dear friends,
i am sitting in the office at bluff mountain farm, outside the horses are grazing and it stopped raining. the clouds were hanging really deep today. heidi and i were cleaning today, making the house look pretty for us and our guests whoa re coming for dinner tomorrow. we will make a vegetarian/vegan/raw dinner and we are very excited. heidi bought a wonderful vegan cookbook and we are trying different recipes. it is fun. we'll make lemony roasted potatos with beans and tomatoes i believe. heidi is in charge of that course. i will make the coup as a appetizer which is a raw, cold soup with tomatoes and cantalopes. as a dessert we will have german applecake and avocato-chocolate mouse. oh and a salad. anybody wants to come??:)
i am so happy to be back. i simply love it here. the land is sooo pretty. yesterday heidi and i went shopping for the dinner tomorrow. on tuesday we went to charlottesville for me to see that beautiful town and then we bought some horse feed and we also went to see heidis new horse. sundance. he looks like pippi longstockings horse. white with brown dotes all over him. so beautiful.
it is great to be back in a climate that seems so familiar. the trees are all brown again (not as green and as covered with orchards etc like in cr) and the roads are all paved and i understand the people when they talk...missed that part a lot. funny now that when i encounter hispanis in the store i kinda get what they say. i mean not all of it for sure but more then before i went to costa rica.
i am back in my old room, the room i live dthe last couple times i was here. this time i actyually stay long enough to decorate it and make me feel at home. i still keep my routine of waking up with the sun, doing some yoga and meditation. i really love that. it gives me a lot of enery and takes away the stiffness i feel otherwise in the morning. i also keep my diet pretty much the same. only fruit in the morings (oh i miss those costa rican bananas...), no wheat and mostly no dairy. heidi baked this amazing bread with spealt and sunflower seeds and my body really likes that. it is fun to experiement with food and see what works for me. i encourage you all to try it too. i don't feel as tired during the day as i felt when i ate wheat and dairy. it is amazing how different i feel. especially when i compare how i feel when i eat raw and then cooked foods.
i will stay here in madison until the end of april and then i will go an meet my parents which i am very excited about. it will be fun to show them the counrty i fell in love with. after that i haven't decided what i wanna do. maybe come back to madison or find another farm. maybe visit come dear friends in maine who i met in costa rica. i wanna be back in canada by the end of may beginning of june so we'll see.
hope you are all doing well.
sending you love and peace,
jewels
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
here are some pictures from costa rica. starting of course with bananas. my number one food. for 32 colones for one banana which is maybe 10 cents it was my main source of food. you harvest bananas when they are green and let them ripen hanging. as soon as the purple flower is almost gone, the bananas are ready to be harvested. a banana tree is actually not a tree but a plant so it only gives one banana harvest in its lofetime. after you harvest the banana you cut the tree to give room for the bext banana tree. there are also red bananas which are sweeter and thicker but smaller than the yellow ones.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
6 years in Iraq. how many more to come???
Hola my friends,
i am back in san jose. i will catch my flight back to dc on thursday. it will leave around 2 and i will be in dc around 11pm. i will stay with stream and tania for a couple nights and readjust to the northern hemisphere....:)
it is nice to be back in san jose. by now the people at the hostel know me by name. i have a dorm room for myself and the hostel is nice and quiet, not many people here. i was really exhausted when i hit san jose today around lunchtime. on sunday, diedre and judy and i we went to dominical to enjoy the beach and see a play later in the day. we had a lot of fun and the play was great. but we came back to uvita late and yesterday one of the longterm guest/workers set up a all suround system and we watched a movie. amelie. so i didn´t go to bed until ver late either cause people sat together and talked as many of us left today or will leave during this week so we wanted to hang out together and have our ´last supper´so to speak. this morning i didn´t hear my alarm clock and had 10minutes to get everythng ready as i wanted to catch the bus at 6am. so by the time we came close to san jose i was very tired. so i just git me some food and a nice book and simply hang out. i will go to bed soon. tomorrow i will do some shopping, and then iabel, the lady who runs the peace centre and hostel asked me to help her bring lunch to a indiginious community. so i might do that.
