I did it. I started a new blog. Thanks closesineurope, we had some good times, but we're not actually in Europe anymore so its time for something new.
Everyone! Please visit me here from now on. I'm still formatting it but the first post has been written. Angie will either write with me or start her own, or both.
John
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Hong Kong
While I don't care for the Canucks I must say Vancouver has a great airport complete with free Wifi anywhere you are. I just spent the past hour chatting with the wife and kids on facebook. I'm a modern man. The best was when I told Lex I was having coffee with Troy from High School Musical. I am now an even awesomer dad. My plane leaves in 3 hours and my flight is supposed to last 14 hours. Wow. I thought the 8 hours to London was long I can't imagine this. The good thing is I have some good books and my laptop plus each seat on the plane has its own tv. It'll be fine as long as my back holds up. I slipped a disc a few days ago playing hockey but stubbornly kept playing. My wife wasn't impressed even when I told her I set up the winning goal. Apparently I should have been doing something noble whilst slipping a disc, like holding open a door or catching a falling baby. Anyways, I now walk wierd as Maddie compassionately said to me last night which. ..don't I always? Sitting is the worst thing for this kind of back injury which means I'll be the annoying wierdo who hobbles up and down the aisle every hour for "no apparent reason." I just read on Steve's blog that his back is out too. Man, we'll be terrific at this camp.
Well, its time to checkin to my flight. Should be a good time.
John
Well, its time to checkin to my flight. Should be a good time.
John
Friday, March 13, 2009
Due to the recession. . .
So its official. Last week I flew into Calgary, gathered up all our stuff and made the solitary drive through the mountains back to Crofton. The drive was fairly eventful as the road was closed from Field to Golden meaning I had to drive all the way to Radium Hot Springs then loop back to Golden. I had never been to the Springs but was frustrated enough when I arrived that I didn't really take them in. As I continued my road trip the roads got snowier and the semi's became more invincible. There were a few times when my knuckles bleached and Paddington Bear heard a profane word or two. Ah yes, Paddington Bear accompanied me. My friend Greg had jokingly seat belted my daughters London gift in with me and there PB stayed the entire trip. Some people enjoy driving hours and hours in bad weather with no radio, I'm not a big fan. In fact, I discovered I'm a bit more sociable then I even thought. I wouldn't be a liar if I said that Paddington became my Wilson as there were times when I engaged him. "So Paddington, what do ya say there, quite the road trip hey?" "Whoa, that was a close one, sorry about that Pad." "Stop, again, you just went?" We ended up bunking in Kamloops for the night and I almost brought PB into the hotel with me but thought otherwise. The next day I could tell he was miffed because he was very quiet and spend most of the time looking up at the cab roof as if to say "you used me, like a stuffed who. . ."
Anyways, we arrived back and moved into the 2 bedroom at the same hotel. The manager is very sweet and worked hard to get it ready for us and although there is still a faint urine smell we rented a black light and zapped the rest of it and other things. .. away. High five. There's twice as much room as our last place but still, after 6 months without a home, we drool for a place of our own.
Oh yeah, so the week I returned I had a meeting with the Church planting network and they said "due to the recession. . ." Yeah, not great news. They can only afford a third of what we need so the possibility of us getting hired suffered a major blow. We've haven't given up yet, I rarely although there does come a time when the line between moving in faith and forcing things is very faint. We love it on the Island and really hope to stay here but in the end I must have a secure job, wherever it may be. So. ..if you know anyone. ha.
Yeah, we're trying to stay positive and doing a fairly good job but there are moments when we "discuss" things with God and encourage him to make the right decision. ha.
For now, I'm focused on China. Yeah, I get to go to China after all. Hong Kong to be exact. On Sunday I fly out with Steve McMillan to speak at a Teen Retreat. 5 sessions, so we'll be busy. His sister Harmony works there and she's our connection. We're not that famous. I'm actually getting excited although I must admit its been hard concentrating on my talks with all the job stuff in the background not to mention some close Calgary friends who are going through hell.
Anyways, it was time to update and we feel loved that you care enough to hound us for information. We'll try to keep it coming at a faster pace.
John
Anyways, we arrived back and moved into the 2 bedroom at the same hotel. The manager is very sweet and worked hard to get it ready for us and although there is still a faint urine smell we rented a black light and zapped the rest of it and other things. .. away. High five. There's twice as much room as our last place but still, after 6 months without a home, we drool for a place of our own.
