It’s 7am together with I am already up. While sitting at the kitchen tabular array alongside my hosts, I portion a word, the subject for the daily meditation. But hold off a minute: I am non inward my dwelling or my country. I am at a farm/community centre, 100km away from Daegu, the nearest “big” town inward the middle of South Korea. And how did a Brazilian girl, whose Korean vocabulary is v discussion maximum halt upwards there?
Well, permit me explain…
While travelling roughly Asia on a budget is the rootage of the greatest joy inward my life, later a spell I started feeling that all the amazing experiences I accept had alongside the locals could accept lasted longer together with been fifty-fifty to a greater extent than meaningful. I persuasion that perchance all those quick together with amazing encounters that come about therefore oftentimes when yous go (the overnice guy at the charabanc stop, the old lady at the prepare station, the clerk that smiles at yous everyday) could be, why not, the primary trial of my staying at a for certain place.
Although I am travelling often, I decided that I could pass all my 90-day visa (or almost all of it), traveling roughly the province together with coming together people. While trying to figure it out how to do it without spending all my coin inward South Korea, I came upwards alongside the persuasion of volunteering.
Now, if yous accept been to Asia or read most travelling roughly here, yous in all likelihood accept seen some volunteer go beingness advertised. Teaching english at schoolhouse villages, taking attention of animals, helping edifice schools – at that spot are enough of options. While I was doing my research, I came across WWOOF – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.
The persuasion is quite simple: WWOOF is a large network that makes it possible for farmers together with volunteers to acquire inward touch, run into together with go together. It is an organisation that has communities almost everywhere inward the world, but fifty-fifty if it is non that organised inward the province yous desire to go, sometimes yous tin uncovering independent farmers willing to welcome you.
WWOOF accept some rules for the farms to participate: they must live completely organic, fifty-fifty if it’s a picayune menage unit of measurement farm or an industrial one. It must also accept a room for the volunteer together with render the meals – this is what yous acquire inward central for your work. At the farm profile inward the WWOOF website, they must specify what sort of go they aspect from the volunteers together with how many hours yous volition work. But everything becomes clear when yous acquire inward impact alongside the farmers to schedule your visit, together with when yous acquire there, yous must acquire together to create everything clear equally possible.
And how do yous acquire inward impact alongside them? You sign upwards together with pay a fee that allows yous to go for the farmers for a whole year. You tin remain a unmarried 24-hour interval or upwards to a few months; it’s simply something that each farmer decides independently, spell also considering what is convenient for the volunteer. But remember: For each province yous volition demand to pay a fee. So if yous desire to go inward 3 unlike countries, yous must pay 3 unlike fees.
Now, a surprise: Not all farmers speak english, therefore if yous are similar me together with don’t hear beingness a picayune lost inward translation together with rely on an app or translation website, yous volition live fine!
I had the chance to go inward 3 unlike farms inward South Korea. The kickoff one, together with biggest, was a rice farm unopen to Seoul. I stayed at that spot for thirty days together with shared the go alongside iv other volunteers (each i staying for a unlike catamenia of time).
The 2nd i was a farm/community centre unopen to Daejeon, correct inward the centre of the country. I stayed at that spot for 25 days, alone, together with worked to a greater extent than equally an english instructor for the children together with elderly than doing existent farm work.
And the concluding i was a huckleberry farm unopen to Daegu, where me – the lonely volunteer – helped to pick together with pack the blueberries for a week.
Every identify was a total unlike experience. Not only because the go was unlike but because the whole concept of menage unit of measurement together with menage unit of measurement go was unlike too. You must recall that yous volition pass almost your whole 24-hour interval alongside the farm menage unit of measurement but yous volition also run into the employees of the farm, the local community together with visitors that come upwards together with go – together with sometimes they come upwards to run into you!
In the kickoff farm the go was hard. We would start at 8am to accept breakfast together, spell the farmers were already working, starting at 5am. The tasks were uncomplicated but busy: Giving H2O together with nutrient to the chickens together with rabbits, weeding the primary path together with the spud field, watering the chilli trees that were exterior the greenhouses to live sold, weeding together with picking chilli tree leaves within the 8 greenhouses (during summertime – hot chilli together with actually hot volunteers), together with concluding but non to the lowest degree taking the rice trails out of the several greenhouses where they were beingness grown together with carry together with flora them (gladly alongside the aid of a planting machine) inward all the seventy rice paddies they have.
