Workaway in Westerkappeln

From the easternmost corner of Saxony, a few minutes from Poland, we have now reached the northernmost point of North Rhine Westphalia, just a stonemason’s throw from the Netherlands. If you’ve been following our travelog closely, you may be surprised to learn that we have not arrived in Bavaria. This unexpected change of schedule caught us a bit off guard as well, but after our prospective Workaway hosts in southern Germany left us hanging like a worn out pair of Lederhosen, we were forced to hatch a last minute back-up plan.

Apparently arrangements made through Workaway.com are nothing like an agreement written in stone, more like a whimsy scribbled across the internet, at least in some cases. I’m confident however that once we’ve spent a few months working on different farms and properties, our reputation will flourish, and we will find ourselves in great demand throughout the continent. Our initial hours here in Westerkappeln, anyway, have proven most auspicious.

Before we could even begin to unpack our van, I saw the rate at which beer was being offered and consumed, and found this most encouraging. Not that my moderate level of beer drinking is anything worth writing home about, but the unwritten ban on alcohol that was in effect through most of our stay in Loebau did little to boost the workingman’s morale after a full day of mowing, weeding and cement mixing. The general atmosphere of relaxation was reinforced when our new hosts reminded us that the next day was Sunday, a day of rest on which no work should be done. And how refreshing to find an indoor bathroom that didn’t smell like the end of the world.

Upon entering the house, it didn’t take me long to spot the nylon string guitar hanging on the wall and the beginner’s ukulele lying in the middle of the living room floor among the children. Did I mention children? Following our experience in Loebau with the three-year-old twins, this household actually has two sets of twins, two-year-old girls and and nine-month-old boys, all very similar but none identical. It’s no mere figure of speech to say that these parents have their hands full, as it’s literally one helpless child for every adult arm. Our own kids were delighted at least to find a formidable selection of toys, including the obligatory trampoline, which every Germany family seems to have at least one of.

During our four hour drive from Thuringen, we experienced a few scattered showers, but minutes after arriving in Westerkappeln, we were greeted by peels of rolling thunder followed by a full-scale downpour. A few more minutes passed and the dark clouds were blown away, bestowing upon us a beautiful blue sky, under which we browsed their 20 hectares in the late afternoon sun. In addition to this fruitful young family, we discovered that the spacious property is also home to four colorful horses, a dozen or more chickens and chicks, two cats, one dog, and one friendly granddad with a tool shed the size of a major department store and about as tidy as a toddler’s toy box.

Following a late dinner, we watched until midnight with shock and awe as Germany squeezed past Italy in multiple rounds of overtime and advanced to the European Cup quarterfinals. We did sleep in, but it turns out we spent a fair portion of Sunday working around the house and garden, as we intend to take Tuesday off instead, in recognition of my birthday. It looks like child-rearing responsibilities have put most of the gardening and home-improvement projects on indefinite hold here for most of the last year, but we’ll see how well our positive first impressions hold up after a month of multi munchkin mayhem.

For more informative and entertaining stories about our WorkAway experience, be sure to check out the following articles:

• WWOOFing with Children
• Helpful tips for WorkAway with Kids
• Q & A: Post WorkAway interview
• Spanish Immersion 
• New Education: A year without a principal