Oh yeah, so the week I returned I had a meeting with the Church planting network and they said "due to the recession. . ." Yeah, not great news. They can only afford a third of what we need so the possibility of us getting hired suffered a major blow. We've haven't given up yet, I rarely although there does come a time when the line between moving in faith and forcing things is very faint. We love it on the Island and really hope to stay here but in the end I must have a secure job, wherever it may be. So. ..if you know anyone. ha.
Yeah, we're trying to stay positive and doing a fairly good job but there are moments when we "discuss" things with God and encourage him to make the right decision. ha.
For now, I'm focused on China. Yeah, I get to go to China after all. Hong Kong to be exact. On Sunday I fly out with Steve McMillan to speak at a Teen Retreat. 5 sessions, so we'll be busy. His sister Harmony works there and she's our connection. We're not that famous. I'm actually getting excited although I must admit its been hard concentrating on my talks with all the job stuff in the background not to mention some close Calgary friends who are going through hell.
Anyways, it was time to update and we feel loved that you care enough to hound us for information. We'll try to keep it coming at a faster pace.
John
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Quote
"What I think is that a good life is one hero journey after another. over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare? And then if you do dare, the dangers are there, and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco. There's always the possibility of fiasco. But there's always the possibiliity of bliss."
This great quote by Joseph Campbell perfectly sums up where we're at these days. All is well. We should have more to share soon.
John
This great quote by Joseph Campbell perfectly sums up where we're at these days. All is well. We should have more to share soon.
John
Sunday, December 14, 2008
What's next.
Hey everyone. As you've probably guessed, we arrived safely back in Canada 11 days ago. Since we've been back we've fought jet lag, schooled our Pawlak friends in Monopoly, reunited with our dog and attempted to answer the nagging question, what's next? I'd love to say we have an answer but as of this minute, we're still nomads.
We are currently staying in the tiny ocean town of Crofton, on Vancouver Island, contemplating our next step. Its a good place to be when you don't know where to be plus Angie's parents live here. They're full up at the moment so we're staying at The Twin Gables motel, an all fifties one bedroom hood where the TV works but Franklin is usually blue. Still, its cozy for now and has inspired us to contemplate at a faster pace, ha. The good news is we have been presented with 2 great opportunities so we'll persue both and see what happens. Either way, we should have an answer in the next 6 weeks, if not sooner. Actually if you want, you could pray that we'll sense God's leading and have the wisdom and courage to follow it. Thanks.
People ask us if its good to be home. While it's good to be back in Canada, we're not home. We're still staying in someone else's place, living out of our backpacks (our stuff remains stored in Calgary until our future is decided) and contemplating the future. Ask us on a good day and we'll tell you we're living the adventure, ask on a bad and we'll use different words. Its been good though, and while there've been plenty of moments, this experience has stretched and shaped us individually and as a family more than any stay at home experience could ever hope to. In fact, I heartily recommend you, yes you, buck security and comfort for a spell so you can learn to appreciate what you have and insure you're not holding on to anything too tightly. If you are it'll loosen you up freeing you in the end. The way I see it is either you loosen up or life will force you to loosen up. Might as well be proactive.
Anyways, thanks so much for following us on our European adventure. As for this blog, it'll stay in cyber space but we won't be writing on it anymore. In the mean time, we're working hard to get the rest of our pictures online. Once we do, you'll be the first to know. If you're curious to see what's next for us as well as read our thoughts on this and that, please keep on following. We'll post the new blog address soon, so I guess we'll be writing here again after all.
The adventure continues.
John
P.S. Speaking of adventure, God went ahead and dumped a whack of snow here the other night. The locals are baffled but we're loving it, similar to the score in the hockey game last night.
We are currently staying in the tiny ocean town of Crofton, on Vancouver Island, contemplating our next step. Its a good place to be when you don't know where to be plus Angie's parents live here. They're full up at the moment so we're staying at The Twin Gables motel, an all fifties one bedroom hood where the TV works but Franklin is usually blue. Still, its cozy for now and has inspired us to contemplate at a faster pace, ha. The good news is we have been presented with 2 great opportunities so we'll persue both and see what happens. Either way, we should have an answer in the next 6 weeks, if not sooner. Actually if you want, you could pray that we'll sense God's leading and have the wisdom and courage to follow it. Thanks.
People ask us if its good to be home. While it's good to be back in Canada, we're not home. We're still staying in someone else's place, living out of our backpacks (our stuff remains stored in Calgary until our future is decided) and contemplating the future. Ask us on a good day and we'll tell you we're living the adventure, ask on a bad and we'll use different words. Its been good though, and while there've been plenty of moments, this experience has stretched and shaped us individually and as a family more than any stay at home experience could ever hope to. In fact, I heartily recommend you, yes you, buck security and comfort for a spell so you can learn to appreciate what you have and insure you're not holding on to anything too tightly. If you are it'll loosen you up freeing you in the end. The way I see it is either you loosen up or life will force you to loosen up. Might as well be proactive.
Anyways, thanks so much for following us on our European adventure. As for this blog, it'll stay in cyber space but we won't be writing on it anymore. In the mean time, we're working hard to get the rest of our pictures online. Once we do, you'll be the first to know. If you're curious to see what's next for us as well as read our thoughts on this and that, please keep on following. We'll post the new blog address soon, so I guess we'll be writing here again after all.
The adventure continues.
John
P.S. Speaking of adventure, God went ahead and dumped a whack of snow here the other night. The locals are baffled but we're loving it, similar to the score in the hockey game last night.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Son Rullan
Son Rullan. The l´s come together to form a y sound, in case you were curious. This has been our home for the past...1,2, 10 days already. Angie has already described the scenes so I´ll cover the rest.
My watch crapped out a few weeks back so the sun has become our wakeup call. When our room reaches a dull glow, we know its close to 8am or time to get up. Breakfast is served downstairs at 830am and usually includes coffee and fresh bread and pastries from the local bakery. Besides us 5 there are 4 other volunteers (who have been here over a month) and 2 full time people, our bosses. Angie already mentioned them but they deserve more air time. (This may bore you since I´m describing strangers to you but for us, they have become beautiful friends, ones we wish to remember)
Jorge is a 60 year old Argentinian who lives in a tool shed down the way. For the past 2 years he has leant his time and expertise to Son Rullan as well as doing small outside jobs to stay afloat. Jorge is a skilled builder but his real talent is cooking. We beg for him to cook every night and every few days he rolls his eyes, throws his hands in the air and says one of 7 english words he knows -okay. Typically his creations involve lots of meat cooked slowly over the fire and when I say meat, I mean MEAT. It isn´t until after the hand licking that he informs us what part of the animal our supper came from. Who knew glands could taste so good? Before we arrived another Canadian had been here for 2 weeks and in that time they had struck up a romance. She left the day we arrived but she and Jorge still stay in touch and he is actually flying to London next month to see her again. All of us know in our hearts that things between them will never last, (she is beautiful, eager to travel and 45) but we smile knowing that all we have is today so you go get here Jorge.
Ariel is also Argentinian (no relation to Jorge) and is 23. My first impression of him was a hippie for sure, jerk most likely. As time has passed I was wrong on both accounts. He only knows as much english as Jorge but his eyes light up whenever the group is gathered together eating and he´ll say - familia - gesturing in a circular motion to our kids. He plays his music loud and often, only Bob Marley or monkish spiritual. The first day I was ready to accidently break his Monk and Marley collection but it has grown on me and I now appreciate it and feel its power. One of my big regrets is I cannot communicate with him. I finally broke the ice the other night when we were sitting around the table. He was enaged in a conversation and I was sucking back on my wine (it flows like water in these parts, and is just as cheap) all of a sudden I just lifted my glass and yelled - Canada! It was dumb and random but he loved it, laughing hard then he lifted his own cup and yelled - Argentine! Since then its been good.
Maria is a 30 year old with a quiet soul. She was a Pharmacist in Barcelona for 7 years before realizing she hated her job (and life). Despite investing 12 years in Pharmacy (5 in school) she left it all and came to Son Rullan to rebuild her life. She has a rich soul and talking with her is a pleasure. Teasing her, even more pleasure. She has already picked up on the fact that I like to talk and entertain and one night she finally looked at me as we sat around the fire and said teasingly - you don´t like quiet, do you? haha. oops. Despite her love of quiet we´ve had many conversations about life, careers, spirituality. She´s a good egg.
