BALAGUER (and a bit of Girona)

I was in Balaguer from March 30 – April 5.

This blog took me a long time to start writing because there was sooo much to tell. i didn't write it till the first week of May...

Remember you can see pictures at http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n602/renarrowe/ Go to sub albums on the side, and all the albums are clearly labeled.

I went from Toulouse to Balaguer successfully the second time around (after my failed first attempt). Following the plan plan, I stopped in Girona for a few hours on the way. Girona is a beautiful little Catalonian city, with a river, and winding stone streets, and a walkable old city wall surrounding half of it.

Catalonia is the most east region of Spain, which is where Barcelona is located. It's home to many famous individualistic artists, such as Dali and Gaudi. To this day the art there is more modern than many places.

When I got off the train, it was such a welcome feeling to know the language I was hearing around me again! I'd been in France for just about a month, and still don't know any French. Suddenly, I was able to read the street signs! And to be able to communicate the questions I needed to ask at the station! I missed Spanish quite a lot when I was in France. I guess that's just the way my brain works – I needed to get away from Spanish in order to appreciate it and how much of it I've learned. After a few months in Spain, I sort of was daunted by learning it, and wasn't sure if I liked the language that much. Now I love it. Now I'm more dedicated to learning more Spanish than I've maybe ever been. And it's so much easier to travel in a country when you can ask for directions, and where the nearest lockers are, tourist office, etc. In fact, I spent the first hour of my three hours in Girona trying to figure out the best way to get to Balaguer from there, and finding a place to lock up my things since the train station didn't have lockers. Finally I succeeded, (after buying a bus ticket, returning a bus ticket, and buying two train tickets). but it would have taken longer, and I would have spent more money if I hadn't know the language. Then I spent the next two hours wandering, and enjoying the beautiful city, and the beautiful Spanish weather.

After my short but lovely stop in Girona. I got on another train towards Barcelona, then another train to Llerida, then hada twenty minute walk (luggage in tow) to the Llerida bus station, then took a relatively short bus ride to Balaguer – a very normal Catalonian town full of real Catalonians, not tourists. One such of these life long Catalonians was to be my host for the next few days. His name is Jordi, and he picked me up at the bus station right on time as promised.

Jordi is a very interesting, inspirational man. Consequently I've been telling pretty much everyone about him since I met him. He is an organic farmer, born and raised in Balaguer Catalonia Spain. He speaks Spanish, Catalan, French, and English, and his house is full or relics making it reminiscent of a museum. But these things aren't what makes him unique. What does make him so special is his philosophies on farming, living, and how he shares these philosophies to the travelers that come to spend time with him.

First I will tell you a bit about Jordi's philosophies, and the way he lives his life. He believes in living a simple, but more sustainable way of life, helping and giving to the community you call home. He owns many acres of farm land, where he grows a variety of fruits, olives, wheat, almonds, and vegetables. He even cultivates honey from his own makeshift beehives. About 90% of the food he consumes comes from his own land and labors. He's also very very interested and knowledgeable about medicinal plants, and is always telling you great facts, such as how rosemary is a natural stimulant, stronger than caffeine, or how eating mint can cure a headache. His favorite medicinal plant loves are stevia (which is becoming a more an more popular way to treat diabetes, and is linked to helping with cancer) and aloe vera (which is good for like everything, but particularly has great skin healing properties. Jordi has huge aloe vera plants in his house which he waters and cares for daily. He calls them his pets). It's really fascinating how many plants are out there that have healing qualities that can better help the body and mind than all these over the counter remedies that we use. We just don't know about them!

