Just a Spoon Full of Sugar...

Hello again so soon.  In case you didn't notice, I'm kinda treating my blog like I live my life.  All or nothing.  I really thought I'd learn some moderation on this trip, but that just might take a little more time.  Anywho, I left off two weeks ago on a Sunday when Mary, Robert and I dropped my mom off at the airport.  Afterward, being the fabulous people they are, Mary and Robert dropped me off in Cardiff, Wales on the way to their beach house in Wales.  If you think way back to my workaway location in Annecy, there was a girl Jenn I was working with, and she's currently attending med school in Cardiff.  I also knew Jess was visiting her that week, so I thought since I was so close, why not stop in for a visit.  So Jenn welcomed Jess and I with open arms and we explored the Cardiff area.  We visited the Cardiff Castle Monday and yes, I still think castles are still really cool even though I've been in Europe for three months.   We went to Bathe Tuesday to see the baths of course.  They are the only Roman baths in the UK in which the water was from an actual hot spring and not artificially heated.  It is also the most well preserved Roman bath in the whole world.  The hot spring is still active and there's a spa right next to the ruins where you can go and actually get in the water.  Aside from the baths, the town itself was quite nice and Jess and I enjoyed wondering around despite the cold.  Jenn had a day off Tuesday so we walked around a park nearby her house and also went to her water polo match.  It's the first I'd ever seen and although it was intense, it wasn't until after the game that things started heating up.   Jess and I were asked to keep score and time, so we did.  The game ended in a tie, but not according to the visiting team, Bathe. After the game whistle was blown, about 5 members of the Bathe team absolutely accosted Jess and I at the score table claiming that we missed two goals they scored.   I've never seen girls so aggressive about sports.  After 15 minutes of shouting, the two teams agreed to disagree and Jess and I were out of the dog house.  Never did I think being a score keeper could be so dangerous.  That night I went with Jess, Jenn and some of her roommates to see Imogen Heap perform .  It was a fantastic show!  Imogen Heap was probably the second best performer I've ever seen ( the first being Ben Folds obviously) and she really knew how to keep an audience entertained during and between songs.  The venue was also an old warehouse converted into a perfect venue for smaller shows.   All in all, I was very impressed.  The next morning, Thursday, Jess and I headed back to London where we were headed to see the HARRY POTTER WORLD PREMIER!!!  Let's not get ahead of ourselves though.  After a short bus ride (trains are super expensive in England), Jess and I tubed it to the hostel we were planning on staying. We didn't actually book a night, nor did we know the address or even the name for that matter. After 20 minutes of assistance from three cops and one of their iphones, we were pointed in the right direction with a hostel name and everything.  After my experience with those three bobbies and Glenda and Steve in Austria, this trip has given me a whole new perspective on cops.   Cops are there to help people, can you imagine?  With my mind still being boggled with that epiphany, Jess and I found the hostel, which was great!  A nice bar downstairs and super friendly staff! But...they were completely booked for the whole weekend.  Along with 90% of all other hostels.  But they helped us find an available one that was a short tube ride away.  After checking into the most cramped hostel I've ever seen, Jess and I were chomping at the bit to get to Leicester Square, which was where all the HP action was happening!  We made it there by 4 and waited a good hour and a half for the actors to start showing up.  The next three hours passed in a blur of screaming and trying to catch a glimpse of all the famous people over the ten rows of people in front of me.  I definitely saw Rupert Grint, so all the waiting and tip toe standing was totally worth it.  Jess and I topped off this glorious night with a gloriously British favorite, fish and chips!  It was all we thought it would be and more.    Jess and I hit the sack after a night full of everything that's good in England:  Harry Potter and Fish and Chips.  Jess and I woke up to the nice surprise that our current hostel didn't have any beds open that evening.   So we were again in search of a place to sleep.  The only hostel available was the London Gay Hostel, which was boys only, so we opted for a very cheap, slightly scary hotel on the outskirts of London.  In hind site, we should have booked a hostel in London at least a day in advance.  But we're still alive, which is what counts.  After dropping off our bags at the hotel,  we did a very entertaining and educational walking tour of London that took us to all the sites I had already seen with my mom.  But interestingly enough, all the info was new, which just goes to show that there's a whole lot of history in London.  Jess left early the next morning for Liverpool and I stayed to just wander in London until I headed to Hamburg.  I can't remember if I included this in another post, but I was invited by a guest at the finca in Mallorca to come visit her and her family in Hamburg for a week in November.  So that was my next destination.  I squeezed in three museums and two parks, pretty good even by my standards, on my last day in London.   Here's where things get interesting.  I had a flight booked for Sunday at 6:25 AM from London to Hamburg.   During my wandering Saturday, I purchased a stanstead express ticket to take me from a central London station to Stanstead airport at 4:10 in the morning.  I also purchased a ticket for a pub crawl that night.  