A rundown of my somewhat boring life

---

Hello, everyone. It is currently Wednesday (I think) February 27th at 7:30, and I am in the same internet cafe in boring Hastings. I don't really have that much exciting to talk about in the way of adventures, so I will just give a basic rundown of how my life has been over the last week or so, as well as some observations I have.

I arrived in Hastings last Tuesday. The bus dropped me off right in the middle of the downtown area, and while I waited for a ride I walked around the area looking at the shops and the parks. Within 30 minutes, I was bored, so I sat in a park and read. That pretty much sums up Hastings for you. There is nothing to do. It is a fruitgrowing town made up of farmers, laborers, poor people, and the Mongrel mob, a gang of young maoris who raise havoc by stealing cars and robbing the occasional tourist. When I come home from work, nearly everything is closed except for this cafe, the grocery store, and some take out (or take away as they call it here). Kiwis consider it a dangerous town. My boss at the apple orchard, when I asked him if I should take my apple bag home with me, said: "No, leave it here. If you get killed, we need that. You are living in Hastings, after all. In related news, a backpacker was murdered in Taupo (the town I head to next) a couple weeks ago. And this also happened in Australia a 10 years ago: yay! But it's all good, I'm actually safer in this country than I would be in the United States, even in Erie. And this could happen to me, as well, I guess.

The day I arrived, I had to wait for my ride for like 45 minutes. I wasn't really annoyed, and it's a good thing, because that has been a common occurence. My contractor, Aaron, is a great guy, but he is ALWAYS late. He moved me into this crappy, crappy old motel that has been converted into cheap flats. The place I live in has 4 beds in two rooms and a kitchen, but only two of us live there for now so its not bad, and the rent is only $70 a week, which I get taken directly out of my pay. It has television, but only a couple channels, two of which are sky movies and sky sports, which is pretty much non stop cricket these days, except for the weekend, when its rugby. I understand how cricket works, and I find it entertaining, so I watch it alot. My roommate hates "sport", and gets mad. In the NZ cricket world, there has been an insane amount of coverage over this highly amusing story. I watch alot of television, and everynight they have some big American show on, which my roommate loves, like House, Desperate Housewives, Lost, ER, Grey's Anatomy, CSI. She watches those, and in exchange, I get to watch cricket plus Law and Order and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and we both watch South Park. It is kind of weird traveling across the world to see the same exact shows are big. They also have their own version of dancing with the stars, which all the kiwis LOVE.)

My life is pretty bland to say the least. I work 6 days a week, Monday to Saturday, and have Sundays off (although everything is closed so I just sit around and watch all the terrible movies they play on Sky movies, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre TWO. They made a second one. I can't believe it either.) On a normal work day, I'll wake up around 6:45 because Aaron is supposed to pick me up at 7, and then I brush my teeth, and if I think I'll want a lunch that day, I'll make lunch. Aaron usually comes around 7:25 and takes me to wherever I'm supposed to work that day.

For the first four days, I worked at a vineyard clipping nets over the grapes so birds can't get to them. It was boring, easy work. Starting on Monday, however, I have been working at an apple orchard. This work is much harder. At the vineyard, I made 12.50 an hour, but here at the orchard, I make $30 a bin. I have estimated that a bin is a 4 ft by 4 ft box that is 3 feet deep, and I reckon it holds about 3200 apples. So you really have to bust your butt to make money. You where this sort of inverted bookbag that has a huge pocket that sits on your chest which holds about 70 apples. You fill that up from the trees, and then go to the bin and dump it in. They take away the bin when it is full and bring another one. The first day, in 9 hours, I filled 3 bins. Yesterday, in 8 hours, I filled 3 bins, and today, in 8:15, I filled 4, so I'm getting better. The first couple days, I made less than minimum wage, but even if you stink at it and do 1 bin a day, they still have to pay you minimum wage, which is nice. If you stink, however, they will fire you. After 19%!t(MISSING)ax for my paychecks, I figure it is roughly $10 an hour minimum wage and $25 a bin, which means I would have to do a bin in quicker than 2.5 hours to beat minimum wage. The first day, I would have thought this was impossible, but it is getting much easier. The more experienced workers can get 6 or 7 bins a day. They are mostly people who are too, umm, stupid, to get other jobs, and its frustrating to watch these people dominate me. But after a week, if you can do it and keep improving, you can get to 5 bins a day, which everybody thinks I'll be able to do. After taxes, that comes to $120 a day, which is really nice.

I usually work from around 7:30 to noon nonstop, without a break (which most jobs have at 10 and 3 daily, and the Kiwis call it "smoko"). No one breaks because time is literally money. At noon, if I brought a lunch (pb & j) is the only thing I ever seem to eat there, I'll eat that. But if I didn't, I'll just relax and eat some apples. They have a policy that you can eat as many apples as you want, and believe me, I eat alot. The apples are AMAZING. They are like the best Red Delicious apples I have had at home, but they are bigger and there are billions of them, literally. I eat like 12 a day, and take 5 or 6 home. I could eat the grapes at the vineyard as well, but they are grown for wines, so they aren't as good as the ones we eat at home. The wine is supposedly fantastic, and is served in many restaurants across the world, including in alot of the highest rated ones in NY and London. It's called Mill's Reef. After a mandatory, half hour lunch, I'll work til whenever they tell me, which could be about from 4 to 5. They like you to do complete bins, so they stop you after 4 if you have to start another one.

