Week 11 – Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Last week was a bit of a let down, things we hoped to get done, didn’t, for various reasons, and we also had a few problems at the beginning of this week…BUT we are back on track (I say whilst crossing my fingers & toes).

The Kitchen is pretty much in, and looks lovely, really pleased with how it looks and pleasantly surprised by the space.  It was definitely worth re-arranging the walls and layout in the kitchen and utility.  I’m confident Jamie will enjoy cooking in there…Hee hee

This week Gemma has had her stern face on and wagged her finger, the result of this is the plan for the bathroom and kitchen to be completed by the end of this weekend, including tiling (again I’m crossing everything and trying not to get too excited in case it doesn’t).  The budget has gone out of the window, unfortunately we went over budget a few weeks ago and are struggling somewhat but just want to get it done now so we can move in, even if we have to borrow here & there and live on baked beans and tap water! At least we will have a sink!!

It is all coming together now and although I am a bit moody and tired this week, we are as everyone keeps telling us ‘nearly there’.  So yes there is light at the end of the tunnel, which I am approaching gingerly…

As of last night we have bathroom floor! yippeee!

Hopefully my next blog will be of a finished bathroom and kitchen!!

We made it!

Today myself and Letty were part of the Marsden March, and walked 14 miles across London for the Royal Marsden cancer charity.  I think it’s fair to say it was the hardest and most physically demanding thing I have ever done! It was certainly not easy and my feet are very sore but I am so proud of the both of us for completing 14 miles in 4 hours and 15 minutes.  There were 6 of us who walked the 14 miles and the rest of Letty’s family walked 5 miles for the Marsden too! Medals all round!

There were a few thousand walkers at times staggered throughout the day and many had panels on their backs saying why and who they were walking for.  It was touching to see so many stories, many sad losses but also some fighters and some who have beat cancer.  I think many of the people walking had been treated themselves.  A great atmosphere and a very worthy cause, I am proud to have marched for Marsden and made it!

A few of the most memorable moments:

After arriving and registering we were given a map of the route, which Colette preceded to look at and then after turning it over exclaimed ‘oh my god it’s double sided!’

Starting off with a balloon each, Colette’s bursting before we’d done a mile and then each of us losing or bursting ours every few miles, only Bimmy’s was left intact at the end of the walk!

Thinking at mile 9 ok I could do with the loo now, but after seeing the queue and considering stopping we decided if we stopped we may never get started again so kept on going till the very end.

Meeting John and Sandy at mile 12 and feeling like it was the finish line...unfortunately there were still 2 miles to go!

The last 2 miles...which felt like 14 of their own, they went on and on I swear they were longer than 2 miles, at one point I was practically screaming at Colette ‘where the hell is the Mile 13 marker?!’

Every half a mile seeing Marsden volunteers helping to direct us, towards the end each of them told us we were nearly there, if I heard ‘Nearly there’ once more I may have cried!

Finally glimpsing the finish line and seeing everyone waving and cheering us on, I felt relieved, exhausted and proud :o)

Thank you to everyone who has already sponsored me and for all the good luck wishes along the way! There is still time to donate, if you would like to give something please click on the link, all your support is very much appreciated.

http://www.justgiving.com/Gemma-Warnock0

Memories of Barcelona...

Barcelona Jan 2008

After a few days at Mona Chimpanzee Sanctuary we waved goodbye to Jane and got a train into Barcelona to see the sights!

Memorable Moments

Watching the world go by on the train journey into Barcelona from Girona, chatting about our experience at Mona and listening to Zero 7.

Couldn’t find our hostel in town, that was because it was not in the town...somehow I must have managed to find a completely different hostel on the map as it was nowhere near where I thought it was! But we did find it eventually and it was perfect! A great little hostel, very cheap and basic, lovely atmosphere and free breakfast!

We had planned to get a cable car ride over the harbour and thought we’d save time on our last day if we found it the night before so we knew where to go, we ended up walking miles to find it before discovering ourselves in a not so great part of town...

Walking down the famous Ramblas we were less than impressed, we had heard such good things about the Ramblas being the centre of the hustle and bustle of Barcelona but after being at the sanctuary for a few days seeing the animals being held and sold in ridiculously small cages piled on top of each other was not a pleasant sight.  Some of the cages had animals literally standing on top of one another to fit them in and the birds didn’t even have enough room to open a wing there were so many crammed in such a tiny space.  Very sad, it just reinforced some of the issues we had been told about a few days previously.