In his community, Jordi is an active member of a co-op in Balaguer, promoting the slow food movement, as well as organic, local, and fairtrade farming. This co-op has a time incentive program. You can pay for workshops and produce there with money, but it's more desired that you pay with donating your time, or with your trade, or produce, or leading a workshop (since many farmers are part of the union). Jordi is also a teacher. He'll teach for a year, and then take a sabatical, living, farming and hosting off of the year's earnings for as long as he can (usually another year or two, occasionally substitute teaching for extra income). He also started a program in the schools around Balaguer that teaches children about farming, and where the food they buy actually comes from. For this, he and fellow teachers will help children grow their own gardens, learn sustainable techniques, and make things out of their own produce. He'll also show them the process behind the foods we think we can only buy. For example, he'll make cottage cheese with his students, and they all can't believe that what they have made is the same thing they buy in the supermarket.

Jordi believes in a simple life. He says he has an older car, older clothes, an older apartment that many people he knows would have upgraded years ago. But to him, that doesn't make sense when all of it functions, and he'd rather use his time and resources on his farms and communities. Things shouldn't make people happy he says. His friends bought new cars, new apartments, and then when the economic crisis hit, they got hurt. He thinks the crisis in this way is a good thing because it is connecting people back to community and people - the things that matter more. People can't afford to be attached to the materialistic things they thought mattered so much. In his apartment, which feels like it's still in the 70's, the furniture, plates, and utensils, pretty much all don't match, and you get the feeling that all the glass and plastic jars he uses have been used many a time. And why not? Also, not only does he recycle, and compost, he even has two composts – one for nut shells and seed pits and anything else that he can later burn for fuel (to make his own bread). Resourcefulness is the word to use for Jordi's home, farm, and garden.

His philosophy, Jordi explains, is to live the way he thinks people should live, and share that example. He can't change others, but hopefully his example will influence others and spread. For this reason (and because he's a traveler at heart) Jordi is a member of many travel sites - WWOOF, couchsurfers, servas, and helpxchange. He himself doesn't and hasn't traveled much outside of Catalonia. But he doesn't need to; the world comes to him. Yearly he has hundreds of travelers that come from all over the world to spend time with him, sometimes a few days, sometimes a few weeks. The rooms of his 4 room apartment are filled with beds and could easily sleep ten people. There's a map on his wall with push pins in it showing where all his visitors have come from (I was the first from Hawaii! And got to put a pin in it!) He also loves languages, so one wall has a huge chart showing the basics of numerous languages that he's had his guests (native speakers) fill out - from Chinese, to Swajili, to Arabic, to Samoan. He seemed a bit disappointed when I couldn't tell him many basics of Hawaiian language. I left him a list of the many words we use in everyday speaking, such as “keiki – children” or “mahalo – thank you,” but I couldn't tell him basic phrases such as “how are you?” It did make me want to learn more about Hawaiian language and culture so I could share it better (not the first time I've had this feeling while traveling about, and it won't be the last either).

While you are there, you follow Jordi and help him with his daily life. If he is going to his orchards and trimming trees, you are going to go as well and help gather up the tree trimmings. If he's going to the co-op to drop something off, you are going with him. If he's going to his garden and picking some vegetables for dinner, then, yup, you are too. All the while he shows his way of doing things to his guests, identifies different plants and properties to them, and teaches them about the land and the reasonings behind doing things certain ways.

You also eat what he eats. Mealtimes with Jordi are always simple, plentiful, and healthy. He cooks and provides every meal for his guests, no matter how little you've actually worked that day, and he wouldn't think of asking anything in return. As I said before, about 90% of all things Jordi consumes he produced himself. The honey on the table came from his beehives, the olives and oil from his olive trees, the nuts and fruits from his orchard (there was always a big plate of nuts and fruit on his table available for snacking at any time). The jams and jelly compotes were produced by him using the fruits he grew himself. Even the bread was made from wheat that he grew and then milled himself (using a small milling machine). It was so cool! Such a different way to eat, and how strange that such a natural way to eat is such a novelty in this day and age?

