Quote: (07-29-2016 04:27 AM)IDrinkYourMilkShake Wrote:
Amazing experience El_Gostro! You should think about writing a book about this, either some type of biography or a practical handbook for modern nomads/bums. .
Actually I have been working on and off for the last two years on a sort of funny book presented as "guide" or "hobodex" (think a bird watcher's guide) with typical traveling archetypes,complete with methods of engagement and geographical distribution.
I would throw in an index that I guess would be very similar to the data sheet compiled in this thread
Quote: (07-29-2016 04:27 AM)IDrinkYourMilkShake Wrote:
As a teenager I had similar a ideas of giving this lifestyle a shot, back then I had a great interest in survival skills, bushcraft and anthropology of pre-industrial societies and cultures. Never did it, but it resulted in a hunting license, wood working (specially bow making), camping/hiking and a bunch of other stuff
I think you made the best choice for the long run, man.
I have some varied tidbits of knowledge of this and that from my moving around but at the end of the day its a tattered rag of patchy knowledge tied together by the sheer power of imagination whereas it sounds as if you achieved solid knowledge of certain crafts.
Quote: (07-29-2016 04:27 AM)IDrinkYourMilkShake Wrote:
Anyway, I can confirm that my (short) experience with WOOFing sounds like what you mention. I went for curiousity and to get some knowledge in, like already said, an un-official apprenticeship type of learning, but i realized pretty soon that wasnt gonna be the case. Most ppl there where lazy and unfit backpackers, except a greek couple who was living there because of the situation in their home country. The guys in charge didnt want to teach their skills (I asked) they where kind of grumpy and one had aspergers which kind of made some pretty funny situations haha.
The owners fit your description of ppl in permaculture, absolutly no clue about buisness or to have a good overview of the place, there was contantly some stuff that needed attention but would have been fixed if you had a routine of regurlarly going through the place. Very ineffective.
They also complained all the time even when there wasnt anything to complain about. Like one time four of us where assembling some pipes at the greenhouse, when we where done the owner started to whine and rant about how much it 'would' have cost to hire someone to do this.....when we just did it for free. Thats the type of mindset they had, which is kind of weird since they got some good potential as their produce where highly sought after (and ridicously overpriced) and basicly no cost of labor.
Believe me ,I am quite relieved to hear this from a fellow RVF member!
Debeguilled's question actually made me once again type
"Woofing is a scam" and other similar entries in google with barely any result.
And once again I found nearly no genuinely negative or objective analysis of the WOOFing operation. Practically all articles were written by whiney omega male hipsters and entitled fatties.
However I was able to extract some silver linings: A couple of bloggers-both male interestingly enough- actually dared to do a timid attack on the administration of WOOFing and on how the information provided by the "employers" is bullshit and very far away from the actual thing.
In many articles it is stated that,like with volunteering scams,many woofing hosts actually charge their guests/workers!
Your reply sheds a new light of hope to me as practically every thing I ever read about WOOF,like with vegan student kitches is something that seems reserved to a financially relaxed and tween section of the western populace.
And just for kicks: WOOFing is in a legal gray area in most countries,the site suggests you do not mention in Visas/customs that you are in X country for a WOOfing experience
Quote: (07-29-2016 09:24 AM)ColSpanker Wrote:
One of my former employers, an ex-stripper and the only real anarchist I ever met, used to rant about the privileged kids who made up all the activist groups in town. Seems a lot of them didn't have to worry about money as mummy and daddy fronted the bill for them to "stick it to the man". I suspect you will find a lot of them traveling from one "burn" to the next.
Hahaha,I can relate to that feeling!
I will never forget one time i was passing by Mardi Gras Zone at the marigny on my way to sell my stuff at royal street when I saw one of dirtiest, patchiest and totally unbangeable punks paying for a shit ton of really expensive organic BS with her credit card (I observed keenly,it wasnt a debit or food stamp)
Quote: (07-29-2016 04:27 AM)IDrinkYourMilkShake Wrote:
Edit: About mouth hygiene, what about baking soda?
Quote: (07-29-2016 09:34 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:
Instead of carrying around the Listerine, use hydrogen peroxide instead. The H2O2 has more practical uses (cleaning wounds, clothes, and mouthwash) and doesn't dry out the mouth like the alcohol does.
Arguably, I would say that if you were pinched on stuff to carry I would say carry hydrogen peroxide and some dental floss. Flossing is far more important than brushing as the junk in between your teeth is worse than the stuff on the outside. In an ideal world carry everything. However, in this case you could forgo the brush and paste and still have decent dental hygiene.
Another gent also mentioned baking soda which also makes a great tooth paste.
Damn! I had completely forgotten about that!
Yeah It would also work as very good whitener too!
In fact,my old math teacher who was actually a biologist once gave me a very good formula for tooth paste:
Bicarbonate+lemon juice (squeezed)+H202
Quote: (07-29-2016 09:34 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:
Do you have any other stories you're comfortable sharing with us?
Definitely! If there's one thing I love is telling and hearing stories of truth,despair and awesomeness for good measure!
I'll be throwing around some more shortly