Work has not been so hard the last few days. That is why I find myself with enough energy to go on the internet in the afternoon. Yesterday we cleaned up a gross outdoor kitchen area (Delia and me), and then did some planting of onions. This morning we prepared soil and then planted more onions, and then we whacked the seeds out of pomegranates. There is a very specific method for opening a pomegranate and getting the seeds out. By the way, you probably have never had a pomegranate this good unless you've had it somewhere other than Canada! We sat on a dirt path looking out over the valley doing this.

Last night Merlin made a bath in a bathtub outdoors, raised up on blocks on each end, with a fire underneath. After he finished, the two other guys took turns (in the same water). Homayoun encouraged us to all use it. I didn't think I would but each of the guys in turn raved about how amazing it was so I went for it, laying in a bathtub full of water, dirty in the first place, and after having three grubby guys already in it. It was amazing. Pitch dark, under a sky loaded with stars. So as not to burn your bum, there is a piece of cork you sit on. But when you lay your head back on the edge, the cork makes you float right up. Talk about amazing experience.

Things are not all paradise here. Hygiene is one of the biggest annoyances. I think I've done incredibly well, learning to wipe myself after doing number one, with my left hand, pour water over it (if there is any in the pitcher beside the dirty squat toilet) and then running to the washroom, a ways away to wash my left hand off with the grubby bar of soap floating in dirty water. For number two, Delia and me have so far refused to try the hand-water method, and have rationed our kleenexes to one a day until Delia stole a roll of toilet paper from the boys, who have been more bold about whining a bit until Homayoun relented and gave them some. I have also done very well using an oily, grimy sponge to wipe my dishes under cold water, and have tolerated grabbing a "clean" plate with beads of oil around the rim or greasy fingerprints at every meal. Sometimes I give up and just eat off it if it isn't that bad, other times I quickly wipe it a bit more vigorously with the oily sponge and then dry it on the grimy towel. When I first arrived, I did not think I should wipe oily hands on the dishtowels bit quickly noticed that they were filthy anyways, so now at least I wipe the oil off my hands after doing my dishes. Anyways, I've gotten mostly used to this procedure, and I think that is quite admirable and a very good concession to this lovely, "natural" way of life.

I also have tolerated very well not showering even after days of hard and sometimes dirty work, going for up to 3 days without washing my hair at times.

Homayoun eats the peels or rinds of practically everything. He gives people lectures about it if they are peeling something that need not, in his opinion, be peeled. This would include avocados, apparently. As much as I would love to gorge myself on them, for that reason I am somewhat happy they are not yet ripe.

Basically, Homayoun and the other boys and to some extent, Delia tambien, espouse the philosophy that if it is natural, you don't need to worry. In other words, if the dirt is soil, bugs, mold that comes from this natural place we are in, why bother worrying about it? If it is natural your body's immune system will deal with it. I have to say that while a small bit of this philosophy is a welcome relief to the dorkiness of some North American wrapped-in-plastic, antibacterial stupidity, it is a bit extreme for me. I have often made jam from strawberries that were starting to go soft or a bit bad, like my grandmother did. I get annoyed with people back home on facebook that feel the need to tell me that if the sausage is pork I have to put it in the fridge. Um... duh! Well first of all I am in Spain and it is cured, and Spanish people are not in the dark ages. And anyone outside the darkest part of Central Asia knows that raw pork needs to be in the fridge, for heaven's sake!

I have coexisted quite well with a shower full of dirt on the floor always, that doesn't drain that well, with dust covering the floor of my bedroom, with bed-"sheets" that are totally raunchy with dirt and probably sweat and body grime of previous users, because I have not yet been able/permitted by weather to launder them.

So it kind of gets my goat that people here see me as too clean. I know of people who refuse to pee in the bushes, or sleep in a tent. Who can't handle being without makeup or high heels.

Taking the seeds out of pomegranates this afternoon I felt that it was necessary to try to save parts that were contaminated by rotten stuff. Homayoun is not someone you take the initiative to do things your own way with. But at this point I am guessing as to the standard for things, because so many of his ideas of what is edible, or rather, clean enough to be edible is to put it politely, quite "new" to me. From my knowledge, eating mold is not very good for you and sometimes is the cause of serious illness, depending on the variety - peanuts, for example. Parasites are not all that desireable to ingest. From what I've read, they are even suspected by some as being at least partially responsible for cancer.

He harvests incredible mushrooms, the likes of which I've never seen. All his food is delicious - I can't complain. But I screamed once when he gave me a mushroom to cut up that had a maggot in it. I got a bit of a lecture about nature, so yesterday when he brought in several incredible mushrooms of a size and weight never witnessed by me before, and which appeared like storybook mushrooms with polkadots in them, I obediently cut them in appropriate slices, although they were swarming (literally) with tiny spiders, ants and one other kind of bug. No joking. There were three types of tiny bigs. The polka-dots were big spots that were either bug eaten or slightly bad. But they had dried and weren't all that rotten or whatever. So I sliced these without too much disgust, or maybe ignoring the disgust. But one mushroom was a bit slimy on top and going kind of bad. It wasn't bad enough for Homayoun to get rid of it. All of these went onto drying racks and were put atop the wood stove to dry them. He said if the drying didn't stop the rotting then they would be thrown away after. The dirt on some of the mushrooms is minerals - why brush it off.

When we cleaned the pool/jacuzzi without jets the other day, nobody wanted to bother with the huge and disgusting cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. I insisted. How can you put your arms on the side of the pool, lay back and enjoy looking through the skylights, with huge cobwebs hanging down over you. I was also not to touch the dead plants that hung off the rock walls...

Nobody has a problem eating off the same spoon or cup as the others, and for the most part I don't either but it isn't something I really do totally readily...

Anyways, I just needed to get this all off my back!!!! It is still incredible here and the people are awesome in every other way. Homayoun is mostly awesome but I believe I will have to leave soon because he struggles with a bit of a temper and impatience which I am not dealing well with. We'll see...