First few days in Osikovo ..

Oats and fruit in the morning with Jen the other volunteer, before starting work at 8 up at Lisa and Euan's. Most mornings are taken up with helping Euan fell trees and with land clearing on Baba (Grandma) Mitka's farm, followed by fruit picking or preserve making. Lisa and Euan don't have a fridge, so a lot of effort goes into preserving foods in jars for the winter.
Fresh apple, pear or grape juice made most days. Home made goats cheese and bread with most lunches; tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers and aubergines from the garden usually appearing in some sort of meal. Everything tastes so good! I help Euan do a water run every other day from a nearby spring; loading up the horse drawn cart with water to then be emptied into containers up at the farm.
It gets really hot between 1 and 5, so we have a break to do what we want. Probably should have a sleep, but I love exploring the abandoned houses and surrounding countryside. So many horse flies and wasps, everywhere!
The small amount of locals smile and wave, saying 'zdrasti' (hi) or some other long words in Bulgarian. They always try and start a conversation but I really don't know enough yet to say more than hello, or goodbye. They are only living on around 120 lev a month, which is around £60, but all seem so content. Osikovo, and Voditsa are two of the poorest villages in Bulgaria. Many of the elderly are on their own, and have livestock to look after. Its very much a communal effort though, and neighbours or friends look out for each other - bartering eggs for cheese, or milk for a particular vegetable.

Its a very simple way of life out here, but so peaceful. Lisa and Euan take us to their friend Ban and Anna's for a bonfire one night and to meet all those helping out at the festival in September in some way. Such nice people, and we sit around a fire with traditional Buglarian food and beers till 2 am. Each of their friends have volunteers working on their farms from all over the world, and translating each others words and stories becomes hilarious after a few beers. Everyone else speaks at least 2 or three languages; fell slightly put to shame that I can only speak English!
Learning so much from Lisa and Euan, and witnessing incredible scenery and culture. Bus into the local town of Popovo to look around the fruit markets, and get a little internet in the library. Women have greater facial hair than I do, and armpit hair too. I have seen and experienced so much already, and I don't have time to write about it all, but its beautiful out here. You can buy a farm in the village for around £1500, its incredibly tempting.
Looking forward to the arrival of the Gable sisters on Monday!

Peckham to Popovo in 28 hours.

LONGEST journey ever; Peckham to Heathrow, Terminal 5 at 4:30 am. Slight delay at Heathrow, then stop off at Tegel, Berlin. 2 hour delay because something is wrong with the fuel gauge, ie. no left phalange, so after the phalange fixer leaves we finally take off, and arrive at Sofia Bulgaria, 3 hours later than planned.

Hahahaa where the hell am I!?! I quickly discover people really don't speak English out here. Taxi to Sofia station, during which I seem to have travelled at least 100 years back in time.

Only possible train to get is at 22:25, so after a lot of hand gestures and writing on paper to the ticket lady, I manage to get a ticket. I have a 3 hour wait, so after a brief stroll around Sofia, I settle on waiting in the station like everyone else. I notice a lot of people drinking beer cans, and eager to adopt the Bulgarian way of travelling I thought I'd treat myself to a couple of tinnie's for the onward journey.

Pretty much impossible to work out which platform and train I need to get. Bulgarian words just look like you've picked random letters from the alphabet, but I manage to work out platform 7 after speaking to 5 different people. It looks like the bloody Hogwards Express, only without lighting! Should I sit anywhere?

All I know is that the train is supposed to arrive at Popovo at 03:23. So I settle down in my carriage with a couple of Bulgarians, and try and get a little sleep.

03:23 arrives and I get off the train, shouting to the train man 'Popovo?' .. 'NEH NEH NEH!', so I have to jump back on. This happens pretty much every stop until I finally reach Popovo at 05:15. Very delirious by this point, and end up having a nap at Popovo staiton on a bench. Wake up very confused, thinking I am still travelling with Max and Mike and that they have left me as a joke. Really get quite annoyed then suddenly it dawns on me I am in Bulgaria on my own haha.

I find out from the train station lady I need to get a bus to Voditsa. So I set off to find a bus stop. End up walking for about 3 km into the town of Popovo (Попово), extremely delirious, and stand by a bus stop. Lots of funny looks, maybe I'm not at a bus stop? Eventually give my host Lisa a call and find out I'm pretty close to the bus station, and if I get there soon I could grab a taxi for about 20 lev (£10) and have some apple crumble for breakfast at the farm.

Driving through Voditsa village in the taxi, I see so many of the houses are decrepit and abandoned. I made it! Lisa meets me at Osikovo Center, and takes me up to a neighbours farm for a quick drink. The village of Osikovo is beautiful - so unspoilt and untouched, but like driving through Voditsa, the abandoned houses and farms are so apparent. Lisa explains after Communism fell there weren't enough jobs to sustain the locals, forcing many to abandon their homes. The village has gone from around 1500 people down to under 100, with the majority of the population being made up of very elderly Bulgarians. The younger generation, in their 40's and 50's, have been dying of cancers caused by exposure to the Chernobyl disaster. Death is very present in the village, as the locals stick posters of their deceased loved ones on entrance gates to farms. They are a sign of remembrance, and this state of 'mourning' can be in effect for a month or up to 10 years.

I meet Euan, Lisa's partner, who is an artist that specialises in using natural materials. After some food and a coffee, and a brief introduction, I realise I haven't slept more than a few hours for the past days, and get shown to my accommodation whilst I am in Osikovo. I'm staying in a tent on a neighbouring plot owned by a friend of Lisa and Euan's called Molly. Jen, another volunteer has a room in the small house opposite my tent, where there is also a small kitchen with simple gas stove and cool box to refrigerate foods. Just the essentials! No shower, and not much water, so washing will be done from a pan, and the toilet is a long drop, but with a pretty long drop so it doesn't smell too bad.

Amazing foods and conversation with Lisa and Euan on the first night. Their farm is incredible - completely off grid, so no electricity. They have goats, dogs, cats, and horses. Already feel completely welcomed and settled. These 5 and a half weeks are gonna be crackin.