On Monday, I woke up as usual (which is slightly earlier now, around 8/9 am, depending on my mood). I have been acting as camarera for the huespedes this past week, preparing and serving their breakfasts each day. I like it because I get to organize the food in pretty arrangements (not THAT exciting; breakfast is pretty much just bread and coffee - different kinds of bread though). I don't like that I also get to wash everyone's dishes afterward, but it's ok - I've become a rather efficient dish washer.
ANYWAY. I woke up on Monday, and went into the kitchen for breakfast, where I was pleasantly greeted by a bucket of raw meat. And by raw meat I mean FRESHLY SLAUGHTERED BUNNIES. Skinned bunnies. With the little black eyeballs still there. I have officially learned what purpose the bunnies serve on our farm.
Lola caught me staring with horror at the bunnies, who looked just like regular happy bunnies mid jump, except for the fact that they were bloody and skinless. She told me that I would have to learn how to kill a bunny myself if I wanted to leave this farm a true campesina. I told her no.
Since it was Monday, we went into town again for the market. As always, it was full of wonderful things and people and I wanted to buy everything. I came home with a few more goodies, including a new cortina for our shower to replace the moldy one we have right now. It was long overdue.
On Tuesday, we worked all morning to have the afternoon free. In the afternoon, Esther, Lindsay and I took a little trip to Mojacar, because the closest bank Esther can go to is in that town. We had some time to explore the pueblo, which is super tiny and located on a mountain overlooking the ocean. There are no cars, and most of the streets are narrow and sloped. Potted plants and flowers hung from the sides of buildings, most of which were painted white. It was BEAUTIFUL. We went into a few of the shops, which were filled with wonderful little trinkets and clothes. We're going to go back because it was so amazing.
One of my favorite things about this farm is that we can live largely off of our own land: the vegetables come from the huerto, we get fruit from Lola's parents, we make our own bread, we clean our wastewater to use for the plants, we eat one of the weeds (sala), and today we ate cactus!!
There are gigantic cacti growing all around the property, and Lola cut off a few branches (? is that what they are called?) to make chumberas for lunch. We took off the pinchos and cooked them and they were surprisingly delicious!
One final note: the cats of the house are both pregnant and very fat. Today, one of the cats came out and was really skinny and had lots of floppy belly skin - she gave birth last night! We can't see the little gatitas for about a week, but I'm super excited. The other cat is looking pretty plump too, so I'm hoping she will da a luz pronto as well :)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Huercal Overa: Que Locura!
Yesterday started out being the worst day ever. Both Lindsay and I were sick - Lindsay has a cold or something I think, but I was just super dizzy and nauseas and it was not fun. I couldn't really do any work so I just sat around and deshelled almonds and cleaned things. After lunch I took a long nap, and didn't really feel better afterwards :(
Eventually later in the afternoon I went and threw up and then everything was fine.
Lindsay, Esther and I went into Huercal Overa to watch the epic final partido of the world cup. We sat outside of the town's two bars again; most of the town was out watching the game with us in the church plaza. Everyone was decked out in their world cup t shirts, Spanish flag capes, and tons of red and yellow face paint. The ninos were all screaming the entire time and blowing into their horns and noisemakers. The walls of the bar were covered in Spanish flags as well. Everyone was eating and drinking and yelling and so excited the entire time. It was wonderful!
As it turns out, I could not have been luckier with my timing for this trip. Not only am I having the most wonderful time here in Spain, but I got to be here for the MOST EPIC SPANISH WORLD CUP VICTORY EVER. The game went into overtime before either team scored, and when Spain finally made the one and only goal, all of Huercal Overa went nuts! Everyone was jumping and yelling and making noise and pouring beer and it was glorious. We sat through the next three minutes, all eyes completely fixed on the screen. Then the match ended, and Spain was declared the winners of the world cup!
Everyone in Huercal Overa came out and ran into the plaza, screaming and jumping and making noise and running and celebrating. All of a sudden everyone was in the fountain in front of the church, Lindsay and I included. We jumped and screamed and hugged and got wet and sang with the locals. We ran around the plaza singing and screaming and playing in the water, joining a conga line and almost exploding with the firecrackers that were being set off far too close to us every few seconds. It was epic.
Lots of pictures and videos from this night - of course I'm sure it was a thousand times crazier in Madrid, but those Huercal Overans...que locura!
Eventually later in the afternoon I went and threw up and then everything was fine.
Lindsay, Esther and I went into Huercal Overa to watch the epic final partido of the world cup. We sat outside of the town's two bars again; most of the town was out watching the game with us in the church plaza. Everyone was decked out in their world cup t shirts, Spanish flag capes, and tons of red and yellow face paint. The ninos were all screaming the entire time and blowing into their horns and noisemakers. The walls of the bar were covered in Spanish flags as well. Everyone was eating and drinking and yelling and so excited the entire time. It was wonderful!
As it turns out, I could not have been luckier with my timing for this trip. Not only am I having the most wonderful time here in Spain, but I got to be here for the MOST EPIC SPANISH WORLD CUP VICTORY EVER. The game went into overtime before either team scored, and when Spain finally made the one and only goal, all of Huercal Overa went nuts! Everyone was jumping and yelling and making noise and pouring beer and it was glorious. We sat through the next three minutes, all eyes completely fixed on the screen. Then the match ended, and Spain was declared the winners of the world cup!
Everyone in Huercal Overa came out and ran into the plaza, screaming and jumping and making noise and running and celebrating. All of a sudden everyone was in the fountain in front of the church, Lindsay and I included. We jumped and screamed and hugged and got wet and sang with the locals. We ran around the plaza singing and screaming and playing in the water, joining a conga line and almost exploding with the firecrackers that were being set off far too close to us every few seconds. It was epic.
Lots of pictures and videos from this night - of course I'm sure it was a thousand times crazier in Madrid, but those Huercal Overans...que locura!
Friday, July 9, 2010
It's too hot
Yesterday we went back to the biblioteca to take out books. I took out five (the max, of course):
El Principito, a book of short stories Esther suggested I read, and three science books (a small encyclopedia about the Earth, a book on alternative energy, and a bio book --> I would.). I'm super excited about them and now all I want to do is read!
I also found this magazine in the library which I am now in love with. It's called Integral, and it's about food/nutrition, energy, sustainability, and international issues. It's wonderful. And they have a website: www.larevistaintegral.com. Go look.
When we got back from our trip into town, I finally got to work with Lola in el huerto! It was exciting. It looks pretty sad right now because it is summer and it's too hot for most of the plants to grow very much, but I got to see what everything is, and I saw a few baby eggplants, tomatoes, and zucchinis growing. In the garden, I watered the plants and added compost to them. Lola told me the compost was made just of our old food, but she was definitely lying because my hands STILL smell like poop.
I learned today that I am the worst cleaner in the world. I tried to mop the floors yesterday, but apparently I used too much soap so now they look really ugly. Lola had given me the soap in a little open cup, so I just assumed she had measured out the amount she wanted me to use. NOPE. She had given me all of the soap; she just happens to keep it in a little measuring cup. Of course this was the one time I decided to go all out and mop every single floor, so the entire house looks terrible and all of the floors have this weird ugly film of soap/dirt on them. Another thing I learned: when you mop with too much soap it takes a very very very long time to fix the damage. WOO!
Thus, I have spent almost the entire morning mopping and remopping and mopping again and remopping again and again and again with water and ammonia trying to take off the soap. Every time I finish it looks promising; everything is shiny and clean and beautiful. Then it dries and the weird crustiness comes back! UGH. Hopefully I will be able to fix them soon...
I also learned today that there is a part of the awning above the part of the awning that nobody can see that nobody can see either, and of course Lola wants me to paint that too. I like it up there though because there is a lot of cool stuff on the roof for me to explore, and Lola sealed all of the beehives I was worried about.
