Part Three - 12.11.11

The last time I wrote I was in Budapest with mum just over 2 months ago. I had applied to a cruise ship holiday company for a job, but other than that, I was rather low on money and not sure where to head next. I never heard back from the cruise ship place, which is good I guess, I still think it would be quite a fun job, but obviously not for me at that time, and had I got it, I wouldn’t be here now. After Budapest I travelled about 10 hours on the train to Innsbruck in Austria, I had organised a job interview at a hotel on the Alps. About a day after I arrived in Innsbruck, I travelled 5 hours return, on an old train, then on a squashy bus up high into the mountains for the interview. That was easily the longest I had travelled for an interview (15hours). The area was spectacular. There was already snow on the top of the mountains. It was a beautiful place. Unfortunately though, as the whole interview was in German, and mine is not good enough, I didn’t get the job. I knew pretty much straight away I wouldn’t get it; the interview only lasted 20 minutes. I got the same bus down the hill that I had gotten up it.

Heading back into Innsbruck, that afternoon, I realised I had to pull myself together and sort out the next step. I didn’t have enough money to wait for a week to hear from the job, I figured if they wanted to give it to me I could come back, so I arranged to stay in Innsbruck 2 more nights and head north to my friends in Bavaria on Sunday. When I was in Portugal, a girl at the hostel we were staying told me about a website called workaway.info. It’s a worldwide work exchange site. The idea is, people offer accommodation and sometimes food in exchange for a few hours of work a day. Depending on the place, the work variers as does what they offer.

The day after the interview, I jumped on the site and registered myself for the year. It was 20 pounds, which isn’t bad. You can look at what people and places have on offer but if you want to contact them, you have to be registered. I went through all the photos I had taken in the previous 3 months and found the least party, least drunken photo and displayed it. I wrote my short description, who I am, what I am doing, what I want out of the work away ie language practice etc. and I contacted about 10 or 15 places. It was a Saturday evening, and I was so excited and full of anticipation to get answers back from the places. The next day, I checked out of the hostel, I still hadn’t heard back from my friends in Nuremberg about staying with them, they said I was always welcome, but both were in the process of starting new semester of uni and moving house, my timing was shit so I had to check into a hostel. I began to get a little worried, but by Monday morning I had a response from one of the places, they said I was welcome to arrive later in the week if I wished. They were located about 2 hours north west of Berlin, half way between Berlin and Hamburg.

I had heard about a program called mitfahrgeliegenheit which is basically organised hitch hiking. I met a young guy in the dorm room who was from Stuttgart, he helped me organise the trip up to Berlin for 25 euros. The train from Nuremberg to Berlin would have cost me about 90 euros. The idea is you meet the driver at a main train station at a certain time, and they drop you at another station at the destination. It is fairly safe. If you turn up and the driver is a creep, you simply don’t get in the car. Easy as that. I had no troubles. And it saved me an arm and a leg.

It was a great week to head up to Berlin as I had 3 friends from Melbourne there at the same time. Wednesday night we all went out for dinner which was nice. Then Thursday I headed to my first workaway spot. I was basically just bloody grateful to have somewhere to go. I know had I stayed in Nuremberg a few extra days I would have been able to stay with my friends, but I didn’t want to put any pressure on them and I was concerned about money.

I jumped on the train with all my stuff and arrived at the small town about 4 hours later. The family were incredibly nice. They had 2 workawayers there when I arrived. One was sort of dating the oldest daughter, and the other had been there 3 weeks and sick of the past 2 and a half weeks. I thought it was very cheeky of him to be using them like that, and by the Sunday they asked him to do some work or leave. So he left. The one who appeared to be dating Meike left the day after I arrived, he was gone for a month and planned to return around the end of October. I stayed there for 2 weeks. (15^th Sept- 29^th Sept). I did some gardening, some cooking, I cleaned up horse poo every day, and painted a fence. They fed me, and I got a room to myself with a private bathroom. I felt like I was intruding for most of the time I was there though. They were lovely, but I spent quite a bit of time alone.

Just before I arrived at their house, about a day before I heard from another workaway place, also in northern Germany (Schloss Bröllin). I replied and told them I had already accepted a place, and could I maybe come a bit later. They said of course. After about a week with family I contacted Schloss Bröllin again and asked if I could come soon. They were very accommodating and picked me up from the closest train station in Pasewalk. I arrived on the 29^th of September.