And then there´s, Tom, a 45 year old German. Angie called him my philosphy buddy and I guess he is. The first day I arrived we were put together for work and have been together ever since. Tom has made my time at Son Rullan incredibly rich. Although our jobs each day are physically draining we spend most of the time discussing spirituality (while we work) so it goes by fast. His spirituality is anything but conventional, but I have still learned a ton from him. The truth is, I have needed a Tom in my life for years, someone I can just spew my spirituality onto and not be judged or misunderstood. Our talks have been epic and usually carry on long after the day´s work is done. Speaking of work, he has quietly taught me to pace myself, SLOWLY, he says. I tell him that in North America, slow is a 4 letter word, (which it is actually.) He nods knowingly and says its the same in Germany, but then he points to the beauty around us and says, enjoy. He is leaving today and I am surprised at how sad I am. We just exchanged emails though so I´m confident our conversations have just begun.
Last but not least are our bosses for the week, Henar and Everest. To say Henar rules the roost is an understatement. She is a 34 year old Spanish woman who exercises more assertiveness then 3 type A men. She zips around the house accomplishing this and that while still finding time to make her workers (that´s us) feel taken care of. She loves Son Rullan and puts all she has into it and because of that can at times seem over the top but its just passion, believe me, I know this passion. Everest is also 34 and is in charge of the work outside. He was born in Nigeria, moved to Spain, married in Soller (10 min away) and has worked at Son Rullan for 10 years. He functions opposite from Henar, very laid back, soft spoken unless politics come up then he turns into a mega church pentecostal pastor proclaiming his political rhetoric to all who will listen. One day he looked at Angie and said - excuse me, are you from Alaska? Angie looked confused until he said - hello Ms. Sarah Palin. hahaha. Not only does he thinks Angie looks like the almost vice president but sounds like her too. Since that day he hasn´t let up calling her Sarah constantly or asking her what things are like or how this and that compares to life in Alaska. Its great seeing your wife bugged by someone else, frees up more time for me to do other things. Today he let us off early at 1230pm. We usally work until 130 or 200pm. He said - just don´t tell the boss. haha, he´s great. And strong, man is he strong. I´ll be jackhammering and pickaxing trying to loosen rock (we´ve been building a chicken house into mountain rock) and he´ll watch me then finally saunter over and well, no more loose rock.
So there it is, Son Rullan. There is much more I could write about including the incredible meals, fires, trails, scenery, sheep, turkeys, even the unique jobs we do each day (Angie and the kids had to clean out the turkey coop the other day. For 3 hours she shoveled and raked through years of poop, mud, grime and poop. When she was done she wasn´t as thrilled as you might think.) Speaking of the kids though, I know its a faux pas to brag on your kids but I have to tell you, for 10 days, 8 of them working days, they have woken up early, then worked for 4-5 hours with very little complaining. When we first arrived, I think the jury was still out on the kids, whether they could hack it our not. After seeing how well and hard they´ve worked everybody sings their praises, gives them first servings at meal times and today Everest said - ok, kids, today you will do nothing. They looked at him blankly not registering until it finally clicked and they celebrated (a little to loudly) - yay, we don´t have to work today. Everyone laughed knowing they deserved a day off. Great kids I have. So easy to forget though.
We fly back to Canada in 6 days finishing our 2.5 month journey across Europe with another exhausting travel day. Bus to Palma, plane to London, bus to different London Airport, plane home. We are scheduled to arrive in Calgary at 9pm next Wednesday night. From there we will be staying with our good friends Hope and Darcy Pawlak until we will most likely head to Vancouver Island the following week. I say most likely because, believe it or not, our future (namely career) is still up in the air. Its a little unerving when we think about it. Seriously though, we should know the first week in December which job works out and which province we´ll be living in. Our preference would be the Island but as Tom says -the universe may have different plans. As long as the Universe communicates, we´ll be good.
If you have followed us this far, wow. Your presence with us via the blog has enriched our experience and we thank you for reminding us of home. If you have become addicted to our life, similar to characters in a TV show, you need help, seriously. Still, we will be continuing this blog as we begin our new adventure entitled - So I need a job, a house because I´m done travelling.
