Becoming a beekeeper
I’ve been fascinated by bees ever since I was a kid. I remember sitting there reading everything I could about bees in the big old books my parents had in the 70′s, studying the close-up photos of the beehive. I was enchanted with how bee colonies worked – with multiple roles; Queen, workers, drones, young brood. I described at dinner when I was about 11 how bees found sources of pollen and told other bees about it by dancing special dances inside their hives, and how they us the pollen sacs on their legs as ballast when they fly. When I was 12, a friend and I were pretending to be wildlife reporters for National Geographic, and we ‘snuck up’ on a colony of wild bees to take photos of them – and I was immensely surprised when several flew out in an angry swarm and tried to sting me, while my friend almost peed herself laughing. Even with this experience, I’ve always liked bees.
So this year, I’m going to do a course on how to become a beekeeper. It has a two day practical session in September 2009, and I’m planning, nay… scheming, to get some friends to do this with me so it can be extra fun. And the great bit is that the course is run over the internet. Perfect for someone living in the country.
I certainly hope this interview between Rowan Atkinson and John Cleese about beekeeping is part of the course
Herdshare – what a great idea
So I’m in Buenos Aires, and it’s a weekend, and I can hear Bruno’s father playing the violin softly in the next room. I’ve got a small window to post something about an excellent initiative back in NSW Australia that has be all a jitter with exitamento. It’s called Herdshare.
I'd like to buy some raw milk please, so I can make cheese!
A simple cheese press from http//:cheesepressexcellence.com/
After reading this power point slide from the Weston A. Price Foundation, who helped establish a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of farmers to provide meat, eggs, raw dairy products, vegetables and other foods directly to consumers in the United States, I’ve personally decided that providing certain hygienic standards in the dairy are met, and providing the cows are allowed to graze in pasture, we should be able to buy and sell raw milk. I’m not convinced that the pasteurization process is the only option.
So, along comes Herdshare! A brilliant new idea in Australia. To quote directly from the brochure “A herdshare is a co-operative of people who, together, buy a herd of animals and pay a farmer to care for their herd, milk their animals and deliver their product via their local farmer’s market. ” So the farmers don’t own the cows – they just manage them for the owners. The owners are people like me, who pay a little bit to become an owner up front, and a little bit per month for ongoing herd maintenance done by the farmer. Herdshare connects people like me who are interested in buying raw milk (or fresh butter, or real cream) with herdshare collectives. Then I get some milk every week – I don’t pay for it, because I own the cows, and the farmer doesn’t sell it, because he just manages the cows. No one breaks any laws, and I can make cheese!
Impressions of Buenos Aires: our home
I’ve been here about 2 weeks now and I still feel like everything is so new. But I can’t let it go too long without posting something, or the early wonder will be replaced by new things that amaze me.
A house near where I am staying. An interesting mix of the modern and the historic.
Grapes ripening in the sun in Buenos Aires
And babies. My son loves it here. And why not, he has three adoring women to play with everyday. The house is child friendly with lots of toys and lego blocks in the main room. He has already explored all the buttons, drawers and pots in the kitchen, and still finds them fascinating day after day. This morning he came in a pushed a button on his Grandfathers computer here, which ejected the cd holder. In terror, he ran into my arms crying about the monster thing. And he still wants his mother during his day – despite all the playtime, he still comes in to check I’m here every so often, and to get a cuddle, for a few moments. At this moment Bruno is in Barcelona – and I think Zeek misses him. Every time someone leaves via the front door, Zeek cries hard. I conjecture that he understands loss. His understanding of consequence is developing. He understands that his hat means he is going outside. Sometimes he’ll go and grab his hat and put it on, ready to be taken to the park. He understands that doors open and close, but need to tested for this functionality every day. He understands that things go inside the washing machine, so he puts things in there when it isn’t being used. Shoes. Pegs. Half eaten biscuits. He understands that giving kisses is a good thing. Once he gives one person a kiss, all the people in the room must also be given a kiss. It’s only fair.
Balance of first week in Barcelona
I have been in Barcelona for one week now. It has been a hectic week, with very long hours at work, a bit of walking through a cold city (well, cold when you come from the southern summers of Australia and Argentina) and a wealth of new “things” (smells, sounds, lights, etc).
What to make of this city? It’s ecclectic, busy, very busy and quite alive. It’s hard to put Barcelona in a catalogue of some sort. I think that there are many Barcelonas in one. A bit like Bellingen but just in a completely different scale (remember: Bellingen’s population: 2,600) 
I dare to make this comparison mostly because of the its ecclectic nature too. Ok, it might be pushing it a bit, I admit it (or maybe a lot).
