How to make sure not to meet me

Day 8, Tuesday (one full week on the road!!): 119 km, Bellenaves to Millay.

Tool of the day: My warm hiking socks. Thanks, Mama! It's cold out here.  

Heroes of the day: Merci à Pascale et Alexandre pour un dîner trés, trés bon! Et merci pour faire mon linge.. ;)

Soundtrack (listen to this when you read this post): JJ Heller - What Love really means - Verena, my phoenix, this is for you! (Sending my love in rememberance of late night talks while JJ Heller sang in the background)

A helpful guide: How to make sure not to meet me

Several times a day, I have to pick where I ring the door bell to get water, who I ask for directions or for help to find a place to sleep. If you live somewhere between Biarritz and Heidelberg, chances are, I might knock on your door. I understand, if you don’t want that, because who has time for that stuff?

So here is a guide on how you can make sure I won't bother you:

1. Have an ugly house.
2. Be inside your ugly house (or if you're oustide, ignore me as much as you can).
3. Have the door shut. Don’t have a door bell.
4. Don’t turn on the light inside, even if it’s becoming dark.

 

the old man who lived in this house had no chance.
He had a pretty house, his door was open AND he had an old beautiful bell at the entrance.

Let me explain:

1. Have an ugly house.
During the day, I pick the houses with the cutest decorations or the most flowers or the prettiest paintings to ask for water. Mostly, because I want to know who lives in these pretty houses.

In Germany, there is this saying: “Wo man singt, da lass dich nieder, böse Menschen kennen keine Lieder. - Stay where people sing because bad people don’t know any songs."  I adapted this saying for my purposes and my own saying now is: People in cool  houses are probably good people and that's why they want to give me water.

By the way, it’s not about the fanciest house. I choose the ones that look like someone lives in them who takes care of their house with their heart. This is what I go for.

2. Be inside your ugly house (or if your outside, ignore me as much as you can).

If you are outside, in your garden or on the steps before your house, I might stop and ask in my slow French where the next supermarket is. So better be inside! And if you are outside, don’t look up. Seriously, even if I stop or if you have never seen a German on a bike coming from Biarritz before – don’t look me in the eye! If you do, I might say “Bonjour”.

3. Have the door shut. Don’t have a door bell.

This is easy, because you are probably already in your house when you try to avoid me. I love houses with open doors – when I had to find help on the third day, the family had their door open and I could see their kitchen where they cooked and hung out. Don’t show me to much of your house and family life, I might want to join.

Pro-Advice: Some houses in France don’t have door bells. Knocking at a house feels weird to me, so I usually look around to find one with with a door bell. You might find that good to know.

4. Don’t turn on the light inside, even if it’s becoming dark.

It is also a good advice to not use lights. I might know you are there, and especially if I am depserate, this is how I know someone lives in the house - someone who could help me.

That’s it. If you do these things, you might not get interrupted in your daily life by a passing stranger.

By the way - this is also a helpful guide, if you want to learn how to invite people in your life – just flip the advice around and do the opposite ;) 

I, for my part, decided today that I want to be a house with an open door. 

I’ll try to look nice, because I want to look like I take care of things: of me, and of you, if you need me to. Also, I want to be “in my garden”, meaning: I want to be out there, acitvely and lovingly, so in case you are looking for some help, I am already in your life and you can find me easily. 

And then, the thing about the light. Light really does attract people. I love being around people who are hopeful! But I can’t produce hope, and I can’t fake feeling “light”, if I don’t (And I don’t always, because people are annoying and I am impatient).

For me, this light inside of me is Jesus. All I can try to be is transparent. But if you meet me, I want you to see him shining through me. Because it is him who makes me shine.

arrived in the 2-house-village right before it got stormy. 

Why do little places like this make me so happy? This is my room for tonight.
I love this adventure!