springtime in copenhagen

The stars are a maze here, so far north, and even the moon seems to have shifted her place in the sky. I can never guess teh time, and sometimes I feel myself quite lost. But there are plenty of reminders around me: I’m not lost, I’m right here, and I’ll get to where I want to go if I just wander around a bit, and this is a very plesant place for wandering. It was lovely to have an eternal spring for a winter, but witnessing the birth of a non-eternal spring – this awakening from dark winter, the sun’s promise kept – this is deeply beautiful. It is a city, with all the filth that a city implies. But there is also a tenderness to it; the rhythm that moves this place is more of a heartbeat than the gears of a machine. If I sit in a park, away from the traffic, I can feel this place smiling. Everyone wishing for love because there’s so much of it floating around that it reminds them that it could be more! closer! stronger! Everyday more flowers, every morning sweeter the symphony of birds. Each week another layer of clothing is shed so that now dressing is only an act of modesty. In the country I’m sure it’s like this but better – a purer version of this spirit. There would be sheep there – truly a pastoral scene, something directly from my dreams. But I don’t fret about that; I feel no urgency in my pursuits. My only struggle is to remember my dreams, to remain lucid as I navigate the wonders of this world, to not confuse this city’s heartbeat, organic as it may seem, with my own. The time I have is limited, I know, but I also know that the limitation is tied more to the strength of my spirit than the strength of my body. And I am learning how to feed my spirit what it needs to be strong. In another life I was a teacher. Not so long ago, but so far away. The lengthening days then meant a bit more sunny time between when I finished working and when I went to sleep so I could work the next day. Those were alos beautiful days – it’s not that I’ve only just discovered beauty. But perhaps I have only just discovered wealth. Finally I need so little, and suddenly I have so much. My heart has not yet achieved the purity it desires, but each time I look in the mirror I see someone doing a better and better job of being me.

See more progress on: describe my surroundings

illegal

Today is Leap Year Day and my world is a little backwards - today is my last day as an officially welcomed tourist in Spain. Tomorrow the entry stamps on my passport are no longer valid, and I will be an illegal alien. I´m actually a little excited at the prospect. I feel a little fear as well when I think about it, but I've been doubly and triply assured that nothing unfortunate will befall me in this situation. I carry an American passport, after all - until this travel I've never fully understood the value of that. Even the Policia Nacional - Spain´s version of Immigration - told me when I went there to ask them about it that I won't have any trouble or consequence as long as I don´t stay for a very long time past the invitation my stamps afford me. I haven't yet found a suitable position on a UK sheep farm, though I'm still working toward that.

Gran Canaria

Wow, it´s been a long time since I've posted anything to this site. I've been on quite a few adventures and there's too much to try to catch up on for now, so I'll just write about where I am.

I am living now on the island of Gran Canaria, Tenerife's easternly neighbor. Gran Canaria is a little smaller than Tenerife and almost perfectly round. I am staying in almost the center of the island, in a mountain village called Lagunetas. I'm making a garden for an old house that is being fixed up a bit. I received the invitation to stay here and work here from a friend of Vero's; it's not a WWOOF gig but it ends up being about the same. I've been planting lots of seeds, including jalapeños my dad sent me.

Finally I feel that Winter has arrived. Some days are sunny, but more often the clouds roll in surround everything in cold and damp. Somedays there is rain or wind, but generally it's just a calm gray. One fellow in the house complains every day about the weather, and then laughs every day at my different persepctive. It's really beautiful to me. The skies often look like something from a fairy tale when the clouds come in thick and fast a little above the house or a little below. The hills are densely green, interupted by occasional small houses surrounded with neat patches of garden. Birds call brightly across the valley. My only disappointment in the weather is that the moon was obscured by clouds on the 21st and I couldn't see the eclipse.

I am invited to stay here as I like, but I feel I might be moving along soon. No firm plans yet, but it seems that the continent of Europe is calling to me. I've been looking online a bit, trying to find a position on a sheep farm to help with the lambing season. This would almost definitely take me to the UK. I have a book about raising sheep that was a gift of Finca Limon and I've been reading up about all the details of lambing in anticipation of a job. Wish me luck!

el Dia del Reyes Magos

Happy Dia del Reyes Magos - happy Magic King's day or day of the Magi.

I guess the story goes that when Jesus was born the three wise men - who were kings - saw a star or got a message from and angel and headed straight away to Bethlehem to bring gifts. They brought him frankincense and myrrh and other things that babies like. But it took them a few days to travel the distance; they arrived on either the 5th or the 6th of January (I still haven't got a completely straight answer). They call this day el Dia del Reyes Magos.

