Wednesday, April 29, 2009

french keyboards are confusing

i am in normandy at a farm that is somewhat surreal in its beauty. i am working too much but i'm learning everything i ever wanted to know (and more) about permaculture and sustainable agriculture. plus my french is coming along much more quickly because they actually sound like they're speaking french here, rather than italian like in nice. so i think it's a fair trade-off.

Friday, April 24, 2009

i <3 feminism

another cemetery today, though this one held more personal interest for me than yesterday's.


i think tonight i'm going to have a picnic on the seine with some people from the hostel. then it's off to a new farm in the morning.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

i like france

la cimitiere du pere lachaise is a wonderful place to while away a sunny afternoon.


the eiffel tower is pretty at night.


(sidenote; someone anonymously requested that i post more pictures with myself in them, hence the glamor shots.)

plans

i found another farm! it's in normandy so i'm sure the scenery and culture will be completely different from the cote d'azur, which i'm very excited about. it sounds like it'll be hard work (they work the land with horses!) but i think it'll be an interesting experience. plus they're really into living sustainably and alternative medicine and such things so i think i'll fit in perfectly.

paris is nice but i'm getting a little bit bored so i'm looking forward to getting settled into a farm again. i'm much happier when i'm working.

Monday, April 20, 2009

conundrum

i'm not sure what i want to do next.

i'm looking at an apartment tomorrow but i have a feeling it won't work out. which i will be fine with--i can't decide if i want to stay in paris for too long. ideally i want to work on another farm because i think it's the best way to improve my french but i don't know that i'll be able to find one soon enough.

maybe i'll just start using my eurail pass soon and go to amsterdam.

blergh.

highlights

yesterday entailed;
a walking tour of montmartre
the eiffel tower, the louvre, and the arc de triomph (all from afar, which was fine with me)
ice cream while sitting by the seine
thrift shopping and the best falafel EVER in marais, preferred home of "les bourgeois bohemes" (aka hipsters)

all with 2 very cool girls i met at the hostel.

someday i will post pictures.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

gay paris

i'm in paris. after a 6 hour train ride through beautiful french countryside i arrived yesterday around 5:30. my hostel is located right at the base of the sacre coeur basilica in montmartre, which is an absolutely adorable neighborhood. unfortunately it's raining today so i'm not entirely sure what i'll do, but hopefully it'll include some secondhand shopping.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

so much to say...

i found free wifi so now i can make a real update.

as i alluded to in my previous post, this farm is amazing. the family is so incredibly kind and generous and sweet and i love the fact that they really put me to work here. on any given day i could be planting tomatoes, harvesting fennel, preparing the fields for planting, or a million other tasks. there are 2 other workers at the moment, nick and christopher, and it's nice to have some company. they're fun boys.

they grow so many different things here it's rather amazing. they're best known for their tomatoes because they grow over 85 different varieties. unfortunately i came too early to get to try any of those but i have gotten to try fresh fennel, kumquats, green almonds, squash flowers, and countless other fruits and vegetables straight from the ground. it's wonderful.

yesterday we worked especially hard to plant 2 fields of tomatoes and courgettes before the rain came. pierre was so grateful that he took us out to a restaurant so we could sample les fruits de mer de nice (seafood). i was surprised by how delicious the escargots de la mer (sea snails) were, although i wasn't a huge fan of sea urchin.

unfortunately on every single one of my days off the weather has been horrible so i haven't really ventured out of nice, aside from aday in cannes. i wanted to go to monaco today but it's pouring so instead i think i'll go to la musee de matisse.

because i haven't had internet i haven't been able to clarify what i'm doing next. which means that hostels in marseille and aix-en-provence are booked so i've decided to go straight to paris. i've booked a hostel for 4 days and after that i'm not really sure what i'll do. am i ever sure of anything?

Thursday, April 9, 2009

finally an update

i think this was the first time in a very long time that ive gone a week without internet. its a good thing. however im currently paying by the minute so im going to keep this short.

i am ridiculously happy on this farm. the family is amazing and im being super productive which i love. im using muscles i forgot i had and loving every minute of it.

im a little sad im only here for 9 more days. i also have no idea where im going next so i should probably try to figure that out. i think i might start using my eurail pass a little sooner than id thought.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009