I thought it would just be a good idea to not sleep and go straight from the bars to my newly booked hostel to pick up my bags and then to the train station.  So, at around 7:30 PM Saturday I headed out from my centrally located hostel to the first pub, a mere two minute walk away.  I'll fast forward to 2:30 AM when I find myself in a very loud and headache inducing disco tech in South London.  When I planned my journey to the airport, it was under the assumption the pub crawl would not venture beyond a five minute walking radius.  I was now out of walking distance to my hostel with no bus/tube ticket.  I thankfully found a couple of fellow pub crawlers that were heading in the direction of the hostel and I slipped onto the bus with them.  The bus stopped right outside me hostel and that was a good sign.  I ran up to gather my things and then was back outside, looking for the nearest bus stop where I could catch a bus to the train station.   I was picked up by an out of service bus that offered to take me to the station because he was heading there to park his bus.  A little risky?  Yes.  Did I care at that point?  No.  Did I make it to the train station in good time and still alive?  Yes.  I still have faith in the good of mankind.  Anyway, I got on my 4:10 train promptly only to wait for an HOUR at the station due to construction.  That put me at the airport at 6 and at the check in desk at 6:15, at which point my gate had closed and my night/morning had officially gone down the tubes.  After a short stint of tears and frustration, I composed myself enough to approach the Ryanair ticket desk to ask for the next flight to Hamburg.  Not till tomorrow.  This was getting better and better . They did have a flight leaving at 8 for Bremen, a short 2 hour bus ride from Hamburg.   So I handed over the extra 100 pounds to transfer to a later flight that wasn't even taking me to where I needed to go.  At this point, I was pretty much in a pit of dispair and self pity at having to pay for the 27 pound train to not get me to the airport in time, the 100 airline fee, AND the train ticket I knew I'd have to get to Hamburg.  I was pretty pissed at the world at this point.  I decided a chocolate muffin and mocha latte would solve my problems but it merely put me to sleep at the terminal.  I was awoken by a man asking if I wanted to board the flight.  I looked up confused and saw the last few people walking through gate and to the plane.  I almost missed my second flight to Germany.  The man who woke me up happened to be in the British army and was going back to his base in Germany.  He told me he was also going in the Hamburg direction and that I could follow him there.  He was an absolute godsend considering my mind was in no state to navigate a new country's train system.   He was very nice and just what I needed after a really rough morning.  It's people like that who remind me someone is really watching out for me up there.  After we parted ways, I got to Eva's apartment in Hamburg with no problems and really had quite the welcoming committee.  Her four kids were very excited to see me and it was really nice seeing some familiar faces in a foreign land.   I spent the week attending some of Eva's yoga classes, picking up the kids from school and trying to entertain them the best I could with the language barrier.  They treated me as one of the family and I couldn't be happier with the experience.  It gave me a glimpse of what my parents life must have been like when my brothers and I were all younger and all I have to say is I have so much respect for parents as a whole.  You have a different appreciation for all that they do when you're an outside party as opposed to being one of the children.  Just the daily routines require so much energy, patience, and selflessness that are unfathomable to me at this age.   On top of the usual weekly activities, the family went out of their way to show me a good time in Hamburg.  We went to the miniature train museum one night and that really was a wonderland!  I've never seen so many miniature things in my life and it's really quite amazing to see it all.   They also took me to a theater show in the outskirts on Hamburg in which the singing and dancing made up for the complete lack of understanding the German.  The two oldest kids and I went to "The Dom" with their dad, Martin.  "The Dom" is just like our state fair but is set up for a month during the winter, spring and summer.  It's also much cleaner, there are no farm animals, no traffic nightmares, and the rides last a lot longer.  It's basically the state fair, but better.  The kids and I had a blast and I think Martin enjoyed himself as well.  The culmination of the whole stay was Eva's Birthday party on Saturday at which at least 60 people attended and there was food for more than 100 people.  There was singstar, dancing, beer and wine;The recipe for any successful party.  There are so many other things I could say about my stay, but I'll keep it short and say that they showed me the best time in Hamburg I could have possibly had and I'm so thankful for their hospitality!  So we've finally reached this past Monday, where I did one last bike ride around Hamburg and really soaked it up before I was on a bus to Berlin.  Which is where I sit typing right now.  I'm staying in a really sweet, centrally located hostel in Berlin and have already had a great time my first day here.  I did a free walking tour and met up with two Australians in the tour group and hung out with them all afternoon.  I then headed back to the hostel in the now freezing cold and took a very hot shower to try and shake off the cold.  One of my roommates and I had a drink, during which I convinced her to accompany me on a pub crawl for my birthday tomorrow.  So all in all, I had a very productive day, seeing lots, learning lots, and finding at least one person to keep me company on my birthday.  But now I'm very tired and I promise I'll write before I fly out Friday.  Good night!

