It’s Friday and it’s the first sunny day since Monday. It’s absolutely gorgeous here when the buildings and fields are bathed in sunshine.

Bois le Comte is growing on us a little more each day. The meals are actually quite delicious – maybe we are just ravenous from working outside all day – and we have the opportunity to try a lot of new foods. I do still dream about queso though… We’ve even joked about buying some of the Orval cheese from the monastery and melting it in a pot in the kitchen… I don’t think it would be quite the same. There are a few new volunteers now: Adam the Aussie, Karen from Holland, and Dominique the Belgian. Simone, originally from California, (though she left the US a long time ago) is the chef and her British boyfriend, Alistair, is also volunteering. Everyone has made our stay much more than tolerable; it’s been a pleasure to work alongside them. Of course, they all have their own stories. Simone and Alistair live in India and are trying to start a macrobiotic restaurant there. Adam has been on holiday for the last 6 months – mainly in India and Nepal – and is working here for a few weeks before working at a music festival in northern Belgium. Karen is from the Netherlands and has volunteered here before. She likes to come down here from time to time. Dominique is from Antwerp and is the comic relief. He has the greatest personality. He is constantly giggling and smiling, even while weeding! Dominique also provides us with a lot of insight into Belgian culture. Last night we sat up after dinner on the porch drinking Belgian beer and discussing everything – life, politics, religion, farming, food, etc. It was really one of the defining experiences of this trip so far.

Thankfully we had access to lots of Belgian beer

Our new pals