Pigs, kids, and kittens.. Our time in Poland

It's nearly November and we have just finished our final volunteer stay until Iceland at the very end of our trip. We are now free in the world and preparing for some whirlwind travel through some of Europe's biggest cities! This morning, we woke in Krakow, Poland, a city that we had already visited once on the way to this last farm. From here, we will travel to the north of Poland to the Baltic city of Gdansk. From there, to Berlin for a few days, Hamburg, and Amsterdam. We will then make it to Paris by November 13th when we have a flight booked to Madrid, Spain. We've decided to test both our faith and our endurance by hiking half of the Camino de Santiago from Leon to the coast in the final two weeks of our continental European adventure. We now find ourselves mixed between ample excitement and an expectation of exhaustion that we are sure to feel while taking over-night buses and meeting new couch-surfing hosts across nearly 1,000 kilometers of unfamiliar soil.

That's where we're going, let me now tell you about where we've been! As I mentioned, we spent last night in Krakow - a beautiful, old city with a twinkling charm. I was very happy to introduce Kelly to some wonderful friends that I had met in New Mexico earlier this year. Our travels just happened to overlap here in Poland so we had the chance to enjoy some of this city together through its beer, dumplings, and historic sights. We arrived in Krakow from the smaller town of Opole yesterday afternoon, which is about 30 minutes from the village where we've spent the past two weeks.

Curly haired Hungarian pigs

We were very excited about this last workaway experience because their profile showed the heirloom breed of Hungarian pigs that they raise and mentioned pumpkin harvesting, apple picking and juicing, and other farm work. We were very surprised when we arrived to learn that we would be helping facilitate workshops with first graders(!), all of whom only speak Polish and come in classes of up to 35! Wow.. well, neither of us are exactly "kid-people," but somehow we survived all five workshops and gained a few carpentry skills along the way. We were primarily in charge of building bird houses with the kids and are happy to report that no fingers were lost in the process!

Our first attempt at the reed roof...yikes

By far the best part of this experience was working with a group of girls who all leaped backwards with terrified looks on their faces when we pulled out the power drill and then a few screws later were looking like rosy the riveters jumping for their turn at putting the wood pieces together! It was very inspiring to see the quick change and to feel like we helped them gain a small bit of confidence in their abilities as tiny humans and as girls in a patriarchal world.

During our time at the farm, we were also lucky enough to share a room with four little eency wincy kittens!! After much debate, we concluded to heed mom's warning and not take any along with us.. but it was not an easy decision with dreams of a little bundle of joy riding along in our pocket as we crossed the mountains of northern Spain..

Well, that's all for now. We are heading to explore more of Krakow this morning! Thank you for reading, we are sending lots of love home :)