improvements

Things are looking up this last week, thank god. It's been a strange trip thusfar, as you all know, but certainly not uneventful. After escaping seven directions Denise and I went back to Cork, stayed in a hostel for a night and I arranged our last farm trial, this time at a place called the Unicorn Eco Foundation, a farm aimed at self sufficiency, who had a lovely website that had pictures giving us hope that it would be semi-liveable. We took the evening bus to Glengarriff and got off at yet another little village stop in Ballylicky, this time very far to the west in a very dramatic landscape not far from the ocean. We were met at the gas station which was also the bus stop by a nice English lad who brought us, along with his brother who come to find out, was on the same bus all the while, out to the farm. It was dark when we arrived so we had little idea as to what the area surrounding us was like. We buzzed down long dirt roads, listening to Fairport Convention, and I had a good feeling that we were going somewhere nice. We arrived to total darkness and were led to our caravan (trailer) that would be our new home. Again, it's not luxury living, but the beds were comfortable and we were happy to at least be in the presence of good people. A bit of discomfort is liveable when you like the people you're working with and for. We were led to one of the larger houses on the property and were introduced to Vickie, our new wwoof host, who is a really lovely, kind, and welcoming woman who made us tea and sat down to talk for a while. The next morning we woke up to an absolutely spectacular view out our camper window. Huge rocky mountains soaring up in every direction and a valley directly in front of us with horses grazing about and birds singing everywhere. Just incredibly beautiful. The work has been decent thus far, and varied, a bit of weeding, some mixing of concrete for the footings of a bridge they're building for their newly constructed pond, some shoveling silt from a river bed (not my favorite job thus far), digging up onions, etc, etc. We eat two meals a day on a rotating schedule among the three main people living out here. They're all really kind and I've had a great time talking with all of them. Each of them has an interesting story as to how they have gotten to where they are today. The farm itself is really impressive. The main house is the most energy efficient dwelling in all of Ireland and runs on less than one euro per day (and it's a massive house!). They're building a pond to raise their own fish, and a greenhouse to grow their own food, they have an elaborate wastewater treatment system using reed beds and different wetland plants to digest their waste, and they do most all the work themselves, along with the help of wwoofers and short term resident specialists. All in all, it's good and I'm grateful to finally have landed somewhere decent for the last of my time in Ireland. At the same time I'm excited to move on from the wwoof life and get back to traveling around a bit more. It's a beautiful place I'm living for now, but I get claustrophobic sometimes and just want to keep the adventure going. So, I've booked a flight to Paris for the 25th and will be staying in the city for five days before attempting to make my way to Rome via buses and trains. Talking with a French man who is on the farm, I've been told that this is quite a long trip, but I feel confident I'll make it in time to meet mom on the 9th of October. I'm a bit nervous to be going somewhere non-English speaking, but I feel a bit more prepared through my time in England and Ireland at least, and I'm sure it will all be fine. Thank you to everyone who has written me words of support after my last posting. Really, it was more funny than horrifying, and it all just adds to the adventure. I'll let you all know I'm alive once I'm in Paris. Till then, a'dieu.