7th to 16th of January, 2022.
My hosts have rescued animals. They are 5 sheep and and 6 goats, 2 rabbits, 3 roosters and 2 dogs. When I first enter the house, the dogs come to me, I see the rabbits running free, and when I am looking at them, a huge and beautiful snow white rooster passes by. Now, my first impression was that everything would be dirty and a mess, and I was thinking mostly about the rooster. But nope! Coco is actually super clean, only pooping here or there once in a while and that is it. The big mess was done by the rabbits.
For the first few nights I am sharing a room with another Workawayer from Germany, Fiona, and a girl who started as a Workawayer but became their regular employee, Lenka, and she is from Slovakia. But soon enough, my hosts are going to Prague, to rescue some rabbits in the way and to drop them their. That means Lenka it will move to their room and me and Fiona will be sharing the room. It is not a small room but with my mattress in the middle of the way, it feels smaller.
Ria prepares a delicious pizza for my first night. Her dough is actually amazing!
I learn pretty much everything with Lenka, about how do clean, feed and treat the animals. After David and Ria leave to Prague, the three of us make a good plan of how to share the work in two shifts, so we can have some free and relaxing time. We cook for each other and everything works out quite well. Lenka prepares a traditional Slovakian meal for us: Grenadier (mashed potatoes with lots of onions and paprika, plus pasta, and you should enjoy it with pickles).
I am very happy to finally get some experience with farm animals. But it is hard work. Mainly under such bad weather conditions. And by that I mean: cold. We didn’t even had one day of rain. Which is great! But I wonder how hard it can be in this cold, working with the animals under the rain. It makes me think about my future plans of having farm animals. Of course I would not have more than five, and chickens don’t really count, plus I know now I will not have sheep because they ask for some extra work: they need shearing at least twice a year.
David prepare Bobalki (sweet bread balls, which are cooked until soggy, and then you add a mixture of poppi seeds with sugar and raisins to it). I loved!
I plan my trip around Slovakia and I find a lovely CS host in Bratislava, a Mexican girl.
In the morning I am leaving, Ria gives me a strong hug, wishes me a lot of luck and good things and ask me to let her know I am fine. It is a good hug and it feels sincere.
David drives me to a road which leads to Banská Štiavnica, the first town I will visit during my trip in Slovakia. It is an almost desert road, and David is worried that I will not get a lift. I tell him that everything will be OK.
