Wednesday, 24 August, 2022 – On the subject of not being able to anticipate everything, Elias and his friends have ditched Plan A and are going on to Plan B. I am really proud of them, trusting their instincts and acting together to change direction.
At 1:30am (Kansas City time or 8:30am, Paris time), Elias texted, “We’re heading to the farm today, I’m not sure there will be any connection so I might be out of contact for a little while.”
At 9am (Kansas City time or 4pm, Paris time) , Elias texted, “Hi could you do us a favor and look up if there is a cheap place to stay in Nanterre? I can explain later but the farm is not a good situation and we’re trying to get out.”
I hope we’ll get the details at some point but what I do know is they got there, tried to figure out if they could manage it, and then pretty quickly made a decision to leave. Elias only texted because the wifi at the farm was so terrible, they couldn’t get online and make a reservation for a hostel. They were supposed to be woofing for a week, but tonight, they are in a hostel in Nanterre. Elias said several times, “Thank you for your help today.” And I could hear Ian and Kelsey yelling in the background, “Thank you! Woohoo, we have a shower!”
Yup, they were excited about a shower. And a toilet with running water. And a bed. Which speaks volumes about the place they left. Elias told me that it is not a working farm. There are homeless people staying there and meals are not provided. There’s no electricity and no place to bathe. Clearly, they went beyond “roughing it”.
Here’s the website of the place: http://www.lafermedubonheur.fr/
Here’s the page on the wwoofing site: https://wwoof.fr/en/host/123-La-Ferme-du-Bonheur-Association
Based on the pictures, I admit it does not have the same ambience as the first farm in Arles but pictures are deceiving. They were especially deceiving in this case because the “farm” has two sites and the pretty pictures were taken at the site where Elias, Kelsey, and Ian were not. I also thought the fact that La Ferme du Bonheur has been a woofing site for several years spoke to its reliability. Nope. Nope. Nope.
The funny thing is, for all my worrying, as soon as I saw his message, I knew Elias was okay. I jumped up when my phone buzzed and I saw his text this morning, but not because I was worried he wasn’t being safe. I have complete confidence in Elias’s ability to judge the safety of a situation. He’s not cautious but he’s always been aware of his surroundings. Time in Israel also taught him a lot that, at the time, I think he wished he had not learned. And I felt good that he and Kelsey and Ian are together; they know each other so well, I knew they could make a decision under duress. I also did not have time to worry when Elias texted at 9am – I was helping make a plan!
Here’s where I reserved a room for the three of them:
Still, when he called from the hostel in Nanterre, and I could hear the relief in his voice, I had some idea of how stressful the last few hours had been for all three of them. We said goodnight, hung up the phone, and that’s when I cried. With relief, with the realization of what could have happened if they had not left when they did. With pride, that they left when they did. With abject gratitude for technology that made it possible for him to text and ask for a little help.
Tomorrow, they head back to Paris – it’s only 30 minutes away by train – to stay for a few days and then they’re going to London! And maybe Manchester! Or Scotland!