Skip to main content

A Day on the Farm

  It's almost the end of my trip and I keep looking back at everything in amazement of what all has happened. I'm just in Starbucks now, back in Zürich after another successful, but cold, hitchhiking trip from Bern.

Recap: Yesterday, I woke up in Luzern at this dairy farm and went out to help Erwin's grandma and uncle in the barn. It was about 7am when I was up and ready to milk some cows (my 6am plan failed but 7 was still pretty good right?!). Just walking out of the house to see this land at dusk was so nice. I entered the barn with work boots, Erwin's clothes and all. I've never milked a cow before nor was I caught up on the new advances in this work. So I was surprised to find his uncle attaching this crazy looking suction thing to the cows' utters.
  I asked later if I could try the old-fashioned way just to get the full experience, so he taught me how to milk one and gave this milk to the cats. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be! Maybe Paris Goes to the Farm or whatever that Paris Hilton show was made it look more difficult than it is... Likely.

The rest of the time, I helped them shovel poop, sweep the hay from the troughs, wheelbarrow the leftovers out to the trash, feed the baby calves (soo cute), and refill the hay in the troughs. I enjoyed being able to do this stuff I've never done and be able to help these nice people out at the same time. At least I hope I helped without disrupting their routine or anything. His uncle later said I could be a farmer. Haha
  I had to step out of the barn at one point to see the sunrise. :)

When our work was done, about an hour and a half later, it was breakfast time! Eggs, bread and honey, and milk fresh from the farm! Ah so good.
  This was one of the most unique experiences I've had and enjoyed it so much. Talking... Or trying to communicate with his grandma, mainly through Erwin's translating services, was sweet. She did like to talk a lot. I would ask Erwin how to say certain things and thanked her for the meals in Swiss-German... "Danke for tsatsa" (proper spelling to come soon).

She was impressed when Erwin was trying to think of what "oatmeal" was to tell her that's what we eat a lot in Denmark, and I was able to say it before him. Haha We shared stuff in English and Swiss-German as well as some Danish terms. It's really cool being able to share culture like that. I think being able to say "thank you for the meal" in someone's own language can be pretty special.


  After breakfast, Erwin, his grandma and I were off on our next journeys... Him to the Matterhorn and more travels, and me to Bern.



So incredibly grateful for this experience.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tivoli and Rugby

         Adding another great week to the list for my time in Denmark. Last Tuesday, I went to an international gathering for students at DTU (Denmark Technical Institute) at the Cellar Bar. I met a couple cool people there from Belgium (Ruben), Canada, France, and Denmark and met back up with a couple of them on Friday night. We went to see one of their Spanish friends play a Latin set at a bar in the city. On our way there, we were a bit worried at how this place would be considering it was on the street well known for its... Services. But we got to the Luna Bar and it wound up being really fun. The band was actually excellent , and had everyone dancing. Ruben and his friends were a lot of fun to hang out with.          On Saturday, I went to Tivoli, the second oldest theme park, with the family and met Claus' parents and sister there. It's no wonder Tivoli inspired Walt Disney to do his own thing. It's a beautiful  amusement par...

Hej fra Danmark!

        So I've finally arrived in Denmark and all settled in already. It's awesome in every way so far; the parents are so friendly and cool, the kids are adorable, the weather is amazing (I'm the only one walking around in shorts, a T-shirt and sandals, of course), the house is a beautiful, cozy home built around 1921, I just got done with a little explorative walk and the neighborhood/area is picturesque with flowers everywhere, adorable homes, and a lake nearby... It's just wonderful.           Yesterday, after a little confusion about where to meet up, using a stranger's phone (as always), and wandering around a bit, Lotte and one of the kids picked me up from the airport greeting me with the sign shown below. We made it back to the house after a little detour (I guess Lotte gets distracted driving too!), and we had coffee. We had breads and cake they got from the bakery for me to try, and they were all delicious.       ...

Sunday Times {Plus a Quarterly Review}

A weekly update has now begun! If not for anything but to keep more of journal for ourselves to recap and think about each week. So much happens so quick I don't want to forget all the fun details! This week was my first full week to work with all the crew at my new job. Lots of planning with caseloads and meetings, and such. Excited to get working with the kids more in the next weeks. Dylan started his clinical this week too for his last semester of grad school! Woohoo! He's been killin' it and so close to graduating.  Monday was Labor Day and was a very cozy rainy Oregon day. It's been quite toasty lately, so this actually felt good. So we had a long walk to Peninsula Park for some roses and then hung around the casa making bags and relaxin.  Back to work on Tuesday for a good day and a rocking Crossfit after. I made some chicken tzatziki, a new fav.  Wednesday night we tried a Burmese place nearby after another very hot bike ride.  Thursday we actually went to a c...