Hi! There I am again :)

I am at this place, called ‘Glamorgan Farm’ for 15 days now. The farm was just like I imagined a farm would look like when I was younger: red roofs, many barns, fields, a big vegetable garden, and a lot of animals. There are horses, a cow, a sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, ducks, chickens, cats, and a lot of dogs. When I arrived here, there were more than ten dogs, because Sue (my host) went to Mexico to rescue some animals. Now there are (only) five dogs left: the rest is adopted and are in a way better place than before. That's great!

The farm was so big that it took me a few days to know which animals needed to go in what barn, and for what all the barns are used: some buildings are hired by other people. I’ve met a hat maker, a woodworker, a metal worker, and a few people that rent the space to live in. And I haven't even met everyone!

In the beginning, it took a while to find my place here. There were a lot of people coming and going, and Sue was really busy with getting all the dogs adopted. It was pretty chaotic: I switched every 2 days from sleeping place and I didn't really know how or when to fill in my five hours of working, because there wasn't a schedule or something: you could decide by yourself when you wanted to make your hours.Fortunately, I’m settled down no and I’m enjoying my time here. The first days, Sabine, a woman from Germany, (I shared a room in one of the barns with her), Bastian, a 24-year-old guy from France, and I were the only three Workawayers on the farm. A couple of days later, the two friends Nuria (24, from Spain) and Lea (20, from Germany), arrived. Sue, Chris, and Katie (their 23-year-old daughter) were on the farm too, so it was super busy!

A week ago, Sue, Chris, and Bastian went to Sayward, another place up north of the island that they own. Sabine went to a new host, so that meant we were just with the four girls on the farm. Sue sent us a schedule for the animals, but we can still decide at what time we want to make the other hours of work. One day, for example, I went in the afternoon to ‘Butterly Gardens’, a small tropical greenhouse. There were a lot of equatorial plants and animals like flamingos, turtles, bugs, and a lot of butterflies. The rest of the day I spend working in the garden. It’s super relaxed and fun to be on the farm with the girls. Yesterday Chris came back from Sayward, but Sue left again (to Mexico) to get some new dogs.

As for the animals: there are four rounds: at 7.30 am, we feed everyone and around 10.30 am we put them all outside. After that we clean/muck out the animal spaces, paddocks, and barn, and we collect the chicken and duck eggs (they’re so good!!). At 5 pm we’re feeding the animals again, and around 7.30 pm we put them to bed. The rest of the day we mostly spend weeding in the garden, but sometimes there are other tasks too like organizing, general maintenance, or walking the dogs. I love to work with so many different animals!

Right now I have a room in the house for myself. The other room in the barn had no windows, one standing lamp in the corner, and I needed to share it with Sabine. It was fine, but it's nice that I have my place in the house now: the first few nights I slept really bad. I hope I can stay here!

Because there were other Workawayers too, there was always someone to drive a car. The public transport is good, but it’s faster to drive somewhere by yourself: there are just so many activities to do around here! I think I’ve only been on the farm the whole day twice. All the other days I went to different places: the first days I could hop in with Sabine everywhere she got. I’ve been to thrift stores, a few beaches, and many hikes. One time Sabine, Bastian, and I hiked a long route around a big lake called ‘Thetis Lake’. The view and the forest were beautiful!

Recently I go on many trips with Nuri and Lea. Unfortunately, tomorrow they leave, but we had so much fun together! We watched the sunset, had a movie night, and even painted my hair!! I had an amazing time with them! We’re permitted to use the Carolla, an old red car, which is super nice! We got about four times a week to Sidney, the town next to the sea. It's only a five-minute drive so it's easy to go between the tasks to grab some Tim Hortons (the little donuts called ‘Tim Bits’ are a-ma-zing), get some groceries, or just sit on the pier by the water. Sidney is small but there are many little stores and cafes. Today we had lunch in an Indian restaurant in Sidney. It was delicious!!
Monday we even got on a road trip! I’ll tell you about that in the next blog, otherwise, this one is getting too long :)

Last week I took one day off. I decided to go to Victoria to go bouldering: I wanted to save the sightseeing for a sunny day. (’till now, most of the days were gray or rainy...) The boulder gym was nice with a lot of hard routes and cool grips which reminded me of the climbing gym at home. I met some nice girls and together we started some projects.After bouldering, I got to the ‘Royal Museum of British Columbia’. I walked about 2 kilometers across the waterline and through a part of Chinatown. It was not big but it was pretty cool to see. While walking in the harbor, I came across a little fish-and-chips stall. It was delicious!
I was hoping to see all the totems and imitated Chinatown streets in the ‘Human History’ part of the museum, but unfortunately, this part was closed. So even tho I only got to see the ‘Nature History’ part, it was nice to be in the museum.Because I was earlier done than expected, I decided to go to the IMAX theatre, in the same building as the museum. They were playing a 40-minute movie/documentary called ‘Into Americas Wild’). Apparently, it was the biggest screen in BC, so it was pretty impressive!

As I said, tonight is the last night with Nuri and Lea. Together with Katie, we’re going to the spa/pool :) On the 20th, another German girl is coming, so ‘till that time I will be the only Workawayer. I’m happy Katie stays here.

Okay, that's it for today! I’ll post some pictures of this place too.

See ya!

~Sophie