People See You All the Time, Even in Bad Conditions

Details

  • Interviewee: Julia
  • Role: Community Member
  • Community: Traditional Dream Factory
  • Date: 2026-01-14
  • Language: en

Summary

Julia shares her experiences at TDF, a community project built from an old chicken factory. Her role involves overseeing construction projects and facilitating shared work among community members. Julia emphasizes the importance of daily collective activities that foster a sense of belonging and responsibility. She appreciates the existing infrastructure of TDF, which allows her to focus on growth and creativity without starting from scratch. Julia explains how living in a close-knit community challenges her individualism and encourages her to navigate boundaries while engaging with others.

Key quotes

Every day actually starts the same. We come down to the centre space, we have breakfast all together, and then we do our collective stand up. We check in emotionally, and then we distribute tasks for the day and for the week.

The place is thought. The main infrastructure is there. It’s not like we need to do everything from scratch, but still it’s in the creating mode.

It’s a big project which can build bridges to other projects. People can come, harvest inspiration, and go back to wherever they live and bring it with them.

People see you all the time. They also see you in the bad conditions. Normally I would withdraw and go through this alone. Now people witness it.

Being confident to set my boundaries, know what I need, stand for it, and also go out. I surf enough in the community, and then I go somewhere I don’t know yet.

It’s modern, but it has core values of community and tribe culture. Coming back to roots, but in a way that suits me.

Transcript

**[Speaker 1]:** So let's start with your name and where we're standing right now.

**[Julia]:** Okay. Hello. My name is Julia, and we are standing right now in our old chicken factory. So this is like, the old building where, chickens were raised and, five years ago, just for property was bought by the traditional dream factory.

**[Speaker 1]:** And what's happening here right now?

**[Julia]:** Right now. So, like, this whole thing was completely made new. So that means, like, the whole floor we did already. And, right now, the steps us as a co-working space so people can come here and they can still follow their work. So this part is like co-working. This is what these tables are for. And then in this area, like, from match on, we want to start the restaurant. So from here actually in this direction would be restaurant. And the first piece which we build is the bar and the reception. So also for the future, when we have like events and, yeah, things happening here, this would be like the entry point where people come in and. Yeah, we're just, and and. Yeah. So it's like a space for, like meeting also for the outside for, yeah.

**[Speaker 1]:** And what's, your role in this space?

**[Julia]:** So I'm together with the company time and, lead. So I'm taking care of, the small building projects which are going on here in TDF and. Yeah, so we are building up the infrastructure. This means, like, this is first filled in this term, and we were building the mushroom farm together, and we are doing things like building the compost toilets, the showers and. Yeah, and also like small projects, repairing the laundry machine and all of these things. Everything. What needs to be done?

**[Speaker 1]:** How does, day looks like feel for you?

**[Julia]:** Every day actually starts the same. So after my personal, like, waking up and all of these things, coming down to the center space, which is, like, here and like in our kitchen. And then we have breakfast all together, and then we do our collective stand up. And that means, like the whole group which is here in the space. We take some time to, like, check in with each other, like see where we are emotionally standing, and then we are distributing tasks for the day and for the week. And yeah, then we get into the workflow and after that we have lunch together and then working again together. Yeah. So and mostly I'm here. This is like my workspace.

**[Speaker 1]:** Tell me a little bit about this space.

**[Julia]:** Yeah. So, this is for now our workshop. We will extend it a bit more and yeah, we are like in the process, like getting it more sorted and, yeah, we want to have, like a workshop where it's like where it's really easy to work, where it's safe to work, where we can include also other people from outside to learn how to how to be with tools. So it's like, it's like the, the, the heart for. Yeah. Let's say like there's the piece where we all come together to work, but also like, it's like also Learning Hub.

**[Speaker 1]:** And what's, what's being built over here. Are you working on,

**[Julia]:** Well, we have, like. So, yeah, it's like more and more smaller things, right? So, like, the big things, for example, the mushroom farm we need to do on the place. But here we can do like, smaller things like furniture, and for example, the reception we bought, like a lot of, chestnut wood from, from a forest. So we have like a lot of very raw wood which we need to work on. So it's not like finished planks, like we have raw planks and we can nicely work on them. Yeah. Like with, with a grind, and making them straight and. Yeah.

**[Speaker 1]:** Why do you come here to to be a, like what was, drawn to this place?

**[Julia]:** I think for me, yeah, since I'm, I'm already longer in the field of community and projects, so I did see a lot. And what attracted me here the most was the combination of, like, a place which is really modern, but at the same time has the core values of, community and tribe culture. So like really this vision of, coming back to the roots, cultivating, cultivating values, which I think we lost in our culture. I mean, like this distinct of, like, separation and not sharing anymore. So this part is here very strong in the vision, but at the same time, it's it's modern in a way which suits me, which which I feel very in line with.