We got into ‘Casa Mila’ one of the Gaudi buildings as one of the last entries at dusk.  When we got up to the rooftop it was like being on another planet.  Absolutely amazing, we spent ages up there it was so peaceful, the sun was setting and the huge sculptures towered over and around us.  I would say ‘magical’ summed up the experience, I will never forget.

Baring in mind it was January and we decided to sit on the chilly top deck of an open top tour bus, we were very surprised to find ourselves with sunburnt faces in the evening!

The flight home with a rowdy family who couldn’t decide where they were sitting, the air hostess having to literally scream ‘will everyone SIT DOWN NOW’  The old lady with the huge magnified eyes behind her thick glasses staring at us all the way home and the toddler having a wander down the aisle whenever the seatbelt light came on.

Architectural Genius

La Sagrada Familia, the huge Roman Catholic Church designed by Gaudi which is still incomplete, but fascinating in that one side is in a completely different style to the other.

Casa Mila Rooftop sculptures, Gaudi genius.  Not only is the rooftop something else, the building itself is incredible, architecture like you have never seen. 

Casa Batllo, another Gaudi design, which used to be a residential building.  We walked around with our headsets on which described how each curve and shape in each room had a purpose and meaning behind it.  There were no straight lines in the entire building and the roof top shapes resembled a dragon’s tale.  I’m not always one for listening to the lengthy headphone guides but it was very interesting and explained all the little details which made the building so fascinating.

Strolling round the gothic quarter, for another style of architecture, there is so much to look at in Barcelona, art and architecture is all around you.

Artyfartyness

Gaudi everywhere! This city is full of art everywhere you look, the buildings are a work of art!

Park Guell again designed by Gaudi was one of my favourite places that we visited.  It’s free to enter and you can explore the park and its architectural features to your heart’s content.  His trademark mosaics are featured throughout the terrace and park itself and there are surprises round every corner.  Combined with the warmth of the afternoon sun it was a fantastic afternoon Jen and I spent hours exploring.

Culinary Delights

I don’t remember much about the food to be honest, I know when we got to Barcelona we were so hungry not having eaten for hours that we ran into a pizza hut and scoffed as much pizza as our bellies could hold!

We did end up in a very posh restaurant in the evening which we went in looking like tramps with sunburnt faces before realising quite how posh it was (men in suits, ladies dressed up), but they let us in even though we got a few strange looks and the food was gorgeous!

What the Weatherman Says (January)

Very cold mornings and evenings but warm sunny afternoons! It’s all about layers!

Walkometer/Exhaustion Level

Working at Mona had been exhausting anyway but after sightseeing round Barcelona we were cream crackered, we were both falling asleep on the underground, heads nodding trying to keep an eye on the stations so we would make it back to the hostel.

Walking, walking walking, we did some more walking...the hop on/off tour bus was fantastic I would really recommend this!! You pay a certain amount for a ticket over how many days you are there and you can literally jump on and off the bus at all the sights.  You get a map and money off vouchers for entry to most of the attractions in town it is perfect and you are not limited with how much time you spend at places or having to be back for a certain time. Well worth the money!

Mona

Jan 2008

The idea first arose when we went out for a meal Christmas of 2007. I had just left my job and was not sure quite what to do next and Jenny wanted some time out and to do something a bit different. We were both talking about how we’d love to work with animals and Jen brought up the idea of volunteering somewhere. A few weeks later I thought about what she had said, having a lot of time on my hands and thought we could seriously do this...

We started looking for ideas and came across a website called responsible travel. There were some incredible trips on there but most were very expensive and for long periods of time. Then we came across Mona, a chimpanzee Sanctuary based in Girona, Spain. It was abroad, but not too far and for a few days, just enough to get a taster and to contribute something worthwhile to the Sanctuary. So Jen got it all in motion by contacting Mona and we started to arrange our trip.

Mona is a fantastic charity caring for chimpanzees who have been badly treated and in a lot of cases used for the entertainment of humans at the animals cost. Unfortunately it is not illegal in Spain to keep monkeys as pets and so Mona have a fight on their hands trying to rescue those they discover, relying heavily on the public coming forward to report a sighting. Some of the chimpanzees had been used for television adverts or in circus acts. They were tied up in tiny cages not big enough to stand up in and fed extremely poor diets of cigarettes and fizzy drinks. Everyday people are profiting from these animals mistreatment. The idea at Mona is to recreate a safe environment as close to their natural habitat as possible so they can learn to become chimpanzees again. For this reason human contact is kept to a minimum and we would not be allowed to touch them or go in with them for direct contact. This would also be too dangerous, because of their past the chimps at Mona have serious psychological problems and issues trusting the humans they come into contact with. Jenny and I were excited to meet the people and the Chimps at the sanctuary and really did not know what to expect.