But, perhaps consequently, mealtimes with Jordi are also a bit bizarre. He's less concerned with taste and consistency than he is with the healthy properties of the food, and literally their edibility. There were many a strange porridge and conglomerations of vegetables. It all tasted pretty good, and was unquestionably healthy, just questionable sometimes as to what was in it. For example, there would always be a huge salad containing a variety of greens, onions, fruits, whatever. Some of the greens were what we usually consider weeds, others were rather fuzzy feeling in the mouth. It was a bit of a science experiment at times. More than twice he would say something about how I should be careful how much I ate of something because it may have a laxitive affect (said as if he knew from experience). I don't mean to be critical, it was plentiful, tasty and I was grateful, but It did leave my mouth tasting strongly of onion, and my mind wondering what great things a chef could do with the products and knowledge that Jordi has.

And then there was the incident with the almonds. As I said, there were always nuts on the table. Of these, there was a plate of almonds, and a jar of strangly shaped almonds. Trying to be helpful, one time I refilled the plate of almonds from the jar of almonds right before we sat down to lunch. I grabbed a few, ate them, and thought they tasted a bit strange.. they made my mouth feel a little numb, but I thought nothing really of it. An almond is an almond, and I like almonds, so I kept eating them. It wasn't until after lunch that I found out that the almonds I'd been eating were “bitter almonds” - very good for your health, but also poisonous. They shouldn't be eaten more than 5 at a time. If you eat 15 or 20, you will die.... I think I'd eaten anywhere between 9 and 16 at the point of learning this. I survived, thankfully, the effects of the almonds even felt sort of good – they make your heartbeat speed up. Still I was a bit freaked out by the whole thing. After that, I never assumed anything about the foods in Jordi's house.

Overall, Jordi is a fascinating man and a laid back and understanding host. I think he would have to be this type of person to host and meet as many people as he has over the years. He would show you how he wanted things to be done, made it clear that it was what he preferred, but also made it clear that he understood that it wasn't the only way of doing things. It was definitely a fascinating way to spend a few days. (I was only there for two full days... which was enough.. I felt a little awkward communicating with him at times; I felt I wasn't very eloquent and couldn't tell if this was the language barrier, or age barrier, or perhaps I was just being anxious. Nevertheless it was very very insightful conversation). I think Jordi is very successful in his mission of sharing his different, more healthier ways of consuming and living within a community within the world. He hopes that these ideas will influence and be shared with others all over the world, or at least make people rethink the ways we are told to consume and be more aware of other alternatives. I really do think his example makes impacts and influences the people that come and stay with him, at least slightly. It did with me.

It's been so long!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything! How did I do that? I've been writing all this time. In fact, I have 9 full pages of stories to typed! I just didn't get them online. But I am going to do so right now.

and a reminder - you can see pictures of all this stuff on photobucket.

http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n602/renarrowe/

Go to subalbums on the side, and all the albums are clearly labeled.

I'm working on getting all those pictures up, now that I've got some free time and good internet.

If you are reading this thing, let me know! I love getting feedback. And I'm really missing my friends from all over.

EUROPEAN MUSINGS: WHEN TRAVEL DOESN'T GO AS PLANNED...

Toulouse again - written on 3/30

I can be a ditz; I just get caught up in my own reality sometimes . I suppose I have my mom to thank for this – a woman to this day has “black holes” in her geographic memory of an island she's lived on for 25 years. And I'm meaning she sometimes can't remember where to turn on streets she uses nearly every day. My sister and I affectionately call her “Mother Magoo” on the occasions she is thwarted by her own inner brain workings. However, one of the many things travel is teaching me this: I too am a Magoo.