I am still here. 6 weeks later. My first impressions of the place were to be quite honest; terrifying, lonely, where the hell am I, I don’t know if I can last the 10 week commitment I have given to them. Basically is it worth it, this is so isolating! It is an old farm estate, apparently about 800 years old, can't remember where I read that. It has been restored and has now been made into an international youth performing art facility for about 20 years. I am one of about 5-10 people who live here all the time- depending on the day of the week, and there are more people who just work here and live elsewhere. I work for about 5-6 hours a day in exchange for my own bedroom, with a wood fire oven, generous amounts of food, a shared bathroom and as much nature that you can poke a stick at.

Last night it was about minus 5, and the frost stayed on the ground for most of the day today, well the whole day where it was in the shade. (It looks like snow). I can now successfully light a fire, and keep it lit for hours using wood and coal. I dry my clothes in my bedroom, we have no dryer and it is too cold outside, so all my clothes have a permanent undertone of smoke. It isn’t a bad smell though. The washing machine costs 1euro per load and is in the cellar. All the wood is piled up in the cellar too, and the 5 tonnes of coal that was delivered last week as well. That was fun to move.

Nele and I went exploring in the cellar a few days ago, imagine the movie Saw, that’s what the rooms are like down there. We saw a wall covered in mosquito lave and ran screaming out. She is 18, from Frankfurt, and lives here permanently too. She works full time at the library in Pasewalk as part of the European Voluntary Service. Pasewalk is 7km away and has all the shops, including the closest piece of chocolate- I guess that is a good thing. Bröllin has no shops, and only about 30 houses, a bus that comes like 3 times a day and a mail box.

She, Nele, found a mouse in the pantry the other day; the pantry is pretty big, as we host groups of anywhere from 2-80. She ran out jumping up and down, I was putting wood in the fire in the dining area, I thought she cut her self, making dinner or something, we all take turns to cook which I love. Anyway she was almost crying and I couldn’t work out what she was saying. She told me she had gone in to get a new sponge, and put her hand in the box and felt something soft, so she grabbed it and it moved and squeaked. I started laughing, there was no way I was getting it out, so we decided to go get someone, at that moment Eddie walked in, Eddie is my age and is from a local town, he is living here and doing some work for about a month, until Monday I think. Anyway, he started laughing at us, and together we decided to grab one of the cats, we locked Eddie in the pantry with the cat, the white cat wouldn’t do it and kept escaping. So we grabbed one of the black cats, and after 3 or 4 attempts the mouse was successfully removed.

There are 3 cats that live here. They are needy and greedy and will jump on your lap when you’re eating and steal your food, they are not allowed inside though. I think I will have a life time of bad luck as I fall over and get caught in the way of the black cats all the time, especially at night. It is so dark here at night, I use the torch Bron and Adrian got me to get from the main house to the kitchen. It is possible to see all the stars in the sky almost every night. More than in the country side in Australia. Maybe not. But there are thousands, maybe millions; I could stair up at them all night.

We have bonfires here occasionally too. Less than a week after I arrived, there was a group of about 30 young people here doing a theatre workshop. A group of us that live here, and some of the youngens were sitting around the fire. Someone put an old door on it, and it had burnt a bit but not completely through. One of the young girls, probably about 15, stood on the edge and bounced her foot up and down on the side of the door, then walked around to the other side and bounced it up and down, obviously she deemed it stable, because she walked back to the first side, took a quick run up and walked across it. I had no idea what she was doing until she had done it. Excuse my French, but what a fucking idiot. No one said anything. I was amazed. She could have been seriously injured. Maybe I am just too uptight.

Since I have been here the work has been pretty easy. They sort of expect me to find work for myself to do. I cook a lot, as I mentioned. I love turning the music up loud and spending hours in the kitchen, I haven't done that too often though.  I have spent a bit of time in the office with Ulrike. She is 28 and spent 8 months driving around Australia with her boyfriend at the time, about 2 years ago. She is on her placement for her masters course on Cultural History. We keep each other company, and distract each other most of the time. We share you tube clips and music. Currently I am re-ordering old newspaper articles into the correct dates, trimming the edges and sticking them on to fresh paper. It should have taken me about 2 days but I am dragging it out. It is pretty mind numbing, but the office is warm, and it is better than shovelling coal. The articles are from 1992-1995. Ulrike organises the groups that come through and bookings for the future. They also hold festivals and weddings here in the summer. I don’t think there are any more groups coming through before I leave. The group of us who live here get along quite well. There is the odd disagreement, and frustration, but we all enjoy cooking and eating together. It has become a little family and I know I am going to really miss them when I leave.