A word about the beehives: this part of the awning has little holes in it literally every 5 inches leading into what is probably the most intricately networking beehive I have ever seen. I saw a huge black bee the size of my second toe (just his body, no wings or stinger included in that size measurement) go into one of the holes. He was huge and fat and slow and loud and I do not want to see him again. So Lola came and sprayed insecticide into all of the holes and then covered them up with cement! She can do everything.
El Principito, a book of short stories Esther suggested I read, and three science books (a small encyclopedia about the Earth, a book on alternative energy, and a bio book --> I would.). I'm super excited about them and now all I want to do is read!
I also found this magazine in the library which I am now in love with. It's called Integral, and it's about food/nutrition, energy, sustainability, and international issues. It's wonderful. And they have a website: www.larevistaintegral.com. Go look.
When we got back from our trip into town, I finally got to work with Lola in el huerto! It was exciting. It looks pretty sad right now because it is summer and it's too hot for most of the plants to grow very much, but I got to see what everything is, and I saw a few baby eggplants, tomatoes, and zucchinis growing. In the garden, I watered the plants and added compost to them. Lola told me the compost was made just of our old food, but she was definitely lying because my hands STILL smell like poop.
I learned today that I am the worst cleaner in the world. I tried to mop the floors yesterday, but apparently I used too much soap so now they look really ugly. Lola had given me the soap in a little open cup, so I just assumed she had measured out the amount she wanted me to use. NOPE. She had given me all of the soap; she just happens to keep it in a little measuring cup. Of course this was the one time I decided to go all out and mop every single floor, so the entire house looks terrible and all of the floors have this weird ugly film of soap/dirt on them. Another thing I learned: when you mop with too much soap it takes a very very very long time to fix the damage. WOO!
Thus, I have spent almost the entire morning mopping and remopping and mopping again and remopping again and again and again with water and ammonia trying to take off the soap. Every time I finish it looks promising; everything is shiny and clean and beautiful. Then it dries and the weird crustiness comes back! UGH. Hopefully I will be able to fix them soon...
I also learned today that there is a part of the awning above the part of the awning that nobody can see that nobody can see either, and of course Lola wants me to paint that too. I like it up there though because there is a lot of cool stuff on the roof for me to explore, and Lola sealed all of the beehives I was worried about.
A word about the beehives: this part of the awning has little holes in it literally every 5 inches leading into what is probably the most intricately networking beehive I have ever seen. I saw a huge black bee the size of my second toe (just his body, no wings or stinger included in that size measurement) go into one of the holes. He was huge and fat and slow and loud and I do not want to see him again. So Lola came and sprayed insecticide into all of the holes and then covered them up with cement! She can do everything.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Vamos a...el Pueblo?
Yesterday we had the most DELICIOUS lunch ever. We went a little crazy with the sala (the new plant / almost weed we discovered we can eat), and made a sala feast. We made cous-cous with roasted vegetables, sala with potatoes, almonds, and raisins, salad, and a sala tortilla. Everything was amazing! It was such a feast.
After we finished working and napping, Ester, Lindsay and I went in to Huercal-Overa to explore the town and watch the soccer game (Spain v. Germany). Huercal-Overa is super super small and quiet. It looks like a photograph, partly because the buildings are completely picturesque but also because nobody is moving. We passed maybe 3 cars the entire time, and a lot of people were sitting out in chairs in the middle of the street. Many of the streets were too narrow for cars to pass through.
We went to the biblioteca first (obvi. Tell me I wouldn't.). It was great! There were so many cool books and magazines. I want to go back today if I get time so I can take some back to the farm to read.
After the library, we went to a bar to watch the game. We sat outside, and literally everyone in the town (all 5 of the residents) was outside crowded around the two television screens watching the game. There were at least 7 Spanish flags hanging from the building, and everyone was screaming and blowing horns and it was great!
After we finished working and napping, Ester, Lindsay and I went in to Huercal-Overa to explore the town and watch the soccer game (Spain v. Germany). Huercal-Overa is super super small and quiet. It looks like a photograph, partly because the buildings are completely picturesque but also because nobody is moving. We passed maybe 3 cars the entire time, and a lot of people were sitting out in chairs in the middle of the street. Many of the streets were too narrow for cars to pass through.