This morning I had a train to catch at 6:54. I woke up to my alarm going off at about 6 am, gathered my things and myself by 6:30, walked to the station at 6:30. Arrived with about 6 minutes to find my platform – all according to plan. Until I realized I couldn't find my platform on the departures board. “Strange” I think. I ask attendants - “oo ay...” (where is...) and point to the train on my ticket. They point me in a direction. But that train isn't my train. I have three minutes to find my train at this point before it departs. I ask the next nearest attendant “oo ay...” she looks at my ticket, looks at the time and tells me in French, “departed” and points to the clock, which SUDDENLY in my mind reads as 7:50 and not 6:50. "How in the world did I do that?” I ask myself out loud while the woman attendant, who, rightfully so, just looks at me since she has no idea what i'm saying and apparently can't be too smart because I can't tell time. I've since figured out what must have happened. See, last night when I was setting my alarm, at the last moment, I set my alarm to 5:59. Why I did this, I can't explain. It's how my odd Becca brain works. I guess I'm bugged by the simplicity of one number. First i set it to 6am, then changed it because it bothered me. However, I didn't set it to 5:59, but 6:59, and then never noticed the difference until it was much too late. I was THWARTED BY MAGOO!!

What is worse is that I had to catch that train to get to Balaguer today – a town about 100 km from Barcelona. It's a one chance per day thing. And I missed it. After missing it, I went to the ticket counter to figure out my options, but I sort of already knew them from my own research. For some reason there are only three trains that can go to Girona daily (oddly). One at 6:17 in the morning, one at 6:54 in the morning, and one at 14:40 in the afternoon. I knew that to get to Balaguer at a good hour for my host there, and not spend 8 hours on the train/bus, My best option is to take a train from Toulouse to Girona (3 hrs) walk around Girona for 4 hours, then take a bus from Girona to Llerida (4 hrs) and then a bus from Llerida to Balaguer (40 mins). Otherwise, i'd have to be in trains and in boring stations for about 8+ hours to get to Barcelona, and then another train or bus from Barcelona to llerida or Balaguer. Which I suppose I could have done, but by the time I talked to the ticket agent, the only trains that would have worked were sold out. I could have spent many hours on a train and been in Barcelona by 8pm, possibly stranded there. Or I could have gone to Perpignon for the night, and then llerida earlier in the day by train, but that would have cost a lot more and been more stressful. So, I decided to save my money and most of my stress, and spend one more day hanging around Toulouse and sleeping on my amazingly generous hosts' couch. This is sort of a wast of a day because I've already seen a great deal of Toulouse, (by scooter and by foot) and it's raining, and there isn't much more I want to do here because I'm a bit bored of walking around European cities...which makes me ask all sorts of questions to myself as to why the heck I'm traveling in the first place if I'm sort of board of walking around European cities (“Why?” I ask myself - because sometimes, like yesterday, it's still awesome and the people and experiences are interesting, and also, why not?) But this extra Toulouse day could possibly throw off my schedule for the week, because I was trying to meet someone on the weekend in Barcelona, and now I don't know if I should spend such a small amount of time at this Balaguer host. Oh, and I get to take the 6:17 train in the morning, which means wake up at 5:20. Awesome. Well, at least I have a great, warm, free nice place to stay with really nice people (and they keep giving me free food too). I may have missed my train, but I had a place to go back to, relax for the day, internet, keys to the apartment, and delicious espresso. Yes I wish I could have moved on, but I'm grateful for the circumstances in which I'm stuck. Traveling certainly keeps you humble and flexible. The trick I think is to stay grateful for too for the things that do work out or/and are still working out even when other things don't.

And it did all work out... After a lovely nap on the comfy couch, I walked around a bit, which was nice and immersing in Frenchness, and the had a great night with Stephanie, just us girls because Niko was working. I made my train the next day, made it to Barcelona, and all was right with my travels once more.... which is most always happens when travels don't go according to plan.

TERRIFIC TOULOUSE

Toulouse - March 27 - March 29... and then accidentally March 30...

I can't believe my good luck of Toulouse! I love this city. It sort of has a feel of a village now town size. But the people are really nice, the streets and buildings are all brick (which is why it's called the “pink city” even though from my American eye it's brick red...) and I had an amazing and lucky and kindness filled stay here.

