notes from the road

The novelty has worn off.
Farmer Dave is a little weird, I’m tired of always being cold, and I’ve discovered that rustic = dirty.
Nonetheless, I’m here for 2 more days.

SUNDAY 18/5
7:20AM – my alarm goes off so I can open the shutters on the window to watch the sunrise from bed.
7:21 - turn off my alarm, turn over, and go back to bed.
9:20 – wake up, get up, get washed up, and eat breakfast, which is usually last night’s leftover dessert. (apple crumble, plum crumble, and today was carrot cake)
10:00 – read my bible a little.
10:20 – sit in the sun contemplating the purpose of life. No joke – it’s crazy how when you travel, you really do spend a lot of time thinking about such philosophical issues. I suppose it’s because you have so much time on your hands and you don’t have a lot of the things that one generally pours their time into, such as a job or a long “to do” list or many material belongings (not much fits in a suitcase). Even as a Christian, where you try to lead a life centered on loving God and loving others, it’s an interesting thing figuring out what this type of life looks like on a daily basis; how does one live with purpose 24/7?
11:00 – after figuring out the purpose of life, as well as a solution to end world hunger, poverty, and war, I take a walk around the farm with Carolina and 3 of the farm dogs.
12:00PM - sit-ups and a few other exercises, which serve as my lame attempt to stay in shape.
12:10 - eat some chocolate and an orange : )
12:30 – writing. Writing has become like breathing to me since I’ve been away. It’s essential. Since I’m not surrounded by my friends and family who I’d normally share the details of my life with- I need a way to express myself and process everything that I encounter and experience.
1:00 – lunch, which is leftover dinner. Today that means pizza.
1:30 - time to feed the cows. Carolina and I hop on the 4×4 and meet farmer Dave at the cow field. We herd the cows into the main field. All this really means is that we walk behind them and they mosey into the field. We then move the electric fence pegs allowing the cows 5 more feet of grazing space in the feeding field for the next day. Then Carolina drives the tractor while farmer Dave throws hay off the back and I trail along on the 4×4. I proceed to get stuck in a mud puddle and need the tractor to push me out. We all head back to the farm. The hardest part of the work day is avoiding all the heaps of cow crap.
2:00 – eat some more chocolate
2:10 - 25 more sit-ups
2:20 – reading again. I just finished Confessions of a Fallen Angel by Ronan O’Brian which was a very, very well written book; I highly recommend it. It’s about a boy who has a near death experience and then has premonitions when the people close to him are going to die. Today I’m starting A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. It seems pretty funny. It’s about 4 people who meet when they all try and commit suicide from a building on New Year’s Eve. And I just realized I seem to have a death theme going here. Huh.
3:15 – baking cookies while dancing around the kitchen with Carolina to Justin Timberlake and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
3:45 - reading, writing, thinking, and to be honest – being bored out of my mind. I’ve had enough of quiet farm life. In the right company, this could be amazing, because I guess it’s always the people you’re with that enrich your life with joy and bliss.
Anyway, from this time onward, Carolina and I play a little game called chase the sun. It’s freezing after the mid day warmth sneaks away, and you’ll find either of us sitting wherever a little sliver of sunshine manages to touch down. As darkness creeps in starving out all warmth, we resort to standing by the wood-burning chimney and clutching onto rubber sack things that you fill with boiling hot water. I’m holding one of the rubber sack things right now in fact.
5:00 – trying to get my laptop charger plug to charge my laptop. The things you take for granted, like the simple ability to pug in your laptop and charge the battery. For me, this is now an ordeal where I consider hurling my laptop out the window at least twice before I give up.
6:20 – cooking dinner. Polish perogies (noodles stuffed with apples)
7:00 – eating dinner
7:45 – hot shower, which helps revive my frozen body
8:30 – in bed. Farmers don’t go to sleep early because they have so much work to do in the morning, it’s because they are bored. Carolina and I snuggle under about 10 blankets, do 25 sit-ups together in bed under the blankets, and then talk and giggle like school girls until we both drift off to sleep.

BTW: things with my travel buddy are going much better. We’ve kind of found our groove so to speak, acclimating ourselves to one another. This is good because we’re going to be together for another 2 weeks. If we want to go back to my pathetic ice-cream metaphor, you could say the acclimation process is kind of like taking those pills that allow you to eat dairy… gas x? imodium? Anyway, we’re both drugged up on those.