We went to the biblioteca first (obvi. Tell me I wouldn't.). It was great! There were so many cool books and magazines. I want to go back today if I get time so I can take some back to the farm to read.
After the library, we went to a bar to watch the game. We sat outside, and literally everyone in the town (all 5 of the residents) was outside crowded around the two television screens watching the game. There were at least 7 Spanish flags hanging from the building, and everyone was screaming and blowing horns and it was great!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Yes I spent 8 years in Jale
The past couple of days have been very cooking-oriented. Here are some of the things we made:
Leche de almedras: This was so easy! We just put almonds in a blender type thing, added water, and strained it and almond milk came out! Very cool.
Queso! This was especially fun because I got to try to explain to everyone the chemistry of the coagulation situation going on...in Spanish. Muy dificil.
Gazpacho: I always thought this was the grossest thing ever, so I wasn't really looking forward to this one. The description I had been given before was that gazpacho is a cold soup/drink made mostly of tomatoes, onions, and garlic (ew?!). We made Lola's Gazpacho with all kinds of vegetables, olive oil, and vinagre. It was SO DELICIOUS. I want to get a blender so I can make some when I come back.
For dinner last night, we ate this plant called "sala". We actually just went out and essentially picked weeds and boiled them and ate them for dinner! It was wonderful and they were surprisingly delicious. The self-efficiency of this really excited me. I can't figure out what the name of the plant is in English though, because sala is just the local name for it.
Aside from all of the cooking, I also had to do some life-threatening painting jobs. Lola wanted me to paint the underside of an awning that leans over her terrace. Of course I understood why she wanted this painted - it's not like you can't see the underside of the awning from ANY POSSIBLE ANGLE anywhere on the property. Except it is and the underside of the awning is only visible from underneath it, which you can only get to if you happen to be lying down under it on the roof.
Anyway, I had started painting the regular, visible parts of the awning the day before, and got as much of it as I could reach from the ladder. Lola came back and told me to lean the ladder over the fence thing so I could reach the rest of one side, and told me we would deal with the other side later. This sounds fine, except the fence thing is about 32741935 years old and about to crumble if you put any more pressure on it. I leaned the ladder very precariously against the uneven edge of the wall, and wobbled up. I ended up painting that side literally hanging off the side of the building, clinging to a shaking ladder, dangling 30 ft above the ground, which was of course concrete. So safe, so fun.
Lola insisted that I paint the other side as well, which is ACTUALLY NOT VISIBLE at all unless you curl up under it. We got to it by scaling the house on the other side and walking across the roof. The roof in this part of the house is actually just a couple of sheets of plastic nailed together, so it's not exactly capable of supporting my weight without buckling. Lola brought out a sheet of rusty iron with nails sticking out and sharp surfaces all over. She indicated that I was to sit on this tetanus sheet to distribute my weight evenly to paint without falling through the roof. Oh good!
I climbed onto the rusty wood, and then had to sit with my legs out and my body bent over sideways to fit under the awning to paint. It was super fun because I was actually next to the sun with rusty nails poking into my butt and legs, trying to paint over what I was pleasantly surprised to discover was an active beehive! I got the hang of it after a while (kind of) and by the end was excited to explore the roof, which is obviously a fun place to be. Lola has solar panels up there that are used to heat the water we use in the house, and I'm pretty sure there's also some kind of odd wind turbine thing as well (I'll have to ask about that). Lola is not nearly as interested in her sustainable technology as I am, so in a way I'm glad I had to paint hanging off of the roof, just so I could see all of the cool things she has.
She also mentioned very briefly that the water she uses to water the plants and trees is our own recycled and purified wastewater! I want to learn more about how that system works, because it sounds really cool and must be a fairly simple and compact process if she is able to operate it just on her property.