and then it is alraedy thursday. i am really happy about my trip. it has been amazing, rough, callenging, interesting, astonishing and just an incredible growing experience. i fell much more home in my own skin, much more self-confident and centered. i feel that my realtionship to my life, my purpose as well as my reationship to the devine spirit is deeper and it feels much more real and natural. i met amazing people and saw beautiful land. i heard stories and told stories and my horizon opened and widened so much. i think the most important part for me about this journey is that i really like myself the way i am. i like my body and i am immensly haoppy and grateful for the journey that i am on. life is good. i can feel that. it is only our attitude that makes life hard.
i was able to learn and actually pratice yoga on a day to day level and i feel how my body and mind and spirit appreciates that. without really been aware of it i manifested a place to live in costa rica that is really simple and that can teach my about simpliccity and being as organic as possible. well, when i arrived at the revolution project beginning of last december i didn´t really like it. no bathroom, no electricity, no privacy. but here i was send to a place and experience that i actually asked for. once i read over what i wrote down before coming to costa rica i couldn´t believe my own writings. there is said that i am looking for a place that is very simple and that i want to take those 3 months to live as simple as possible and to finally deal with the past, let go of old tings and start new. well, hek, yeah, here i was. it was intense and i cried and felt pain and heartach like i haven´t for a while. but i was able to let go and i was surounded by people who let me through it. i could reliese things and althoiugh it didn´t seem that different back then i can see the impacts of those two month at the revoplution project now that some time has passed and i changed the scenery. i am stronger. i can tell more easily what i want. and again i love myself. i am beautiful, i am holy , i am one. it is great. of course there are still ups and downs but i am more able now to deal with down times. i changed the way i write my name from jules to jewels, as i feel that this suits me very well right now. it fits me as i AM a jewel as we all are.
so i leave with gratitude. i will remember my time here in this beautiful, always green counrty. i ate so many bananas like i have never had before, tasted amazing fruits and veggies that i haven´t even known of before coming here. platains, passion fruit, commote etc... i tried different diets and learned a lot about nutrition and food and its healing effects. i was able to live and learn from a healer and i can say now that i am also a healer. a healer to be but still a healer.
i met wonderful people and was able to travel with 3 beautiful young americans. one of them, gretchen will get married this fall. her boyfriend surprised her and flew down to costa rica tiogether wirh rachelles boyfriend and here it was that he proposed to her. gretchen invited me to come to her wedding and i wam sooo excited. they are wonderful people.
i am excited to catch my flight on thursday to go back to the states. i was and am homesick to this counrty, this land i fell in love with. i will be working with heidi and micha in virginia for a month or so and maybe check out a yoga farm as well. and then a super suprise: my parents are coming to the us to visit me!!! i am so excited. i will be able to show them where i have lived most of the last 1 and a half years. they will be here for 11 days and i am curious about their impressions!!
so yeah, i feel really excited as well as satisfied with where i am at right now on my journey. i am looking forward to the next couple months!!!
i will write again once i am in the states!
lots of love,
jewels
i am back in san jose. i will catch my flight back to dc on thursday. it will leave around 2 and i will be in dc around 11pm. i will stay with stream and tania for a couple nights and readjust to the northern hemisphere....:)
it is nice to be back in san jose. by now the people at the hostel know me by name. i have a dorm room for myself and the hostel is nice and quiet, not many people here. i was really exhausted when i hit san jose today around lunchtime. on sunday, diedre and judy and i we went to dominical to enjoy the beach and see a play later in the day. we had a lot of fun and the play was great. but we came back to uvita late and yesterday one of the longterm guest/workers set up a all suround system and we watched a movie. amelie. so i didn´t go to bed until ver late either cause people sat together and talked as many of us left today or will leave during this week so we wanted to hang out together and have our ´last supper´so to speak. this morning i didn´t hear my alarm clock and had 10minutes to get everythng ready as i wanted to catch the bus at 6am. so by the time we came close to san jose i was very tired. so i just git me some food and a nice book and simply hang out. i will go to bed soon. tomorrow i will do some shopping, and then iabel, the lady who runs the peace centre and hostel asked me to help her bring lunch to a indiginious community. so i might do that.