Katie

Last days of Mallorca, France, and London

Mom, Manzi, and Me!

Mom and the port of Marseilles

Me and the port of Marseilles

My mom and me in front of a museum in Nice.  We had GREAT weather!

Nice Port

A bunch of Nemo's at the Monaco Aquarium

The Royal Residence in Monaco

A cool public square in Nice

My mom finding refuge from the rain under ancient Roman ruins while we wait for our tour bus. 

The original Heisman found in the Louvre

Venus de Milo

Notre Dame by day

Outside the Louvre

Me in the gardens outside the Louvre.  Can you spy the Eiffel Tower?

A pretty fountain and the Tower.

One of the columns of the Madeline.  They were HUGE!

Sacre Cour

My mom finally got to eat at La Mere Catherine, a restaurant famous among her friends

Notre Dame by night

In the gardens of Versailles

More of the gardens

Marie Antoinette's Palace

Eiffel Tower seen from our river cruise on the Seine

Changing of the Guards in London

Mom and Ben

Tower Bridge!  Which is NOT London Bridge btw.

The Tower of London

Us in front of the houses of Parliment

Mom, me and Ben

The picture speaks for itself

Two best friends with matching bracelets.

It's the good life...

It's been about a month and a half since I've last written and I must apologize again for leaving you readers in the dark about my whereabouts.   I'll try and do a nice sum up of everything without getting too nitty gritty.  I'm also going to do chapters, more to help me organize my thoughts than anything else.

1.  Mamma Mia!
So I last left off while I was still in Mallorca working.   As I became more knowledgeable about the farm, I was able to help more and spend more time working each day, which was really great because I kept myself busy pretty much the whole of every day.   My homesickness soon dissipated and I really got into the grove of everything.  Also helpful was the arrival of the new workaway helper from Washington state.   Malli owns two horses of her own back home, so we made a great team with her general knowledge of horses and my experience at the Finca.   She was absolutely wonderful to work with and I really enjoyed her company for the last week I was there.  Shortly after her arrival came another wonderful visitor, insert dramatic pause here...my MOM!  I picked up my mom at the airport Saturday afternoon, October 23rd, and boy was it absolutely great to see her!   She spent her first day in Mallorca just observing me in my daily tasks on the farm: feeding, riding, cleaning, etc.  The next two days my mom, Malli, and I explored the whole island of Mallorca in a rental car.  We saw the beautiful ports, sandy beaches, and the mountains of Mallorca.  It was the perfect ending to a month on the island. 

2. After all miss, this is France!
My mom and I flew out Tuesday morning heading to Marseilles, France.   Because of its metropolitan vibe I wouldn't say Marseilles was exactly charming, but my mom and I definitely enjoyed the short day we had to spend there. We had probably the best meal in all of France our first night in Marseilles and it really started our stay in France off to a good start.   However, there was the whole matter of the trash strike AND the train strike.  The streets were lined with piles of trash and I stood in line for an hour to get our tickets to Toulon.  The funny thing about all our transportation in France was that it was quite an ordeal getting all of our tickets and NONE of them were EVER checked.  So we basically could have saved a ton of time and money by not getting tickets at all.  But my mom and I decided we were contributing to the upkeep of all the beauty we enjoyed in France.  And there were lots of beautiful things to see.  After Marseilles, we took a train to Toulon and then a bus to Le Lavendou, a small coastal town just west of St. Tropez.   Darkness had set in by the time we exited the bus and I didn't exactly know where our hotel was, which made for an interesting adventure.  My mom and I wondered down the cobble stoned streets of this charming little village with our suitcases clanking behind us.  But after a few wrong turns and a stop for directions, we reached our hotel and all was well.  We spent two nights in Le Lavendou just exploring the town and all it had to offer,  including a boardwalk, local market, and Le Mini Golf Exotique (a jurrasic park themed mini golf).  Our next stop on the French Riviera was the infamous Nice.   Although Nice was a lot bigger than I expected,  it still retained a certain quaintness about it by incorporating a lot of open spaces occupied by either beautiful gardens or expansive plazas equipped with fountains and statues. I really enjoyed the city and our hotel was by far the most unique my mom and I stayed in.  "The Star" employed a flamboyant staff, the most memorable being a scarf wearing receptionist who did anything and everything to get attention from anyone who was near.  He was like a 3 year old in a 30 year old body.  He definitely kept our stay interesting.  While staying in Nice, we made a day trip to Monte-Carlo on what I'm positive was the windiest day in Monaco history.  Of course I was wearing a flowy skirt that refused to blow in any respectable direction.  We found refuge in the maritime museum which included a fabulous aquarium.  My mom and I also took a little trolley tour to visit the famous casinos and hotels in the city.  After returning from Monaco, mom and I booked our train to Paris and the next day, we tried to squeeze in a bus tour before our train left at 3:30.  The thing about hop on hop off bus tours is that it's really easy to hop off, but not so much to hop on.  My mom and I made our single stop at the Matisse museum/ St. Francis museum.  Neither of us were huge fans of Matisse and the Franciscan museum was closed.  It then started to pour rain and we waited approximately an hour for the next bus to pick us up.   We did meet two very nice Australian blokes who sold beer for a living while waiting for the bus, so all was not lost.   We finally made it back to the hotel and after a few harsh words from Mr. Scarf Star about getting his hotel lobby wet, we were back out in the downpour on our way to the train station.  The train ride in and of itself could be a whole blog post, so I'll try to make it short and to the point.  I'm so good at that.  We boarded the train without knowing which car was ours so picked a random one.  We endured a very creepy young man walking by twice, first offering me liquor in a plastic cup along with a guitar serenade and then a jacket that he claimed was an explosive.  I finally got up to ask a conductor where our correct assigned seat and she informed me I was on the wrong train.  They had attached two trains together for the journey and my mom and I were on the other one.  SO, my mom and I packed up our stuff, exited the train at the next stop and walked down the platform and boarded the correct train and settled into our correct seats.  About five minutes later, at the same station, all passengers were unloaded due to a bomb threat.  The whole station was cleared and we waited out in the rain for about an hour before they assured us there was no bomb on our train.  That one hour search was very comforting.  But regardless of our rough start, we did actually make it to Paris at about 11:30 that night.  After a magnificent taxi ride next to the Seine, we finally made it to our superbly located hotel!  Geeze, I'm really running out of synonyms for "good" or "excellent".  Anyway, our first day in Paris we of course hit up the Louve and my mom and I spent hours pondering the symbolism and hidden meanings in every piece of art.  syke!  We did a quick run through and saw everything famous, which for me was The Venus de Milo, The Mona Lisa, and the Hammurabi Code.    I know art lovers are cringing, but the Louve is just overwhelming,  I do feel more cultured just having been there.  We then "hopped on" another hop on/ hop off bus tour and saw Notre Dame, The Eifle Tower and some other beautiful buildings, which are very abundant in Paris.  Everywhere you look and around every corner is some unbelievably beautiful, elaborate building with a fabulous history.  And that is NO exaggeration.   The second day, we walked up a million steps to Sacre Coeur and then ate at a great restaurant where mom us some free wine from this old, lonely man.  Like mother, like daughter I guess.  We then raced to Notre Dame, and by raced I mean raced to the bus stop where we waited over an hour for the tour bus to pick us up.  We did make it to Notre Dame in time to go inside and it was glorious like all the other thousands of other churches I've seen in Europe.  I hate to sound so jaded, but I just can't describe any more churches.  Our last day in Paris was spent at the Palace of Versaille, which did not disappoint.  The grandeur of that Palace is ridiculous and the gardens just as unbelievably huge and intricately planned and decorated.    I think the word "grandeur" is French and I completely understand why.  France was a country of beauty and although sometimes over done, my mother and I immensely enjoyed the country.

