Recapping our wwoofing journey

Hi there, Its me, Crystal. It's been a while since I've personally updated the blog. Bjorn, the real farmer now has been writing in it since mid last year and lots of stuff has been happening in our lives and our journey, that may confuse readers! So I am now here gonna try to describe all that has evolved from our wwoof journey - coz that's initially what this blog was about. Wwoofing.

We came back to Singapore in December 2009 after wwoofing in the UK and Spain for about 6 months. We felt lost. What to do now. We did the wwoofing. Should we continue? What was our goal? Must we need a goal? Was life just about living in the moment and going with the flow?

Then 2010 began. And what a year.

In Dec '09, we met Lai Hock and GUI (ground-up initiative) and we were introduced to the organic movement in Singapore. Lai Hock told us how he is on this path, because he feels that connecting with the earth is one way to find that 'spirit', that meaning of life, that bigger consciousness. We kindda knew what he was on about. But never had anyone really put it that way before.

In Jan '10 , my grandma died which was tough on the family. Then we went to Bali for a month - intending to find organic farms/wwoof places. But had no luck, instead, we went for this meditation retreat called Bali Usada for one week in the mountains. And there, we faced our minds, ourselves. And we found the stillness that we never knew we needed but realised we did. For me, this was a huge pivotal point in my life. The clarity just slowly started to sink in. The retreat was a gift from nowhere. And I don't know how ever to thank the universe for it.

Feb to July '10 - A few more close people in our lives past away quite suddenly. I found yoga after the meditation retreat and fell in love with it more and more. I started relief teaching at my old secondary school - St anthony's convent and found so much love there. Bjorn started on this project - GUI Pathlight school vegetable farm which a couple of posts in 2010 on this blog is about. Then after Bjorns grandpa passed away in July, he decided to sign up for the Biodynamic agriculture course in East sussex England. And I decided to go to India to get my yogas teachers training certification.

Sep '10 - Bjorn left for England

Oct '10 - I left for India

Dec '10 - We met again in Singapore, spent Christmas and New years with friends and family

Jan '11 - I came back to England with Bjorn. We now live on college campus. We will be in Wales doing his farming attachment from Mar to Sep this year. And back here at Emerson college in Sep for his second year.

So what happened to wwoofing? What's the point of all this updates?

Looking back now, I realised that going wwoofing after quitting our corporate jobs was the best decision we've ever made. The wwoofing in 2009 was like a process of cracking us open to discover who we really are inside. It was just like chiselling slowly. Creating more obvious lines aned cracks everyday we were out there working out in the farm. We didnt know what we'd find. But we just kept going at it. It was therapeutic.

But once we were 'broken' into, we did not know what to do with all this new stuff we were experiencing. Going back home to Singapore, was a process of coming to terms with our new selves, our new lives. Not really new actually, more like, we removed the obstacles and barriers that was built up throughout our Singaporean, modern lifestyles. We knew the old us, wasnt us anymore. But who were these new people? And what purpose did they have? And 2010 was the 2nd part of the process. It the peeling away of those little egg shells that were cracked open. And finding all these things that were possible. Finding new ways of looking at things. Becoming less mad at the world, and realising that everything and everyone has their place in this complicated web of life. But in this web, we are all connected. And that, will give us an answer for every question we sought. 2010 was like a realisation. It felt like a lot of loose ends were tied up.

So this Thursday, is the start of the New Year in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. 2011 will be all about building up. I sense that. I have a gut feel that 2009 was deconstruction, 2010 was laying it all out and 2011 will be about growing.

And that's where the wwoofing has taken us. We will go back to Old Chapel Farm this summer to 'wwoof' there longer term. Bjorn will hopefully play a bigger role in terms of helping with the planning of the growing. And I will be a wwoofer / yoga teacher. It will be quite an awesome year.