Fika

First off: Sorry for not posting every day. The weather's getting nicer and there's more to do than stay boxed up in the Caravan all day. So that you don't have to check compulsively for new posts, look over here....---------->

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Love Story:

There is a couple staying in the caravan for a few days while they look for an apartment. Jonathan is a farmer from Colorado, he is looking into starting his own farm somewhere in Europe. He met Maryanna while he was WWOOFing on her parents farm in Italy. Initially, Jonathan only spoke english and Maryanna only spoke italian, but 2.5 years later they are both pretty bilingual and about to start a farm together. So much for french immersion, everyone speaks english.

The Italian girl was also able to help me figure out what was written on the caravan wall. A swedish girl wrote "Je veux un Fika", which translates to "I want a Fika". Fika has different meanings depending on what country you live in. It means coffee break in Sweden, but in Italy, Germany, and France it has a variety of meanings, the least vulgar of which is "pretty girl".

Friday we went to Broc and Noriko and I built a fence. It was fun working with her, we talk 90% in english but even that is a little fractured. She asked if I had brothers or sisters, and I said yes I have both. Noriko was most interested in my sister, because her name (Sarah) is getting very popular with the younger generation in Japan. I also mentioned that she taught elementary school, to which Noriko responded "whooooaaaaa.... physical strength!". Which I think was meant to mean, "props to her, that's a tough job".

We worked rather late into the afternoon, and eventually Noriko started taking a nap. Can't blame her, fence building again involved my favorite french past-time, moving rocks.

It started snowing slightly, and then we started a bonfire to get rid of the accumulating brush that we were cleaning up, and ate lunch. We ate a spaghetti-based frittata, and Jean-Louis jokingly told Noriko that this was french high cuisine. Again, no idea if Noriko got the joke.

Friday evening I headed down to Nice, where the plan was to take the bus to Monaco. The girls took their sweet time getting ready however, so we sprinted to catch the bus. Our track coaches would've been proud, we made it to the bus stop at 10:39 PM, and sighed with relief as we waited for the 10:40 bus. Tragically, we soon realized there was no 10:40 bus, somebody had misread or misremembered the schedule, and the next bus came at around midnight.

We went and ate nachos to pass the time, and then caught the midnight bus to Monaco. We entered the first club we found, and asked for a drink menu. It was one of those drink menus where you can't exactly figure out where the decimal place belongs. 1 glass of champagne costs 200. Is that 2.00 euros? 20.00 euros (because europe is weird)? Surely it can't be 200 euros?

It was 200 euros. I quickly put the menu down, because I felt like I couldn't really even afford to be looking at it.

We found a different bar that was much more lively and much less expensive. On the walk over, we got to take a look at some of the mega-yachts in the port. As we ooohed and ahhhed, a passerby told us that those are just the winter boats, the big ones get here in the summer. I can't really understand having that much money, but now the drink prices make sense.

We caught the 4 AM bus home, and immediately fell asleep. While we were waiting at the bus stop, we got to glance in at the bentley dealership, which is right next to the ferrari dealership.

 And... Noriko made me Dinner! Walnuts and green beans and a rice with a raw egg. It was delicious, but I still don't exactly know the rules of eating raw eggs. In japan, people eat them every day. In Muhrica, the rule is "Don't".

I slept in on Saturday, and spent most of my waking hours cooking, with an eventual excursion to Wayne's pub. We ate bacon hash browns, toast, fried rice, and quesadillas.

Sunday I discovered game of thrones. It was cold and rainy, so I didn't have to feel bad about staying inside and eating chocolate all day while watching TV. I also got an opportunity to skype with the Family, always good to see their faces.

Monday we worked on repairing one of the older greenhouses (made of wood) and I did some general tidying up around the farm. Most of the work left to be done is up at Broc, but it snowed again so there is no way to get work done up there.