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Besides giving a short summary of what happened in the last weeks I also wanted to give an insight in all the small struggles and happenings that occurred on a smaller scale.
One of the most important ones is trust. I learnt to trust the path my life takes. Even under the pressure of running out of money. I would just follow the stream that is visible to me. Martin's and my favourite joke was the one that we would just survive by busking. And what? We have a tent. We can live anywhere, I mean, on any camping site. Australia is full of camping sites. I learnt to trust people. I got to know Martín on Sunday, on Tuesday we left for the trip and we had shared costs, nerves and other things.
Another thing is friendship. It is a growing complex, getting to know each other, revealing facets, lay open things about myself I usually wouldn't, learning not to feel uncomfortable with mistakes I know I have, getting support by each other, having fun together, learning from each other. Especially the music. It means cooking together, finding our way in the confusing traffic of Brisbane, playing music together, encouraging each other, sharing thoughts and fears and so much more.
But what I really learn from Martin is respect. To be attentive to anyone, to always say "thank you", to accept and handle other people's wishes and needs and moods.
When driving around farms we met an old farmer who told us the story of his life. He grew the best tomatoes in whole Queensland (a huge state in Australia) and then the supermarkets lowered the prices every year and he lost everything. To not be without money he's growing grapes and producing wine now. We quickly made friends with him and tasted his wine.
Planting trees brought me to tears. After working for 8 hours we hadn't finished yet and the two bosses were hanging around and smoking their cigarettes every 10 minutes and Martin and I just had the single lunch break. We had been crawling on our knees the whole day in the burning sun, we were covered with sweat and we didn't have any water anymore. I was so angry and exhausted. Thinking of how I managed the Camino de Santiago helped. Also thinking of Daniele.
Anytime I walk past a mailbox (in Australia they are red), I remember that I wanted to send heaps of post cards. Right now I rather feel like saving my money because a postcard costs me 5 minutes in the burning sun planting trees.
There were all those precious moments I can't think of right now.
Today on the market they were throwing away vegetables they couldn't sell. We picked up avocados and mangos and onions and tomatoes. The farmer told us we can't do that. We asked why. He said we can't. We asked why. He ripped open an avocado and a tiny spot was foul. We said we wouldn't care and cut that part away. He gave up. We saved around 20 dollars like this.
99% of the reactions on my uttering that I'm German is "oh, there are so many around" and I say either "yes, I know" or "yes, right now there are 1 million in Australia".
I am embarrassed that I forgot to note down the many more important things that occurred. Forgive me, folks, and I will forgive you!
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