The Travels of the
Techno-Freedom-Fighter

The number one barrier that exists in learning a language is the culture barrier loop. For example you can’t really get to speak a language well, until you have spent significant time with people who speak that language. But you don't really get to meet people who speak that language until you speak a fair amount yourself. I will have to say that I am finding out fast how little French I do know.

Well I got back to Holland in time for the party of Harold's. (Harold is one of the group of scouts that I went to the jamboree with in 1995). It was a good opportunity to meet up with all of the guys who I had gone to the world jamboree with. There I met up with Gerald, who was the boyfriend of Harold's sister. After I got chatting with him for a while we came up with a plan of what to do with me to learn French. Gerald has worked on a farm (owned by William a Dutch farmer that had immigrated to France.) in Normandy for his final work experience project for his Diploma in agriculture. He said that he could ring William and organize something for me. in the mean time he offered for me to go to his place and do a crash course in farming. So I bought a French phrase book and dictionary, packed the bike (I took a little less crap this time) and took off to France intent on learning French or having a mental meltdown trying!

I ended up in the hilly region of Normandy. Just up the road from where William the Conqueror was born. I slept at Williams place but spent most of my day working with Jan (an other Dutch farmer who had moved to France) and his wife Ien. This area is really known for its apple related alcoholic drinks. Such as cider and an really great apple liquors. I worked this out by the fact that the first night Christopher drank cider and not beer. He of course offered me a beer as he knew what Dutch people where like.

Once again on the subject of the volkskulture, if I had not explained it before, the main reason I travel and my greatest enjoyment from vacations is meeting new cultures an try as best I can to understand the culture and also the beliefs, assumptions, ideas and customs. How people live their lives and why they do the things they do is fascinating to me. Thus instead of sitting on my arse on a beach on the cote d'Auzre , doing nothing all day. I am working my guts out in the rain on a farm in Normandy. You tend to see and experience more that way and you get to know the people better. For example... while I walk to Jan's farm of a morning I see all sorts of things as wonder about them the later find out from my work mates why. Such as why in this area did they decide to build Tudor style wood framed houses. As I found out the land is poor here. Most of the farms were apple orchards with a few cows to keep the grass down. Thus they didn't really have a lot of money so you use the materials that are around you. The wood is cheap and the packing that is between the wood form work is maid of dung mud hair and gravel.

The French volkskulture is primarily based in agriculture, which due to the way modern economics works(or does not depending on your point of view :-) ) the only way to keep people on the lands is to give them subsidies. The subsidies started after WWII. There was a large population and not enough food. With the help of the marshal plan and other financial support the governments of western Europe began to help their farmers with their crops. By the 1960s food production had out strip demand so the farmers where paid not to crop or produce in order to control the market. Europe was one of the first to stop dumping food on the third world. that's where countries cant sell their goods any more because the cost of production is grater than the value of the product. They just give it to countries in the developing world. Far enough if the whole thing has fallen over due to drought like Ethiopia in the 80s but when a country can produce enough of its own food then dumping food just destroys the local economy thus leading to the next famine because no farmers could be bothered to crop land. Leading to a dependency on the developed nations... ok I'll stop the lecture. :-)

10 percent of the local population is now British. It is something that the local French don't really comprehend yet. Although they do complain about the house prices going up. Another great economy booster ... have a lot of urbane people with large disposable incomes move in to a rural area. See what that does for the local economy. Well I hear the rationalist say that this is great for the economy influx of cash great more people sell things which means that the rest of the local population becomes richer. It also means that the price of finite resources goes up to meat demand. Like houses, land, water.

the local farmers cooperative is interesting. Especially that there are 3 Dutch farmers involved. It is very Dutch to get involved in these kind of things. The two great qualities that the Dutch have that people

1. to be opinionated but not arrogant. - this comes down to the fact(skipping over 600 years of history and a lecture of post renaissance Dutch humanism) the Dutch believe that everybody is entitled to have their own opinion and to express it freely. That's why they do!

2. the blessing of the compromise - due to the fact that most of Netherlands was a swamp(I know it still is :-) ) and to drain the land and make a living they had to Polder it in (build a dike and pump the water out). No one farmer was able to do this by himself so communities where formed and committees where set to the task of getting things done, Thus from before the Romans turned up the Dutch where busy working things out by compromise. The best example of this is the BeNeLux(Belgium Netherlands and Luxemburg) Union, the catalyst for the EU. It was the ability to compromise and come together to form a strong union so thus out competing your neighboring countries who are much larger then you (France, Germany and UK).

Anyway... Back to the Norman farmers and the local Coop. Here in town they have a local Coop with 48 of the local farmers all together. They buy resources that they need together thus giving market power. They pay a yearly subscription fee that allows them to have 2 people employed fulltime to help on farms, well run them practically. This way they can have holidays and if someone gets sick or injured they can run the farm. This also provides employment for the young people where there wouldn't normally be any. The hilly land is poorer in quality than that of the costal plain. I do believe that it is because most of the farmers are poor that they help each other so much. I mean if you have the cash why would you bother to get people to help you, just pay someone to come and do it or you. Thus the wealthier a community is the less functional it is and the more the community relies on Jan's farm where I have been mostly working there is always 5-7 people helping to build the Jan's new Stall for his cows, with their own tractors. Only Mourise the contractor with the earth moving equipment is paid to be there.