John
My watch crapped out a few weeks back so the sun has become our wakeup call. When our room reaches a dull glow, we know its close to 8am or time to get up. Breakfast is served downstairs at 830am and usually includes coffee and fresh bread and pastries from the local bakery. Besides us 5 there are 4 other volunteers (who have been here over a month) and 2 full time people, our bosses. Angie already mentioned them but they deserve more air time. (This may bore you since I´m describing strangers to you but for us, they have become beautiful friends, ones we wish to remember)
Jorge is a 60 year old Argentinian who lives in a tool shed down the way. For the past 2 years he has leant his time and expertise to Son Rullan as well as doing small outside jobs to stay afloat. Jorge is a skilled builder but his real talent is cooking. We beg for him to cook every night and every few days he rolls his eyes, throws his hands in the air and says one of 7 english words he knows -okay. Typically his creations involve lots of meat cooked slowly over the fire and when I say meat, I mean MEAT. It isn´t until after the hand licking that he informs us what part of the animal our supper came from. Who knew glands could taste so good? Before we arrived another Canadian had been here for 2 weeks and in that time they had struck up a romance. She left the day we arrived but she and Jorge still stay in touch and he is actually flying to London next month to see her again. All of us know in our hearts that things between them will never last, (she is beautiful, eager to travel and 45) but we smile knowing that all we have is today so you go get here Jorge.
Ariel is also Argentinian (no relation to Jorge) and is 23. My first impression of him was a hippie for sure, jerk most likely. As time has passed I was wrong on both accounts. He only knows as much english as Jorge but his eyes light up whenever the group is gathered together eating and he´ll say - familia - gesturing in a circular motion to our kids. He plays his music loud and often, only Bob Marley or monkish spiritual. The first day I was ready to accidently break his Monk and Marley collection but it has grown on me and I now appreciate it and feel its power. One of my big regrets is I cannot communicate with him. I finally broke the ice the other night when we were sitting around the table. He was enaged in a conversation and I was sucking back on my wine (it flows like water in these parts, and is just as cheap) all of a sudden I just lifted my glass and yelled - Canada! It was dumb and random but he loved it, laughing hard then he lifted his own cup and yelled - Argentine! Since then its been good.
Maria is a 30 year old with a quiet soul. She was a Pharmacist in Barcelona for 7 years before realizing she hated her job (and life). Despite investing 12 years in Pharmacy (5 in school) she left it all and came to Son Rullan to rebuild her life. She has a rich soul and talking with her is a pleasure. Teasing her, even more pleasure. She has already picked up on the fact that I like to talk and entertain and one night she finally looked at me as we sat around the fire and said teasingly - you don´t like quiet, do you? haha. oops. Despite her love of quiet we´ve had many conversations about life, careers, spirituality. She´s a good egg.
And then there´s, Tom, a 45 year old German. Angie called him my philosphy buddy and I guess he is. The first day I arrived we were put together for work and have been together ever since. Tom has made my time at Son Rullan incredibly rich. Although our jobs each day are physically draining we spend most of the time discussing spirituality (while we work) so it goes by fast. His spirituality is anything but conventional, but I have still learned a ton from him. The truth is, I have needed a Tom in my life for years, someone I can just spew my spirituality onto and not be judged or misunderstood. Our talks have been epic and usually carry on long after the day´s work is done. Speaking of work, he has quietly taught me to pace myself, SLOWLY, he says. I tell him that in North America, slow is a 4 letter word, (which it is actually.) He nods knowingly and says its the same in Germany, but then he points to the beauty around us and says, enjoy. He is leaving today and I am surprised at how sad I am. We just exchanged emails though so I´m confident our conversations have just begun.