On Sunday (the first day I was here) I wondered around the city, walked for around 5h (oh! now that I think about it, the same amount of time I spent walking today) mostly because the internet connection at the apartment wasn’t working, so instead of working I decided that I should spend some time wondering around because I might not get much opportunity to do this after Monday. I was right.
What I discovered from Barcelona that day is that there’s a lot of people here. It’s really, really busy. Maybe it’s because we’ve been living in the country and we are no longer used to seeing so many people but I was really surprised by the never ending flow of people, especially throughout the “old city” which is where I am staying.
The languages I heard spoken most were Spanish and Català of course but I was surprised to hear a lot more French (why should I though, it’s so close to France) and then English.
The light is also very different here than in Australia. It’s so much softer (funny note: I typed “software” instead of “softer” and I had to correct it twice. I really need to spend more time away from my computer! ). I left my sunnies back in Argentina as I thought I wouldn’t need them but if this had been Australia, I would be complaining. The combination of winter and probably the layers of smog, help keep the light very pleasant and endurable for a whole day without getting any signs of sunburn or discomfort.
In order to feed the millions of people (locals and visitors like myself), there’s tons and tons of places to eat. From small joints (“a hole in the wall” type place), to luxurius tapas restaurants, all the way to McDonalds and other food-contraptions. What I haven’t seen is the same level of clustering that you find in Sydney, with large neighbourhoods with specific types of cuisine, for example Leichhardt for Italian, etc. I guess I haven’t been much outside of the touristic areas of Barcelona.
I was saying at the beginning, it’s a very lively city. There’s always something happening it would seem. The cold doesn’t seem to deter street performers, musicians, etc. I am not sure if it’s due to the start of the “carnaval” season (which started yesterday, as far as I could understand) or if it’s just like that. Whatever the reason for it is, it’s nice to be walking around the city and always find something to stop for and watch or listen to for a while.
In contrast with the buzzing Rambla and Passeig de Gràcia, you can find completely desolated and empty streets in El Born, which is the neighbourhood where I am staying, which late at night, are a bit scary to be honest. I can barely imagine how it would have been before public lighting.
All and all, I am loving Barcelona. Unfortunately I am spending way too much time working and not enough wondering around however in just over a month I will be back with Danielle and Zeek, still for work, but with them I will be able to balance work and life better and spend a bit more time, in a warmer Barcelona too, wondering around, discovering museums and other fantastic amenities that Barcelona has to offer.
Tragedies from the distance
I have been in Barcelona for a couple of days now and from the distance I have been following the tragic news about bushfires back home, in Australia. It’s hard to believe that some of those fires could have been started by arsonists … what sort of sick mind could devise something like that? Like probably most people in Australia, it makes me very angry to think about that possibility.
It’s difficult to understand bushfires of that magnitude from a European winter though, with temperatures of 11ºC and gentle winds.
I actually started this post with more ideas in mind and I really don’t want to just write about the sadness and anger caused by the possibility that some sicko started fires that destroyed lives, houses, ecosystems.
Are we trendy?
The Sydney Morning Herald has an article today about a couple getting tired of Sydney’s hectic rhythm and the impact it has on you, and deciding to change their life and, as we did, move out of the big smoke, to leave a more sustainable life.
Could it be that without even knowing it, we are part of a trend?
Long haul flight results
13h constrained in economy, together with hundreds of people on a 747-400 from Qantas in an overbooked flight and with a teething 1 year old, wasn’t a recipe for success. We have memories (Danielle and I) of long, painful flights between Europe and Australia, so we were ready for the worst.
We had packed 10 nappies, baby food, change of cloths for us and for Zeek (multiple ones for him), Panadol ™, Brauer Calm ™, toys, etc. We had 5 bags on the plane, of which 2 where for our own gear (cameras, laptops) and the rest were all for Zeek and our trip.
When we arrived to the airport, 3h early, so that we could book the bassinet seats, Zeek was already starting to complain. He didn’t want to wait in the queue for the check-in, we had to take turns in walking with him around. We were tired, of course, as we had a terrible night sleep (heat, mosquitos, stress of the trips ahead…) and we had to wake up quite early to catch our flight. We got to the counter and we found out that the flight had been oversold so we couldn’t get our seats changed… however we didn’t have time to complain about it because we had been preallocated the bassinet seats phew, that was close to a bad start. We also got to keep the pram and so we didn’t have to carry Zeek until we got to the gate door (which we didn’t know we could do). Danielle and Zeek fell asleep while waiting to board the plane, I wish I’d taken a picture of her sleeping on the floor and Zeek asleep on the pram next to her.
