After my time in Hanover, I found myself neglecting my diary and frustratingly I knew the reason. Though it was Christmas season in Bavaria, Germany, so all was well.
I’d spent around six weeks in Bavaria by this point. I actually find it hard to remember now, and I curse myself for not writing my experiences at the time. I prefer writing in the present tense too.
My daily routine was different now, as I split my time between the two farms in Bavaria, which I really enjoyed, as I lived in two completely different ways of life.
Admittedly I felt more at home in Marion & Lutz house, even one evening watching Too Fast, Too Furious in German with a beer.
No, I don’t understand much German, but I’ve seen the movie enough times to get the gist of what they were saying.
So other than some carpentry work, helping to support the roof in case of heavy snow I fed the horses and the chickens at Marion and Lutz’s house.
At Beate’s, I cleaned the stables and cut back a bush or hedge that’d not been trimmed in many years. We also laid the foundations for a new paddock.
All were really helpful tasks to develop my portfolio of skills. And all whilst learning, I spent so much of my time around animals. I will dedicate an Instagram post just to the animals I spent time within Bavaria.
I finally saw a deer in the forest after 6 weeks and I was lucky to see snowfall in Bavaria – only a little, but enough to tick a snowy Bavaria off my checklist.
Christmas was also soon and so I found myself visiting three Christmas markets in all of the nearby towns! I think, in the end, I visited four in total.
Christmas in Bavaria was a lot of fun, eating sausages and drinking mulled wine.
I bought some small presents for my German families. Just small things, like a little doll to remind them of the laughs in Hanover.
One evening I even had the opportunity to visit a gun range and fire a few shots off with various handguns and a high-velocity rifle.
I still haven’t made my mind up, on the morality of guns, but they sure are fun to fire.
Although I enjoyed myself, I did find myself becoming overwhelmed or frustrated with misunderstandings due to language barriers.
It certainly takes its toll. It’s hard enough sometimes to speak your true objective or feelings to your closest friends, let alone with people speaking a second language.
Although all this frustration was relieved when I visited the forest to relax.
And finally picking up my diary which I hadn’t written in for almost a month.
Why?
Because as I mentioned in my Hanover post, I’d become addicted to a game on my laptop.
Games can really become destructive of valuable time and they undermine all discipline.
I felt like I was wasting so much time. I had a guitar there and I still made such a little attempt to learn it.
Though I’d be moving on soon. I’d been applying at various ski-resorts around to enjoy some real snow throughout the winter and I’d been accepted in Slovakia.
Slovakia was never on my list of places to visit, but they were the only ski-resort on workaway to provide an opportunity, I found myself planning my next movement, to the Tatras Mountains, Slovakia.