In Spain, Christmas is celebrated at Christmas and maybe a few gifts are given; but the real gift-giving frenzy is el Dia del Reyes. Santa has a small (and rather recent) place in Spain's winter holiday culture; it's really the fantasy of three kings that capture children's hearts here. There are parades and parties in the streets, shops open all night and - more surprisingly - all day, and more church bells than usual. Children leave their shoes under the Christmas tree (rather than socks hung at the fireplace) and find them stuffed with goodies in the morning. When I woke up this morning, I didn't find a stack of presents that the magic kings brought in the night, and nothing unusual in my shoes, but there is no disappointment or feeling of being left out. Maybe by next year I'll feel Spanish enough to send my wishes to the Magic Kings, but for now I'm content with my role as outsider watching tradition preformed around me.

preparing for el año nuevo

Christmas this year was very peaceful. No shopping, frantic or otherwise, no running around visiting folks. I just stayed at my finca, made some food for the dinner Christmas eve evening, thought about attending midnight mass but in the end felt a little sick to go, so I went to bed early. Christmas eve dinner was prawns, as tradition dictates. I contributed Mexican style rice, beans, and tortillas, and for dessert a pumpkin pie, about which tradition is silent.

Christmas day isn't a big deal at all here, it's the eve that everyone gets together with family and exchanges gifts (also on 5th of January, I'm told - the King's day ...) so I spent part of Christmas day on the computer calling home.

I'll spend New Years eve in La Laguna with my friends Vero & Rigo. I know that we'll eat twelve grapes at midnight and I'm supposed to wear read underwear (crazy Spanish traditions). After that I'll stay in La Laguna for a little while; my time at Finca Limon has come to a close, and I'm not altogether sure what I'm going to be doing next. There are some spots in Anaga (the northern and somewhat wild part of the island) that I'd like to explore; what I'd really like to find is a community where the people work with sheep. I'd like to learn to care for sheep and work with their wool, and if I can fit in some lessons on making cheese, that'll be great. I'm told that sheep are very rare in these parts (it rarely gets cold enough for sweaters, so there isn't much of a wool culture) but that if they're anywhere it's in Anaga.

So as the year opens for me, it presents a future full of mystery. Where will I go next, what will I learn and how, with whom? I'm glad for a change of pace and a little less certainty than I've had so far, it does make a day more exciting. And I'm confident that my luck will remain strong.

Here's hoping that your new year is also full of mystery, learning, luck, and positive change. Welcome 2008!

warm winter solstace

I suppose it's easy to welcome the first day of winter while wearing a tank top and smiling in the sun. It was downright hot today. The coolness that the rain brought has passed, leaving the island clean and bright and bursting with new green. When I get a glimpse of Tiede it is absolutely striking as it is covered with brilliant snow. Tiede is the tallest mountain on these islands and in fact the tallest mountain in all the EU ... or so I've heard. How strange to look around this island that is in every way tropical except that there's a huge snow-covered peak looming over the not at all distant horizon.

I hardly have a sense that Christmas is coming, but little reminders keep popping up here and there to tell me that this holiday will be here soon. There are some decorations along the autopista, and I can see colored lights blinking in the town below from my window at my finca. Today I switched on the radio and heard "Santa Baby". It's quite nice to be this far away from a sense of time. I wear no watch but I listen for the half-hourly chiming of the church bells. I use no callendar but I'm aware of bits of conversation that tell of a change coming. One fellow from a farm up the road told me today, "I'll be seeing you on Monday because I'm coming to your finca to use the phone. You know, to call home for Christmas and all ..." So Monday is Christmas ... or Christmas Eve? And what day is it today, anyway? Well, I can say for certain that I hope you're enjoying your RIGHT NOW, whenever that is.

con bici

I got out of Los Silos a little this past weekend. I took the bike and headed uphill. Los Silos is a quaint and cute little village, like something out of a movie with a happy ending - but in comparison with the mountain pueblos Los Silos looks almost cosmopolitan. Beautiful, simple, small communities where life is not complicated though it's certainly a challenge. It was wonderful to see and feel the environment change as I continued to ascend. Tiede, the tallest mountain, was sometimes visible far above to my right, the sea far below to my left. It's just snowed on Tiede, so glimpses of the mountain were striking. I stayed in a very old house, sleeping on the kitchen floor with a fire burning all night in the fireplace. I did a bit of work outside the next day, including picking the fruit from the enormous cactus bushes on the property. On the way back down to the coast I took a different road, through a forest called Mountaña de Agua. It was my first view of the forest here - a gentle, beautiful place that reminded me quite a bit of the forests of the northwest of the US. Both Tenerife and Gran Canaria had huge fires this year like what California suffered just before I left; scars in the forests were visible here and there, but when out of sight I enjoyed the illusion of an uninterrupted expanse of soft green.