I chose to go to Toulouse on my way back to Spain from Orange mostly because, in addition to hearing pretty good things about it, my fellow English teacher and friend James (whose from London, but is now living in Madrid, and whose mother is from France), has a bunch of cousins there and offered to put me in contact with them. Thusly, I arrived in Toulouse with already plans to be shown the city by James cousin Niko and his wife Stephanie Sunday evening, and by his cousin Jeremie on Monday. (Jeremie I the owner of a really great French restaurant, so I thought there would be a good chance for a nice meal. Little did I know...) However, I was on my own to find housing. So I turned to Couch surfing. I contacted many people, but everyone was too busy. They could host me, but were reluctant to do so since they wouldn't be good hosts. Still, I accepted the invitation of a German girl named Zeke who was studying abroad in Toulouse (Toulouse has a lot and a lot of students). She and her roommates (two other girls) host a lot, and seemed very much the laid back bohemian traveler type. She told me that she had couch surfers there currently, but they would be leaving the day I arrived.

When I got to her apartment, after a silly episode of getting stuck in the entry way of her building, I walked into her living room and found it full or people (9 people I think?) – eating a communal breakfast of breadsa and different spreads - jams, honey, nutella, etc. And was asked to join and if I wanted coffee. I sat between two Americans, the only two other Americans. They were the couch surfers that were supposed to leave later that day. The guy to the left of me was the only other person at the table who didn't speak French (which was the language of conversation, or course, as it should be since I was in France). His name is Pablo. He and his friend Nate are from the Bay Area of USA. What are they doing in Europe? Well, something that makes my adventure look tame – they are biking from the west coast of Portugal to Bejing, China. Yes. Biking. (on a map this distance looks about twice the size of coast to coast America). Nate already biked America coast to coast. According to them, it's a great, cheap way to travel – just bring some camping gear and you are ready for anything. And you can travel easily about 70 miles a day in about 6 hours of biking. Stop when you want, see lots of pretty countryside, visit the big cities along the way. (Yes I'm already thinking that I'd love to do a mini bike ride travel – for a week or two. I think that would be awesome. Now if I can just appropriate the proper equipment...) Zike, my CS host, is also a fascinating girl, at the age of 22 she has already done two years of traveling around the world. She's traveled a lot of Europe, some of the USA, a lot of Asia, and even some of the middle east. Her last travel was to Israel, with her mother, who had never really been out of the area> It was a birthday present. And she took her 45 year old mom traveling the same way she would be doing it herself – staying in hostels, staying with CS, sleeping sometimes in strange places, (she definitely mentioned sleeping on a roof at some point). She says her mom had a great time, and that they both really enjoyed and appreciated the trip. She'll be traveling this summer too, as cheaply as possible, probably in Eastern Europe. She's a student at university until May however. She's studying dance, and costume design for theater.

Zike and her roommates don't have a working refrigerator in their apartment, which has forced them to all pretty much be vegans, but they don't really mind. It fits their laid back, green conscious, life style. Their apartment was huge too – though full of unframed posters and dilapidated furniture you'd expect to find in any college apartment. Zike's roommates didn't speak a lot of English, but were also awesome in an alternative way. (and their rooms were full of artistic projects). One of their newest projects is to create a vegetable garden in the backyard of their apartment building. I helped them for a couple of hours. Communicating in broken English, and exchanging words in French, I helped Zike's roommates plant potatoes, create a fung shui correct herb garden, and even help saw and hammer some wood for a big compost crate they were building. They did all this as cheaply as possible, collecting old potatoes, wood, and seeds and seedlings from their friends who already had gardens. For tools they had a too big shovel, their hands, a coping saw, a tiny hammer, and a four prong pitch fork where one of the prongs was facing completely the wrong way. I was really impressed with their tenacity and resourcefulness.

There are so many people traveling and doing crazy and artistic things in this world! Not that taking your mom on a back packing, or building a garden out of nothing is particulatly crazy (biking from Portugal to China might be though). Still, it's inspiring.