Last night Ester, Lindsay and I stayed up watching YouTube videos. When it's just the three of us we switch off between speaking in English and in Spanish sometimes, because Ester wants to practice her English and Lindsay and I of course want to work on our Spanish. We watched the same Noah and the Whale music video maybe 98429832175843 times, and then we watched the "That's Why I Chose Yale" video, just because it's great. Apparently Ester's middle school was called "Iale" which is obivously not pronounced like Yale in Spanish, but it could be in English, so she was joking about how she went to Yale too. Except she called in Jale, and with the sentence construction she ended up confirming that she had spent 8 years in jail. I enjoyed it.
Leche de almedras: This was so easy! We just put almonds in a blender type thing, added water, and strained it and almond milk came out! Very cool.
Queso! This was especially fun because I got to try to explain to everyone the chemistry of the coagulation situation going on...in Spanish. Muy dificil.
Gazpacho: I always thought this was the grossest thing ever, so I wasn't really looking forward to this one. The description I had been given before was that gazpacho is a cold soup/drink made mostly of tomatoes, onions, and garlic (ew?!). We made Lola's Gazpacho with all kinds of vegetables, olive oil, and vinagre. It was SO DELICIOUS. I want to get a blender so I can make some when I come back.
For dinner last night, we ate this plant called "sala". We actually just went out and essentially picked weeds and boiled them and ate them for dinner! It was wonderful and they were surprisingly delicious. The self-efficiency of this really excited me. I can't figure out what the name of the plant is in English though, because sala is just the local name for it.
Aside from all of the cooking, I also had to do some life-threatening painting jobs. Lola wanted me to paint the underside of an awning that leans over her terrace. Of course I understood why she wanted this painted - it's not like you can't see the underside of the awning from ANY POSSIBLE ANGLE anywhere on the property. Except it is and the underside of the awning is only visible from underneath it, which you can only get to if you happen to be lying down under it on the roof.
Anyway, I had started painting the regular, visible parts of the awning the day before, and got as much of it as I could reach from the ladder. Lola came back and told me to lean the ladder over the fence thing so I could reach the rest of one side, and told me we would deal with the other side later. This sounds fine, except the fence thing is about 32741935 years old and about to crumble if you put any more pressure on it. I leaned the ladder very precariously against the uneven edge of the wall, and wobbled up. I ended up painting that side literally hanging off the side of the building, clinging to a shaking ladder, dangling 30 ft above the ground, which was of course concrete. So safe, so fun.
Lola insisted that I paint the other side as well, which is ACTUALLY NOT VISIBLE at all unless you curl up under it. We got to it by scaling the house on the other side and walking across the roof. The roof in this part of the house is actually just a couple of sheets of plastic nailed together, so it's not exactly capable of supporting my weight without buckling. Lola brought out a sheet of rusty iron with nails sticking out and sharp surfaces all over. She indicated that I was to sit on this tetanus sheet to distribute my weight evenly to paint without falling through the roof. Oh good!
I climbed onto the rusty wood, and then had to sit with my legs out and my body bent over sideways to fit under the awning to paint. It was super fun because I was actually next to the sun with rusty nails poking into my butt and legs, trying to paint over what I was pleasantly surprised to discover was an active beehive! I got the hang of it after a while (kind of) and by the end was excited to explore the roof, which is obviously a fun place to be. Lola has solar panels up there that are used to heat the water we use in the house, and I'm pretty sure there's also some kind of odd wind turbine thing as well (I'll have to ask about that). Lola is not nearly as interested in her sustainable technology as I am, so in a way I'm glad I had to paint hanging off of the roof, just so I could see all of the cool things she has.
She also mentioned very briefly that the water she uses to water the plants and trees is our own recycled and purified wastewater! I want to learn more about how that system works, because it sounds really cool and must be a fairly simple and compact process if she is able to operate it just on her property.
Last night Ester, Lindsay and I stayed up watching YouTube videos. When it's just the three of us we switch off between speaking in English and in Spanish sometimes, because Ester wants to practice her English and Lindsay and I of course want to work on our Spanish. We watched the same Noah and the Whale music video maybe 98429832175843 times, and then we watched the "That's Why I Chose Yale" video, just because it's great. Apparently Ester's middle school was called "Iale" which is obivously not pronounced like Yale in Spanish, but it could be in English, so she was joking about how she went to Yale too. Except she called in Jale, and with the sentence construction she ended up confirming that she had spent 8 years in jail. I enjoyed it.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Vamos a la Playa!