We were staying with an ex volunteer and friend of Mona called Jane who lived just outside Girona in a small Catalan village. Jane was a godsend during our stay, taking us to and from the sanctuary, giving us advice and information and preparing food for us. She even took us to the only local restaurant in her home town and ordered for us in Catalan as they did not speak English!

The first day at the sanctuary was exciting and nerve racking. It was very cold in the early morning and we were well wrapped up in fleeces and jackets and had our wellies ready. After a short drive we arrived and Jane introduced us to the staff leaving us in their capable hands. The kitchen and staff room was in a small porter cabin a little way away from the enclosures. As we sat in there a Robin flew up to the entrance and casually hopped in. I couldn’t believe it, as back home it is rare to catch even a glimpse of a Robin before it flies away. But this little guy was a regular visitor we were told and I couldn’t resist taking some snaps of him!  

It wasn’t long before we were to be introduced to the chimps and so we put on our wellies and stepped outside. The staff were whooping at our wellies and saying how excited the chimps would be. Mine were silver ‘space boots’ and Jenny’s were a black and white flowery design. I thought they were joking with us because we had such ‘trendy’ wellies but when we met the chimps we discovered they couldn’t take their eyes off them!

Our first meeting of the chimps was not at all what I expected. We walked through the kitchen and outside right next to the largest enclosure where the family reside. Toto is the alpha male, Romie (who sadly passed away recently), Waty and Sara the three females and then Bongo and Juanita, Juanita being the youngest. Nico one of the young males was not in with the family when we visited Mona as he had an injury and was being kept separate until he had healed.

We got ready sitting on a couple of crates about a metre from the fence. The chimps had yet to be let out of their night indoor enclosure and we could hear excited noises and shrieks from inside. Alba told us that the chimps would not trust us straight away and might act in strange ways, they could be aggressive but we were to remain calm and not react to anything they were doing. I felt butterflies in my stomach not quite sure how this first encounter was going to go. Jenny looked as nervous as I felt. Then the door opened and out they came. They were so fast and most of them ran straight to where we were sitting. The sheer size of the chimps surprised me straight away as I had not pictured them as being as large as they were. They were not happy to see us and some of them began aggressive behaviour straight away grasping dirt and grass in their hands and throwing it towards us through the fence. It was a shock and my first instinct was to scream but I knew I couldn’t react and so we looked away from them at each other whispering to each other. Probably something along the lines of ‘oh my god this is scary, what are we doing here!?’ One of the chimps began spitting at us as well. Alba came out and told off the chimps for their bad behaviour but who can blame them they have been treated so poorly by people who look just like us. Before going out there I had my camera ready to take photographs but as soon as they came out it did not feel right, it felt like exploiting their vulnerability so we put our cameras away. After our first meeting with the chimps we had dirt in our hair & ears and looked slightly bedraggled. However bewildering our first encounter, I think we were both eager to earn their trust and prove to them we were the good guys.

The sanctuary also look after a family of Barbary Macaques and we got to meet them too although they were a lot calmer to observe on a first meeting. Throughout the morning we cleaned up the Barbary Macaques enclosure and had a tour of the sanctuary.

Then it was time to prepare their breakfasts. There was a list of how much each animal should get depending on their size and appetite and also to make sure they each get a varied diet. It mainly consisted of fruits & nuts and also some bread & crackers, which we chopped up and put into individual bowls for each enclosure. We could hear the chimps outside awaiting their morning feast. While we were in the kitchen we learnt about the medical needs of some of the chimps and the medication they are given. Chimps have a lot of similarities to humans and I remember Toto the eldest of the chimps had vitamins and medications for joints and old age just like elderly humans.

Then it was time to go and feed the chimps. The biggest enclosure was to be done first with the family of chimps where we had had our interesting encounter that morning. But I was slightly more confident they would be a little more pleased to see us with their breakfast in our hands. And I was right, although they were still very unsure of us as we began to throw food over the fence of the enclosure they saw that we were not meaning harm. It was actually quite hard to throw the food high enough to get it over and we didn’t want to waste the chimp’s food. After a few minutes Alba said we could start putting food through the fence a bit closer to the chimps. This experience of feeding the family of chimps was fantastic and so memorable. You could see each of their personalities coming out and observe them much more naturally than before. They were obviously happy to get the food and my confidence picked up throughout. To get so close to them was incredible. After their food was gone Alba spoke to some of them through the fence and we observed them for a few minutes, getting close enough to take a few photographs as they relaxed. This no longer felt like an intrusion into their privacy as we observed them as individual characters.

