposal there. I recognize one of the female colleagues from my (real life) office with me together with some other random people as we approach the building where the rest of the team is working on the proposal.

Before we get to the building, there is a group of Police officers that are arming their weapons and readying themselves for action. One of the Police officers is a (real life) childhood friend of mine that lived down the street in the neighborhood. Noticing that we are not paying attention to the group of Police Officers, the one that's an old friend of mine cuts us off and, pointing his rifle at us, warns us sternly NOT TO ENTER the building.

We are a bit surprised and frightened at his actions, but we realize that he is just doing his job and is warning us because of apparent harm that could come to us if we were to proceed and not heed his warning. We strangely feel like we could ignore his warning, and know that he would not actually use the rifle, but know that he is trying to warn us.

Acknowledging his warning, I urge the group that is with me to calmly and quietly sit down on the lawn outside of the building. There is a large tree and we are sitting in its shade as the Police block our route to the building. I start handing out the cheese and meat that I had bought for the team and they all start eating. While they eat, there is a sense of anxiety as we do not know what is really going on.

Dream on 29 June 2021: The School of Life

I am in a building with very basic, cheap and “functional” finishes. One of the rooms in the building is a classroom suggesting that the building is a school of sorts. We are high up in the air, on a fourth or fifth floor. The classroom is extremely neatly arranged. Desks are perfectly spaced in a 5 x 5 layout, seating 25 kids. One of which is my desk. Mine is to the side of the classroom in the middle. At the front of the classroom there is a separate desk but it is not the teacher’s desk. There is a kid sitting at the desk. The desk is bigger and turned to face 90degrees from the other desks. The boy’s face is painted like a mime’s… with white painted skin and emphasized eyes and mouth with black paint. His hands are placed on the table in front of him as if they are chained down, but they aren’t. He cannot say a word, and it seems like his lips are sealed although they aren’t. He wants to say something but he seems to afraid to talk.

I get up and leave the classroom to go to the bathroom. The bathroom is larger than a typical school bathroom, and there are is a shower in it. I go into the shower as the water is already running from the shower head, and steam is building up in the shower cubicle. I go into the cubicle and I feel the warm water but I am not undressed. It is pleasant but I am worried that my clothes are getting wet. As I am standing in the shower the face of another guy appears in the spray. I cannot tell whether he is there entirely or whether it is just his face and neck. I also cannot tell whether it is a hallucination or whether he is in fact there and only obscured by the spray and the mist and steam of the shower.

It is a guy I knew who died some years ago – a friend of mine. He starts to talk to me. His tone is instructive and corrective. Our conversation makes me realise that I have been found guilty of some charge, and that I will now have a criminal record. I am disappointed and a bit confused as I did not think one could be found guilty and get a criminal record for what I did. It is not clear in the dream what I had done wrong. I feel guilty but I also cannot see how I could have avoided what I did. I thought I had done the right thing. The guy in the shower instructs me to “own” the judgement and even though I am confused and disappointed, he explains to me that accepting and owning the judgement means more for my moral character than to argue, deny or resist the judgement.

I move back to the classroom and on my way there I walk past an old colleague. He sits at a desk and his eyes tell a story as he looks at me: as if to say “You should never take a stance for what you think is right and you won’t get into trouble. That’s what I have done my entire life and look – I never got a criminal record.”

When I get back the classroom all the children are sitting at their desks, and the mime-boy is still at his desk. As I walk in, I decide that I am going to help the boy by speaking. It’s not like I want to say something that he cannot: just by talking and saying anything – he seems to be released from the force that holds him to his desk and prevents him from speaking. He instantly relaxes, becomes more confident – bolder, and then starts to get up. He looks strong now. Much larger and muscular. He even has stubble from an unshaven beard and sweat on his skin like someone who has been working hard.

Dream on 27 June 2021: The Junta. 

It is a dystopian future, and I am hiding under a camouflaged military tarp in a parking lot. In the distance there are buildings that have been battered by explosions and gunfire. There are no civilian activities around – it is a warzone.

There are women huddling nearby in military uniforms. One of them have blonde hair and speaks Afrikaans which is disarming of her otherwise military and confrontational demeanour. A car approaches me as it wants to park but I am in the way of the car in the parking bay. As the car comes to a stand-still against me, I must move slightly out of the way so as not to become trampled. This movement gives away my presence to the woman and she approaches me, knowing that I am there. As she confronts me, a feeling of defeat comes over me and although I am not terrified, I realise that my plan has been botched.

I am then in a building complex that appears to have apartment buildings on the one side and an amphitheatre like structure with multiple levels on the other. They merge to form a type of arena with the apartments acting as the one half of the outer structure, and the amphitheatre the other half. The apartment buildings are open on the inside as if the inner walls have been stripped off. This allows me to see into them. Although the inner walls have been stripped off, it does not appear to have been un-planned. It would appear as if the walls were removed by the tenants in the building – but also as if they were told to do so. This allows for transparency into the activities in the apartment building. The tenants are aware of this, but they are not concerned – as if they have consented to this as it would benefit them, or if they prefer it this way.

The little group that I find myself with established this compound as a safe place for ourselves and the dwellers. The leader of the group is a brave and fearless as well as handsome young man with olive skin and long hair (from neglect). I am an advisor and not the leader. I do not have the master plan, but I caution the leader against mistakes whenever he wants to act impulsively. He wants us to leave the compound and go and seed another compound elsewhere in a form of expansion. I caution him against this as the compound that we are in is not fully fortified and we are not resourceful enough to go and seed another compound yet.

Some time and arbitrary activity in the compound pass and one night, while the small group that I am with are having a party, I begin to challenge the leader on why he has not acted on executing his plan to leave the compound and seed a new one. The challenge takes on the form of Capoeira – a robust but well intended physical battle. As I begin to gain the upper hand, I stop the mock fight and explain to him that he had become too comfortable and uncaring. Although I urge him to act, I remind him that he needs to obtain consent from the compound dwellers before he makes the decision to act. Consent is obtained by standing and facing the apartments and calling on each of the dwellers for their ratification of him as the leader. With this ratification (almost like a democratic vote), he is confirmed as the leader and given the mandate to make the decision to act. The decision is not dramatic. He decides that it will be done, but the actions do not happen immediately.

It is already late in the evening and there are fires burning for light and heat amidst which the partying continues. Long tables with some food stand around. There is ample food, but it is not fanciful. There is some fresh fruit and hardly prepared vegetables as well as some old bread from which everyone can take and eat. It feels like a celebration, but it is a modest event with gratitude shown from all for the food.