Before I begin recounting today's adventures, I have some miscellaneous things with which to contextualize the rest of my story here:
There are now 5 people permanently staying on the farm: Lola, Candela, Ester, myself, and Lindsay. Lola and Candela are the owners of the farm and casa rural, and Ester and Lindsay are WWOOF volunteers like myself. Ester is somewhere in her early 40s and is from Valencia, Spain, and Lindsay is 20 and from Utah (!). Ester came a few days after I arrived, on a referral from three of her close friends who had volunteered here before. Lindsay just arrived yesterday - she goes to school in Portland, but took the last year off to work in Madrid, and is WWOOFing until she heads back to school in the fall.
In other news, there are bunnies on this farm. I haven't met them yet, but I will make sure I do soon (even if it means waking up early one day...). I thought there were goats or llamas or something - Lola kept talking about the "conejos" and I just figured it met some type of farm animal so I didn't ask, considering the difficulty she would have describing to me the difference between a goat and a llama (which I probably wouldn't understand anyway, because I don't have such a solid grasp of the difference). I ended up looking it up yesterday, and learned that it means bunnies. What purpose bunnies can serve on a farm is something I have not yet figured out, but I'll let you know when I do.
Also to follow up on the bread-making adventures...I woke up the next day around noon and saw the kitchen filled with bread! This is apparently an early morning event, so I missed it. Oh well. There is now a ton of bizcocho and deliciously fresh bread in the kitchen though, so it's not too bad.
And one final thing: my only major complaint thus far about the farm is that there is not hot water for the showers. I really mean zero. Showering here has been a really painful and dreaded experience for me. Literally painful - the water is absolutely FREEZING, to the point where it stings my back. Thus, I have avoided showering as much as possible. It has really been quite disgusting. At one point I didn't shower for two days, and swam in the pool one day to justify it. I actually caught a fly on my arm who whipped out his mouth tube thing and started feeding on my arm. There was rotting fruit and plenty of chicken poop around, but no: the fly would rather feast on the dirty sludge I had accrued on my arm. It was really an issue.
I finally decided to ask Lola about it. But first, I tried desperately to see if maybe there was indeed hot water and I was just doing something wrong. Of course I was just doing something wrong. I turned the faucet the other way, and voila, there is hot water. I'm an idiot. I had the water turned on to be as cold as possible. Of course showering sucked. (side note: I'm still trying to limit my use of the hot water here, even though I have it, because it's just something I need to learn to do in general)
So now for my story:
In Spain, July 4th is just like July 3rd. Well not actually, because today was my day off! Ester and I decided to drive out to a beach (just 30 km away..WOOO) for the day. I woke up early, ate my breakfast (bizcocho and coffee and figs and bread with mermeladas...a little bit of everything), and got ready to go. We drove out to the coast and then drove along the coast looking at the beaches to see which ones we liked. The coast was incredible and unsurprisingly very different from any coast in America that I have ever seen: the continent ends in a mountain range, so most of the coastlines are cliffs of varying heights, interspersed with tiny stretches of light, soft sandy beaches. The water is clear and blue and amazing. We find a beach that isn't too crowded, and park ourselves under an overhanging rock ledge. We're in the shade, but the rock we're sitting on leads right into the water, where a few parents and there little kids are trying to catch crayfish...apparently a popular activity here.
We sat there for a little while, reading and periodically walking through the water. We then moved to the under end of the beach, where we sat in a little cove in the mountainside on a carved out plateau. It was kind of like a couch sticking out of the rock where our feet could dangle into the water. We ate our lunches (bocadillos from the bar) and relaxed there for a while. I walked up and down the beach a few times, exploring around the rocky edges in both directions to see what the other beaches looked like.
When we were done, we got back in the car to drive to find some ice cream or coffee. We ended up stopping at another beach, because Ester decided it was unacceptable for me to travel all the way out here and not swim in the Mediterranean. Good point.
