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Today I worked on starting up an olive grove, then I met a man who was dying of AIDS, and then I ate pizza.
Pedro has been living with AIDS for sixteen years, believes in shamanism, and is living with the support of the first aids group in France - AIDE. I met him with the other woofers in a bar called Chez Claude, in Laroque des Alberes. He was an interesting and very intense man to talk to. He walked straight up to us, out of the blue, and introduced himself and said, six years ago I nearly died of AIDS. I am defying the medical odds. I'm not quite sure what to think of him - his circumstances are so unlike my own that I have trouble relating to him, yet we ended up in the same place with pretty much the same goals.
...It seems trivial to talk about the rest of my day, but I literally can't say anything else of consequence about Pedro. I might meet him again. Until then - olive farming. This part of France is good for olive trees; we're setting up a grove and the project will probably take the entire summer. We have been set to clear several trees and build a 'dead hedge'. Working steadily, I think we - there are four others working with me right now - will make good progress on getting a grove set up.
WOOFing is an interesting experience; you end up right in the middle of another family. And in the middle of their problems. Unless something drastic starts up, that's the last I'll say of that. But the majority of the work here is just maintaining a good environmentally friendly house, which is a lot more labour intensive then say, my place on Raglan Road.
I'll have a recipe for a local drink call Zambucha up here later, but I'm picking up a lot of different tips about vegetarian and vegan life in general.
That said, these people need more protein in their diet, which lead me to having dinner out with a few others. We ate at a local pizza joint - the only place that was both open and reasonable - and it was the best damned pizza I ever had. Egg, Tomatoes, Tuna, Olives and Parsley. Absolutely delicious.
In addition, I met Pedro. Hurm. Things to think about. I've never actually met someone who was so outright in saying: I am dying of AIDS. I might hang out with him some more.
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