Rest In Peace Romie x x

Toto

A friend of Alba’s and of the chimps arrived as we were finishing the feeding and she began to interact with Juanita through the fence. She picked up a long stem of grass with flowers on it and passed it through to Juanita. He accepted the gift and passed one back to her. Everyone laughed as he passed through a tatty looking twig and the lady exclaimed where her flowers were!

After we left the family we headed for the bachelor group where there were 3 male chimps together, Charlie, Marco and Tony. They were a lot less aggressive than the family but also wary of us. Charlie named after Prince Charles due to his extremely large ears and Marco got right down to business eating their breakfast. Tony was a little more reluctant. Tony is a lot smaller than the other males, due to a condition he has stopping his body from developing properly. He was one of the chimps rescued from a circus and that was the life he knew for many years. The staff at Mona asked us not encourage him as he still has tendencies to do tricks and run up and down the fence as I assume he had been taught. When he did the tricks there was no humour and all I felt was sadness at how he had been treated. He took a real shine to Jenny and we made sure he got some food too and that the other two did not scrounge it before he got to it. I think Tony had become a favourite of both of us already.

Finally we went to feed two of the newest recruits to Mona, Victor and Tico. It had not yet been decided which group they would be introduced to and so they were currently in a separate enclosure together. They were very playful and we had to stand well back from the enclosure, as having much larger gaps between the bars they could reach their arms right through to get to the food. My fondest memory of Tico and Victor was on the last day at Mona. Jenny and I were sitting on a bench our hard work done for the day and we were allowed to simply observe the chimps. Sitting relaxed with our wellies crossed we talked about the last few days when we both saw what one of the chimps was up to. He had got himself comfortable on a hammock and pulled a nice cosy blue blanket over himself to get snug. As we watched he picked up a newspaper and proceeded to open it and read. It was in fact upside down which made it even more comical. He looked like an old grandad and all that was missing were his slippers.

Our next task involved getting stuck in cleaning out the indoor enclosures whilst the chimps went out for their breakfast. This was where the hard work began, sweeping out the straw and muck and power hosing it down after a good scrubbing! Then we had to set about making it homey again with clean straw. It was physically demanding but we both enjoyed getting stuck in and it was satisfying to see it all clean and ready for the chimps after all our hard work.

The day was drawing to a close and it would soon be time for the chimps to go into their indoor enclosures to have dinner and then go to sleep. We were told we could observe the dinner feed but would not be able to get involved as it was a stricter routine and the chimps were used to the keepers doing their meal in a particular way. So we sat one of us at either end on a crate very close to the enclosures but were not to step past a line which had been marked on the floor as this was how far the chimps could reach out through the bars.

When the doors were opened and the chimps came in it was a little like the first morning experience but ten times louder. They came running in at such speed and launched at the bars, mainly in excitement of dinner time and not hostility, although one of the chimps did spit a few times! The noise was deafening, I have never heard anything like it, the sounds reaching a pitch so high, an ear-splitting scream, swinging and running around in a hyperactive frenzy. I recorded a video clip on my camera purely for the sound as I knew this would be something that no one would believe unless they heard it for themselves. It was a little frightening but more fascinating than anything. Once they had started to quiet down a little the food came out and the keepers began to feed them. It was so mesmerising watching them throw the food up in the air and the chimps put their arms out of the bars to catch it. The ones down the bottom they gently passed to them putting the food into their hands. Then it was just watching them thoughtfully chew and then put their hands out for more when they had finished. It was clear some had favourite fruits and some were greedier than others. As well as fruit, they had a yogurt each which they opened themselves and some juice from small plastic cups which the keepers held to their lips. They all looked really content.

The thing that stands out clearest in my memory is the size of Toto’s hands. They were huge, wrinkled skin like an old man’s but three times the size of ours reaching out through the bars. I can also still remember the sound when I think back to them entering the enclosure; it is so clear in my mind. Dinnertime was most definitely my favourite and most memorable experience at Mona and luckily we were allowed to sit in on both evenings we were there. Alba taught us how to wish the chimps goodnight in Catalan to quiet them down for sleep but you could hear them chatting to each other as we crept out for the night. The last evening it felt quite emotional wishing them goodnight as we knew we not see them again, on this trip at least.

The first day was exhausting and although it went so quickly we were happy to get back to Jane’s and curl up on the sofa. I think I had the best night’s sleep that night I had had in a long time.

