After ficka I head into the tomato greenhouse to train the branches and move some clips around. It can get quite warm inside a greenhouse. Then I might pick weeds, rhubarbs or chives and either toss or package them again. We take turns preparing meals so if its my day to make lunch I’ll head in around 11:30 and have a meal for 12 or so ready in about an hour. After lunch its back out to the fields for some watering, or perhaps filling pots with soil and planting basil. The day ends at 2 and its back to the house for a rest. We’re a ‘family’ of 11 right now, two Swedish owners, one Finnish horticulture student fulfilling an internship, and 8 wwoofers, 2 Germans, 1 Swede, 2 New Zealanders, and us. We had an Ecuadorian girl for most of the time as well but she just left last week. Its been quite an interesting mix to say the least.

Happy Birthday to Mom today and to Heidi last week! This is us just about two years ago somewhere near Big Bear, California. Besides the fire alarms at 3 am in the condo and Heidi’s morning sickness we had a great time. It was such a beautiful place and nice to get almost the whole family together. Two years later and we’ve got an even bigger family to celebrate. I can’t wait to see you all again. Happy Birthday!

we didn’t make it to any museums but we did take a little boat tour of the archipelago. did you know that the stockholm archipelago is made up of some 24,000 islands? neither did i. we also went to a vegan grocery store. twice. after having been in russia for two months where vegetarian means that fish and beef broth are okay we were quite delighted to have some mock meats again! exciting huh?

anyhow, we’re on our little farm now not to far from stockholm. here they produce loads of apple products and sell them in their shop. its been really nice being here but i’ll fill you in a bit more next time. check out some new pictures on my flickr page, though, to catch a glimpse!

everyone spoke excellent english and the streets were are very safe appearing. we stayed in a pretty funky hostel and good lots of good advice from our receptionist. we’re working out some details with a few different farms right now and it looks like we’ll probably be starting off at an apple orchard. it sounds like a lot of fun, we’ll be making ciders and marmelades and possibly even working at their cafe. it reminds me of going to pick pumpkins in the fall in olympia. we’d always stop inside for some hot apple cider (and treats!) after picking out the perfect pumpkin and toting it back on the hay ride. we’ll also get our own room right on the waterfront, sounds pretty amazing!

i’ve been reading the white house blog and every week sit down together to watch the weekly youtube address on my computer. so far, i’m happy with what i’ve seen and frankly surprised at some of the brazen moves hes taken on highly controversial issues.

he lifted the ban on funding for much needed health centers around the world that even so much as offered a pamphlet on abortion despite a  primary goal of caring for the children AIDS left behind, rape victims, and so on. and just today, he lifted the ban on funding for stem cell research quoting a desire to “[restore] scientific integrity to government decision making.” thank god, or allah, or whomever. you’re more than welcome to your religion but please keep it out of my government, and most definitely out of my science. he also made an appeal to his brothers and sisters of the church “as a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering.” amen. (anyone seen religulous?)

you may not agree with me, but here are some things hes done i think we can all get on board with. fair pay for women through the lily ledbetter act. accessible and transparent government through a series of websites, blogs and the office of public liaison. and i may be financially naive here, but the american restoration and recovery act looks pretty good to me, and yes, i’d love a tax break and some help with school. thank you. and washington’s own gary locke may become the next secretary of commerce. plus, this’ll probably make you irish eyes smile. he declared march national irish-american month.

i’m also keeping a close watch on some of my favorite campaign promises. end the war. close gitmo. repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and blah blah blah. we’ll see in time.

i have, however, just a few suggestions and requests for president. its time to start giving a damn about darfur, we talked enough, its time for action. we need better control over the global arms trade. we should control the importation of goods and flat out refuse items produced by slaves (nike, nestle, gap, you name it), and instead invest in america by supporting locally produced goods. we should improve foreign language education in schools so we can learn to understand and appreciate other cultures (not to mention decipher the plans of our enemies). and finally, if you hire hillary clinton to be your secretary of state don’t let her make a mockery of america and international human rights by “agreeing to disagree” with china and acquiescing to some of the grossest abuses of our time. i love ya hillary, but didn’t you ever read “If you give a mouse a cookie?”

happy women’s day to all of the wonderful women in my life! i love you mom, grandma, heidi, all of my wonderful aunts, mollie, am i forgetting anyone?

if you’re intereseted, here’s a quick run down of what they entail. all 3 are americorps fellowships which is one-year of public service starting in september and going until around july of next year. they’re all also in seattle and generally work in the poorer neighborhoods south of downtown and the stadiums. they all offer a modest stipend, modest enough to quailify for food stamps even! but thankfully i’ll still be able to write for inhabitat and do some other freelance articles for extra cash. they also offer free healthcare which is spectatular since my 24th birthday insurance cut-off date is fast approaching. and finally they all will also give an educational award of around $5000 if i successfully complete the program. not to mention a year of non-profit, public service experience that’ll boost grad school resumes and hopefully help me get into the field in a paying position thereafter.

