Back

Arriving at the Castle-event | Day 105 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Apr 15, 2023· 2 minutes

Another world-schooling family has had the great idea to make pop-up communities all over the world, sharing weeks with other families.

When we planned out our year (a first for us to plan a full year), we decided to participate in one in Normandie, as it was on our horizon to look for more like-minded people and because it was a live-in experience.

vans-hangout

We do not enjoy excursions in big groups very much; we want to visit museums, landmarks, nature sites, and cities just the five of us, and the company will mainly be overstimulation. What we long for is conversations, board games, and shared meals with other travelers. So the live-in option of the castle stay was perfect for us.

For some reason, maybe the same as ours, this event, in particular, was very popular, and many families will attend. So the anticipation and excitement were very high, and we were all happy the day finally came when we would arrive and begin to meet people.

And how was it then? Overwhelming yet peaceful. The place itself is simple and beautiful, very rural. The landscape of marsh, trees, birds singing, and storks. Green beautiful springtime. The castle is cozy and welcoming. And the people were, for some part, people we had already met, some of them new to us.

There was only one thing to do. Get started talking to people, cook the meals, and enjoy the time. It is not complicated. Everyone, in some form, lives the lifestyle we live. We all have so much in common, yet so many different stories to share.

cosy-gaming

I sit back and feel it. The Narnia feeling. The new field of not having to explain, not impressing anyone with what we do, not being the odd one out. It is lovely. As in very lovely. Peaceful.

Love and light

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

# 105 of my 2023 writing challenge - Read them all here


Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our life like this, and we get very happy when we get feedback from you. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 
I get to learn over and over to trust the process. Live unfolds beautifully. And that there is no need to panic. Any panic works against the unfoldin…Read more
It is very moist here. Rain comes in and out, grass full of dew in the morning, and the marsh vibrating with a baseline of water. We have been told i…Read more
During D-day, one of the parachuters had the bad luck of getting stuck hanging from the church tower. As the village at the time was taken over by th…Read more
To be challenged into a comfort zone is a very healthy thing. When we do things we would normally not do, we discover new elements of our vulnerabili…Read more
The way history is taught in schools, dripping from a curriculum, emerging from books written for “children” underestimating their intelligence will,…Read more
Just like the Hotel Beaumont was in many ways a re-play, we can never enter the same river twice, and watching Star Wars with Fjord was like visiting…Read more
It is so lovely to see a group of teenagers not afraid to show up in their nightgown, not afraid to be silly, not afraid to wear a pink unicorn jumps…Read more
Free play is at the center of Peter Gray's thinking, and I agree very much, especially with the “free” element. Play is this funny adult construction…Read more
On my birthday, honestly, a few days ago, as I was “falling behind,” I did not have to plan anything. The castle stay is already a party, and there i…Read more