Stay for a wage? Don't mind if I do!

It's January 6 in my blog world now and this, for the record, was the first time I had actually been asked to stay longer at a Help X place in return for a wage! Hoorah! I had a feeling this might have been on the table but I didn't want to get my hopes up.

Basically, G is having a secret eye operation that she doesn't want anyone to know about and so will be out of action for a few weeks at least. Being a bit of a control freak and stubborn by nature, I know it is very hard for her to entrust the care of her animals to just anyone so I do feel quite flattered that she thinks I'm able to do it. In our chat last night, she told me I had done a very good job so far and she could see me learning much more here.

I was honest with her and said I needed the same amount of money as I would've been paid for teaching in Bratislava, and she agreed. It is over a longer period of time, but it doesn't make a difference as it's all I would've earnt either way with teaching. I just would've had to deal with kids again. And I prefer animals, because at least you can hit them if they misbehave. I have emailed the English school twice now and got no response so it's their loss for being so unorganised.

For me, the situation also fits well because it means I still have free acommodation, food and some expenses, while also getting valuable training that I can use through my life. People pay a lot of money for this shit. I also get to ride horses and train the 2 younger ones. And for her, she gets someone who is capable to handle the camels, ride the horses and be reliable with any other task. Win win, really!

During the day, we exercised the camels again and so you all understand what this means, I will explain it. We saddle some horses, jump on and move the camels from their holding pen through the farm and to the paddock over the road. Altogether there are 10 camels so they can veer off here n there at times, but mostly when the majority are going one way, they just follow each other. Camels are smart animals but they certainly don't mind following the pack.

When we're in the paddock we run them from one end to the other, exercising the horses at the same time. Then we leave the camels in a bunch at the end of the paddock and do some work with the horses. I keep training the 2 young horses with natural horsemanship/western style, and a bit of English. I am really trying not to have them have to use the harsh bits the other horses use.

The American girls came along again, and have made some good improvements with rise-trotting etc. I met another of the girls about my age that comes to ride the horses, they have all been nice so far and able to speak English well. This, of course, means I am not improving my German at all but I hope to pick up more here n there. Now that I'm here for 2 months!