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Published: November 26th 2013
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Working meditation
Rewind six months... A typical Monday was a horrible, horrible thing. I hated Mondays so much that they spoilt Sundays, which I really resented as Sunday could easily be the very best day of the week. Sundays mean lazy mornings in bed with newspapers, brunch which segues smoothly into lunchtime drinks (Sunday being the only day one needn't feel guilty about alcohol before wine o clock), afternoon live music followed by evening live music followed by something you stuck in the oven earlier which has cooked long and slow. The only downside of Sundays is that usually around 4pm Monday rears it's ugly head and tries to ruin everything by reminding you of something really shit you have to do the next day. Then the day itself- always starting a bit too early and normally raining. Usually accompanied by a dull headache and an endless list of crap jobs you put off doing last week. And how the week stretches interminably beyond... Friday seems years away. An endless bloody loop of wishing your life away.
Monday this week was a bit of a contrast. Up and at em at six, a walk before breakfast with
a clear and noticeably un-hungover head. Silent breakfast (works for me- I don't want to talk to anyone in the morning anyway) followed by community meeting, excited to find out which work placements await today. The meeting is held in the Awakening Hall, no walls so a light breeze blew through taking the edge off the heat of the early morning sun.
My jobs today were lunch service in the morning and agriculture this arvo. Having done lunch yesterday I was far more efficient today ( yesterday I took the mindful practice very literally - halfway through finding joy in washing each individual lettuce leaf I was reminded by the kitchen manager that 50 people were turning up for lunch at midday) , my colleague and I were finished 45 minutes early allowing time for a swim before service.
After lunch ( soup, deep fried fish with papaya salad, weird tofu shit, Thai greens) I had to report to the agriculture team. I wasn't wearing my work trousers as I was still reeling from the deep offense I felt at being given a pair with a 54 inch waist. I didn't realise you have to do
some kind of foldy thing to make them fit. My team and I headed down to the salad garden to work under the jurisdiction of the Thai gardeners. At least the lettuce beds are partially covered keeping out the worst of the mid afternoon sun. We did some weeding and spread some mulchy stuff and cleared a few beds. Incredibly peaceful listening to the Thai women chat and sing. Quite honestly the best job I've done in years- and it's quite amazing the difference it makes doing a job with a tangible outcome ie directly contributing to bringing food to the table of the community that evening. Beats writing pointless repetitive reports for bullshit deadlines.
So I'm enjoying getting involved with this stuff. I am absolutely starving constantly and worn out. It's nearly half nine now and I am totes ready for sleep (will be awake again by eleven but you can't have it all)
Facts of the day
I went to a sit and share meeting tonight. I shared.
I used the word "buddy". Not in an ironic way.
Two inmates got booted out for boozing. Exciting times
Podometer (10= full fat pod) : 9. When standing up and looking down I can no longer see pod. Progress.
Post script: ignore the above. Tuesday morning's designation was working with Lung Noi the Thai guy in charge of outdoors stuff. The task was to prepare the lotus beds for planting. I was given a pair of blue wellies one size too small, and a rake. I then stood in a huge clay pit while a man threw buckets of soil at me. It was impossible to work slowly and mindfully because if you stood still for two seconds you sank to your knees. The clay stuck to everything. Within minutes each foot weighed 10kg. Instead of blue wellies now there were just brown lumps attached to the ends of my legs, and my rake became a brown lump on a stick. My hands are blistered and have holes in. It took me forty five minutes to work out the Thai work ethic (or lung noi's specifically) - work five minutes, sit down for ten. This made the job much easier, and even allowed for a little conversation, easier said than done when participants cannot speak
the others language.
Typical exchange:
Lung Noi: "Thai word"
Me: non specific sound (could be yes or no) accompanied by shrug of shoulders
Me: "English word" (usually London)
Lung Noi: non specific sound
Us: laughter "ha ha ha ha"
Repeat.
Then it started pissing down, and to add insult to injury Bill Odie's back. For a nano second I felt a pang of nostalgia for Key Performance Indicators.
And the best thing? Lung Noi was sufficiently satisfied with my performance that I might be put on his team all week.
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