Ecole ci-trullo

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Ok, I guess it's time for a longer installment. There isn't actually any Internet here either, but there is an Internet cafe roughly close by. We went last night but I didn't have time to write an entry. I was busy researching flights and hostels for my next planned stops. But that comes later.

So last post I explained the situation of Antonio the creeper.  The expected wwoofer, gisela, did end up arriving that nght, to my great relief. She was quite the character. She is a 42-year-old German woman who had been traveling and doing various internships and work exchanges and travels for 5 and a half years. She spoke all the same languages I do: Spanish, English, Italian, and German. She had traveled the Americas from Canada to chile. She was one of the perkiest people ive ever met, which she attributed to her diet. she was a vegan and "crudista". She only ate raw food. It sounds crazy, but the food we made was amazing. I know I don't have the discipline to be a "crudista" myself, but I wrote down some recipes and am excited to incorporate them into my diet. For example, you don't usually think of eating Swiss chard raw, but if you rinse it, chop it up, and massage olive oil and lemon into it with your hands for a minutes or two it becomes tender and delicious.
So bottom line it was great to have gisela there from Saturday on, but I was still ready to leave Azienda millefoglie.
The current farm I'm on is a trip. It's called ecole ci-trullo, and it's more of a ranch than a farm. It's actually more of a chill house where we happen to work everyday even than a ranch. There are some olives to harvest, but apart from that the work is random construction jobs (yesterday we built a new section of fence where the two horses had been escaping) and helping francesca (we call be by her spiritual name, ranuca, but that's a later part of the story) around the property and house.
When I got here the wwoofers were: Miriam, a German woman traveling eastern and now western Europe in here older-than-me Volkswagen bus; Carla, a 21-year-old Australian girl taking a travel break between years of university; and Stefan and Ramon, two 18-year-old wwoofers from Ohio. Ironically, they decided that they wanted to go back and work on Antonios farm for a week (Stefan plans to study naturopathic medicine and wanted to learn more herbolistic knowledge from gisela. so Antonio lost one wwoofer and gained two! Personally, it was too bad the boys left, but we only overlapped for 24 hours, so I didn't really have time to get attached to them.
So what else makes this place quirky? The electricity and running water have been malfunctioning since a day or two before i arrived. But I've found on this trip that physically incoveniences and discomforts are much more bearable than mental and emotional ones. What really made my first day interesting was the "festa di semina". 5 minutes from ranuca's house is an Ashram. Started by a now 90-year-old woman known as "la donna di ferro", "iron lady", she met guru babaji who-knows-how-many years ago and started the ashram to worship him a d carry on his message. They are also avid followers of the Mayan calendar. I'm still not 100% sure why they were planting "seeds of wisdom" yesterday, but it turned out that there wasn't much for us to do at the festa besides come back for a delicious lunch at 1:30. Until then we repaired the fence. Ranuca didn't even end up coming for most of it because she was at home dealing with electrical and hydro-technicians and the odd friend who dropped in. But we got to experience the rituals at the ashram, which was very interesting. I still don't entirely understand the belief system, but the ceremony and prayers did involve some "ahhhmm"-ing and "ohhhmmm"-ing. My guess is that in this particular place the spiritual beliefs have to do with living in harmony with time and nature - thus the Mayan calendar importance. My opinion is, whatever these people believe it seems to be really important and beautiful for them, and I think that is a beautiful thing. Although I have to admit it was a little funny to watch, just because of all the stereotypes I had absorbed about similar spiritual practices.
So who's left at ecole ci-trullo now are ranuca, her son fabrizio, Miriam, Carla, and me. Almost all woman, haha. Anyway, things are a lot more relaxed here now. Last night we ate a dinner of pumpkin ginger soup by the fire. I've still been waking up at the crack of dawn and not being able to fall asleep, but I actually like it a lot, and take the opportunity to go on runs in the mornings. The landscape here is quite serene: it reminds me of Ireland with the flat green rolling hills and stone walls. One of the things on my to-do list is go on a picture hike. The trulli (native/local/traditional structures, shaped like cones) are really fun to look at. And yes, I'm also living in one. There's lots of space here, and I feel very peaceful. Now that I can choose it, I welcome having the opportunity for solitude.
Oh, so now to explain my travel plans. As it stands, and obviously I've been changing my mind a lot so who really k knows, I'm planning to head to Spain in mid-November. I'm thinking of flying from Rome to barcelona, and then spending a couple nights in a cheap hostel I found there. Then I will either go visit my friends in northern Spain, or find a wwoof farm in southern Spain, where it's a little warmer (speaking of which, we are going to a market this morning and I'm going to buy some warmer clothes, ditching all the shorts and tshirts I brilliantly thought would be enough). Then Israel by December 21 (hopefully flying into tel aviv so close to Christmas won't cost a fortune). If it's still ok with Mara and her family, I'll visit them in Austria three months later, at the end of march. Then I will either wwoof in Austria (less moving around) or go back to Spain. I also arranged to go back to il granello for two weeks at the very end, from may 15 to June 2 or 3. Then I'll be flying back (vi Rome I assume) to the states in time for lily's bat mitzvah. On my next visit to the Internet cafe (I'm writing this in my email outbox at home right now, planning to cut and paste into the blog) I'm hoping to book as many of my planes and hostels as I can. Then it will be out of the way.
So I guess that's all for now. I think I made it through that rough patch a stronger person. Traveling alone has already taught me so much. I've found that wherever I go, and whatever be situation there, I'm still me, and I can still find things to enjoy. Running water and indoor bathrooms and electricity and people you know and even enough food to eat are all comforts I appreciate, but I have found that they're all things I can live without. In the end, there's very little that is necessary to survival, if you know how to just appreciate and love what life gives you. I feel great knowing that the biggest thing I need to be happy is a sense of myself, and I think I've finally started to find it.

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Comments

[Michelle]

Madeline, I hope I don't sound like a creeper, but I just wanted to tell you what a pleasure it was to read your blog. I stumbled across your's, while looking for a good blogsite to use for my blog for my own adventure I am about to take (around Europe, and Israel too!) I was excited by your's as soon as I saw that you were going to be organic farming. I graduated from college recently and am applying to work as an au pair in Germany in the spring and then hope to wwoof around Europe and then finish off by working on a kibbutz. Anyway, I was just excited to read your's, since you are wwoofing and will be going to Israel too. It sounds like you are having an experience you will remember for the rest of your life and most importantly are learning more about yourself. Best of luck with the rest of your adventure! Michelle

[Barbara]

ommmmmmm to you
What a cool adventure with the ashram and raw swiss chard with lemon. The wwoofer life seems to have lots of flexibility and change built into it and seems like a great way to meet all kinds of people and travel. It will be good for you to be in warmer weather I am sure and I am glad to hear that you made it past the creepy guy without much trauma. by the way, Humpty dumpty was just accepted into a screening at the Walker...so even from half way across the world, your films are holding your place at home. stay well and serene and happy. miss you. b

[mshaw]

don't worry, you don't sound like a creeper. when traveling you just have to grab the available resources and run with them. feel free to ask me if you have any questions (although my internet access is sporadic so i might be slow to respond). good luck with your adventure, too!