The Wereldwerf, Amsterdam and "de Spruitjes"

After I gave the guys from Ireland a lift back to the airport I went back to the Wereldwerf in Olen. I went back to Olen cause I wanted to build a rope pump using Charles´ recyclingwall for the material. But before I started with the pump (see page rope pump). I actually enjoyed coming back to the Wereldwerf, mainly cause it gave me the opportunity to meet Charles and Alex again. So the next two days I worked with Alex. We put some roof tiles on the fairy tale house in the secret garden and we finished the oiling of the gazebo and went on with the steel work for the foundation. The next days I was busy building my pump. Alex had dicided to move on to another WWOOF place, so it was time to say goodbye.

Now I was the only WWOOFer left on the spot. But no worries, Maurice turned up and we did a big effort in finishing the preparation for the foundation and the following day the concrete was arriving. Between Charles, Maurice and me we had a very busy day. By the end of the day we were all tired but the work was done. Foundation finished.
I decided to stay a couple of days longer to meet people from the house of colours in Turnhout and another coulpe from the south of Sudan. They wanted to see my pump. Both groups said it would be a good thing to build pumps like this in Africa. Not only building them, but teaching the peolpe how to build them. So in case something goes wrong they would be able to fix them without help.
Satisfied with my work and the contacts I made so far I decided to spend some time in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a very international, tousistic town which to be honest is far too busy for my taste. What I liked very much are the so called "grachte". These are the channels where all the boats are moving or trying to move, cause they seem to be a little bit overcrowded

It is very funny to watch all the chaos. But everybody seems to be in a good mood and having fun. In Amsterdam I met Katja, Riine and Mitch. I know them from my voluntary work I did last year in Denmark. Another point what is very nice about Amsterdam are all the house boats. So many people are living in these boats who are anchored in the grachte. And every boat is different. Some are small and simple but others are like swimming houses with many plants and even small gardens. Very nice.
There is a WWOOF host close to Amsterdam. I contacted this place allready a few weeks ago and as far as I learned from the returning mail people are always welcome. I decided to go there. The place is called "De Spruitjes" and is a squatted old farmhouse with squite some grounds.
This place is different from all the places I have been so far. I still haven´t figured out how many poeple are definetly living here. There is a constant movement from people arriving and leaving. Kenny is the head of De Spruitjes. He and some friends were squatting the house in 2001.
People from all over the work are staying here. Grant and Caroll from Horth Carolina who want to move to Turkey, Mantas and his brother from Lithuania, Simonet and Roberto from Italy, Arno from Germany, Simon from England, Julie from Masachusetts, Talia from Israel and Joris, Saskia, Godfried and Kenny from Holland. But there are always some visitors.
What they do here or trying to do is to live self-sufficent. They have a huge garden which is well organized. They have one sheap, five goats and nine chickens, not to forget Joseph ans Kunta the dogs. They do their own compost and the fruits and veggys I´ve seen in the garden are very big and tasty. They don´t use any gas or electricity for heating or cooking. They have a big wood burning stove in the living room where they as well do the cooking. What I did for the next two weeks was cutting wood. Thanx to the chainsaw I am carrying in my car I was able to cut all the big trunks they had on the grounds into pieces. Afterwards I did the splitting as well.
This place is not easy to imagine. Exept the garden nothing seemes to be organized. With luck there was lunch or dinner once a day. The times also varied a lot. Some days we had lunch at 2pm and than nothing for the rest of the day an some days someone decided to cook at 11pm. the fridges were mostly empty, and bread never available. Saskia, who is living here since three years actually kept me "alive". Almost every day she did some cooking for me. She just said, you are cutting wood for us for the winter so I am going to feed you, great, but this is the actual idea of WWOOFing anyway. There is actually no bathroom in the house, not even to think about hot water. So every morning I heated up some water and I just had a shower outside. The grounds look a bit not well maintenanced. Someone is starting something but never finishing up. One guy was just "building" a workshop. But I reckon he will never going to finish it. The whole place is like, yeah, ....I don´t know, let the pictures talk.
On the other hand, the people are very friendly and welcoming. There is no stress what so ever. It is just easy being here. Nobody is asking for any tasks. They work if they want to. They share what they´ve got. Their lifestyle is just great, if this is what you are looking for.
Kenny has a very great knowledge about plants, gardening, compost, seeding etc. The courgettes are some of the biggest I´ve ever seen. And the onions, tomatoes, berry, in fact every veg or fruit from the garden are just marvellous.
All together I had two interesting weeks here. I had good fun and somehow I would like to stay longer. But I have different plans. And this is a place where people are always welcome.
The link underneeth will lead you to picasa photo share.
http://picasaweb.google.com/106213480355655195189/TheWereldwerfAmsterdamAndDeSpruitjes#