We would halt for tiffin together with accept complimentary fourth dimension during the afternoon together with and then render to go roughly 4pm to destination it roughly 8pm. Although the farmers could non speak english they were really patient together with ever inward a practiced mood for jokes. We would arrive all fun together with funny, therefore the days passed speedily together with the goodbye was a picayune teary – specially for me.
When I moved on to the side past times side farm I was create to go difficult or fifty-fifty harder, but I had a large surprise. The farmer was a one-time high schoolhouse instructor together with later retiring he transformed his solid into this large community centre, consummate alongside a library, fine art room, musical instruments, cafe, 2 kitchens, auditorium together with a large solid alongside x rooms to conform guests (and WWOOF volunteers).
The farm go was simple: feed the chickens together with rabbits, weed the holding together with aid him roughly inward the bloom garden. My primary tasks were from Mon to Fri – learn english to v kids that alive nearby together with learn english twice a calendar week to the grouping of 10 elderly people who came to do Korean drums. Did I advert the one-time instructor is also a skilled musician? While spending the morning time together with afternoon inward the weekdays alongside him, the early on breakfast together with weekends was all to his wife, a schoolhouse principle.
During breakfast nosotros would verbalize over of import words together with situations, therefore nosotros would accept novel things to think most everyday, together with on the weekends I joined her for long walks inward the nearest temple, climbed a 800m mount together with kept her companionship inward 2 unlike Korean weddings. They also talked most me to their friends, together with at to the lowest degree iv times a calendar week nosotros had visitors who wanted to run into me together with present me around.
When they establish out I worked equally an fine art educator inward Brazil, they took me to the novel exhibition at the fine art museum inward Daejeon, showed me music together with Korean poesy together with took me out for dinner. The farmer’s married adult woman was also an english teacher, therefore the communication was perfect.
The concluding farm, which I only spent vii days, was my kickoff fourth dimension working inward a existent farm business. I did everything: helped the “grandmothers” to pick the blueberries; weighed together with separated the fruits to live sold at the farmer’s marketplace together with to distributors who would come upwards to pick the packages up, cleaned the marketplace together with made jam together with huckleberry smoothies inward the afternoon (I loved this part).
The menage unit of measurement was Christian therefore on my only Dominicus at that spot nosotros went to the church building where I establish out that the farmer was also a instrumentalist together with choir singer. Although I spent only a calendar week at that spot I could regard the go of existent powerful together with rigid women, from the farmer’s wife, a skilled concern adult woman who is responsible for the menage unit of measurement together with the farm together with the old ladies who pick the blueberries underneath the almighty Sun during the Korean summertime rut – crazy hot, no joke (and I am Brazilian, I know hot weather).
At the halt of these experiences, leaving Republic of Korea behind was the hardest task. I proceed remembering the practiced together with the bad, but the outcome was to a greater extent than positive than I ever could accept imagined. The amazing people I met became, fifty-fifty for a simply a picayune while, my menage unit of measurement together with the people I could rely on. The most of import matter for me was to run into novel people all the time. I could regard the cultural differences inward situations that the mutual traveller doesn’t ever accept the fourth dimension for: the concern together with menage unit of measurement relations, go together with religion.
I learned therefore many things, all of them completely out of my comfort zone. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 novel linguistic communication (ok, xx or thirty novel Korean words), novel farming skills which includes putting together a create novel greenhouse, planting, picking together with harvesting unlike vegetables. The fourth dimension together with commitment that I saw inward each family, spent all on the farm go therefore they could fulfil their dreams – sending the kids to college, traveling together with retiring alongside comfort – this all made me focused on how of import it is to actually appreciate the everyday life, beingness that whatever it is.
I could also regard how I was of import spell helping around, fifty-fifty if is was only the dishes later the meals or fifty-fifty driving the menage unit of measurement truck to the side past times side town to pick to a greater extent than rice – without their supervision – all of this was my responsibleness together with a aid to their daily lives. There are many ways to go together with to uncovering a novel place, together with I establish that volunteering opened the gates of people homes together with minds for me.
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