At work, you have to use ladders because the trees are about 20 feet high. Its a hassle, and it really slows you down. I can fill one load of my bag in 4.5 minutes on the ground and in about 7.5 minutes on a ladder. Plus, the ladder can be dangerous. Yesterday, I fell off of my ladder twice. The first time, I was standing on top of it picking (they expect you to do that here, where at home, it's considered dangerous), and I felt it go out from under me, so I jumped and grabbed a lateral branch. The ladder fell, and I was just hanging there for a second. It was like something out of a cartoon. I didn't know what to do, but suddenly, I heard a crack, and I felt the branch slowly start to give. I fell about 12 feet and landed in the lower branches. It was pretty funny, but frustrating because my bag was pretty full. The second time, I took a hard fall on my shoulder from about 10 feet after my ladder gave out again.

After work, I wait at the orchard for like 45 minutes until Aaron shows up. The one day the owner got all worried and called him, but I'm pretty used to it and there is no difference sitting in an orchard doing nothing or sitting at my flat doing nothing, so I just relax. He picks me up, and takes me home. He is a talker. He talks non stop about everything. I have already recieved the history of the entire Hawkes Bay region, and I like hearing it so its pretty cool. Today, he spent the whole ride telling me how big of sissy's these English boys were because they could only do 1 bin a day. He says that German guys are the worst workers, and that Americans are generally pretty good. The worst experience he has had was with a group of Somalians who tried to fight everyone. He is a contractor, so its his responsibility to take in all these degenerate backpackers from all over the world (me), find them a job, a place to live, and a ride to work, and set up their payment. He has about 70 he handles, and they all have crazy problems and call him all the time. The second day of work, he was in such a hurry, that he ran out of gas (petrol, here). We were stuck on the side of the road for like an hour.

When I get home, I usually talk to my roommate Kayleigh about dinner. She's a vegetarian, and can make some pretty good cheap dishes. I usually make pasta if I cook. Aaron said today that we will probably have two Irish girls moving in with us tomorrow, and that I might be moving out to live either in Napier or in a shack on an Orchard with 7 South American girls. The second option is intriguing. After dinner, I usually watch tv or come here to get online.

I've been reading alot, and I read every night before I go to bed (at about 10 45). I've already read catch 22 and The fountainhead on this trip, and am currently on Franny and Zooey, a pair of stories by J. D. Salinger (of catcher in the rye fame). There's a secondhand shop in town, so I will trade the books in at some point, if I can ever catch it when it's open.

On Saturday night, I went out with a couple people from a hostel down the street that I had worked with. One of them was a Taiwanese kid who has taken the Anglican name Nick while he travels. He was pretty nice, and we went to a bar that had free Speights (a popular NZ beer) from 8 to 10 as long as you were wearing a head band. We drank alot, to say the least. Let me save Nick some dignity by telling you that they don't drink in Taiwan. He had drank 3 beers before he came to NZ. Well, I showed him a game where you chug an entire beer, and he had about 7 or 8 others. (He's been here for 2 months, so his tolerance is much, much higher than it was, his friends told me). Well, about 10, he puked all over the stairs. Another American and I carried him out, and the kid wanted to leave him, but I couldn't do that, so I walked him home. On the way, I learned the mandarin words for "Don't stop" and "walk", so that I could yell at him in Mandarin. Also, this dialogue took place:

My phone rings. I answer it: "Hey. What's up?"
Nick, yelling, in broken English (although his English is really good normally): "Who is it?"
Me, to Nick: "It's a girl I know from Auckland, Sarah."
Nick, yelling, so the phone could hear: "OOO, He love you big time!"
(pause)
Me, to phone: "Can I call you back?"
Sarah, laughing hysterically: "Yeah."
(I hang up)
Me, annoyed: "Nick, I don't think you realize how strong of a meaning that word has in the English language. You can't use it like that. It could give her the wrong idea or could make me look stupid, ok? You got me?"
(Nick looks at me, for a second, standing in place, and swaying. Then he closes his eyes, takes a breath, and pukes all over my feet.)
Nick, two minutes later after a silence, walking again, sort of: "You LOVE HER!!!"

Umm. That's all I have for now. If you have any questions, about anything, let me know, and I'll be glad to answer.
Hope all is well in Erie.

---

Comments

[Coach Rush]

Missing Your Presence
HEY THERE...Jeremy...we will miss you at the dinner tonight. Coach Darragh gave me the info on your blog.....great stuff. Promise that we will spend time talking about you tonight.....all GREAT stuff. Enjoy the travels and your new friends. COACH RUSH