Last but not least are our bosses for the week, Henar and Everest. To say Henar rules the roost is an understatement. She is a 34 year old Spanish woman who exercises more assertiveness then 3 type A men. She zips around the house accomplishing this and that while still finding time to make her workers (that´s us) feel taken care of. She loves Son Rullan and puts all she has into it and because of that can at times seem over the top but its just passion, believe me, I know this passion. Everest is also 34 and is in charge of the work outside. He was born in Nigeria, moved to Spain, married in Soller (10 min away) and has worked at Son Rullan for 10 years. He functions opposite from Henar, very laid back, soft spoken unless politics come up then he turns into a mega church pentecostal pastor proclaiming his political rhetoric to all who will listen. One day he looked at Angie and said - excuse me, are you from Alaska? Angie looked confused until he said - hello Ms. Sarah Palin. hahaha. Not only does he thinks Angie looks like the almost vice president but sounds like her too. Since that day he hasn´t let up calling her Sarah constantly or asking her what things are like or how this and that compares to life in Alaska. Its great seeing your wife bugged by someone else, frees up more time for me to do other things. Today he let us off early at 1230pm. We usally work until 130 or 200pm. He said - just don´t tell the boss. haha, he´s great. And strong, man is he strong. I´ll be jackhammering and pickaxing trying to loosen rock (we´ve been building a chicken house into mountain rock) and he´ll watch me then finally saunter over and well, no more loose rock.
So there it is, Son Rullan. There is much more I could write about including the incredible meals, fires, trails, scenery, sheep, turkeys, even the unique jobs we do each day (Angie and the kids had to clean out the turkey coop the other day. For 3 hours she shoveled and raked through years of poop, mud, grime and poop. When she was done she wasn´t as thrilled as you might think.) Speaking of the kids though, I know its a faux pas to brag on your kids but I have to tell you, for 10 days, 8 of them working days, they have woken up early, then worked for 4-5 hours with very little complaining. When we first arrived, I think the jury was still out on the kids, whether they could hack it our not. After seeing how well and hard they´ve worked everybody sings their praises, gives them first servings at meal times and today Everest said - ok, kids, today you will do nothing. They looked at him blankly not registering until it finally clicked and they celebrated (a little to loudly) - yay, we don´t have to work today. Everyone laughed knowing they deserved a day off. Great kids I have. So easy to forget though.
We fly back to Canada in 6 days finishing our 2.5 month journey across Europe with another exhausting travel day. Bus to Palma, plane to London, bus to different London Airport, plane home. We are scheduled to arrive in Calgary at 9pm next Wednesday night. From there we will be staying with our good friends Hope and Darcy Pawlak until we will most likely head to Vancouver Island the following week. I say most likely because, believe it or not, our future (namely career) is still up in the air. Its a little unerving when we think about it. Seriously though, we should know the first week in December which job works out and which province we´ll be living in. Our preference would be the Island but as Tom says -the universe may have different plans. As long as the Universe communicates, we´ll be good.
If you have followed us this far, wow. Your presence with us via the blog has enriched our experience and we thank you for reminding us of home. If you have become addicted to our life, similar to characters in a TV show, you need help, seriously. Still, we will be continuing this blog as we begin our new adventure entitled - So I need a job, a house because I´m done travelling.
John
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Spain in a nutshell
"For me it is like heaven". That is what Henar, our host, said when she emailed us about volunteering out here and she was so right! We can´t connect our computer to the internet, so only have short little bursts to check our mail, which means posting Spain stuff after we´re back home. This is just me saying hi and that we are all healthy happy and loving our last two weeks here on our Spanish mountain.
I can´t even begin to describe this place with justice, but I´ll try. First of all, the mountains (mist shrouded mountains I might add) are lined with miles and miles of stone walls and paths, weaving in and out of the trees all the way to the top. These were built by the Moors I guess until 1290 and still standing strong (some of the olive trees are over 1500 years old!). This place we are in was built somewhere before then as well, then used as a monastery for a few hundred years before being left to ruin until rescued and brought back to it´s former glory. I don´t really have time, but I have to say something about this place! First of all, come here if you can.
We arrived lost and blurry eyed (John wrote on that, but can´t post it til later. I´ll just say our taxi driver refused to go any further up the mountain road and dropped us off in the middle of who knows where) walking in the pitch black night, feeling a little creeped out by the twisted gnarled trunks of the ancient olive trees (very Sleepy Hollw in the moonlight). We could here sheeps bells clanging along beside us, but couldn´t see them and went along like this for a good ten minutes until we finally saw the lights of what we hoped was the monastery. As we got closer we heard laughter and music coming from inside and knocked on the arched door with the giant iron knocker. Voices from inside yelled familia! Ninos! The door was opened and we were ushered into this huge and amazing stone floored, adobe plastered entryway with arched doors and winding staircases all over the place. We followed our new hosts down to the kitchen that couldn´t be more cozy if you got Disney to sketch it out, with a huge sit in fireplace lined with pillows and benches where they brought us wine and food and babied the kids (and us). You have no idea how nice this was after our twelve hour day of traveling (broken mini van, train, metro, plane, mean and uncooperative taxi drivers and way too much walking)
This is the kind of place with hidden rooms (even a passageway between walls) that lead into other rooms that lead to staircases that wind to the top of the house where there´s a terrace overlooking the sea. It´s crazy. There are some original paintings on some of the walls (is it only me that cares about that???) and when you walk out into the mountains there are strange round stone huts that date back to the dark ages. I can hardly stand it!
