Here I am

Thursday 12 August 2010

It is the hottest summer I remember. And it’s my own different summer. This year I am not doing what I always used to do. I used to wait for August, pick an island and go free camping for twenty to thirty days and spend them swimming and relaxing next to the sea. This year I decided to start my summer much much earlier so I started travelling on the 5^th of June.

Althought it was not exactly a vacation – I have been working with the horses in both farms – it feels like a vacation because I have been away from my routine for two months now. I’m getting tired now. I need at least a week next to the sea. I will try and spend the first days of September next to a beautiful beach and not think about anything.

My skin is brown and my hands are forming calusses. It only took two months of farm work.

Volunteering can give you a sence of freedom. You can leave a place and find another one. You can use your imagination and decide what you want to see and experience. There are always places that need volunteers all over the world. I dream of Africa, USA,Australia, Mongolia, Thailand, India… Places and people and experiences…

Monday 9 August 2010

Writing is not an easy bussiness. Everyday I am presented with an empty blog post in my head. Something which is interesting and funny. Like Glyka. The horse who loves to get out of any fence. Two nights in a row she got out. Today we moved her and her daughter Kaya into Marika’s field. We hope she stays there.

And the August heat is unbearable. It’s like frying my brain! I want to sleep a lot and stand still. I guess it’s a trial for me to get a taste of Africa. I have to understand that Afrika is as hot – or maybe even hotter - as Greece in the summer. I’d love to go to Africa this winter.

I am already thinking of my next step. If any of you reading have any suggestions, I’ll be glad to listen.

Thursday 5 August 2010

The place I'm staying at is really remote. That means it's really quiet and I have really calmed down since I left Athens two months ago. The pace is slower and I keep going on an on about this lanscape, the fact that you see so much of the sky in the daytime and the night time. We are located in a big farm land. There is the occasinal fig tree and we have eaten the first delicious figs for this year... But on the whole it is a calm landscape with fields and livestock. For the first time in my life I saw a cow up close. She came up to me to have a better look. She was HUGE!

Just now, before I went to bed, I was privileged with the company of a little field mouse in my room. And of course our hedgehog, eating the cat's food all the time....

Life is really out there. Living. All beings, in the company of a human or not, are living their lives. Until they die. They have none of the human worries yet they are always provided with what they need. And so are we. We are provided with what we need when we need to.

I have food and shelter and I can cuddle the horses as much as I want. Each horse is an individual. Some like cuddling more than others. Even foals do not behave the same. I like this kind of friendship. It gives me happiness. Amanda and Stathis are so brave to be out here 365 days per year, mucking and feeding and watering and caring and worrying - about money and the well being of their beloved horses. It takes a lot of courage to do what they do. I am here long enough to know that.