Time Flies...

Lots of things happen in a short amount of time here. People, food, drink, conversations and work come and go so quick that it becomes hard to remember everything. And time flies. It's currently 17:00 here in Oberndorf but it feels like midday - although my legs would tell you different, they are ready for bed.

Here on the farm I have fallen into a routine, so my average day is as follows...

7:10 - wake up and shower
7:30 - breakfast - typically continental (bread, ham, cheese)
8:30 - cycle (yes, cycle) five minutes to the farm and start the days work
12:00 - Essen Zeit! - lunch time, changes every day but always fresh and healthy and most of it grown at the farm or nearby farms
13:30 - back to the farm for a couple more hours
15:00 - free time
19:00 - Essen Zeit! - dinner, same as what was for lunch

Yesterday evening, after dinner, various friends of the family visited. First came Andy and with Andy came some bottles of Unertl Weißbier. Cheers Andy. Andy chases and captures turkeys for a living. He was telling me, using English and actions, how he grabs the turkey by one leg and by the neck, turns the turkey upside down and flings it into cages in the truck. The truck then drives to the slaughterhouse. Matthias is a vegan. Perhaps it was good that Matthias was not in the room during the explanation. Andy also told me how the cages in the trucks need to hold 5 turkeys each and that sometimes it is hard to squash them all in because they are, obviously, trying to escape. So Andy needs to put a huge amount of momentum into chucking the turkeys into the cage so they all fly to the back. I just sat there nodding and sipping my beer.

Andy went and two more men came. A bricklayer and an electrician. The bricklayer spoke good English so we made some small talk but most of the evening it was Matthias, Margit, the electrician and the bricklayer having conversations in German. I just sat there nodding and sipping my beer.

It sounds a bad experience but it was one I really enjoyed. It was very surreal as the evening got darker and the only light in the kitchen came from a single candle near me. The light switch was right next to the bricklayer but I don't believe anyone even thought of flicking it on. I could barely see the electrician as they got up to leave.

So last night was my best night here so far and today has also been very good. I helped Matthias in the greenhouse. The greenhouse is full of tomato plants that will be ready to pick in June or July. In the meantime the plants need monitoring and working on so I had some small jobs around them. It was a good chance for us to get to know each other a bit more. Matthias speaks very little English and my German, I have noticed, is really not good enough at all. Despite the language issue we seem to get on quite well and it is good working with him.

I need to start planning my weekend. I will go to one town on Saturday and somewhere else on Sunday. I am tempted to go back to Munich for one of them and maybe Donauwörth for the other day. Both are easily accessible by train so they are good options.

Bis später