July 17 2004
Mirre and me  

Last weekend girlfriend M and i organized a surprise trip for friend R, who's getting married in a few weeks. We didn't tell him our plans, and picked him up with the car in the morning. While we drove to Voorst secretly, R tried to guess what our plans were, but he didn't find out. As we were driving on small roads in between farms and fields, he was kind of right when he said 'something on a farm, like milking cows'. But to be honest, that's not quite the same as a course 'How to Cuddle with Cows'.

Since the day i read about this class cuddling with cows, i've been looking forward to it. A few weeks after we planned this surprise trip for R though, i found out he was scared of cows. I mean, not spiders, heights or dogs... cows! We decided to go through with our plan anyway. On the farm Marente Hupkes told us a lot about working and living on a farm. And to get used to cows, we started our tour with the smallest and cutest ones, the calves!

We were dressed in rain boots and overalls, and i have to say that wasn't a luxury. Those cute and small calves tried to eat our clothes all the time. While we were trying to caress them, they were drooling and sucking our clothes. Cows tongues are very strong by the way, and feel like sand paper. Later on we met the one year olds and when i told Marente i thought these were actually big, she told me to look behind me. I thought i saw a rhino, but it really was a bull, weighing 1200 kg!
Amazing. It was fun to be on a farm again. When i was 5 or 6 year old, we had a housekeeper who lived on a farm. Sometimes she took care of us too, and we stayed on the farm during the day. we played with wheelbarrows and in haystacks. I think i liked everything about a farm, except the smell and the food..... milk still warm from the cow... Brrr...As long as i can remember i despise milk. I didn't even like my mom's milk when she breast fed me. I've been through hell, every day when i had to drink 1 glass of milk. I've spend hours crying in the kitchen, but wasn't allowed to leave until i drank my daily doses of milk. I couldn't stand the slightly sweet taste of it, and the way it made my mouth all slimy. Later on i had this tactic of putting it in the freezer for a while, until it was so cold it hurt to drink it, but at least it didn't have any taste than.

We left the stables and went to the grasslands, and suddenly stood there with brushes, paper and paint. Fun, but kind of scary too. When was the last time i made a painting? Probably in elementary school? Once i actually started painting, all my nerves and worries were gone. Clouds, wind, 50 shades of green, cows grazing. Truly relaxing!

In the end Marente showed us how to approach cows, to be able to cuddle them. Up front she told us some cows were really into attention and cuddling, others we're not interested in humans at all. After a few minutes we were all on our knees, crawling closer and closer to cows lying in the grass. Must have been a funny sight for people passing by (but i don't think there were any).
In the end i was resting against my new friend Mirre. Very comfy, because cows are 39 degrees warm. it's weird, but cows react the same as cats and dogs, and maybe humans too, when you caress them. They surrender, closer their eyes and enjoy.

Corrie