I left Zike's apartment to meet Niko and Stephanie, the cousins of James – not really knowing what to expect. Four hours later, after a lovely evening of driving around and seeing the city (it was raining again. I had back luck in France with rain), then being invited to an amazing French dinner at a very cozy restaurant with great homemade soups, I returned to Zike's apartment. Five minutes later, I left Zike's apartment with my luggage because Niko and Stephanie had invited me to spend my nights with them instead. The I ended up staying wit h them for the next three nights.

Seriously I still cannot believe how nice Niko and Stephanie were to me. Anything I wanted , anything that would make me more comfortable, they wanted to give me. I didn't pay for any meals in my two days in Toulouse. “Nuestra casa es tu casa” they told me. - oh yes I didn't mention yet that Niko did not speak much English – he spoke better Spanish than English. And Stephanie didn't really speak Spanish, but spoke decent English (though not fluent). So while I was with them, yet again I was having conversations in a triage of languages. Niko and Steph in French, Steph and I in English, and Niko and I in Spanish – and translating between the three of us when one person didn't understand. As a thank you, I cooked them shoyu chicken for dinner one night (it's becoming my signature Hawaiian dish). It wasn't as good as the first time I made it in Montpellierthough . That could be because I added pineapple, and cooked chicken breasts. But it was still fun and appreciated.

Stephanie and Niko were such a beautiful couple too, one that you could really see the affection between. They have an adorable and happy two year old too, who would look at me funny at first because I didn't speak the right language. I normally don't like two year olds very much. I stayed away from the one at the french farm house kind of on purpose. But their daughter Alecia completely charmed me. They are a hard working family, but have a lot of love, and very open hearts. Such good people.

As if my story about Toulouse could be better – it does get better. As I mentioned before, my Monday in Toulouse, I had their cousin Jereme as a tour guide for the day. And I couldn't have asked for a better one. Not only is he a native of Toulouse, not only does he own a restaurant and took me out to a lunch I definitely couldn't have afforded on my own, and not only did he patiently wait for me to buy a water color-painting set at a store he took me to despite me being indecisive and taking a long time to do so – he ALSO borrowed a scooter from a friend of his, and I got to spend the day wandering around the city from the back of a scooter. I've since decided that by vespa/scooter is one of the best ways to see a foreign city (or by bike). This is because you get to see more, and see more of the town's life as you pass it all by at just the right pace.

I will always have fond memories of my time in Toulouse.

French farmhouse helpxchange in summary

South France Provance (till March 27)

The rest of my time at the French farm house went very smoothly and was pretty uneventful. To be honest I was pretty happy to leave and move on to new things. I enjoyed my time, and I enjoyed the people (and of course the food), but I think a week and a few days was just enough.

I went on a few more hikes while there. It was always beautiful. (On one of them, I got lost and learned that getting lost and walkin along the edge of a highway are just as annoying in a foreign country as they are at home... except that I didn't know how to ask for directions in France, so that at least made it more exciting.

I also got to go to a farmer's market and explore the closest village to my house. It was really lovely, but sort of looked like all the other places I've been to in France. Honestly, I'm looking forward to going back to Spain where the architecture is more interesting, the places are more unique, and I know the language better.

I did learn more about my fellow helpers in the rest of my week here, as we spent a lot of time together. I have found memories of the walks and talks I took with Melody, Katherine, and Diane. All of them have interesting pasts and point of views. Melody, Diane, and I also started a morning Yoga group, and would have a class together every morning before work.

I never did get to know Dean or Vanko better. Vanko continued to pretty much just show up for meals, and be on his computer for the rest of the time. Dean, apparently, h ad an estranged romantic past with Diane afterall, so he sort of steered clear of us and her.

The range of the jobs I did varied from plastering, painting walls, painting beams on a vaulted ceiling, painting decorative beams while standing on a very slanted roof top, hoeing debris off of hills in the garden, wheel-barrowing debris from here to there. And my most random job – slapping and smoothing cement onto an 8ft tall Thai Elephant statue in the backyard.

It was a pleasant experience, but on to the next one!