About 2 weeks ago Ulrike, Nele and I drove down to Dresden for 3 days. It was the first time I had been away from the castle since I had arrived. Schloss translated is castle – this is Schloss Bröllin. It was great to get away. Ulrike is from Dresden and she spent the weekend with her friends and family. Nele and I spent the first night with Ulrike’s family, then the second 2 at a hostel in the city centre. Dresden is about 4 hours south of Bröllin. When we arrived at the hostel the lady who checked us in told us that there was a guy in our room who smelt, and offered us a private room. It was about 10 euros more for the 2 nights, and looking back on it she was probably lying to make a bigger sale, but the room was cosy and we could spread our stuff everywhere like most girls do.

We went shopping and sightseeing on the Saturday, and Saturday night went to what seemed like a rather alternative party in a factory. It wasn’t until later that we realised it was Halloween themed, and that is why everyone had glowing face paint and crazy masks on. We had lots of fun anyway, dancing and what not. We didn’t get back to the hostel until about 6am Sunday morning and the sun was slowly coming up. That evening, we went to the movies and walked around Dresden at night. It is a beautiful city. I would have loved to see it early 1900s before it was bombed. On the Monday we did some more sightseeing, climbed up to the top of the FrauenKirche. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and we could see quite far. I like Dresden a lot, but I don’t think I could live there.

I am about 40km south of Poland here, I am actually living in what was formerly part of Eastern Germany. I would love to visit Poland for a weekend. The closest Polish city is Stettin. Maybe I will go there soon.

I leave in a month. I have been here 6 weeks and I am sad at the thought of leaving in 4. It took me a little while to settle in, the buildings are old and pretty creepy, the people are lovely but I think it is the same settling in anywhere. But now I am completely settled, I am enjoying my time here. I will really miss everyone. But I will be leaving. After here I am headed south to Bayreuth and Nuremberg where my friends live, girls from when I was on exchange. We are planning to go to the Christmas markets when I am there too, which will be amazing, snow on the cobble stone streets and Christmas decorations everywhere. I also hope to also get in touch with Aunty Bettina’s cousin who lives about 2 hours from Nuremberg. I hope to see her too when I go down.

I will be with my friends for about a week, and then I head to Spain on the 19th of December. I have a few days alone in Madrid before mum and James arrive. I am really looking forward to seeing them. We are planning to be in Seville for Christmas day and Lisbon, Portugal for New Years. Mum heads back to Australia from Madrid and from there James and I head north east to Barcelona. We have a week from seeing mum off, to getting on the plane in Barcelona to head to Rome.

I don’t know how long we will spend in Rome or Italy. I would love to go to Venice, Florence and Pompeii too. I have been looking into more workaway opportunities in Italy, Turkey and Eastern Europe. There are all kinds of volunteer positions available. Au pair, childcare, some charity work, gardening, fruit picking, summer camps, hostel work, tourist work, building projects; you name it, they have it, and all types of accommodation too, in a castle like here (this isn’t a real castle) in tents, share accommodation, dorms and one place offered a mattress on the living room floor.

My checks are all rosey now from the fire in my room. I don’t have a thermostat but I am guessing it would be around 19 or 20 degrees in here. It couldn’t be much warmer than that as I am wearing a jumper, scarf, slippers and I am in bed with the doona on. I am never going to take central heating for granted again. I prefer the type of heat that a fire creates, it isn’t stuffy in here, it’s pleasant. But I also appreciate the process; collecting the wood and coal from the basement every day, and lighting the fire.

I don’t know what more there is to tell, 4 pages and that’s the update.

I hope everyone is well and safe and happy. I would love to hear about what is going on for you, in Australia, America and the UK.

Congratulations to Alex for finishing year 12 so well. I hope you get into the course you want, or you could just come over and travel with us J??

Lots and lots of love J xxx