So we swam and it was beautiful.
After we dried off, we got back to the search for ice cream / coffee. We stopped at an heladeria, and ordered the most brilliantly delicious dessert ever. It comes in two forms, called the Nacional or the Blanco y Negro, depending on what kind of ice cream you get. Essentially it is a cup of slushied iced coffee with ice cream on top. I got the Nacional (vanilla ice cream) and Ester got the Blanco y Negro (I'm still not clear on what kind of ice cream this is; it tastes kind of like sweet vanilla ice cream with lemon or something) They were both DELICIOUS. After dessert, we drove back to the farm. I sat and read for a while, and swam in the pool for a bit.
Today was a good day. I feel relaxed and refreshed and want to be more helpful tomorrow!
There are now 5 people permanently staying on the farm: Lola, Candela, Ester, myself, and Lindsay. Lola and Candela are the owners of the farm and casa rural, and Ester and Lindsay are WWOOF volunteers like myself. Ester is somewhere in her early 40s and is from Valencia, Spain, and Lindsay is 20 and from Utah (!). Ester came a few days after I arrived, on a referral from three of her close friends who had volunteered here before. Lindsay just arrived yesterday - she goes to school in Portland, but took the last year off to work in Madrid, and is WWOOFing until she heads back to school in the fall.
In other news, there are bunnies on this farm. I haven't met them yet, but I will make sure I do soon (even if it means waking up early one day...). I thought there were goats or llamas or something - Lola kept talking about the "conejos" and I just figured it met some type of farm animal so I didn't ask, considering the difficulty she would have describing to me the difference between a goat and a llama (which I probably wouldn't understand anyway, because I don't have such a solid grasp of the difference). I ended up looking it up yesterday, and learned that it means bunnies. What purpose bunnies can serve on a farm is something I have not yet figured out, but I'll let you know when I do.
Also to follow up on the bread-making adventures...I woke up the next day around noon and saw the kitchen filled with bread! This is apparently an early morning event, so I missed it. Oh well. There is now a ton of bizcocho and deliciously fresh bread in the kitchen though, so it's not too bad.
And one final thing: my only major complaint thus far about the farm is that there is not hot water for the showers. I really mean zero. Showering here has been a really painful and dreaded experience for me. Literally painful - the water is absolutely FREEZING, to the point where it stings my back. Thus, I have avoided showering as much as possible. It has really been quite disgusting. At one point I didn't shower for two days, and swam in the pool one day to justify it. I actually caught a fly on my arm who whipped out his mouth tube thing and started feeding on my arm. There was rotting fruit and plenty of chicken poop around, but no: the fly would rather feast on the dirty sludge I had accrued on my arm. It was really an issue.
I finally decided to ask Lola about it. But first, I tried desperately to see if maybe there was indeed hot water and I was just doing something wrong. Of course I was just doing something wrong. I turned the faucet the other way, and voila, there is hot water. I'm an idiot. I had the water turned on to be as cold as possible. Of course showering sucked. (side note: I'm still trying to limit my use of the hot water here, even though I have it, because it's just something I need to learn to do in general)
So now for my story:
In Spain, July 4th is just like July 3rd. Well not actually, because today was my day off! Ester and I decided to drive out to a beach (just 30 km away..WOOO) for the day. I woke up early, ate my breakfast (bizcocho and coffee and figs and bread with mermeladas...a little bit of everything), and got ready to go. We drove out to the coast and then drove along the coast looking at the beaches to see which ones we liked. The coast was incredible and unsurprisingly very different from any coast in America that I have ever seen: the continent ends in a mountain range, so most of the coastlines are cliffs of varying heights, interspersed with tiny stretches of light, soft sandy beaches. The water is clear and blue and amazing. We find a beach that isn't too crowded, and park ourselves under an overhanging rock ledge. We're in the shade, but the rock we're sitting on leads right into the water, where a few parents and there little kids are trying to catch crayfish...apparently a popular activity here.
