Author: SY

Fitted Sheet Folding

Tired of all the Facebook memes making fun of the difficulties of folding a fitted sheet and the dangers involved in it (apparently you might even become a ghost failing at it!) here is my fool-proof method. And no, you don’t need anybody to help you with this task, you can do it alone. You are more than enough to subdue a fitted sheet and force it into submission, sorry, into a a neat and pleasant shape that fits perfectly in your wardrobe, drawer or wherever else you want to store it. You are welcome!

  • From waddled sheet to folded, fitted sheet.
    Getting from this to that …

Sorry, living alone I hadn’t anybody to take the photos of me doing this, so you can only see the steps the sheet went through, but not my hands 😉

And now my easy to follow steps:

  • Take sheet out of the dryer or from the clothes line/rack and give it a firm stare – telling it “I will get you in a neat shape!” Reassure yourself that You Can Do This 😉 Take a deep breath and JUST DO IT. And then follow the following steps …
  • Find a flat surface that is at least half as large than your fitted sheet, your bed is ideal, but any flat surface will do, in a pinch even the kitchen table and, with a bit of practise, your ironing board (finally a use for that one!).
  • Place fitted sheet upside down and short side up, meaning with the surface that you sleep on now touching the surface you are folding it on and the shorter side of the sheet on top.
  • Gently stretch the top of it until nicely horizontal by placing your hands inside the corners and stretching it. Don’t worry about the lower part here.
  • Turn the lower corners inside out and THEN tuck into the pockets of the upper corners. That’s the whole trick, the rest is easy-peasy!
  • Stretch, again, the horizontal top (now with your hands in the corners formed by both ends of the sheet) until it’s nicely straight.
  • Now gently, whilst keeping one hand in the corresponding corner, pull down each side.
  • Gently stretch lower end of half-folded sheet until it’s parallel to the top half and extended to its maximum.
  • Now you have trapeze shape. Keep your one hand in the top corner made up by both sheets ends end fold the lower half in just a notch narrower than the top half. Repeat on the other side.

  • From here you have two possibilities, the folded and the rolled one.

A) Folded: You should have by now a perfect rectangle that you can fold up anyway you like and that fits your storage space.

  • From waddled sheet to folded, fitted sheet.
    Getting from this to that …

B) Rolled: Fold your sheet in half and roll it up for space saving storage.

You see, folding a fitted sheet is really easy and if we ever meet in person, I am more than happy to give you a free one-to-one personal workshop on how to do this. Until then you are welcome to buy me a coffee, you know to whom it will go to anyway: https://egeria.house/santiago-day-neighborhood-pantry-fundraiser/ And any further questions, just leave them in a comment below 😉

Oh, and pat yourself on the back/shoulder, you have finally conquered the fitted sheet folding quest!

PS This blog post is the result of some hilarious exchanges on Facebook about this, expect more silly but hopefully useful blog posts like this in future …

Egeria House and Starfishes

When people hear for the first time of Egeria House, they often think of it as a big, established center with a huge sign at the door and paid staff, or something similar.

Truth is that Egeria House is more a way of life for me, not bound to a particular place and, no, there is no ‘staff’, only me at the moment.

Egeria herself was a Galician woman and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land in the 4th century. Not only that, she also wrote about her journey and the things she saw. Her account of the Easter celebration in Jerusalem is the oldest one that exists and has kept liturgists happy ever since.

When I lived in England, I was intrigued by the fact that many houses there, in addition to numbers, also had names. When I moved to Santiago, I wanted the place where I lived to have a name that was meaningful to me, so it became Egeria House.

As for starfishes, if you have ever met me in person, I will, most likely, have told you this tale already, if that is the case, feel free to skip to the next paragraph.

A man was walking at the beach early one morning, after a bad storm. He was saddened as he noticed the hundreds and hundreds of stranded starfishes that would certainly die when the sun came up and dried them out. As he walked further and further, he noticed another man coming towards him, but he was bending down, picking something up and throwing it in the sea. As he came closer, he realized that the other man was picking up starfishes and throwing them back. “You fool”, he said, “there are hundreds of them on this beach alone. You are not making any difference.” The other man bend down, picked up a starfish and said calmly: “But I can make a difference for this one.” And throw it back into the sea.

And that is what we all can do:

Helping one ‘starfish’ at a time, because a multitude of small acts of kindness WILL change the world – for the better, keeping the Camino spirit alive in our own communities.

I want my doorbell to stop ringing

Not because I am too exhausted to help, but because I am so exhausted that billionaires spend billions to spend 10 minutes in space whilst so many people on earth don’t have a safe roof over their heads, nor clean water nor healthy food.

I quoted it before and I will quote the Dalai Lama again:

“We have enough for anybody’s need but not enough for everybody’s greed”

Dalai Lama
  • What is wrong with us humans?
  • How can we change this?
  • How can we make this earth a better place for all of us?
  • I am tired of hearing my doorbell ringing.
  • Do you have food?
  • Do you have basic things like masks and hand sanitizer to keep ourselves and our families as safe as possible?

