I have been on the road for over two months and I haven’t made any money. What’s worse, I’m spending far more than I expected to spend before I set out on my expedition. I need to make some cash, and I finally found the opportunity… as an International Sales Assistant at the Agriculture Technica Expo in Hanover.
Before I set out on my journey I conjured the plan of utilising the likes of Workaway and Couchsurfing to save money, whilst occasionally working odd jobs here and there to fund the next destination. I struggled with this more than I thought I would. My Spanish didn’t turn out to be so great and so I failed to find work in Spain. Though to be completely honest with myself, I didn’t try particularly hard.
Two months in, however, I could feel the presence of responsibility looming over me. My money would soon run out if I carried on like this and so I asked my workaway host if there were any potential places for me to work in my spare time.
And an opportunity came through. Whilst searching for workaways, I had messaged Marion & Lutz, who also had a farm with horses. Unfortunately, the workaway hosts were already hosting, though they suggested another workaway with their friend Beate.
And so with that minor connection and a casual catchup phonecall between Marion and Beate, an opportunity was discovered.
A co-driver and assistant was needed at the Agriculture Technica Expo, being hosted in Hanover.
Just one week of work, but it presented a break from the stable cleaning. I mentioned that I enjoyed cleaning the stables in my previous post, and I still did, but variation is important for my mindfulness.
Struggling with language barriers with the same people can also become tiresome.
Plus Lutz and I had similar humour. With his long hair, Lutz looked like he could have lived a thousand years ago as a Germanic Warrior fighting the Romans.
I would be paid around 100 euros a day, with food and accommodation – and of course, I would get the opportunity to drive on the autobahn. The autobahn, meaning motorway and it doesn’t have a speed limit in Germany.
So it was a free trip to Hanover. Hanover was actually a place of interest for me, as it was it’s own kingdom less than 200 hundred years ago, and they loaned regiments to the British empire to fight Napoleon.
I stayed at Marion & Lutz’s house that evening as we’d be leaving early the next day. It was interesting, as I probably would have been there if not for the current workawayer staying there.
She turned out to be a really nice Argentinian girl called Paula.
Marion & Lutz’s daughter, Sinai was home too with her friend, so the dinner table was full. I can’t actually remember what we ate, but I remember it was good!
I met their dog, Loki, who was a bundle of chaos and craziness and a necessity for attention. Their ninja cats, running in and out, through and over every obstacle on the farm.
In the morning we had some salami rolls and headed out on to the road.
Lutz let me have a practice run in the van on the quieter roads.
It was a crazy situation for me to be driving on one of the fastest roads in the world, on the right-hand side, as although I had been driving motorcycles for about six years already, I’d only just passed my car driving license in February 2019 and hadn’t driven since then.
So after racking up more mileage in Germany than I ever did in England, we made it to Hanover. We set up the stand at the expo, went for a pizza and finally checked into the B&B.
Now, because it was a last-minute decision for me to go to Hanover, the B&B host kindly made space for me in the attic, which doubled for her daughters’ playroom.
There were dolls everywhere.
My imagination doesn’t take much to exaggerate and create paranoia.
I covered all of them with towels and t-shirts.
But it was when I went to the toilet on the ground floor around 2am (almost witching hour), that it happened.
I returned to the room and switched the light off and for half a second stood in complete darkness, before a…
“MEEEEHHHHHHH”
Came from behind me.
Immediately my hand slapped the wall behind me to find the light switch.
In my panic I managed to hit the switch with one my slaps and hand stayed glued to the wall, my other holding my chest to support a ribcage that was taking a beating from the inside.
I stood petrified.
Finally building the courage to move, I investigated the noise.
In the morning the noise was confirmed.
“Hey, did you sleep well?”
“Hmm yeah about that…”
I told the story, of which the host and Lutz found hysterical.
I was scared half to death because of a children’s clock that made an animal noise on the hour whilst the light is on.
Actually, it could be the best story I have of my entire trip.
The next day I would start selling Lutz’s invention – The world’s smallest Soya Roaster.
So I learned a little more about Soya beans and the production.
The Agriculture Technica was a strange experience for me, as it was all about globalisation and mass farming, both of which destroy habitats and exploit the farmers and consumers.
I also don’t agree with the consumption of soya as an alternative to natural human food, but everyone owns the choice to eat what they want.
And so, a soya roasting machine that enables the farmers to produce their own soya products, widens the bottleneck created by middleman companies. Therefore, ethically I’m all for.
Yeah, so other than eating cakes and meat sticks; I created a new, modern PowerPoint presentation, drove a remote tractor around and helped make sales. I learned a lot from Lutz, ranging from general knowledge and dad jokes to sales. He really sold his invention with passion and such enthusiasm to the potential customers.
The week went by so fast and my jaw hurt by the end from laughing continuously.
The stand next to us were cool people and we spoke everyday. The stand to the other side of us were more self-indulged and they deployed the “show-girls” marketing, which is completely bizarre as it was tractors and diggers, not racing cars – well, except the world’s fastest tractor.
Though the girls turned out to be a laugh in the end when they dressed up and couldn’t be gawped at by all the world’s farmers.
One bad note is the amount of sugar and processed meat I lived off for the week. It was difficult working the hours and attempting to prepare healthier food.
Oh and strangely I had Chinese for dinner pretty much every evening. Fuck knows why, being in Germany, but I also had Kangeroo for the first time.
Kangeroo in a Chinese restaurant, in Germany.
There were certainly consequences in physical health, but also mental as I no longer had the patience to read or write and instead increased an unhealthy addiction to video games – in particular Rome: Total War. I convince myself that it’s a strategy and mind developing a problem-solving, game, which on a level, is laughable.
Some of the biggest politicians in Germany spoke on stage one evening too, but the contradiction and bullshit they spilled was expected. I actually left early as I could feel myself getting annoyed.
“Technology will save the world!”
Lutz drove the entire five hours back from Hanover to Bayern after the show (through choice), and I played my game for five hours solid. Talk about procrastination.
We arrived back home late. I think 1AM in the end. We quickly shared a few funny stories and went to bed – well sofa.
Paula came up with the most amazing idea of a barbeque. Exactly what was needed after such an unhealthy week of processed snacks and cakes. When asked to join, I simply replied,
“Do bears shit in the woods?”
One problem was that Beate would need help with the horses in the morning, so we made a quick trip to Beate’s farm, cleaned the stables, fed Paul (their dog) and returned to Marion & Lutz’s farm for the most delicious barbeque. I hadn’t had one in a while and barbequed steak and chicken really hit the spot.
I even got to take the quad bike (ATV) out on a ride through the Bavarian Forests.
That evening Lutz played his guitar and Paula played her ukulele. It was a really beautiful moment practising and playing together.
I need to learn an instrument. I’ve always wanted to play the guitar, but never enough to learn. Though I’ve rarely experienced magical moments like this, to truly motivate me.
Music is an incredibly powerful tool if used correctly and playing your own instrument is an incredible way to offload frustrations. You can hear Billy from a rock band talk about it in my Podcast.
This one week away in Hanover was full of fun, tuition, motivation, and inspiration. It would also change the rest of my experience in Germany.
PS. The dolls are always watching.
>.<