It has been a while, but I am finally getting back to the blog. I cannot believe it is November, and almost Thanksgiving! This is crazy.
I pay for internet at the hostel, and try to use it ONLY for email, because writing and uploading pictures for the blog is just too expensive. I always try to do all my blog stuff at McDonalds where there is “supposed” to be free wifi. I have to admit, it is frustrating because it NEVER works, and when you politely ask them what is going on, they answer and tell you that it IS working. I thought it was my computer, but I asked the others at the hostel, & even strangers w/ their computers open....and everyone agrees--so it is definitely not just me.
However, the biggest reason I have not been writing is because I am working again. For the past week and a half I have been working, and if I am lucky I will have this job and be working with the same contractor until the end of December.
First, one of the girls at the hostel had an allergic reaction to chemicals sprayed in the orchard. I had to step in and take her place. The first job was very simple. We were given scissors, and we cut the flowers off of the pear trees. I actually loved that job. It was so peaceful, and the flowers were beautiful. Although it was 8 hours a day of cutting flowers, the time seemed to go by quickly. I was enjoying myself.
Now that job has ended, and because the other girl could not go back to work because of the chemicals they just kept me on. We are now thinning the pear trees, and when we are finished we will move on to apple thinning. There are basically clusters of pears all over the tree, and we have to pick them off until there are only 2 or 3 pears per cluster. We work in twos on a line. This is much more fun than the tree training only because there are about 10 people from our hostel working together. I work with Air, Goong, Tim (Thailand), Thomas, Moritz, Louisa, Dana, Michael (Germany), and Jacob (Hong Kong).
The work is hard because we are expected to go faster, and keep that pace. It starts at 6:30 in the morning, and we work until 5. So, we wake up before 6 in the morning, and are there for 11 hours. It is 6 days a week most of the time. It is difficult, and tiring...but it is nice because having to discipline yourself to wake up, and work together w/ others all day teaches you a lot.
I work on the same row as Tim. It has been great. Working with someone makes your relationship completely different. When I first met Air, Goong, and Tim...we didn’t talk much, and they kind of kept to themselves. Now we are all really close friends! Air and Goong are a couple of 3 years. They seem to love each other very much, and be really happy together. It is really lovely. Tim is along for the ride, and doing his own thing. They are all 28, and Tim has his own life style.
Tim only eats 2 meals a day. Breakfast, and lunch. He is also a vegetarian. As a child he had to move away from home b/c his parents didn’t have enough money. He had to live on his own, and later when things got better for his family he went to school. He went to school to be an engineer b/c he did not know what he wanted to do, and people said if he were an engineer he could make lots of money. So, he finished school for engineering, and decided that was totally not what he wanted to do. Not long ago he spent a year in Australia and worked so he could save money to buy land in the northern part of Thailand. He has a house in Bangkok, but wants to move permanently to his land. He wants to build on it, and take about 100-200 people at a time...teach them how to live better, healthier, and work together. He wants to teach people how to build houses on their own, and live lifestyles that will make them the happiest. He says he has realized being happy is the most important thing, and the more knowledge you gain the stronger and happier you are. Whenever people are at the hostel cooking something he does not know how to cook he wants to learn. He asks me to teach and help him with English. It is like he just wants to learn new things all the time, and he is always happy and seems to just be free. Whenever they give us the option to go home an hour or two early, we ALL want to go home. But not Tim...he would work non stop if he could. The man is crazy, but totally committed. We have all decided he is on another level than the rest of us. He is in another place. The life style he lives really does require a lot of control, and self motivation. I really admire him, and I love working with him. It has been so great! The funniest thing is, Air and Goong are completely different. And yet the three of them seem to totally be a little team, and they like each other very much. They are all really close, and just accept each others ways. It is so amazing.
Well, that is all for now. I will put up pictures when I can! :)