**[Speaker 1]:** And did you what did you see here? You said like, okay, I missed that. It's here that you didn't see in other places.

**[Julia]:** I think for me, it's the, it's the, it's the, the timing. It's not in. It's very, raw roots, like, it's it's started already. So, like, the place is thought like the main infrastructure is there, so it's not like this. Oh, God. We need to do, like, everything from scratch. But still, it's an, It's an, position of that. It's like in the creating motors and it has the project has very big ideas, but at the same time not huge. These huge ideas that you, yeah, that you are, that you are painting because they're so big and you feel like you could never realize them. So I feel like it's for me, it's like giving me this inspiration and this motivation of like, wow, we can do this. Like, we are really, like building something big here. It's not like just small just for us. Just like a group of maybe like, which is also beautiful, right? Like I don't want to say, but for me it would be not not inspiring enough to just have like a small project. I feel like here it's really it's a big project which really can build bridges to other projects, which can really be like an inspiration for the outside, not only for this group. So and I think this is yeah, this is what I would like to do. And I think this is what we need right now. We need like places where people can come, they can either stay, but they can also come and harvest and be inspired and go out wherever they live in the city or wherever and bring this inspiration where they so and I think because it has the size, a lot of people can flow through.

**[Speaker 1]:** But, What do you feel like? Like, what's an element of self-growth that you feel like you need, we need or needed to go through in order to survive? You. But what kind of change? In some way that you needed to go to to. Yeah.

**[Julia]:** Yeah, that's a really good question. Yeah. Because it's not it's not super easy to live in community. And I think like in general, we are not used to this, but me personally, I'm definitely not used to it because I, I grew up only with my mom, so I've never been really in community. But I was always feeling this lack of tribe. So like sisters, brothers and grandmas around me, I was always lacking it. But at the same time, I'm not used to it because I've been only on my own. Right. And, so I think this constant, this constant, people are always there and they see you and very they see also in the bad conditions. And usually I would withdraw and hide and like go through this maybe on my own. But now that people are witnessing it all the time and I can, I can withdraw. And I also do quite often, and I'm very happy that it's possible in this space. Yeah. And it's, I think it's the beauty in it, but also it's a challenge, this constant, mirroring of people, this constant humanness around you. So, yeah, I love it.

**[Julia]:** And but it's also a challenge for me. Yeah, but I see I see myself growing in it because I also see why these people are still there. Right? These people are still there. They saw me maybe yesterday being like very avoidant maybe. But actually, but today I'm good again. And these people are still there and space to love me. So it's I feel this is this is, this is the thing why I am in community. Because I want to I really want to grow my character and my my soul and like, expanding and being able to do these connections. And.

**[Speaker 1]:** What would you say that your biggest, talent over here is. Is, in.

**[Julia]:** Yeah, I think to be honest, it's this it's. Yeah. Humans are the time. Humans.

**[Speaker 1]:** But also in whatever you do, because what what is what is it like? Where is it challenging? And and what what?

**[Julia]:** Yeah.

**[Julia]:** Yeah. I think one is.

**[Julia]:** A bit the fear of, like, losing my individuality because I'm used to, I'm used to do everything on my own. I'm used to not check in with people like what I do during the day. I've been before, like, kind of self-employed. I had my own house, like, I, I'm, I'm a quite independent woman in this term, so. And now I'm, I, I need to ask I need to like, check in and if it's a no then it's okay. Then I need to respect it. But actually I think I got very I got from my reference very good in this. But I think also this, this idea of okay, it's a bubble here. So maybe right now this is actually my biggest challenge. Like this feeling of actually I want to also I want to also go out and, yeah, just like little things go to the bakery, do my shopping, do my, like, go out, to have a coffee with a friend or something like this. So I feel I'm since I'm since March. Yeah. And since everything is here and everything is provided here, I'm not taking care of the shopping, for example. So that's why I'm not going out that much. So I really need to do a huge effort to be. Yeah, to to land here. It's also a country. It's not my country. It's not my country. Right. Like I'm from Germany and now I'm in Portugal. And sometimes it's a bit like interesting. Right. Like yeah. So I think yeah. Biggest challenge is probably also learning Portuguese here.

**[Speaker 1]:** And I think I really want to.

**[Speaker 1]:** Know, do you feel like these challenges, like what kind of growth will be inviting you?

**[Speaker 1]:** What kind of.

**[Speaker 1]:** Growth is that like inviting.

**[Julia]:** Yeah. Being confident, to set my boundaries. Awesome. And know what I need and want and stand for it and then go also out, like, direct my life in a way that, that I know, like, okay, I surf now for this day enough in the community and now maybe I do the step and I go out and I go somewhere where it's where I don't know yet.

**[Speaker 1]:** Thank you.

**[Julia]:** Yeah. Thank you very much.