3. You've Got a Friend.

After the splendor of France, my mom and I hopped the channel to the one and only London, England. Oh how it was refreshing to stay in a room bigger than 4' by 4' with a shower I can move in.  All the luxuries of home were due to mom's best friend from college, Mary.  She was the most gracious host and really showed us a great time!  We arrived at around 11 AM and we first went to settle into Mary's house before setting off to, drum roll please, a hop on/ hop off tour bus!!  My mom's favorite!  This bus had live commentary and was actually really great. We just learned the trick of never actually getting off the bus so we don't have to wait forever to get back on.   We saw St. Paul's, The Tower of London, The London Eye, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Big Ben (which is the bell, not the tower btw), Buckingham Palace and every other famous site in London you could possibly imagine.  We were the last two on the bus so the tour bus driver kindly drove us to the nearest tube station, where we finally hopped off and made our way over to drinks and dinner with Mary and her coworkers.  Needless to say when Mary's involved, we had a blast!  The next morning my mom and I attended the changing of the guard and just barely made it thanks to my miscalculation of the lengthy public transportation route it took to get there.  But lo and behold, we did make it and it was better than I thought. There were mounted police men/women, big furry hats, and a marching band playing the James Bond theme song.  What could be more British?!   We then decided to get a closer look at the sites from the bus tour, so we walked around the city to see the big sites on foot.   After, we returned home to get all gussied up for "Les Miserables" at the Queens Theater.  The show was one of the best I've ever seen!  The voices were all amazing and the venue was so small and intimate.   I had no idea London theater rivaled New York, but it definitely did.  We got a late start Saturday, but eventually made it to the Tower of London, where we took a "beefeaters" tour where we learned about all the people that were imprisoned there and how they were killed (beheaded, hung, drawn, and quartered, guillotine, etc.)  I'll spare you the details.  My mom and I took the cheap way into Westminster and attended the evesong service instead of paying 18 pounds.  Being in England really made me appreciate the free entrance fee to ALL the Catholic churches on the mainland.  The singing was beautiful, as were the acoustics and the service was very similar to a Catholic mass.    Mary met up with us after and we strolled along the Thames and popping into the Tate modern museum for a laugh at what people consider art.  Dinner that night was at a great little pub in Mary's neighborhood and it was a great ending to a wonderful visit from my mom.  But as they say, all good things must come to an end, so Mary, her husband Robert, and I all drove my mom to the airport early the next morning.  It was sad to see her go, but she has that whole work thing she needed to get back to.  My next destination, Wales.  But I'll write that bit tomorrow because this post is already exceedingly long. 


Cheers,
Katie

Mallorca Pics!

The first beach trip I took with Eva's family

Another view of the beach

Our two geese

Me and Luna walking to feed the horses

Me feeding the donkeys

Me feeding two foals

Some straw bale action

Eva's family and some family friends eating breakfast

The horse I ride, Manzi, short for Manzana (Spanish for apple)

Me riding

This is in the middle of the main courtyard and from the picture online, taken of the ranch at a distance, I thought it was a hot tub!  It's a water fountain for the horses:( Still pretty though.

