Entries about wwoof

One of the defining moments of staying with the Werner family was when we were having supper with Daniel, Cyril and Andy.
Half of the time was spent planning activities and talking about us.
Cyril:" What are you doing on saturday ? When i get off work, i want to bring and show you switzerland" ( went on to make many plans !)
Daniel : "ok so tmr you ll do this, and the day after we will do this"
Suddenly,
Daniel" Guys what do you want to do ? Do you have anything planned out ?"

(we have no idea what to do and was just following their plans)
Shawn and Jason: " We will just follow you guys "
Daniel: " HAHA, we make more plans for you than you make for yourself ! "

I was really touched and felt a deep sense of warmth inside, we were daniel's friends but the rest of the family did not come with the attitude, they are daniel's friends and he will take care of them but the entire family wanted to and made the effort to get to know us, bring us around....
Lovely

After the Supper we had a crazy idea to go back to the bunker and get the speedometer we found !
It was past midnight and pitch black haha,
We were suppose to get up around 6.15 the next morning....
We overslept ! So did Daniel !
Haha, when i walked past his door the next morning, and we both stared at each other and simultaneously burst out laughing.

Thursday.
We went to work, We relocated a 5/6 m high stack of hay by hand ( No joke)
Tiring it was, but the main problem for me was the massive dust cloud being stirred up which than brought chaos and fire in my nose.
But ! we had a Raclette for lunch ! Ooo lala
We help with some gardening after lunch and than had a special dish for dinner.
I have no idea what it was called but it was basically a giant bowl of strawberries, muesli, yoghurt and milk.
It was super nice ! However, most singaporeans will not be used to it as, typical dinner for us is always warm and savoury.
We had a nice long chat with Cyril and Yvonne (really miss the both of them)
We than went for a BBQ at the Lake ! played basketball and than Daniel said to me, im going to the lake to hang again, you come too !
We were exhausted and had to wake up at 6 the next day so we wanted to go home !

Daniel than said :" Ok you drive back, and i ll come back later ! "
Shawn: " what ! really ? By myself ?"
Daniel :"Yes go ! "
Shawn (in the car after leaving daniel) :" WA, epic ! "

Friday.

We went to the Andy's family pig farm !
Haha, We helped to shove shit and clean all the pig pens !
Wa super dirty and smelly ! ( but we got used to it after awhile haha)
We were working with Josef ( Slovakia) Super capable and trusted worker ! ( there was only him and Andy's Dad working in the massive farm)
We watched him remove the teeth of baby pigs, helped him feed the pigs as well as tried pig cheese ! ( yes made with pig's milk ! )
It was hard work, and a little back braking as we had to bend down the entire time to work.
We had a nice Rosti lunch and went back to work,
It was time to Castrate the pigs ! ( due to the strict laws in switzerland, the pigs were gassed first)
Imagine someone grabbing you, gassing you and you wake up with your balls gone...
Yes, that is what happened to the pigs
Yes, i did it to one of them.

We came back from work exhausted but the delicious Risotto Rice and the great chat with Daniel's two sister was made us really happy !
She is from ETH ! ( yes i didnt know what it was until i googled it ! )

Things go up, things go down,
But at least the Lord is always around.

We went for a Road trip to the Gothard the next day, and when we came back, Daniel said,
You have two options, either you rest or i teach you to drive the tractor ( If you have to guess which one we chose, slap yourself )
Yes ! a tractor !!!

Sunday morning ! ( mother's day ! )
I sent my mum an email wishing her happy mother's day and than Daniel took us hiking !
We drove 80km to the foot of the mountain and started our hike !
Once we started, i knew immediately that all my other hiking trips werent really hiking haha !
( i was drenched in sweat ! and feeling really tired )
I have no idea why, the entire time, i was thinking to myself, i climb Biang with FBO and can climb so much in the army with FBO now so lousy embarrassing Singapore haha !
Daniel hadnt climbed in 10 years but he was really doing it faster than us !
When an old lady overtook me and Daniel turned around and asked if i was ok
I replied, " IF they can, I must ! "
There were really alot of old people climbing the mountain ! SUPER ZAI !
We finally arrived at the top 1,794 m Hoher Kasten !
The view at the top, tre jolie !!!
You could see 4 countries, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein
Really Epic, it was surrounded by the Alps.
We had a nice lunch and found Nody ! ( the worker in daniel's farm who was from that village, like the village lao jiao)
he led the Descent and showed us how to do it the Nody way haha

The next part was really sad but happy...
We rushed back, and went to Ida's house to help prepare dinner, RACLETTE mother's day dinner !
really nice dinner but inside i was a little sad that the next day, we would be leaving...
I cant find the right words to describe the atmosphere and food at a dinner.
Maybe this intangible feeling is what made it so special...

"People are not people without people" Shawn

We left the comfortable, clean, efficient and nice Switzerland to France. I mentioned before about the punctuality of the trains in switzerland, the same does not apply in France. haha
When we got off the swiss train for the train to the farm in France, we were relieved that we finally could afford some stuff( Haribo !!!)
However, we got quite irritated thatour train was delayed ( unheard off in the swiss) and we had to call Lisa to inform them we were going to be late as they were picking us up at the train station.

We waited awhile when Xavier suddely appeared and brought us to his car. His english was quite bad, and i was struggling hard to communicate with him, but first He did not look like the average farmer.
He was tall, young and with sunglasses and the only thing that gave him away was his hands and the dirty old car. Haha
When we arrived at the farm, we met Lisa ( his wife) and Pierre ( their friend and worker) who showed us around the Farm.
Honestly, it was smaller than i expected ( 3 Ha) but big enough as they were only 2 people and that had about 10 greenhouse and a horse ( Rosali) and another plot of land for other stuff.

They were sleeping in a mobile home (which was essentially a giant container) where the shower was located and had our meals.
We were sleeping in 1 out of the two trailers meant for workers and random friends.
There was 2 Dry toilets ( toilets without water, just sawdust to cover ur dump with) and a workhouse.
Our trailer was very bare, two beds and a cupboard, very little...but enough.
We were honestly a little disappointed as

1) there were only 1 horse and 2 cats...
2)the rooms were a little errrrrr
3) the toilets were quite errrr
4) the work on the first day was very tiring, boring and hard !!!

At the end of first day, we gathered for a simple dinner of green salad, beans and carrots.
We found out they were very poor, they had purchased the Farm for 111,000 Euros and were still paying it off.
After dinner, they took out 3 plates of different pastry !
Super nice, apple crumble, Rhurbarb cake and apple cake ( i gave them the names myself )
It really was good, and i told jason, ok at least the cake is worth it. haha

At this point of time, i have to share about my thoughts on traveling,

Every person at every age should travel.

For the young, it broadens perspective; inspires and induces them to set goals and priorities.
For the middle aged, It reminds a person of his identity and reminds and allow him to appreciate what is important in life.*
For the old, If you haven't seen much, you haven't lived much.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain