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Thursday 16.00
- the streets are filled with students that just finished school. Near the school there is the canal and a bridge.
- I heard the sound of the bridge warning people that the bridge will rise for the boats. Some kids was running towards the bridge, maybe to see i happening.
- Walking near Ossenstraat, a cozy little playground park for children. There was a small football field were kids were out playing with their parents.
-  I was standing in a square that is surrounded by social housing. There was a few residents standing outside their doors or sitting on the balcony, it seemed like they know each other, they were friendly towards each other by saying hi and smile to each other.
- There was three men around the age 50-60 years old.
- One man was preparing for the world cup in fotbal and were decorating his house with a Belgian flag.
- He was talking with the pigeons surrounding his apartem
- a young girl around the age 6 was playing in the square by herself.

My feelings about the neighborhood:
- I felt like an intruder in the neighborhood, i felt suspicious eyes from the people living in the social housing, like they were wondering why we were lingering around in the square for so long and observing them. I understand that feeling i would probably feel the same way.
- I felt like the neighborhood were safe and calm,
-Peaceful and quiet except, the cars on the trafficked roads.

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Trafficked street near Dampoort

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Sunday 13/11 11.15

I saw a senior couple that was walking close to each other and were holding hands. They walked slowly and had a small conversation.

A family with a man, one woman and two children are passing me. They are laughing and talking, the children are running in front of the adults.

A woman is playing with her dog in a green area close to the canal.

The sun is warm on my skin and the air feels cold and fresh.

I hear a dog barking in the distance

I am walking along the canal and the water is mirrored and still.

A man is jogging

A lot of people are biking, they look like they are just passing by or are in a hurry for something.

It is very calm and quiet in the neighborhood.

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Tuesday 15/11 13.46

I see many bikes passing me; they look like they are in a hurry.

It is raining a lot and it is a very grey day.

It is very empty on the streets compared to our first observation. I believe the weather has a big role in that.

A man is passing me with his dog

Someone is cooking food with an open window; it smells of food.

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- The air feels cold and are biting my skin.
- I see four young people around the age of 20 , holding a beer each and are talking loudly to each other, they are laughing and joking.
- There is not good lightning near the playground and the green area so it is very dark. I feel about scared about the dark and are thinking that i do not want to meet anyone here.
- There are a few people biking on the roads, they are biking really fast, maybe it is because of the cold.
- a cat is lurking behind a bush, it runs away when i come closer.
- The air i so cold when i take a breath so it is difficult to smell.

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- I am walking to the station Dampoort
- The big road to the station is heavy trafficked and there is a lot of noise from the cars.
- I meet two women with a headscarf, they are talking a foreign language i am not known of. They seem happy and are talking intensively with each other.
- I meet a man who is carrying two bags, they look heavy, maybe he is coming from the station.
- I meet a man with a little boy, it looks like it is his son, they are holding hand. The man is talking quietly to the boy.
- I feel happy when i am walking through the neighborhood, it feels very safe and i recognize i am walking slower than i did before.  I am feeling relaxed.
- I walk pass a house, there is a black cat sitting in one of the window, looking out on the street.

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The square outside the social housing. People are passing by.

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This was a new way of working with social work for me. During my first year of social work education in Sweden we had an assignment when we observed a neighborhood, but only once. The difference with this course was that i got more time to observe and i now understand the importance in be out in the neighborhoods and work practically out in the society. It was very necessary for me in my professional development to work like this, I had a huge focus on the documentation and the administration part of social work so i recognized i almost forgot that social work is also a practice based profession when we are out in society and meet people. New things i learned about observing is that you need to observe the place during different times, different weather and different days to get an overview of the neighborhood, which is very important when you want to tell a story. I learned to use all my senses when observing, before i mostly focused on what i saw but the more i observed i started to use my feelings, what i heard and what i smelled, i learned that there is many different ways of telling a story, not only by what you see. Also, i think it is interesting about how difference the story can be from my perspective and from another person observing the same place. It made me reflect on the many different ways of think and experience things can led to different thoughts and feelings for different people.

When i were doing the interviews i got the knowledge that there is a lot of single stories and narratives of the same neighborhood. Even if the people lived on the same street or area they experienced different feelings about the area. I recognized that the experiences differed regarding to the individuals age, gender or economic situation. By reflecting on this i recognize the importance of letting the individuals telling their own story and from their own perspective, instead of reflecting and believing on the objective and prejudged image i have of the area. The truth feelings and experiences comes from the individual people living in the area.

I see that i made a progress every time i went out to the area. In the beginning i felt a bit uncomfortable walking around in the neighborhood, observing the people in the street. But lately i started to blend in with the people walking and tried to be a person living in the area. It was the first times experiencing the feelings when i walked in the street so i went to the same place at least one time more to see if i experienced the same feelings or if i had different thought when walking a second time. This course and assignment taught me to be observant and to ensure that all peoples stories get heard and are representative in our society, because all stories matters.