We boarded first, which gave us time to unpack some of the stuff we needed, we also got a full overhead compartment for us. The only downside to that is that we had to wait what seemed to be an eternity for everyone else to board, take their seats, for the plane to start the taxi to the furthest runway, etc
Once in the air, Zeek was finally able to get off our laps and play on the floor, in between the galley area and our seats. He quickly found the remotes that control the entertainment units and the overhead reading lights, oh! what a joys. Several hours of turning the lights on and off and pressing all the buttons. I am not sure the people on the seats behind us appreciated that as much as we did, but between that and a screaming 1 year old, I choose the lights!!!
We walked up and down the aisles, looked through the door windows to the ocean down below, went into the toilets and flushed them just for the fun of it. Walked up and down a lot more. Then Danielle took over and she did pretty much the same, walking up and down the aisles. Zeek was holding hands of people as he walked past, making friends. He also managed to play a bit on the floor with trucks, books, teddies.
As long as we kept on walking with him, he was happy. Of course, we needed to get some sleep so he did too. Not without some complaining first but, I think we must have got a good 4h of sleep (not all at once).
The couple next to us (both South Americans who had been living in Melbourne for over 25 years) also had a 1 year old. He slept a lot more than Zeek. We were envious, a little bit. However he didn’t seem to be so happy when awake and they didn’t seem to enjoy walking with him up and down the aisles, so I think that we didn’t have it so bad after all.
The staff of QF-17 were extremely helpful and, in particular the hostess that was looking after our section, was very kind to Zeek. She even know that Zeek meant Ezequiel and she could pronounce the name without any hesitation! She immediately was in our good books.
When we finally got to EZE, we had to circle around for 20 min until we got clearance. It was starting to become a little bit long. Finally, touched down and waited until everyone left the plane (I knew that we had no choice but I also knew that waiting until everyone was off the plane meant at least 1h queuing up for the passport control at Ezeiza). We had to pack everything and when we finally managed to get all our stuff and were leaving the plane, half the crew had already left the plane, they didn’t even know that some passengers were still on the plane 
When we reached the passport control, since we had Zeek and 5 bags, we were escorted with other parents of young children, to the diplomatic line! Yay! no queue! What a relief! We got down, started collecting our luggage however … our pram was the last piece of luggage to come out of the plane! By the time we got it, we really wanted to get out of there.
When we got out of the airport, my family was nowhere to be seen. We walked back and forth, looked at every sign that people were holding just in case they had sent someone to pick us up but didn’t tell us. No, nothing. Our iPhones didn’t pick any signals, despite the fact that both our providers have roaming agreements with providers here in Argentina. We didn’t have any coins or local currency and we couldn’t use our credit cards to call because we needed to spend more than $10. After 30 min or so, I thought that they might have got confused and gone to the other terminal so I took Zeek and we walked there. However, we were already the last ones to come out, we had been around for 30 min waiting, so it seemed like if they were there, they should have checked the boards and seen that they were in the wrong terminal. After wondering around a lot around the other terminal, I started queuing up for the ATM (you can see a pattern here, a lot of queuing up was done) and finally saw my mother and sister! They had indeed been waiting at the wrong terminal for almost 1.5h and only then checked the signs to realise that they were in the wrong terminal!
Finally, we all got together, jumped in the cars, spent 35m in a traffic jam at the exit toll points of the airport and we were finally headed out to Buenos Aires!
All and all, it was a long trip and it was a good trip! Zeek was very good, we didn’t have hours on end of screams, we didn’t have tantrums!
Long haul with a 1 year old
We’ve started packing for our flight to the land of the asados and empanadas with our little boy. It seems that there’s not enough space in any bag that we will be taking with us.
I was looking for some tips for traveling on a long haul flight with a 1 year old, and a short phrase stuck: “take more nappies than you think you’ll need as there are shops to get more nappies at 30,000 ft”, so true! I also read that 12 or 13 months is the worst age for long haul flights. When is it a good age though?
Since Zeek is teething, we’ve also got a Brauer Calm bottle for Zeek donated to us by friends who have done the long haul with a toddler, we sure will use it if things get out of control.
I now understand why parents can’t travel light anymore, and we only have one child!
I am not sure what our trip will be like, Zeek has been a good traveler so far. We’ve travelled a lot between Sydney and Coffs Harbour and between Sydney and Adelaide. Those were very short flights in comparison with what awaits us. We shall see, we will tell you when we get there.