WWOOF WWOOF!!

After being dropped off in the middle of fuck-all nowhere at a petrol station, we walked with all our stuff to Shaun's place and were greeted by a fellow wwoofer, sanders from holland (who we came to find out was a bit wacky and earnestly believed he could create balls of energy with his hands, wanted to start a commune with his friends, and would interrupt any "normal" conversation by saying that we were hiding our emotions beneath this worthless small talk), and we're shown our living quarters. I swear piers and Stefan wanted to run away immediately. I just smiled in that, well thill be a challenge-type of way. Basically we were living in a loftish thing in a dirty dusty cold shack next to a tunnel house. The ceiling was in observable due to the mass amounts of garlic hangingto dry, there was writing ALL over the walls, and if we were really quiet sometimes we could hear mice clambering about on the roof. After 2 days, I didn't want to leave. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, day in day out just chillin with tea and friends for hours after work finished which was usually around 2. We would chop our own wood for the fire in the "living room," make tea, and wait around just enjoying the warmth until dinner when we'd all go to Shaun's house and cook. Twas brilliant. I did a lot of cool things on that farm, especially since I somehow ended up being Shaun's protegei. Helping with a dead pig, feeding calfs, driving a 4-wheeler, learning awesome tips on growing food (like x-mas lights under the soil to keep it from freezing), and I was even given a Thai massage by my new French friend, Pierre. I met some crazy cool people there. Chelsea who is actually from GA can cook and bake up a storm. She's super knowledgeable about farming, and her presence just always made me feel good. Pierre has been traveling non-stop for 4 years, so he's kind of like my idol... Actually so is Chelsea. Sweet! But yeah, so Pierre is also a nutritionist and says no no no to gluten and had a lot of other really good advice in the way of food. William was a shorter-term wwoofer, but he was an exchange student from hong kong and enjoyed chatting with me about my fascination with the Chinese language. And of course sanders, whose leaving actually lightened the entire farm and made everything less awkward. Leaving the farm was surprisingly hard as well. Although I knew them for a short amount of time I really came to like our little family unit. Hugs all around, from Shaun as well, and many "this isn't really a goodbye, I'll see you later in my travels." Was a rough beginning-minus 6 degrees the 1st night with nothing but a few blankets and a hot water bottle-but I survived and came through to really love the place.