and then it is alraedy thursday. i am really happy about my trip. it has been amazing, rough, callenging, interesting, astonishing and just an incredible growing experience. i fell much more home in my own skin, much more self-confident and centered. i feel that my realtionship to my life, my purpose as well as my reationship to the devine spirit is deeper and it feels much more real and natural. i met amazing people and saw beautiful land. i heard stories and told stories and my horizon opened and widened so much. i think the most important part for me about this journey is that i really like myself the way i am. i like my body and i am immensly haoppy and grateful for the journey that i am on. life is good. i can feel that. it is only our attitude that makes life hard.
i was able to learn and actually pratice yoga on a day to day level and i feel how my body and mind and spirit appreciates that. without really been aware of it i manifested a place to live in costa rica that is really simple and that can teach my about simpliccity and being as organic as possible. well, when i arrived at the revolution project beginning of last december i didn´t really like it. no bathroom, no electricity, no privacy. but here i was send to a place and experience that i actually asked for. once i read over what i wrote down before coming to costa rica i couldn´t believe my own writings. there is said that i am looking for a place that is very simple and that i want to take those 3 months to live as simple as possible and to finally deal with the past, let go of old tings and start new. well, hek, yeah, here i was. it was intense and i cried and felt pain and heartach like i haven´t for a while. but i was able to let go and i was surounded by people who let me through it. i could reliese things and althoiugh it didn´t seem that different back then i can see the impacts of those two month at the revoplution project now that some time has passed and i changed the scenery. i am stronger. i can tell more easily what i want. and again i love myself. i am beautiful, i am holy , i am one. it is great. of course there are still ups and downs but i am more able now to deal with down times. i changed the way i write my name from jules to jewels, as i feel that this suits me very well right now. it fits me as i AM a jewel as we all are.
so i leave with gratitude. i will remember my time here in this beautiful, always green counrty. i ate so many bananas like i have never had before, tasted amazing fruits and veggies that i haven´t even known of before coming here. platains, passion fruit, commote etc... i tried different diets and learned a lot about nutrition and food and its healing effects. i was able to live and learn from a healer and i can say now that i am also a healer. a healer to be but still a healer.
i met wonderful people and was able to travel with 3 beautiful young americans. one of them, gretchen will get married this fall. her boyfriend surprised her and flew down to costa rica tiogether wirh rachelles boyfriend and here it was that he proposed to her. gretchen invited me to come to her wedding and i wam sooo excited. they are wonderful people.
i am excited to catch my flight on thursday to go back to the states. i was and am homesick to this counrty, this land i fell in love with. i will be working with heidi and micha in virginia for a month or so and maybe check out a yoga farm as well. and then a super suprise: my parents are coming to the us to visit me!!! i am so excited. i will be able to show them where i have lived most of the last 1 and a half years. they will be here for 11 days and i am curious about their impressions!!
so yeah, i feel really excited as well as satisfied with where i am at right now on my journey. i am looking forward to the next couple months!!!
i will write again once i am in the states!
lots of love,
jewels
Thursday, March 12, 2009
zum glueck gibts bananen!!!
hallo ohr lieben alle,
well, it s my last week in costa rica. next thursday i will catch a flight back to the states. wow, 3 months went by fast. at least it seems to me now like that.... in the beginning time eemed to stand still...
well, i am ready to go back to the states. i felt really homesick to the us and canada, funny eh??
ich arbiete immer noch auf der eco lodge und mir gefaellts immer noch. die zwei aeleren frauen und ich jane und deidre verstehen uns echt super und wir haben viel spass zusammen. am montag hatten wir ein vollmond festival. 3 andere volunteere und ich haben einen tanz einstudiert. wir wqaren die vier elemente. ich war feuer, da ich ein feuerzeichen bin..widder..bis auf eine hat bei jeder das element zu dem sternzeichen gepasst. bei der vierten habenw ir ien bisschen gemoggelt....:) wir haben die kostueme sleber gemacht aus alten bettlaken, schals, tuechern und blaettern. ich habe erde mit wasser und cocosnuss oil gemischt und somit einen roten brei hergestellt. den habe ich mir in die harre getan und stacheln aufgestellt. feuer eben... der tanz war echt cool und hat supoer spass gemacht. elio, from mexico hat die trommeln gespielt. alle waren begeistert. und der mond war voll und wunderschoen. war ne tolle ceremony.
