logística

ok, so i've been getting a lot of questions about what my days are like, where i am exactly, when i'm free, etc. so here are some deets about my life right now:

localización:
i am living on a farm called cortijo del zapatero, located in the province of granada. this is one of many provinces in the autonomous community of andalusia. granada is also the name of a spanish city, but i am about 2 hours away from there. to be honest, i don't think the farm itself is in a proper town. the mail does not come to the farm, directly, but instead to a box in the nearby town, torvizcon.
the farm is located between to small towns: torvizcon (a 10 minute drive and 30 minute walk away, smaller town) and orgiva (20 minute drive away, larger town).

la vida:
i am volunteering on the farm for 30 hours a week. currently, i either work 5 days a week, 6 hours a day or 6 days a week, 5 hours a day -- depending on what works best for me, lizzie, and the other volunteers. for my work, i am given 3 meals per day, a room and other necessary accommodation (internet, towels, a ride to the doctor, etc.).
each day, i work for 3 hours, have a tea break (ah the british and their tea), go back to work for 3 hours, eat lunch, and i'm done. dinner is around 8pm.
every day it's something different: new project, old project, our farm, someone else's place, lifting, weeding, sorting, building, cooking, anything! i've found that i'm great at cooking and can be very creative, so i get to do that twice per week. i'm learning a lot about seasonal planting and growing as well as eco-building. and i'm in the sol sol sol! i'm working spanish conversation into my routine at least 1 day per week. from other WWOOFers to friends of lizzie, i'm meeting new people and exchanging ideas and concepts with them regularly about anything from race and access to higher education to the benefits of llama shit. it's shocking, hilarious, and affirming.

so i'm coming from a 40-hour week, 9ish-5ish office/desk job, in which there is minimal if any variety in tasks per day. in my most honest opinion, this lifestyle is some bullshit. i can't do this type of job and also feed my inner artist, yogi, and scholar. instead, i spend my most productive hours doing the same thing every day, in the same place, and all i want to do after is anything mindless: sleep, watch tv, watch facebook, or sleep. this reality has been clear to me for some time now, though i haven't quite discovered what might be an alternative. that is until about 6 days ago as i was helping lizzie separate kindling wood (twigs, small branches, leaves) from larger burning wood (logs, branches) that she had gathered tons of by pruning olive trees (popular around here) on a client's property. i realized that i need to move my body, instead of sit in a chair; i need to have something different to do every day; i need to learn new concepts and explore the creative ideas of my own and my colleagues; i also need tasks that involve skills in which i am apt and confident; i need warm colors, preferably sunlight; i need freedom to set my own pace and supervision which trusts in my commitment to complete a task after a necessary break; i need to feel valued through communication and compensation. and guess what! i have all of this at cortijo del zapatero.

hit me up:
so lately, i've been off every sunday and thursday.
spain is 5 hours ahead of eastern standard time in the us.

thursdays
i access the internet around 1 or 2pm spain time (11am est, 10am cst). i'm there until around 4 or 5pm spain time. hit me up on google hangouts or via text then, if you want.

sundays
i use internet in the afternoon until about 6 or 7pm, spain time. this is usually late morning to afternoon in the states, depending on what time zone you're in.
otherwise, after working monday - wednesday and friday - saturday, i just hang out in my room or with other volunteers. i can text during those times.
it might be choppy cuz i'm liable to be reading, writing, or socializing. but hit me up anyway.