We work very hard for five hours a day (weekends off), but they have been great about finding work that the kids enjoy. Lots of burning things in bonfires and picking olives and getting the gardens winterized. When we come in for lunch at two we´re starving and the table is loaded with delicious hot food and wine. After that we do whatever we want, so I think it´s a great set up.
Then there´s the people. It´s an amazing little community here, people staying as long as they want to help (Jorge from Argentina has been here for two years and built himself his own tiny little cottage) and others that, like us, stay for a couple of weeks. John´s found a philosophy buddy in Tom, a 45 year old German guy that´s been here for a couple of weeks longer than us and Maria and Eva- two super sweet and funny girls we sit around the fire with every night. It´s been a great way to meet people from all over, preparing meals together and working every morining. We feel like we´ve known them for ever!
There´s so much more I´d like to say, but it will have to wait. Hi to all of you and see you soon!
Angie
I can´t even begin to describe this place with justice, but I´ll try. First of all, the mountains (mist shrouded mountains I might add) are lined with miles and miles of stone walls and paths, weaving in and out of the trees all the way to the top. These were built by the Moors I guess until 1290 and still standing strong (some of the olive trees are over 1500 years old!). This place we are in was built somewhere before then as well, then used as a monastery for a few hundred years before being left to ruin until rescued and brought back to it´s former glory. I don´t really have time, but I have to say something about this place! First of all, come here if you can.
We arrived lost and blurry eyed (John wrote on that, but can´t post it til later. I´ll just say our taxi driver refused to go any further up the mountain road and dropped us off in the middle of who knows where) walking in the pitch black night, feeling a little creeped out by the twisted gnarled trunks of the ancient olive trees (very Sleepy Hollw in the moonlight). We could here sheeps bells clanging along beside us, but couldn´t see them and went along like this for a good ten minutes until we finally saw the lights of what we hoped was the monastery. As we got closer we heard laughter and music coming from inside and knocked on the arched door with the giant iron knocker. Voices from inside yelled familia! Ninos! The door was opened and we were ushered into this huge and amazing stone floored, adobe plastered entryway with arched doors and winding staircases all over the place. We followed our new hosts down to the kitchen that couldn´t be more cozy if you got Disney to sketch it out, with a huge sit in fireplace lined with pillows and benches where they brought us wine and food and babied the kids (and us). You have no idea how nice this was after our twelve hour day of traveling (broken mini van, train, metro, plane, mean and uncooperative taxi drivers and way too much walking)
This is the kind of place with hidden rooms (even a passageway between walls) that lead into other rooms that lead to staircases that wind to the top of the house where there´s a terrace overlooking the sea. It´s crazy. There are some original paintings on some of the walls (is it only me that cares about that???) and when you walk out into the mountains there are strange round stone huts that date back to the dark ages. I can hardly stand it!
We work very hard for five hours a day (weekends off), but they have been great about finding work that the kids enjoy. Lots of burning things in bonfires and picking olives and getting the gardens winterized. When we come in for lunch at two we´re starving and the table is loaded with delicious hot food and wine. After that we do whatever we want, so I think it´s a great set up.
Then there´s the people. It´s an amazing little community here, people staying as long as they want to help (Jorge from Argentina has been here for two years and built himself his own tiny little cottage) and others that, like us, stay for a couple of weeks. John´s found a philosophy buddy in Tom, a 45 year old German guy that´s been here for a couple of weeks longer than us and Maria and Eva- two super sweet and funny girls we sit around the fire with every night. It´s been a great way to meet people from all over, preparing meals together and working every morining. We feel like we´ve known them for ever!
There´s so much more I´d like to say, but it will have to wait. Hi to all of you and see you soon!
Angie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)