gestern fand noch eine sweat lodge statt an der ich abe rnicht teil genommen habe.
so, einen lieben gruss an euch alle,
love,
jewels
well, it s my last week in costa rica. next thursday i will catch a flight back to the states. wow, 3 months went by fast. at least it seems to me now like that.... in the beginning time eemed to stand still...
well, i am ready to go back to the states. i felt really homesick to the us and canada, funny eh??
ich arbiete immer noch auf der eco lodge und mir gefaellts immer noch. die zwei aeleren frauen und ich jane und deidre verstehen uns echt super und wir haben viel spass zusammen. am montag hatten wir ein vollmond festival. 3 andere volunteere und ich haben einen tanz einstudiert. wir wqaren die vier elemente. ich war feuer, da ich ein feuerzeichen bin..widder..bis auf eine hat bei jeder das element zu dem sternzeichen gepasst. bei der vierten habenw ir ien bisschen gemoggelt....:) wir haben die kostueme sleber gemacht aus alten bettlaken, schals, tuechern und blaettern. ich habe erde mit wasser und cocosnuss oil gemischt und somit einen roten brei hergestellt. den habe ich mir in die harre getan und stacheln aufgestellt. feuer eben... der tanz war echt cool und hat supoer spass gemacht. elio, from mexico hat die trommeln gespielt. alle waren begeistert. und der mond war voll und wunderschoen. war ne tolle ceremony.
gestern fand noch eine sweat lodge statt an der ich abe rnicht teil genommen habe.
so, einen lieben gruss an euch alle,
love,
jewels
Sunday, March 1, 2009
san jose can be pretty
san jose, costa rica, 4:25pm on a sunday afternoon. ich bin nun schon seit 4 stunden in der hauptstadt und sehr ueberrascht. san jose kann auch echt schoen sein. das letzte mal als ich hier war, war alles super laut und dreckig und regnerisch und ach yack...heute ist sonntag, das ist wahrschienlich der hauptgrund und es hat die sonne gescheint. habe heute morgen um 6am den bus nach san isidro und dannn nach san jose genommen. um 12am war ich dann hier. ich treffe mich mit 3 andere volunteers von cascada verde, die eine woche in nicaragua waren und nun auf dem rueckweg in san jose stoppen. bis dienstag werden wir hier sein. unser hostel dass adria reserviert hatte, hatte keine zimmer mehr frei als ich nach einer kurzen taxifarht vom bus terminal (umgerechnet $4) am hostel ankam. zum glueck hatte das hostel gegenueber noch freie zimmer und da sitze ich nun am pc und warte auf die 3. ich dnke nicht dass sie vor 6pm hier sien werden da die busse in nicaragua nicht wirlich nem plan folgen. also mal sehen wann sie hier sein werden. nach einem kurzen nickerchen habe ich mich heute um can 2pm downtown begeben. die meakrte haben esmir schon lezttes mal angetan und da habe cih dann auch gleich ne gute stunde vebracht. so viele schoene sachen. nach nem stop in einem supermarkt und ausgestattet mit studentenfutter und einer ritter sport schokolade (ganze haselnuesse..mhmmdas habe ich gerbaucht) ging es dann zur bank und danach habe ich mich auf dem marktplatz in die sonne gesgezt und das gemacht was ich am liebsten tue: menschen beobachten, ich fuehlte mich nicht wie ein touri, denn dieses mal hatte ich nicht einen grossen rucksack dabei sonder eine kleine umhaengetasche die ich mir aus einer alten hose genaeht habe. mit einem kleid das ein andere vilunteer zurueckgelassen hatte und flip flops die ich in einem muell im hotel gefunden habe(sind zwar ppink aber naja...) sah ich ziemlich ansehnlich aus und bin nicht wirlich aufgefallen. die blinden haare kan nich natuelrich nciht verstecken..:) nun schluerfe ich pfirsichtee, neben mir schuat der hotelmanager spanisches tv und draussen stuermt es. ich denke es regnet bald. das hostel in dem wir zuerst eine reservierung hatten ist mit dem friedesnzentrum verbunden. am donnerstag und freitag haben sie eine friedenskonferenz zu der auch ein irakischer professor kommen soll. vielleicht bleibe ich laenger und schau mir das an. vielleicht koennen die noch einen willigen volunteer gebrauchen...:) das waere cool. mal sehen.
