7th to 29th of August, 2022.
Volunteer work in Sweden.
Susann looks so different than what I had on my mind. I think it has to do with the fact that, on her Workaway profile photo, it seems that she is a brunette. She is not. She is a blondie! And she is tiny. Like a tinker bell fairy kind of thing.
It is lunch time so we have a watermelon for starts and later on some sandwiches.
Her house is really nice, full of light entering through the many windows. She has a lovely conservatory and a terrace; from both places the view of the lake is extraordinary! The way to here also it looked so nice, full of threes and nothing else around. My room is great!
We decide that tomorrow I will start trimming the yard just outside the fence. She built a fence around the house, with some garden, so Daisy does not run away. She has a big land down to the lake but right now is covered in bushes, small trees and pines. My mission, case I choose to accept, is to make it clear as much as possible, given her even better view back. I will also come to her shop, twice a week, when she has deliveries, so I can help her organizing the new merchandise on the shelves.
It is day light until very late yet, just like in Finland. But that also means that, very early, it is already sunny again. I am excited to go for morning walks though. I don’t know why but up here, in the opposite of in Hub Fenix, I am super OK with waking up at 6 a.m. Unfortunately, due to Daisy’s problem with separation anxiety, I can go early in the morning only in the first days of my stay. After she jumped the fence and ran after me one morning, I started going only after they both leave to the shop, what happens only after my breakfast, so not so pleasant.
I try the brunch trimer for the first time. It is OK. I have seen one before in Scotland, Tina had and it was using it. Here in Sweden is illegal to use one without a license. Funny. Shhhh! But for the thicker trees I have to use the hand saw plus the hatchet. I am surprise how both of them are super sharp and in great condition! It is just too easy to cut the trees with them. I think I only have had some really bad tools until now on my volunteer works. Laugh.
I become responsible for making dinner for us because, every day when Susie comes back home from work, she wants to sit in her chair and relax while drinking a glass of wine. If it is sunny, she loves to sit in the sun and take long sunbaths until the sun is gone. She just loves the sun!
Talking about it, I am shocked (shocked!) by how warm it is here. I know it is “summer”. but I think that, in my whole life, I never imagined that one day I would be walking in the countryside of Sweden (Northern Sweden!), on my t-shirts, in middle August. Fantastic weather!
I get addicted to blueberries! Oh, dear Loki, they are so delicious for breakfast! It is the perfect combination to either muesli or porridge. I just love it! Every morning I go to the woods around Susie’s house, really not far, and spend up to 40 minutes there picking blueberries. I think I come home with about 400 grams every time. I have half for breakfast and another half in bed, before going to sleep. Why? Susie told me that we lose a lot of vitamins along the day, if not all of them. I mean, if you, like me, eat fruits in the morning. So, it is good if you have a second portion of fruits during the evening. And either before dinner or much after. Apparently, you shouldn’t have fruits right after a big meal. They are mostly water, right? So, your body is so busy digesting all the food, that it cannot really enjoy all the nutrients, slowly, of the fruits. Something like that…
About healthy things… Susie is a new vegan. She used to eat healthy for a very long time but due to some recent discoveries she decided to try on a vegan diet and see how things work out for her. Now, I respect all diets as long as you don’t freak out and go unhealthy. Or as long as you also keep respecting other diets. The truth is, I don’t really like when people are overwhelming about anything in general, really. Like some people talk about their countries as it was the BEST place in the world to live. Bullshit! I don’t think there is such a thing as “the best” to almost (you see what I am doing?) anything in the world? People are different, and different situations apply to them.
Susie keeps telling me all the wonderful discoveries she has been doing on veganism and how better she is now since she became vegan. But even though I am a vegetarian for 13 years, I believe she is just overwhelmed by being a “new vegan”. I do believe she has a lot of knowledge about many healthy things, and I learn a lot with her, but in some things, I disagree with her. And I think the biggest problem is how blindly she believes in this guy called “Medical Medium”. Have you heard about him? Because I haven’t until now but I already dislike him a LOT!
Basically, I think he is a big fraud. And for so many reasons! First of all, he claims that, all the knowledge he has about eating and leaving healthy, it is told to him by a voice. This voice is like a spirit, a spirit which he calls the “Spirit of Compassion”. This voice tells him he was chosen, and since the age of 4 years old he listens to this voice and became enlightened on the good and bad eating life style. Sure. That sounds reasonable! I wonder if it is the spirit of compassion that tells him how much money should he make out of his books, and classes, lectures, etc., on the way to make people “healthy”. Because of course he is a millionaire by now!
Now, another problem with this guy is that people are listening to him, following his crazy diets, stopping eating pretty healthy things and leaving out of something like celery juice, just because he says so. Why there are so many who affirm to have been cured by his methods? I don’t know! Many reasons! They truly believe they could be cured so they did. I totally believe on the law of attraction. What about placebo effect? Or the fact that they just simply got cured? Of course, many doctors don’t know shit. That’s a fact all over the world. So many times, they get wrong diagnostic or don’t have a clue about something. But that just don’t make this guy the answer for your problems. Charlatão, as we say in Brazil, meaning charlatan.
Anyway, me and Susie have a good time together. I have so much fun by helping her storing the food on the shop. And I take Daisy home sometimes, if Susie has something to do after work. She is responsible for the village house, where meetings and other events regarding the village happen. And she is trying a lot to improve the situation of the village.
We eat mostly vegan but Susie gets me some delicious cheese and yogurt from the shop too. Eggs too! We also have nuts, seeds and fruits all the time, so I am happy that my healthy will improve once more. And the eventual glass of wine, time to time.
My work down the fields is amazing and I am very proud of myself! I am not happy per se for cutting the poor trees, but it does look a lot better! I cannot believe I have done all of this just by myself. It was a lot of work! And I have cut some big pines too! Plus carrying everything uphill to what will be a bonfire? Wow! Good job, Lei! Thank you!
Ah! I almost forgot to mention Gibson! He is Susie’s cat and he is super cute. He has a lovely walk too! I feed him and Daisy almost every night, and then he stays and sleeps inside. Daisy also sleeps inside, of course, she actually has many beds (including a pink one), but she is allowed outside until very late, for obvious reasons, meaning she cannot pass over or under the fence as Gibson can.
On the day of my departure, me, Susie and Daisy leave together. They will head to the shop and I to my hitchhiking spot. For some reason we don’t know, Gibson starts following us. And he has that super cute way of walking of his. I want to laugh and wait for him, hugging him, but Susie is actually worried that he might get lost. She has brought him to the shop before, but she then needs his leash or carrier. Luckily, after a while he stops following us.
But then something else disturbs me. Before leaving home, before even putting my backpacks, I give Daisy a hug and a kiss. But I completely forget to do the same with Susie! I think I just imagined I would do once we would go separate ways. But once we got in there it just didn’t happen, and I don’t know why. But I felt very sad after all. I really thought I should have given her a hug.
Well, unfortunately the though it came too late, when I was already walking towards my next destination: Kvikkjok.
10 Years Around the World 