We sat there for a little while, reading and periodically walking through the water. We then moved to the under end of the beach, where we sat in a little cove in the mountainside on a carved out plateau. It was kind of like a couch sticking out of the rock where our feet could dangle into the water. We ate our lunches (bocadillos from the bar) and relaxed there for a while. I walked up and down the beach a few times, exploring around the rocky edges in both directions to see what the other beaches looked like.
When we were done, we got back in the car to drive to find some ice cream or coffee. We ended up stopping at another beach, because Ester decided it was unacceptable for me to travel all the way out here and not swim in the Mediterranean. Good point.
So we swam and it was beautiful.
After we dried off, we got back to the search for ice cream / coffee. We stopped at an heladeria, and ordered the most brilliantly delicious dessert ever. It comes in two forms, called the Nacional or the Blanco y Negro, depending on what kind of ice cream you get. Essentially it is a cup of slushied iced coffee with ice cream on top. I got the Nacional (vanilla ice cream) and Ester got the Blanco y Negro (I'm still not clear on what kind of ice cream this is; it tastes kind of like sweet vanilla ice cream with lemon or something) They were both DELICIOUS. After dessert, we drove back to the farm. I sat and read for a while, and swam in the pool for a bit.
Today was a good day. I feel relaxed and refreshed and want to be more helpful tomorrow!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Crickets should not be allowed to make deafening noises
This morning I woke up two hours ahead of schedule :(
It was 10am and I heard a weird and obnoxious ringing sound. I thought it was coming from my computer because it was SO LOUD and it would go for a few seconds and then stop, and it was very consistent. I couldn't sleep through it so I got up, and I realized it was coming from outside! CRICKETS.
I was not happy.
Once I was awake I went in for breakfast, so of course everything was okay after that. I discovered I really like figs. I thought they were disgusting before because I don't really like Fig Newtons and dried figs do not look appealing to me (although I have never tasted one). I tried a fresh one here though, and it was so yummy, so now I eat them for breakfast and for my merienda in the afternoon.
Today I got to help make the bamboo shade contraption again, but this time I actually organized the bamboo shoots and tied them together into the sheet roof thing It was really exciting when we finished! It looks really good.
I also learned how to partir almendras today. I know surprisingly little about nuts, such as where they come from and what they look like in their natural state. Today I learned that they come in hard woody shells, and you need to hit them with a hammer to crack them open to get the little nut inside. I spent a few hours doing this, and barely filled one tupperware container. It was really hard! And it was also very dissatisfying at times because some of the shells don't even have almonds in them. Particularly the shells that take forever to open.
I am very lucky to be able to buy deshelled almonds at any store any time I want to at home.
I also painted some walls today and bonded with the cats. The walls are plain white (not very exciting), but I like the cats.
TOMORROW WE ARE MAKING BREAD.
It was 10am and I heard a weird and obnoxious ringing sound. I thought it was coming from my computer because it was SO LOUD and it would go for a few seconds and then stop, and it was very consistent. I couldn't sleep through it so I got up, and I realized it was coming from outside! CRICKETS.
I was not happy.
Once I was awake I went in for breakfast, so of course everything was okay after that. I discovered I really like figs. I thought they were disgusting before because I don't really like Fig Newtons and dried figs do not look appealing to me (although I have never tasted one). I tried a fresh one here though, and it was so yummy, so now I eat them for breakfast and for my merienda in the afternoon.
Today I got to help make the bamboo shade contraption again, but this time I actually organized the bamboo shoots and tied them together into the sheet roof thing It was really exciting when we finished! It looks really good.
I also learned how to partir almendras today. I know surprisingly little about nuts, such as where they come from and what they look like in their natural state. Today I learned that they come in hard woody shells, and you need to hit them with a hammer to crack them open to get the little nut inside. I spent a few hours doing this, and barely filled one tupperware container. It was really hard! And it was also very dissatisfying at times because some of the shells don't even have almonds in them. Particularly the shells that take forever to open.
I am very lucky to be able to buy deshelled almonds at any store any time I want to at home.
I also painted some walls today and bonded with the cats. The walls are plain white (not very exciting), but I like the cats.
TOMORROW WE ARE MAKING BREAD.
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