22nd of November to 15th of December, 2018.
I was surprise in how the people from the service station were helpful. They made a call for me; they let me wait for some minutes and made the call again; without results from the phone, they let me use the wi-fi to get Paula’s father address; and they help me to get directions. All so promptly and in a friendly way. It is the first Caltex in Graaff-Reinet. The one in the road which comes from Cape Town.
Graaff-Reinet have some beautiful houses, schools and streets. All very cute. It also has this traditional style feeling, which Paula completely confirmed for me later. She gave it an emphasis: “They are very traditional”.
After ringing the bell for three times, I decided to ask for help to the neighbors, since their small dog it was barking a lot. A girl saw me through the window and came outside. I can say that at first seeing, she was quite afraid of me. But as soon as I explained everything, she promptly helped opening the gate and going inside the house. She quickly ask me about Brazil and said that sound exited to leave in there. Oh, if she only knew…
I loved Paula’s parents house. So incredible well decorated, full of those old furniture and stuff that I love. And there was this huge book of aero pictures of London that almost made me cry. Robert it is a nice old man, very friendly, always moving around and trying to make me feel comfortable. After I ate some toasts with cheese, we left to the farm.
When I arrived at the farm I was like – Whaaaat? For me just what I was seeing looked huge. A beautiful farm house, so many trees around, a garden, a huge green free space in front, an amazing forest just beside, and the gorgeous mountain just on the back of the house. I had no idea how much bigger it was, when I am probably leaving without see all of it. There were two guest houses, both quite big for me, but they called them The Top Cottage (the bigger one) and The Garden House (a little bit smaller). There were three houses for the staff. And a few different rooms for different purposes.
I first met Ean. He looked like a normal guy at first, I mean, I do not think I had an opinion formed about him. With Paula it was different. I had quickly seen pictures of the family at Robert’s house but I was quite surprise in how much I liked her at the first seen. Maybe it was how she was dressed (with a jeans and those large plaid shirt that I love) or her hair and the bandanna she was wearing or the message she had sent to her father, about me arriving from nowhere, that was quite cute. I do not know. What I know is that whatever was the reason, it made me hug her. And she hug me back. Then I met the pigs. Well, quite there. They ran away from me and I ran after them. That was how we met. Just some minutes later, when they settle down, I could close look at them and realize how cute they were.
I supposed to stay in The Garden House but when Ean told me that I could also stay in the caravan I was like – hell, yeah! I can sleep in a normal house any time of my life. I slept for the first 27 years of my life in one. But Loki know when I will be able to sleep in a caravan again! Wow! And here I am until now. Almost three weeks in this cute and beautiful old model one. Man, I could live in a caravan without any problem. On my first morning, I saw a giant eland.
The first week they left to Joburg for some a few days and I was in charge of the Christmas party decoration. I did over 500 swans, I painted and sprayed some dry local trees, I made bouquets of dry plants, decorated jars to put on and they would be on the tables and a few more things. I just loved!
For the next few days I was helping in different things: with the cows, cooking, watering the vegetable garden, playing with the kids… I was reading books an making puzzles. I climbed the mountains behind the house and went for small walks. Me and the kids had a lot of fun and took some pictures together. I also spend some time with the doggies Lida and Jackie and with the cat Shadow. We had our lunch and dinner together. And some delicious meals they were.
In the last week, Paula decided she wanted to redecorated the Garden House. Yay! It was a lots of fun having ideas, hanging pictures, making crafts and lots of stuff.
I enjoyed a lot my stay in the farm. The peace and the quiet of the place. The incredible starry sky at night. But after three weeks I needed to leave. Luckily, Paula was going to Port Elizabeth and gave me a lift. She even found a nice place for me to stay in there. Now I have a few more stops before Cape Town. And in the next few days, I will face it some really challenge but incredible things…