Log-book: 10th August

Arrived yesterday after a day and a half of travelling. Everybody’s busy this late afternoon so I went for a walk. To grasp the situation of Roşia Montană, I picture the village as a person, her story as a life story. I see houses falling apart and new houses being built, an uncertain future that is unspoken, a resource that has become a threat to her survival.

Again today the group starts with the physical training, I spend the morning reading and hurrying to take a cold shower while there’s not a line of people waiting. For hot water we need to first light a fire in the oven in he courtyard.

They are just finishing the training when we join them. We are asked to write down questions, in silence, anything that comes to mind. All, I think, are wondering why. On the way to the church a few minutes later, Bálint is carrying a chair that we will use for something

The chair is thoroughly tested for durability. And then we are told the task: working in pairs, one goes to the floor and must all the time keep moving, staying connected to the chair and answering the questions put forth by the partner.(see the photos)

 Questions are banal, emotional, intriguing. It’s great to see how people invent elegant moves, awkward postures and fine balances with the chair; and curious how much easier it is to make fresh and humorous answers when there is this distraction of movement. It seems one can communicate much more straight-forward in this manner; maybe Freud should’ve thrown out his divan for some floor space and a chair.

Tomorrow we are inviting the locals to come to the lake further up for a bonfire, music and games. Finishing the preparation for this event, we work in two groups to come up with ideas for the evening’s programme.

Lunch.

Music in the church. The elderly woman who was to teach us some folk songs, never appears, she was too tired when they went to pick her up. But we rehearse some songs we know already, and that resonate well in the small church, where the priest must perform all duties from giving the sermon to playing the organ, even when the church is empty of people except for this servant of God.

Instead of learning the new songs both groups present the mornings work. The first group has written down a load of ideas for games and spectacles. The other group presents a living one-armed robber: three faces next to each other, framed by carved cardboard boxes. Three identical face expressions cash out a small performance..

Then it’s time for the guided tour of the upper village. G. is Hungarian, employed by the Gold Mine Corporation and, as happens, married to the chief architect of the corporation. Mocking the fools who splashed cement on the old stone walls, (causing the wood to rot and the stone to burst, because the water cannot pass through the material), he takes us from house to house that is now property of the corporation. They all need restoration, many of them are supported by wooden beams. The cement has been taken off the walls, revealing straw nailed to the surface to catch the plaster. His comments are full of film references and slang, Fanni does a good job translating. Some questions are not really answered.. in the end nobody really understands the logic of the restoration project. Is it to get goodwill, to appease opponents?

Dinner. Discussion about the evening and about tomorrow.

It’s dark and a little chill, it is evening. Right now S., our host is screening film in the small square outside. Quite a few people have turned up. Chatter from the courtyard. How many of the locals will come? People start going to sleep. Goodnight, goodnight. (Anna Laursen)