EUROPEAN MUSINGS: THE PEOPLE OF ENGLISH vs THAI FOOD

French Farm house - written around March 18th

These English blokes at dinner time are funny because they rarely have tried half the things that Poi, our Thai chef, makes. Today there was a discussion about tofu, and a few people wouldn't try it. I don't think any of them had had pad thai before. For the lamb curry, Katherine said it was a shame there wasn't any mint sauce and Yorkshire pudding to go with it. And they can't really handle their spice. Where as Mei and I were adding more peppers to our pad thai today, some of them found it too hot. They are all really good sports about it, and find it delicious, though sometimes i've noticed the boys just won't go near certain stuff. The things these English people say are also adorable. Every meal at some point Dean will try something and say, "that's good, Innit?" And after eating something delicious, Katherine will say, "Well, that was just lovely." (her accent reminds me of Wallace and Grommit films. I love it).

it's not just the main courses either. Today Poi gave us a plate of tropical fruits for desserts, including lychee, mango, japan pear, and longans. All of these fruits I ran into on a regular basis in Hawaii, but none of the English had never seen longans before. Nor had they eaten japan pears. They couldn't figure out what it was. Since I was so familiar with them all, Dean said something about how these things must grow in my back yard as a joke – but thing is in Hawaii they really do grow in the backyard! Now, i was aware that i'm lucky to have a mango tree in my backyard in Hawaii, but until traveling around Europe, I didn't realize how lucky I was as an American to have so many chances to try different cuisines on a regular basis – Indian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, Lebonese, even occasionally Ethiopian, Tibetan, and Mongolian. Sure it's because I'm an adventurous eater, (and growing up in such an Asian culture like Hawaii helps) but here in Europe, most places (London excluded) you can't find such a mix of cuisines even if you wanted to. I thought it was just Spain that lacked the mix of cuisines. But France doesn't have it, nor, now that i think about it, does Italy, Belgium, Denmark, or anywhere that I've been here (to my knowledge. I could be wrong). Regardless, the mix of cuisines is something I will never take for granted again when I go back to America.In the meantime I'm grateful for the Thai food.

French Farmhouse helpxchange: part deux

Written on Friday, March 18th

So, been here for two full days now, and I must say I am feeling much more relaxed and enjoying the experience of it all. So far I've spent my work day painting/plastering walls in a soon to be private bed/bath that i'm helping a man from Croatia fix up (or I guess now he lives in Sweden). I have a pair of pants and a long sleeve shirt covered in paint/plaster stuff. My hands are covered in the same by the end of the day. I've really missed having my hands covered in paint/etc! I haven't gotten to do that since my college work study days in the scene/prop shop. It's quite comfy here. I have my own room! And i'm sharing a little apartment unit with it's own kitchen and wood burning stove for heat with only Mei and another awesomely nice girl from St. Louis who arrived yesterday. Also, the countryside is BEAUtiful. I went for a run yesterday, and the wine fields and other fields, and mountains in the background are do-you-good-pretty. It feels really good to be someplace non-city again. And the food here! – oh my deliciousness. The wife of the owner is Thai, from Thailand. Tonight the menu was pad thai, sweet and sour chicken, vegetarian green curry, and lamb curry. (in addition to salad, bread and cheese, and tropical fruits). In my two days being here we've also already had massuman (peanut curry) with sticky rice, squash soup (the only thing not cooked by Poi the amazing thai chef), green papaya salad, thai sweet basil chicken... that's all I can remember right now. Point is, there are lots and lots of delicious things are present at every meal. And then every meal is followed by cheese. Lot's of cheese. I enjoy that there is ALWAYS good rice too. It reminds me of home! And I haven't spent a dime, I mean, Euro since I've gotten here! Free travel for 5 hours a work a day – it's a nice deal. I'm not sure what we will do for the weekend yet (we have Saturday and Sunday work free)I hope to go for some hikes, and see some of the smaller surrounding villages.