It never stops, since more than a year now, and it will not stop until all of us change and live and support that every human being has the right to survive …

Every person on earth deserves:

  • A safe place to live.
  • Clean water.
  • Food.
  • Medical support.
  • Education.

And as long as I live and have the resources , I will give. BUT my patience grows short on those that don’t share what they have in abundance.

The ones of having the golden faucets and their own space transport.

I am so tired of those that don’t care about those that lack the bare necessities of living:

I am tired of answering the bell, but still I do, because it’s the right, the only way to live, helping others. But I am tired … that I am answering the door bell whilst billionaires are going to space …

Ongoing – Neighborhood Pantry Fundraiser

Please help me to continue to help my neighbors here in Santiago (background story here: https://egeria.house/egeria-house-version-3-or-so/ to have a great feast for Saint James Day and also to provide food security for them in the weeks and months to come. Every little helps – a lot!

What your donations will be used for:

Most importantly, good food like fresh fruit and vegetables plus stables like milk, pasta, rice, canned pulses and the like.

Daily box for one family … Covid-safe pick-up for up, four families a day at the moment.

One of my neighbors has special dietary needs due to diabetes and related complications (heart/kidneys) so a lot of special food (salt and sugar free mostly) is required.

Basic house cleaning products (washing up liquid, bleach, floor cleaner) plus face masks, hand soap and sanitizer to keep them and everybody in the neighborhood safe.

Diapers/nappies, baby soap and so on for their (grand) children.

I also want to move furniture, again!, to free a bedroom in the flat and to create a better storage space (the hallway is getting crowded!) and I would like to add more shelves to it to accommodate in kind donations of clothes, books, and toys etc that are already coming in via various sources.

Decent clothes are very important to maintain people’s dignity and to increase their chances of finding a job. Like it or not, clothes make the (wo)man – that is the reality.

I also want to continue to grow plants (herbs, flowers and edibles) for my neighbours to cheer them up. Low income families simply don’t have the resources to do that themselves but they really do appreciate the possibility to just pick up some free plants from the box on my door step. So far I have distributed 250+ plants this year, hopefully enabling kids to observe and learn how plants grow.

As it is the feast of Saint James this Sunday, I really want to add some extra ‘treats’ like Tarta de Santiago and children’s toys because I strongly believe that if you live in Santiago, you should be able to celebrate and enjoy this day, especially in a Holy Year!, no matter your income level.

As for pilgrims, I continue to help them online plus I have given those that ‘knocked at the door’ gear and food as needed since the pandemic started. Granted, very few did so, but those I helped were in need.

Once I am fully vaccinated, which should be end of August, I plan to offer again hospitality to pilgrims in need aka those without resources. I do NOT plan to make any competition to existing albergues/hostels/hotels and the like, as they are already fighting for their survival and that of their families. But if it will be the choice between ‘under the bridge/on the streets’, or Egeria House, I will be open for them in future with no questions asked.

Ways you can help:

You can use this direct link to donate via PayPal:chttps://www.paypal.me/EgeriaHouseSantiagohttps://www.paypal.me/EgeriaHouseSantiago

Or on this same website, go to the top right corner and you’ll find the donation buttons that allows you to donate directly with your debit/credit card or PP account.

If you prefer to use (Transfer)Wise just just contact me for my details via any of this ways: https://egeria.house/contact/

If you can’t donate, please share this post via social media.

Thank you in the name of my neighbors for all your ongoing help during this, continuing, challenging times for all of us, SY

A New Adventure

I started something new, to help pilgrims, please help me spread the word about it:

Santiago cathedral as seen from Alameda park.

A very simple set-up that I hope proves to be useful for future pilgrims:

* Anybody interested can message me via this Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Caminopreparation and we set up a one-to-one Skype or Zoom appointment.
* We chat about your Camino plans and any questions you might have, be it gear or fear.
* I will not give you absolute answers, but rather help you to discover what is the best answer for YOU.
* After the chat I send you an email with the relevant information to take your Camino plans further. (Apps, Packing list, useful websites, really anything we have chatted about).
* Cost: Donation at your discretion via Paypal or (Transfer)Wise.
* Lack of funds is NOT a reason not to contact me, if you can’t make a donation, just give me a smile 😉

Who I am:
My name is Sybille Yates and I walked my first Camino in 1999. Since then I have walked many pilgrimages to Santiago, Assisi and Rome in a variety of countries like Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and the Czech Republic with a rough total of 12 000km/7500mi. I also have volunteered as a hospitalera in a variety of albergues. I now live in Santiago and try to help pilgrims as good as I can. And last, but not least, I have written a book about preparing for the Camino https://amzn.to/3ysiu0y and whilst I still think that it’s a good book, our times are so fast changing and challenging that I am putting this offer out here so that you can get the most relevant and correct information in real time.