here’s how they differ.

city year is only for 17-24 year olds and works mostly in the seattle public school system tutoring, offering alternative activities to suspension, helping kids with college applications and hosting after-school programs. it also require a hideous uniform(pictured)  including leather shoes…which i’ve since cut out of my wardrobe. its my last choice for a few reasons: the uniform,  i don’t want to be the oldest person there, i’m not specifically interested in the work they do, and to be brutally honest, i have little patience with obnoxious children. in the end, if its the only offer i get i’ll take it because of the reasons mentioned above.

the notre dame program looks pretty good to me. no uniforms or age limits. they have a variety of programs that range from schools to community centers, mostly working with disadvantaged and victimized people helping them get on track and learn vocational skills, more along the lines of what i’d like to be doing. they also have a lot of flexibility for people to design and implement their own progams within the goals of the organization.

sea mar is a community health center and while i don’t have much interest in pursuing a health-related career, they have one position i’m specifically applying for, volunteer coordinator. again no uniforms or age limits. this would entail doing community outreach and networking, as well as organizing some internal activities. the position highly prefers applicants that speak spanish, plus i was told by the recruiter that most applicants want to work in health-related positions meaning the one i want is much less competetive. this one is probably my best prospect but i’ll be happy with any offer.

everything looked like great fun but i couldn’t help considering the hazards involved every time i looked at what was going on. the were great big fires built up nearly as tall as i am just out in the open. there was a set of old wooden stilts just lying in the ice for people to try out. as if stilt walking wasn’t hard enough, why not try in on ice! then of course there was a pack of huskies taking folks on completely unguided tours throughout the crowds. there was a huge slide made entirely of wood…imagine the splinters. then, the greatest hazard of all, a traditional blacksmither (?) was giving hands-on, yes hands-on demonstrations to children on how to pull molten iron from a fire and pound it down. sure, give an 8 year old metal tongs and tell him to pull 500 degree metal out of an oven, then give him a sledge hammer and tell him to hit it as hard as he can. oh well. maybe its just the american in me, but it sure looks like russians love hazardous activites. not to mention that there were beer stands (not gardens, mind you) at every corner. all in all, it was quite fun and none of us got hurt. after the festival we headed to sveta and sergei’s house nearby for piles and piles and blini, lots of drinks, and pingpong. another great adventure in russia.

check my flickr page to see all of the photos.

While I’m not sure if I’m ready to be ‘cocking’ with anyone, nonetheless a Swedish farmer offering no comfort, the situation sounds decent enough. This farm is located in southern Sweden, near Malmo and the Danish border. He runs a small vegetable farm where we’ll be doing weeding and “sewing.” as well as selling the vegetables at an open market. This will be our second leg of wwoofing and we should be there from around the 9th until the 27th of June and meet up with Erik’s parents in Copenhagen shortly after. The first farm, where we’ll be headed straight from Russia is near Stockholm and we’ll spend a bit longer there, from April 23rd until June 9th. I talked about it briefly here. Both farms will have us doing general gardening tasks including weeding and planting, as well as selling in local markets. Both have also said we are free to do some cooking (or cocking, whichever you prefer) and will also both be hosting other wwoofers at the same time. An adventure, no less!

the photo obviously has nothing to do with sweden or farming. but i just can’t throw naked text up there. this is a short walk from our apartment on the neva river, where its frozen for the winter. beautiful, isnt it?

my russian is coming along well. i was told by a russian (in russian!) that i speak good russian. phew!

i have a telephone interview with the notre dame americorps on march 17 at midnight my time. i had to choose from slots of 12, 1, 2, and 3 am here so i figured 12 would be the best. and then i’ve got a tentative interview with seamar americorps in april.

my hermitage magazine editor just sent word of major budget cuts and my soviet animation article has been scrapped. in leiu of it, he asked me to write an article on 16th century limoges enameling. i know, right?

we visited st. petersburg’s largest cemetary the other day. its just a short walk from our apartment. it was so beautiful all covered in snow. i added a few photos to my flickr page.

so far i’ve given 3 english lessons and i think i’ve learned just as much about russian culture and history as they are of english. since i’m only teaching conversation classes and not grammar i just give the students a prompt and let them tell me everything they know. i got the run down on russia-china relations, the cost of housing in russia, beggars with fake wheelchairs, the 4 year wwII siege of st. petersburg, russian family relations, russian soups, and the role of women and minorities in russia.

i made more pizza which turned out perfectly and some really gross baked pasta, though thankfully the garlic bread was good.

its been snowing for 4 days straight and some very dangerous icicles are developing! i’m not walking too closes to eaves these days. and when i opened our balcony door to get a picture of them i realized the top hinge had come loose and forgot all about taking the picture…maybe later.