The First Day

They say that every beginning carries a magic within it. Well, the beginning is made, and I am on my way to my four-week break. And the magic? Cheese sauna. More on that later...

Relaxed Arrival

I allowed myself two days for the journey. With 78 HP, it doesn't drive that quickly, and when the navigation app shows four hours, I know from experience that I will need about six hours with my van. And I didn't want to arrive late at night.

After work and the last handover, I set off. I spent the night at Achensee, and everything felt so surreal.

Surreal

Surreal? Why is that? With the start of this break, there was quite a bit of preparation involved. I sorted out my topics at work, prepared them, and distributed them among the team. Everything handed over. Briefed my supervisor, involved colleagues, informed business partners. The whole process took two weeks, and I was partially overwhelmed by the abundance and complexity of the topics. Basically, I feel that I am paid far too little for what I usually do.

With the departure and the night at Achensee, all that is now gone. Just a few hours after finishing work, I feel like I am in another world, in another state. And it's surreal because, on one hand, it's incredibly freeing to have handed over all my topics. Because now it doesn't really matter if I come back or not. On the other hand, it also feels totally strange.

Strange? Why is that?

It's like this: as a well-socialized Western European, a part of one's identity is defined by professional activity. There's not much to do about it; that's how one was socialized. And now that's gone. What replaces it? No idea; it will show. And I still need to process all of this for myself.

With these thoughts, I continue to the place where I will spend the next four weeks of my life. To Prags in Pustertal.

Arrival at the Heart of It All

Via Innsbruck and Brenner, I travel all the way to Brixen, then to Bruneck, and then the road branches into Pustertal. Around 10:30 am, I park my van in the yard and am warmly welcomed first by Moritz, the farm dog. Two girls in cheese-making outfits greet me right after. One is a wwoofing intern from Israel, who is here wwoofing with her partner, and the daughter of the owners. There is a short introduction; her brother comes, I get a room, and I start helping to bring the newly delivered freezer to the basement. Together with the other intern. Right in the midst of it all.

Off to the Cheese Sauna

Then it’s time to eat together at the big table. After that, it's into the cheese clothes and off to the cheese dairy. There is a short explanation; the cheese needs to go into the molds. Clear? Clear!

I step inside and am overwhelmed. It is incredibly warm here. No wonder. The milk is brought to temperature, and the cheese needs a bit of