The people here are mostly English. In fact, I feel like I am in England. Well, there are 10 of us including the owners, and 5 of them are from England, and none of them are from London either. Pretty much all the English people i knew up till now have been from London, and I'm learning there is a significant cultural difference between Londoners and non-Londoners. I'm still learning people's stories. I'm afraid to say I've been slightly anti-social since getting here. Well, not anti-social (cus I don't think I know how to do that) but not all that outgoing with the question asking and the story finding. I'm really enjoying the company of the outdoors, my music, and my room (and a good book). I think it might be because I'm only going to be here for ten days, whereas my next helpxchange I'll be there for a month... I don't know. I'm trying this new things where I don't over think things. So if I want to be in my room or take a walk alone, or if want to listen to music while I work and not make small talk with Vinko the heavily accented, politically opinionated, sort of shy, from Croatia but recently relocated to Sweden despite the fact that he very much dislikes socialist governments helpxer who I've been working with, then I choose to listen to my music. And it's sort of fun to piece together these people's stories slowly.

There's Katherine who is from Northern England as says the cutest English things, is on a working holiday, and manages properties back home.

There's Diane and Dean from England (but not a couple). Diane I don't know too much about, but she has a thirty year old daughter, a son (not sure of the age), is gregarious, nice, and we've had a conversation about tarot cards and astrology. They sell things at markets on the weekends. Dean seems to have traveled a lot. I'm not sure exactly where but he'll say things like, “oh yeah, I drove through st. louis. The arch, right?” and “When I was younger I smoked everything I could get my hands on while traveling down Africa.” But you have to imagine these things in a mumbling English accent. He's in his fifties. He loves to speak to me in American slang and makes jokes about how i'm a hippie from Hawaii. He also has such a nice head of hair! I don't normally notice guy's hair, but his is better than any middle aged celebrity I've seen (it's thick, it's shaped, and it has such a cool shade of grey).

There's Vinko, who I've sort of mentioned. He's a hard worker, really likes fixing up old English farms, and wants to turn it into more of a career. He tends to keep to himself. He comes out for meals, and then disappears again.

There's Matt, also from England, He's not a helpxer, but a friend of Peter the owner because he used to go out with Peter's 22 year old daughter. He's very friendly, helpful, lives with his girlfriend at a place with many horses. He seems to be an adrenaline junkie and has a ton of stories where he's either getting hurt (such as how the big dog here broke his leg when he was here by himself and didn't speak any French, or how he once almost blue himself up lighting a fire with petrol), or where he's getting into trouble (Speeding and or driving a bit drunk, etc). He's a character, but fun to talk to.

Peter and Poi – the owners have a three year old daughter who is adorable and gorgeous. And also seems to have the chicken pox at the moment, so i'm sort of steering clear of her. I don't know too much about Peter, but he's very nice (and Matt's always saying that he's a rather disorganized.) And Poi, in addition to being a great cook, definitely has a mischievous streak. The first night she was the instigator of a bunch of us taking way too many shots of 16% alcoholic wine.

And There's Melody. She's also American, and just arrived today so I don't know much about her yet, except that she has one of the helpful and pleasant dispositions that I have ever met. And she has a lot of different types of laughs, is very easy going, and has a good sense of humor. She just came from doing some helpxchanges in England, and this is her last one before she goes back to St. Louis where she has a number of jobs – a housekeeper, a farmer, a model for artists, and one more... can't remember. She's also vegetarian (hence the tofu green curry at dinner tonight which reminded me of my moms).

I'll be here till next Sunday- another week and a day - and then I'm not really sure where I'm off to for a couple of days. I know I want to go to Granada by the beginning of April, and see what places I can (including Barcelona) along the way.) In the meantime, spending ten days here with this company will be nice. Besides, it's only ten days. Just enough time to really experience it before moving on. I like this plan, and it's nice to stay put after jumping locations and people and beds every two nights for the last two weeks. I'll keep you posted of what's next.