Three of Eva's kids on the tractor

Eva's two youngest next to a cool tree in Santanyi

Luna, me and Stella in an old church in Santanyi

The donkeys and a sunset

In the right, behind the brambles, you can vaguely make out the outline of a giant bird.  There's an ostrich farm right next to Bernd's ranch.  It was one of the most interesting things I've come across in Europe.  Seeing them on TV just doesn't prepare you for how big they are in real life. 

Country Roads

Hola!  Or should I say, Hallo!  I know you've all been waiting with baited breath, so here it is, a post actually up to date on my travels!  For the past week and a half, I've been working on a agritourism farm in Mallorca, a small island off the east coast of Spain.   The island is a hot spot for European vacationers, offering beautiful beaches and warm weather well into the fall season.  Most guests come to this particular location to ride the horses.  Along with the 11 horses, there are 2 donkeys, 2 pigs, 1 goat, 2 geese, 6 cats, and too many chickens to count.  The owner, Bernd, is German and he's owned the farm for six years now. He used to be a regional manager for a telecommunications company and just got sick of his job, so decided to try something completely different. He lives here with his girlfriend, Claudia, and her two children, Tina, 7 years old, and Luca, 2.5 years old.  All the guests that have been here thus far have also been from Germany and I get the feeling that everyone who stays here is from Germany.  The place has a really homey feel about it and the relationship between Bernd and all the guests is very casual and friendly.  We all eat dinner together (the guests, me and Bernd's family) which is a nice touch to the place.  They converse in German so I just sit, look from speaker to speaker, and smile. Most of the adults who stay here speak English pretty well and try to engage and include me in conversations, but it's just not the same.   This past week and a half, I've probably spoken less than I have in any given day back home.  It's actually a nice change, just to listen without obligation to contribute to any of the conversation.  Maybe I'll try that when I get home. (but I wouldn't count on it)  I was hoping to practice my Spanish during my stay here, but instead I'm learning a bit of German, unexpected, but good all the same.  Also,  it turns out the people on the island speak a dialect called Mallorquinl, so my Spanish knowledge is kinda a moot point here.  
     As far as my daily routine goes, I'm pretty much in charge of anything that has to do with the horses.  I feed them every morning at 8, afternoon at 1, and evening at 6:30.  I also clean out the stable and the corrals when need be, which is definitely not the most glamorous job.  Part of my job description is also to exercise a few horses every day, but because of my supreme lack of experience on a horse, Bernd has arranged for me to have riding lessons every other day.  They've been going really well and I think I'll be able to actually ride the horses on my own by the end of the month.  I really enjoy my lessons because it gives me a long term goal while I'm here and I love my trainer, Steph!    She's also from Germany and she's just absolutely fabulous with a great sense of humor and flawless English!   The lessons on top of all the other work has been a little rough on my body, but I'm really enjoying the change of pace from the domestic tasks I've been doing thus far on my trip.  I was sore the first week, but now I think my muscles are getting used to it and never have I enjoyed a shower and hot dinner as much as I do here. I felt like a true farmer today when I discovered calluses along my palms from the pitch fork handle.  Just call me farmer Katie. 
     Since I've arrived, a woman named Eva has been staying here as a guest with her four children.  She's a yoga instructor and was leading yoga sessions last week, but now is just enjoying time with her kids.  Last weekend, she took me with her family to the market in Campos, the nearest town, and a gorgeous beach the next day.  I went with her today to another beach and she admitted to me that she likes me going with her because that means her kids will come too.  She said I was the "pied piper" for her children.  Her kids seem absolutely infatuated with me, which is such an unusual phenomena.  It must be my exotic nature as an American and everything.  The oldest kid speaks decent enough English and him and his sister, 10, are on me like a cheap suit when I'm feeding the horses.  They LOVE helping me do ANYTHING and are CONSTANTLY asking me what work there is to do next.  It was nice for, like, a day, after which, it drove me nuts.  I like to do everything in a very certain, specific way (the right way) and having a 10 and 12 year old trying to help put me a little over the edge.  But like everything else on this trip, I've just had to make a few adjustments with my attitude, lighten up a bit, and let go of the things I can not control.  Low and behold, I'm actually starting to enjoy their company.  The younger kids pretty much play amongst themselves, but occasionally, they'll tag along with me on my chores, which I really just can't handle.  My personality just can't stretch that far.  It's  a good thing that 5 minutes into any given task, one of them has made the other cry and they are running to mama to clean up the pieces.  They really are cute kids, but it's a whole "too many cooks in the kitchen" scenario (too many children cooks who don't know what they're doing and don't speak the same language as the head chef).   But I must say, one of the top experiences I've had in Europe I shared with Eva's family.  Her husband was here when I first arrived and one night, we all decided to play "singstar" on their playstation.  First on the line up was "Country Roads", a song I'd never heard but was one of their favorites.  I was absolutely destroyed in karaoke by everyone there (all Germans).  It was more embarrassing that the song was in MY first language and about MY country and more specifically, MY regional culture.  I was an embarrassment to the south and I am still ashamed.    I got a little redemption singing Abba and then came the hightlight of the evening:  Eva and her husband singing "Cotton Eye Joe".  Enough said.  It was absolutely one of the most entertaining moments in my life. It was obvious they had heard this song maybe once and I don't think even native English speakers know the words.  It was definitely a great end to a great night.
       All in all, this is a great place to be with friendly people and interesting work.  I did, however, have a bad bout of homesickness the past three days.  I really miss people my age. Who speak fluent English.  I miss Chapel Hill and my friends.  I miss my family and our birthday celebrations.  I miss college football and tailgating. I miss my Max.  I miss college.  I miss home.  I miss a lot of things, and just today I realized that as long as I keep busy and reach out to other people, I'll be ok.  I've definitely learned to embrace the company I'm given, whether that's a 12 year old boy flinging a sythe around like it's a plastic chew toy, or a yoga instructor telling me about the healing power of prayer and meditation. I think this place is really opening my eyes to a different culture and also teaching me to live day by day.  There aren't any looming projects or deadlines, just the troughs that need to be filled and stables that need to be cleaned. I'm also learning things don't always need to get done the "perfect" way.  Just being done is sometimes good enough.  I've always had a hard time distinguishing which tasks deserve my precision and time and those that don't.  Having children "help" you in any work  is an expedient way of determining which category the work falls into.  The life is simple, the people are happy and life is good here.  Sure I miss home, but that's a good thing.  I feel lucky that I miss my life back home so much.  It would worry me if at this point, I wasn't missing good ole' North Carolina.  Ok, I think I'm done being sappy and sentimental.  I will try and be more diligent with my blog posts in the future, but I can't promise any exciting updates while I'm here.  Thank you all for being so great and patient with my blog and hope to talk to you soon!  Emails and skype chats are always appreciated!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Pictures from France and a few from Geneva (which is in Switzerland)!