An early start and we were back at Mona ready to start the next challenge. We got the chance to talk with some of the other staff and volunteers and find out what their stories were and how they had come to be at Mona. In Spain they have a late afternoon lunch which lasts a couple of hours as their working day is longer and it was a great opportunity to sit outside under a warm sun talking to these remarkable people who all shared a common interest...monkeys & chimps! Some were there on work experience, some as part of their studies and others had come from across the globe to work there fulltime. There were a few staff members who had been there since the beginning with Alba and the chimps were like family to them.

We didn’t prepare the breakfast that morning instead it was ready for us to put around the enclosure before the chimps came outside. Before putting out the food we had to clean up the enclosure which took quite a long time. We then spread the food about hiding bits and putting them on the apparatus so that the chimps could hunt for their food. It looked delicious, hot potatoes chopped up with chunks of fresh vegetables. The outdoor enclosures had plenty of apparatus to swing and jump off, things to crawl through, hide in and play with to keep the chimps stimulated.

One of our tasks for the day was making enrichment activities for the chimps with food to keep them entertained and give them challenges as well as food! We got large pinecones, coated them in honey and stuck nuts and seeds on & inside the cones for them to pick out and munch. Then we covered them with newspaper. This kept all the nuts and seeds in and for the chimps it would be like unwrapping a present, they would not eat the paper but would most likely play with it after they had eaten all the goodies. It was fun to do something creative especially when you knew the chimps would also enjoy it. When we gave the pinecones to the chimps they went crazy running around and were really excited. I particularly remember Charlie and Marco two of the males, they sat together and they shared their two cones together passing them to and fro, being so gentle and making sure they each got the same. I was thrilled to get some photographs of these intimate moments as they appeared quite at ease with our presence.

Before we could observe their evening meal again we got to help make some of it, as well as fruit they had large sticky balls of rice with a little mince meat, it was fun preparing them and getting in a sticky mess. These were a real treat that they don’t get everyday and you could tell they were everyone’s favourite! As we were cooking the kitchen door was ajar and we could see the chimps gathered at the fence peeping at us wondering what we were up to.

One of the volunteers who was there as part of her studies, did a presentation in the educational room on the site, about her observations and ideas for enrichment that she had worked on during her time at Mona. Then Jenny and I had a chance to walk around the centre and read the information about where the chimps came from and the impact and development of the sanctuary. The sanctuary is open to the public to visit, mainly for schools to go there for educational visits to try and teach them about the chimps, in an effort to create a positive outlook on animals in general. The aims, to help a new generation grow up with different views than those that are common in Spain currently. It made a real impact on us and made us feel that by coming to Mona not only had we enjoyed learning about and observing the chimps, but that we had helped the staff with their work and by paying to go there we had made a donation to a very worthy cause.

I will never forget the experience I had at Mona with Jen. It may have been short but it had a huge impact. I would love to go back there in the future and see how the chimps have changed and meet the new characters which have joined the sanctuary since.  Mona has since rescued another chimpanzee called Africa from Gran Canaria, where she was smuggled from the wild. Jen and I raised some money by making and selling Monkey cup cakes to help Mona build a new enclosure for Africa back in Feb 2009.  We also did two 5K runs for Mona and hope to raise some more money in the future for such a worthy cause.

http://www.mona-uk.org/

Week 10 - Half a kitchen, half a bathroom

This week progress seems slow, we were originally expecting the bulders in from monday, kitchen to be delivered and fitted at the beginning of the week.  Then the kitchen was re-arranged for Thursday but a builder came in on monday anyway as the toilet appeared in the bathroom! So we have been a bit unsure what's going on this week.  But finally the kitchen has been delivered and is half way there...

The other half is in the front room...

Am hoping they come in tommorrow and get some more done fingers crossed!

The bathroom is sort of half way there aswell, there is a bath and a toilet although they are not completely plumbed in.  We are awaiting the lino floor to arrive at B&Q so that it can all be fitted.  It has however been lovingly painted by me and Jay aaaaah

The wall with the window will be tiled soon hopefully if we can afford the tiles...

All the walls have been plastered now aswell the last two were done this week and the radiators have been fitted, so we will soon have heat! hoorah!

We went to the Ideal Home show today to look at loads of funky stuff that we can't afford, we did come back with some knives, a paint pad pro (we had to purchase some sort of gadget its the rules) & some cheese!  Also found a ridiculously expensive rug which we would like however may have to wait until next year for that me thinks :o) may post some more pics tommorrow of the kitchen if it's miraculously completed!