Update

I think that today I am going to the mountains, so I probably will not be writing much from now on. My next workcamp will be very rustic, we will not even have running water. In the next few days I will try to call family and friends, but until August 20 I may not blog. So, until then!

Toulousse

I have just stepped off of the train in Toulousse and said goodbye to some very good friends. My workcamp in Flamarens has come to an end, and leaving has been far more emotional than I ever thought it would be. At the camp I lived, worked, ate, played and slept with 8 amazing people for 20 days. Additionally, I made many friends from the village and nearby village. In the past few days we finished our work on our wall; it was bittersweet: it was satisfying looking at the finished project of the past few weeks, but looking at it reminded me of how it is all over so quickly.
Thursday night we hosted a dinner, a soirée, at the ecomusée where we gorged on food, wine and good company. The next day we spent all our time writing notes to each other to remember our time by; it was like the end of highschool and the frantic signing of yearbooks. We exchanged addresses, took pictures like mad, and that night we had some friends come to say goodbye. This morning we packed, and left our beloved ecomusée. In Agen our group split in two and I said my goodbyes to Anka and Daniella, the Slovaks; and Yusuf the Turk. Then, Ruben, my Mexican; Seung Eun and Sung Koo, my Koreans: and Maria the Ukrainian and I boarded the train to Toulousse. Here, Ruben, Seung Eun and Sung Koo carried on there way to Barcelona. This group was closest to me during these 3 weeks, and we all cried as we clung to each other and said goodbyes. I did not know that these people would have such an impact on me, and I did not know that they would love me so much.
Soon, Maria will continue on her way to Madrid and I will wander around Toulousse by myself. Tonight I will be with Joel, our fearless leader. Then tomorrow is unknown.
I am happy to have some free days to relax, wash my clothes and catch up with emails and phone calls; but I am sad to leave Flamarens and all that it meant to me. I will return to the village as a pilgrim, and undoubtedly will stay for a day or two. But the friends I made in my workcamp will not be there, and I will miss them.
This means that I must work very hard this year so that I can continue travelling: Mexico, Korea, Turkey, Ukraine and Slovakia are all beckoning to me!

Flamarens

I am now in France, I arrived July 6 and have not yet had enough time to write a blog. I am at a workcamp with international volunteers: Slovak; Ukrainian, Mexican, South Korean and French. We are in a village of 150 people, and all of the villagers are kind and generous with us. Our work is to build a wall in the village, and to clean the Ecomusee for closure. The town had their party last weekend and attending the three dances were among the highlights of my time so far. Tomorrow we are leaving for the weekend to go to a Samba festival that another camp organized.
It is hard to type a lot; the keyboard is very different and I feel tired. I miss everyone but am having the time of my life. Until next time, adieu.

Leaving Rome

Well, I am sitting in the laundromat so that I can start in France with clean clothes...three weeks of travelling and I really miss being able to wash my clothes any time I want. I have had a good time in Rome, and have been keeping pretty busy. Debbie and I have been to the Ancient city to see the Colosseum and Roman Forum; the Vatican to wave to the Pope...but we didn't get to, he must have had a lunch date or something. Yesterday we went to Pompeii, which was awesome. I was hoping to see loads of petrified people, shielding themselves from the oncoming lava flow. We saw three such people, but they were lying down and in plastic cases, so it was hard to see just how terrified they must have been. I asked Debbie what position she would like to be frozen in time for, and she decided a cool lean, with a hand on her hip and her other hand over her brow, as if looking into the sunlight. She wants eternity to know she has sass. I think if a volcano was coming I wouldn't have much time for sass...maybe a run or maybe a duck for cover.
The excavations at Pompeii were huge, and so many frescoes have been almost perfectly preserved. You can get a real feel for how this community was before the volcano erupted.
Last night we went out dancing and I for one had a great time. I love dancing, and I love being in a place where people go for the fun of dancing and not for other reasons...I expected Italy to be full of a lot of aggressive people, especially in a club. But where we were everyone minded their own business and just enjoyed dancing.
We slept in this morning, and went to the market in Campo d'Fiori. We had a nice lunch and then I left Debbie to do my preparation for France. She went to explore the Jewish Ghetto...even though its Sabbath and most things were closed she had a great time. Debbie loves souvenirs, so she had great success in this area today.
Well, my laundry is done and I should go back to the hotel now. I have to try to find some bugspray before I leave so that a repeat of the Ostia affair does not occur.
Ciao!

Mosquitos and Italy

So, on Monday I flew from Barcelona to Rome, and Debbie and I met up easily at the airport. Not so easily, we found the Cotral that took us from the airport to Ostia, where our first hostel booking was. It was super hot, and the hostel did not aircondition. We took a metro into Rome and saw the Spanish steps, purely by accident. We even walked them before we knew what they were. I definately know very little of what things actually look like in Rome, so its hard for me to know what I am and am not seeing.
When we went back to the hostel after the steps, walking around and eating, we went to bed. This was possibly the worst experience anyone has had in Italy. The windows were open and all night we were kept awake by mosquitos. In the morning we got up early to go to Pompeii and I had at least 200 bites. All over my face, legs, back and arms. Then, to make matters a little upsetting, we could not find the meeting place for Pompeii ontime so we missed our tour.
The day went a lot better after we had breakfast. We arranged to go on the next Pompeii tour so we did not lose money or the experience. That will be tomorrow. We went to see Ancient Rome. The Colliseum, Roman Forum and Palatino. Then we went to our next hostel that had AIR CONDITIONING!! We had two roommates. One of them was named Dustin and he was from Montana. The three of us all fell asleep for at least three hours that afternoon, and when it was time to get dinner, Dustin came along. I had delicious caprese and calamari. We had a bottle of wine, and then we went walking. We ended up at a bar and I had a little too much...I think the wine threw off my judgement.
The next morning Debbie and I went to the tourist office to find a place we could stay for the last 4 nights we will be in Rome, and now we are in the Aphrodite Hotel, a three star with AC. Its nice, and nice to have a double room, no roommates.
We have been to the Vatican, climbed up to the Dome of St. Peters which was breathtaking, and we did an open bus tour. Rome has so much to see and do but it is hot all the time, so I am finding it hard to keep going all day long. In the afternoons we need a bit of siesta. And now I am going to take mine. Ciao!