Wintershall Estate

16/12 - On Sunday I skyped with a family from La Almunia, Spain. The man I've been in contact with, Felix, has a wife and two children, both of whom are younger than 10 years old. They all seemed very friendly. Felix has been learning English for a couple years for his work, but he's still a bit limited. He wants his children to learn the language early in life because younger people have minds like a sponge; it's easier for them. He said he wanted to move to England to be more immersed in the language, but it's too expensive.

He and his family have hosted two volunteers before. Felix said he usually hosts volunteers for longer amounts of time, like six, seven weeks because not only is it good for his family to have a native English speaker in the house consistently, it's also good for the other person to be immersed in the language as well, so there's benefits to both parties. I also demonstrated I have a basic understanding of Spanish, so that was a plus for them. I learned his son is very shy, but play soccer with him and he quickly opens up.

So essentially I was invited to come to their place over the summer. After I finished speaking to them, I felt a very nice buzz. They were very nice, and I'll try to stay in contact with them. Now, about this WorkAway...

I've been dropped into an episode of Downton Abbey.

Charlotte, the woman I got in contact with, lives on Wintershall Estate (Google it!) in Guildford. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hutley (NOT Peter and Anne) own the property. It's 1,000 acres, complete with donkeys that nay early in the morning (like a rooster), horses, thousands of sheep, pheasants and other animals. There's Duncan the groundskeeper slash maintenance guy I follow around most of the time, Chris, an extra hand from Poland and various other office workers I've met. Charlotte has a brother-in-law here who is a famous sculptor and has statues in London, Hong Kong, the hill on the estate and other places. Apparently he's world famous.

This is where I'm sleeping. 

I arrived on Monday in the middle of a stressful time for everyone because they're just about to show a large and elaborate play about the Nativity Scene and the birth of Christ on the property, so the theater at the top of the hill and the surrounding area have to be prepped. The whole group will be performing the play at the BBC in London today, and I'll join them, but not before I get to wander around on my own in Central London again, this time visiting Tate Modern. The play will take place at Wintershall twice a day starting on Thursday and ending on Sunday. I saw the play Monday night, and it's very elaborate. It should be great to see on Thursday.

But yesterday was mostly Charlotte and I cleaning up her garden. She has an awesome little cottage at Wintershall that is surrounded by an overgrown and gnarly garden (which is what I think a garden/yard should look like). We spent the afternoon mowing the lawns, pruning trees and shrubs and digging up a dead tree. By the time we had no more light at 4:30 p.m., the yard actually looked bigger. Duncan loaned me a pair of galoshes and a big luminescent safety jacket so my feet won't get soaked and I won't freeze, because I didn't exactly come prepared for work.

Charlotte has cooked for me the whole time I've been here. In fact she was waiting for me in the train station with a baked potato and tuna salad for me. The first night I had pheasant (hunted right here on the Estate), potatoes and peas. Then tonight she made some sort of fish cake, potatoes, spinach and Brussels sprouts. Both times were delicious. Everyone has been super friendly so far; just from the time I've spent here I've learned three things:

-I love being spontaneous. This time last week I didn't know I'd be here.

-I'm incredibly lucky to be here.

-This is way better than doing the tourist thing in some random city. It's a much better experience and infinitely more rewarding.

Oh, and my bathroom is bigger than my whole dorm room, so that's definitely cool.