baby horse and saying goodbye!

My time in southern england is coming to an end. It seems I have done the impossible while here, gotten an tan and eaten good food. I have met lots of friends here and hope I run into them again, on this global travelers highway. (I've have an open invitation to stay in a Buddhist temple in Korea!!!!!) Although leaving makes me all kinds of sad, im pumped about my next series of adventures. 3 days in Edinburgh ( yes please) then a night in Inverness (home to the loch ness monster!!!) Then some time in the highlands!!!! And with that comes my next story ..... Last night our mare had a male foal! I was pretty excited about it. As sick as it is, I wanted to be there when it happened just to see if I could make it through it. In the past I've been kinda queasy and I am happy to report I was there for the whole birth. From the first hoof coming out to his first steps about an hour later. The foal looks just like its mom, solid brown not a single white mark on him. We were eating dinner and saw the mare pawing the ground, then the contractions started (We have a CCTV of the mare's stable in the kitchen). We ran up to the stable and Tina was already there, on the ground, behind the horse with a catchers mit! Haha. I'd like to say that birth is an overall messy process, and I wouldn't wish that pain upon anyone...

backpackers intl hostel in Newquay

We took the bus out to Newquay, Cornwall, UK armed with a list of four hostels. Once in town we were disappointed to see at 1800 a lot of shops were closed. WTH, its a friday night things should be open. Satisfying our desire for fried, fatty, greasy foods we found a fried chicken restaurant. After setting back a month of organic eating, we set out to find a hostel. After scouting out three others we landed at "international backpackers". A hostel "for surfers and int'l travelers". 32£ got us our own room and a sink!!! We made our reservations and were told "shower and toilet down the hall and the doors here don't have locks". I was in love with this place. We set off for town, very amazing town of Newquay (pronounced newkey). It reminded me a lot of folly beach, SC. A very small, central surfing town. Friday night brought out a lot of "stag parties". Lots of people, lots of bars. Lots of food with the word "Cornish" in front of it. Cornish pasties (think like a very tasty hand made hot pocket). Cornish ice cream, (ice cream served in a cone...) Cornish pizza (honestly...?). We found a nice walk down to and around the bay. Very nice bay with lots of tidal pools and lots of rocks and cliffs to monkey around on. The water rises about 10 feet between tides. The bay has an rock all of 100 feet tall that has a house on it, reachable only by a 1/4 mile long suspension bridge. Very cool. When the tide comes in the rock becomes an island, not for public though. We went to a pub called "the red lion" listened to a bar band play B-52 covers. And headed back to our hostel. All in all a smashing day. The next day we woke up early, disappointed to find that the last bus to launceston left town, 10 mind before the olympic torch passed through. Gotta be kidding!!! But the bus here is always cool because it passes through the english country side and most of them are double decker. All part of living the dream!

life in a day of me

Today I woke up, showered, and got breakfast at 0830. Breakfast we all (other suckers working for free) meet in the kitchen of the b and b. Normally ill grab a hot tea, some toast, and a bowl of "bran flakes". We hung around the kitchen till 0930, when we head to the horse stables. Just a simple task of feeding the pigs behind the stable. Pigs will jump you when it comes to food. So I walk along side the fence with the feed bucket, jump it, and throw the food in the trough and jump out. One stable to clean out for the expecting-any-day-now mare, daisy. Scooping horse shit is a lot like raking a zen garden. After the stable we walk across property to the bigger of a dozen gardens. This one held beets (that we ate with dinner last night) but today were turning over. Just digging up the old soil, and prepping it for planting. Did that till lunch at 1300. Lunch was more hot tea with milk, salad (grown on site) with vinegar dressing and kidney beans with (grown on site)with jacket potatoes. After lunch it was good old fashioned, sheep herding. We had to sort some out for sale. Moved the sheep about a mile from the back paddock to the front. A lady came and bought six ewes with five lambs afoot. Then it was just feeding the bungalow paddock with 20 ewes, and checked on our two sick ewes and called it a day. Just a quick five minute walk through the ram paddock and im home for the night. A few hours hanging out here and it'll be dinner time. Tomorrow well start my days off and ill have a lot more interesting stories to tell.

