Editing Meeting transcripts (section)

==15 April 2025==

(These are just minutes, not a verbatim transcript)

Kelly: I want to forge relationships between expats and the local community. GB is a place people can find other people who share interests. It solves things from the brainstorming session. It's a way to let people find information like volunteering information.

Tessa: I noticed that people get trapped in an “expat ghetto” and don’t integrate. And also, I want to help older people retiring here. Many new people here only know about cycling.

Miriam: Girona is a really divided city. Catalan + non-Catalan not interacting at all. There’s a gap. I want to more integrate more. I want to meet more Catalan people. Hopefully more Catalans will join GB.

Kelly: I saw a group of people riding mopeds, it seemed like a nice group.

Tessa: Partnering with existing groups is a good idea; groups like the Time Bank and the group who pick litter out the rivers.

Kelly. The role of GB should to approach clubs and make the initial contact.

Miriam. I thinks it’s a good idea. There are lots of things I haven’t gone to because I don't know what language they speak.

Kelly: GB is not just helping people to find things, we are also making things. Like the English practice group.

Tessa: GB should also be making the immigrant community look good to the local community, so locals don't just see immigrants as the people buying up houses.

Paul: Changing the topic, how can we make Girona Buddies less reliant on me and less work for me?

Miriam: Make a committee. Meet in person every 2–3 months. A space for discussion is a good idea. We could make decisions in bulk, like removing subgroups in bulk. Another idea is making a list of work that can be passed on to people. Sort the list by into what things we need, and what things are less important.

Tessa: See who stands out as people who can help.

Miriam: There are two options:
1) Find people who can just run their thing.
2) Give people roles to take on.

Paul: Number 2 won’t work. People are powered by intrinsic motivation.

Miriam: Giving people tasks creates a hierarchy, which is not good. I was in a volunteering group five years ago where a befriending scheme worked really well. It carried on even after the scheme officially ended. The volunteering group helped with a crisis, and everyone helped out. When the crisis was over, motivation fell away. The groups that remained were the ones that were most independent, (that had less input from me), and also the ones with strong relationships.

Paul:  Maybe make a list of tasks that need doing in GB and post them to the group.

Miriam: The intrinsic motivation that we all share here at the meeting is integration (learning Catalan, meeting Catalans, becoming involved in the culture). Things holding me back from participating more in GB:  
- Time  
- I don’t know if the majority of the people in GB share my goal of integration.

Kelly: What do we want the GB to be in 7 years? 

Teresa: Tessa, what is your motivation for being a member of GB?

Cycling is a passion of mine. GB has a cycling subgroup, but I don't need it there is already a Banyoles cycling group. But the cycling group is useful to find people outside of Girona who cycle. I might go to a food meetup one day, they seem fun. How do we help GB be a place for people to engage in things in Girona? The language of GB in English, which could be bad because it creates an expat bubble where it reduces people's needs to integrate and learn Catalan.

Miriam: Hopefully in 1 year's time the group will be more multilingual.
Also subgroups based on hobbies (like making music) might still have the same regulars, but the subgroups just for socialising maybe not.  

Kelly: Is there a way to make more Catalans aware of the things going on in Girona Buddies?

Paul: If GB becomes bilingual, is that going to be a problem? If people in the group don’t understand Catalan...

Tessa: If Girona Buddies is mainly in English, this may be a good a thing, as Catalans might join to learn English.

Miriam: Adding a Catalan translation to the names and descriptions of the subgroups is a good idea.

Tessa: I would like  to do a monthly event involving organizing a cultural dinner, a different cultural dinner each week or month.  
And ask people to bring a Catalan friend when they come. Or how about getting Catalan people to teach people in GB about Girona and Catalan culture.

Kelly:  What’s motivating the desire or the ajuntament to make Girona more friendly to foreigners?

Tessa: I know it from the university side of things. Cuida't is an organisation to make Girona friendly for old people. We’re going to meet one of them in May, a woman who works in the social aspect of it. Maybe the ajuntament could give us things — an office? Jordi (from the Barri Vell Centre Civic) was helpful for that.

(Topic switched to Guide to Girona)

Miriam: I was talking with my partner about making a map of businesses that are locally owned. Buying local is good for local businesses. But it’s hard to know if something is really locally owned. In the UK we have Companies House, maybe there is a Catalan version of that? But I found out it’s more complicated here. You can register a business at an address that’s not the address.

Tessa: I don’t think that information is written anywhere. But I think any information (on Guide to Girona) is more useful than no information.

Paul: What do you mean by local exactly?

Miriam: I would like money I spend to go to local people. I want to support a business of people who live here, i.e. thus contributing to the city.

Kelly: I think it’s so much easier to shop local here than at local places in America. There are chains but here there are lots of local shops.