Holá amigos,
Tarragona is the name of the town and of the province. I am in the province, not the town. I am about an hour south of Barcelona by train. From the top of a nearby hill I can see the Mediterranean Sea. I am here on my first WWOOFing adventure. WWOOF, if you never heard of it, stand for Worldwide Organization of Organic Farms. Workers choose places they would like to volunteer, in exchange for food and a place to stay, and then contact the host farm to see if they are looking for any help. I bought a yearlong membership for WWOOF España (20Euro) which got me access to hundreds of profiles of farms in Spain. I chose Tarragona because I like the way it sounds. I chose this farm because they were the first to respond to my email. It is not a farm, exactly; it is actually a house with a garden. They are a young couple with a 2 year old son who are living here on the land in exchange for work and improvements on the property. They immediately won my heart because they picked me up from the train at 11pm, when I was supposed to arrive at 7:30, and had a lovely dinner with homemade olive oil, delicious wine and great conversation waiting for me when I arrived here at almost midnight.
The living situation here reminds me of a combo of my dear friend Iris’ first house and the place I lived in Alderpoint, CA. Limited running water, the drinking water comes from a friend’s property and we shower at the pool in town, and solar power which is a recent addition. The house is a beautiful, old stone structure which would look perfectly at home in Nepal. I have seen a few like it in the area, apparently is a typical design here, too. There is no fridge, which really works just fine- there is a storage room which stays cool because of all the stone. They do not own it, but live here in trade for fixing the place up and basically keeping it from being vandalized or just ruined with time. It seems that petty theft and vandalism are pretty common in Spain. Funny to have to come to the “civilized” world to be ripped off!
We feed the compost pile, the dogs and sometimes ourselves by ‘recycling’. That is a euphemism for dumpster diving. There are a few places that they found out about from friends which often throw out day old bread or fruits and veggies that have passed their prime. If there is meat they cook it for the dogs. If the bread is bagged separately and clean they keep it for us and likewise the veggies. We have made some delicious jams with pears and strawberries that would have otherwise been wasted. The tomatoes get made into sauces with fresh herbs that grow wild everywhere here. Rosemary is an absolute weed! I did a bit of ‘recycling’ in my traveling days, never out of necessity as much as curiosity. In Arizona we would collect food to cook up for Food Not Bombs, who feed homeless people in Tucson and elsewhere. The Tucson branch used to cook their meals in the co-op house I lived in briefly. It is amazing and sad that in a world where so many people do not have enough to eat there is so much food wasted every day. We have found imported foods from South America. Imagine the trip made by this item, only to end up as garbage. It is quite common here, too; today we saw an Audi parked beside a dumpster- its owner combing through the contents.
I am planning on traveling south to Valencia next. It will be hard to leave here. One of the people here is from the U.S. and the comfort and security of having a native English speaker is nice. But I came here to get my Spanish, and I will do it faster if I have to use it, although she and I do speak in Spanish, too. According to her and verified by others, it takes about 3 months of immersion to begin to really understand what is being said all around you. Three months seems like a long time, but considering I have been half assed studying Spanish for over 3 years now I will be pleased to finally start seeing some real results! I have already spoken more Spanish in the last week than in the 3 years prior. That’s why they call it immersion, I guess.
On the other side, my English teaching TEFL certification is progressing. I am on Unit 15 of 20! After I finish the first certificate I am also signed up to do one for teaching business English and also for teaching children. So, I have all bases covered. I have been told that there is a definite need for English teachers in Barcelona. I don’t know about working here as a non-European, but I have met a lot of Latin Americans who are working here legally, so it must not be impossible. If anyone has any tips or connections, let me know. I will begin looking for teaching opportunities here in the next week or so.
The Canary Islands have come into my sphere a lot recently, too. I think after my time in mainland Spain I will go to Morocco for a bit and then to the Canaries. I am already trying to make contacts thru WWOOF.
Any suggestions on thing to see here in Spain, in Morocco, in the Canaries or elsewhere are always appreciated :)