craving the familar

Well its been a little over a month since we've left the US of A. The experiences I have had so far with definitely be that of late night bar talk to strangers, who will later describe me as being worldy. I have urinated in public troughs manned by female attendants. I have eaten food that I randomly picked off a menu. Seeing Kelly sing n'syncs"bye bye bye" with a korean girl. I have (something I always wanted to do) slept in a crowded bus station!!! But despite me "living the dream" I am missing the familiar. I miss pizza. I miss hearing slang like "cool" and "your face". Food that's so bad for me it makes my heart, liver, and kidneys hurt. Don't interpert this that I want to leave any of this. I just wanted to get this first world pain off my chest

jason huffman: international traveler, life saver

There I was just minding my own business when BADA-BING I saved a foal's life. Just like that. End of story. From here on my resume will read Jason Huffman : friend to animals, everywhere. But, while that is what happened, here's the long story. This foal and her mom are in a stable that in one corner has a triangular feeding bin. Well somehow, the foal "jumped" into this small bin. Landing on her back where she couldn't move. I go into the barn look into "ladychef's" stable and see the foals legs sticking up. I ran, got Tony, and we lifted up the foal and got her on her feet again. Just a few scratches on her legs, nothing major. Just living the dream

dont touch my bags if you please mr customs man

Something I was curious about, and found no info online, was customs and immigrations. I have heard the UK is one of the hardest countries to cross into. Since I went through on a ship I have reason to believe it was easier than flying. First I want to say that I , jason wray Huffman, took the high road and told the truth. If I would have lied (not that I approve of that) and told customs what they wanted to hear I would have had no problem. The first question customs asked (and for me the only important one) was "how long do you plan to stay in the UK?" The answer they are not looking for is "until I run out of money" anything longer than a week raises a red flag. I have (had) a plane ticket out of their country and into Czech two months later. Customs wanted to know, where I planned on staying (wrong answer: train station floor) who was funding my trip (wrong answer: myself) what I did for and proof of employment in the USA. (Unemployed) and how much money I have in the bank. The bank account and my ticket out of the UK were my only saving grace. Now with all this being said, things could have been worse. Despite being honest, I was not searched. Despite no visa my bags weren't searched. Things could have gone a lot worse. I can see where lots of people would be uncomfortable having to log into your bank account with some random immigrations official. I personally know what battles to pick and which to admit defeat on.

sheep and my first UK experiences

Blog Three days after we've arrived in the UK, and im freezing, have rain pouring off me and am trying to herd 50 ewes, with lambs afoot. All with a huge smile on my face! When I thought of my first trip to Europe, I had visions of red headed, irish bar maidens going on about how much they loved american accents. However, this seems a great substitute! Our first day here was a light introduction to the farm, tilling and weeding. After 8 hours of bending, tilling, shoveling, and sifting; all of my muscles hurt. I wont lie, 14 days of cruise ship life made me soft. After an amazing dinner we went to our caravan. Which is really nice. Its a two bedroom simple caravan amongst 10 rams. We have two other caravans nearby for other wwoofers for when they come. The next morning I woke up and my legs ached. Honestly ached, like a 75 year old man ACHED. Despite this my naiveness showed through when I was excited to herd sheep. I had this image of sheep all in a single file line, like school children walking to the computer lab. Im a smart kid, believe it or not, but I can't "out wile" a lamb. Most sheep just want to follow a flock. You know wave your hands, make loud sounds and away they go. Sheep are pretty crazy animals and I now admire anyone having to raise them. I think after a month of this farm, illbe have the knowledge to be smart enough to never own a sheep farm.