Jess and Jenn with some goats at the beginning of our hike in the rain

Me with the goats

Jenn and me in a field.  The next few pics were taken inside my super cool water proof camera case Jenn gave me for my trip! The pics aren't the best quality, but hey, they're pics taken in the rain.

Some horses we happened upon.  They look just like Maurice's horse in Beauty and the Beast!

Jenn with a horse

Jenn and Jess petting a horse

Jess and I showing Jenn what a sorostisquat is.  This is the pose a lot of Carolina sorority girls do for pictures for those of you who have the privilege of not knowing what that is.

Me on a bridge in front of one of Annecy's canals.  That's a church there on the left.

The Annecy market on Sunday morning

An accordion player that provided the sound to complete the whole French ambiance of Annecy.

Me in front of a canal with a bunch of wooden boats. 

Me in front of Annecy Lake.

A view of the lake with a church in the background.

Hannah, Jenn, me and Jess in an Annecy park

Jess and I trying to recreate American Gothic before we started digging.

Too much togetherness can ruin friendships.

Hannah and Jess

Our hole halfway dug

The takeoff spot for paragliding.  That's Hannah on the left suiting up

A fountain in the lake next to Geneva

A cool monument in Geneva

Just a cute building I saw on the bus ride to Annecy

Annecy lake

Annecy canal

Annecy canal

Annecy canal with bridge

One of the boats that provided a dinner cruise on Annecy lake.