ja, jetzt ist schon der maerz da. bald geht es zurueck in die staten. ich freu mich drauf. ich mag costa rica sehr und in enem hotel zu arbeiten wo ich wenni ch mich umdrehe das eer sehen kann, ist schon einmalig. in den laetzten tagen habe ich neben putzen und washcen auch in der kueche geholfen, deutschen apfelkuchen (veganisch!!) gepacken und auf dem markt verkauft. ich geniesse diesen lebensstil sehr. um 5am klingelt mein wecker und ich stehe auf. dann mach ich fuer ne stunde yoga und meditiere und starte meinen tag. das yoga deck ist zum meer hin offen und ich habe jden morgen einen wundershcoenen sonnenaufgang mit ausblick auf das meer. dann fruehstucke ich, meistens obst und danach fange ich an zu abrioten. je nachdem was ansteht, entweder, zimmer puzten oder oeffentlicghe raeume in ordung bringen. waesche waschen, furehstueck fuer die geaste zubereiten. dann so um 10/11am mach ich pasue bis um 2pm da es einfach zu heiss ist.ich bereite mir n snack zu, unterhlate mich mit den gaesten oder relaxe in einer der vcielen haengematten. dann um 2pm geht es weiter mit was immer ich ncoh nciht fertig gebracht habe. 4 stunden am tag sind gefragt bzw 20 stunden ind er woche. fuer $25 pro woche habe ich nun mein eigenes zimmer. essen muss ich selber kaufen. ist aber ziemlich billig hier. wocheneinkauf ist meistens $25-$40.die sonne geht hier um 5:30pm unter und wen ich nicht mit dem abendessen helfe dann geht es fue rmich so um 7/8pm ins bett.
cascada verde wird von deutschen geleitet und die sind echt nett. in der ersten woche dort habe ich nen spanisch kurz besucht. das war echt gut. mein spanisch ist nicht besonders aber ich komm durch.
so nun mach ich schluss. einen lieben gruss an euch all,
pura vida,
jewels
ja, jetzt ist schon der maerz da. bald geht es zurueck in die staten. ich freu mich drauf. ich mag costa rica sehr und in enem hotel zu arbeiten wo ich wenni ch mich umdrehe das eer sehen kann, ist schon einmalig. in den laetzten tagen habe ich neben putzen und washcen auch in der kueche geholfen, deutschen apfelkuchen (veganisch!!) gepacken und auf dem markt verkauft. ich geniesse diesen lebensstil sehr. um 5am klingelt mein wecker und ich stehe auf. dann mach ich fuer ne stunde yoga und meditiere und starte meinen tag. das yoga deck ist zum meer hin offen und ich habe jden morgen einen wundershcoenen sonnenaufgang mit ausblick auf das meer. dann fruehstucke ich, meistens obst und danach fange ich an zu abrioten. je nachdem was ansteht, entweder, zimmer puzten oder oeffentlicghe raeume in ordung bringen. waesche waschen, furehstueck fuer die geaste zubereiten. dann so um 10/11am mach ich pasue bis um 2pm da es einfach zu heiss ist.ich bereite mir n snack zu, unterhlate mich mit den gaesten oder relaxe in einer der vcielen haengematten. dann um 2pm geht es weiter mit was immer ich ncoh nciht fertig gebracht habe. 4 stunden am tag sind gefragt bzw 20 stunden ind er woche. fuer $25 pro woche habe ich nun mein eigenes zimmer. essen muss ich selber kaufen. ist aber ziemlich billig hier. wocheneinkauf ist meistens $25-$40.die sonne geht hier um 5:30pm unter und wen ich nicht mit dem abendessen helfe dann geht es fue rmich so um 7/8pm ins bett.
cascada verde wird von deutschen geleitet und die sind echt nett. in der ersten woche dort habe ich nen spanisch kurz besucht. das war echt gut. mein spanisch ist nicht besonders aber ich komm durch.
so nun mach ich schluss. einen lieben gruss an euch all,
pura vida,
jewels
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