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Published: March 5th 2008
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Hello, again. It is currently Wednesday, March 5, and it is 1 o'clock in the afternoon here. As I am writing this, the primary elections from Tuesday are closing down in the US, which is weird to think about. Also, I'm apparently getting into a rhythym of writing a blog on every Wednesday, and I have no idea why. I have had some free time, so I could have written alot more, but I guess there is just literally nothing to write about. Hastings sucks.
Work here has been inconsistent, to say the least. After what I was told was a month of nonstop sunshine decided to end just as I was getting good at, and comfortable with, picking apples. I last talked to you on Wednesday, so I'll pick up on thursday. Like always, Aaron picked me up about an hour late for work. I usually waste this time watching whatever stupid movie is on SKY movies (and there are alot, let me tell you). Well, he was supposed to pick me up at 7:20, and showed up at 8:30. Regardless of that, I still got 4 bins done by 4:15, which meant I got about 4 bins in
7 hours, 15 minutes. In four days I went from 3 in 9 hours, to 4 in just over 7, so there is hope, and the chances of good money are getting better. However, Friday, we finished up at the orchard I was at, called Kilhaven. We had completely finished our first pick of the orchard by noon, so I got sent home, and I hitched a ride with a couple latvian guys who work there. I got 2 bins done that day. I walked into town and bought a book of 4 Steven King novels, which I have already finished. That night, I stayed in and watched Rugby. Yeah, I know, Boring. On Saturday, it started raining, so I didn't have any work. I just sat around all day, watching loads of movies. Thats really all I do. Watch movies, and eat. And so far, the eating mostly consists of peanut butter and jelly mixed with glass.
Saturday night, I was supposed to call the latvians to go out, but I didn't in an effort to save money, so I stayed in and watched rugby with my roommate, who got pretty drunk herself off of wine. Sunday was
a lazy day, where I, you guessed it, sat around and watched movies. I also went grocery shopping, and got a lot of meat, because I haven't really eaten any for like 3 weeks. The one good thing that did happen was that I fixed my camera. After researching the problem online, I figured that there was most likely sand stuck in the lens, which prevented the camera from turning on. When I got home from shopping, I took the camera out, and well, I sucked air out of the lens, trying to get the sand out. And, after a about 10 minutes and a mouthful of grains of sand, it worked. Go figure. I've taken a couple pictures of Hastings, which I'll post along with some pictures of Waiheke Island. Sunday night, I watched TV, read, and wrote. I've been doing alot of reading and writing to kill the time. I'm starting a book by Dostoyevski called The Idiot tonight.
Monday, there was no apple picking to be done, so I got sent to a vineyard to start grapepicking. It was an international affair, to say the least. There were 17 of us, I counted, and I was
the only laborer who used English as a first language. There were 5 Chilean backpackers, the 2 latvians, 3 asian (Chinese, I think) backpackers, me, 3 elderly Nepalese, and 3 young Indians, including a girl of about 20 who had really pretty eyes. She had the rest of her face covered. On the ride home, the Latvians and I discussed whether she covered her face because of custom or because of the cold wind. We couldn't decide, somehow changed subjects to movies, and the Latvians got in an argument over whether Mr. and Mrs. Smith was a good movie that became so intense they started arguing in Latvian.
Picking grapes is incredibly easy, but you only make minimum wage. You just clip the branch right above the bunch, catch it, and put it in the bucket. That's it. I ate about 1,000 grapes, and they were delicious. For some reason, the people there demand to use the most inefficient system ever. The rows of vines are about 100 yards long, so we split up into groups of 3 or 4 and did each row in small teams. However, they didn't like this because certain groups went faster than others.
Why this was a bad thing, I don't know. So they made us come back and help the other groups with their rows. I got stuck working with the Nepalese. They drove me crazy. I would go about 20 yards ahead of them in the row, giving them 20 yards to work before they caught up to where I was, and then I expected them to leapfrog about 20 yards ahead of where I was. That's what me and the Latvians had done, and that's what worked best. However, the Nepalese leapfrogged me to about 3 yards in front of me. It was so annoying, and they did it for the rest of the day, meaning that I would work for like a minute, than walk, then work, then walk. It was so inefficient.
Amid driving rains around 3, we finished for the day, and I haven't went back.
Part of the reason I haven't went back is the weather, which forced all work to stop yesterday and today. I haven't been doing anything but sitting around, watching tv, (we get The Daily Show every night), reading, and cooking. Here is my basic tv schedule at my flat: Sunday:
Grey's (I hate it), Monday: Desperate Housewives, followed by the Office (I close the door to my room and don't come out until I hear Steve Carrell), tuesday is House and South Park (watch and like both), and wednesday is the Law and Order trifecta/spectacular. Oddly enough, all the shows start at half past the hour. There are also a ridiculous amount of soap operas here form England, Australia, and New Zealand, and they show them at night instead of during hte day. My roommate is obsessed with a couple, so I've been watching those. Whatever makes the time go by.
Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to break, and I'm going to return to Kilhaven for the 2nd pick, which is supposed to be really good. For the rest of the week, I have the realistic goal of 13 or 14 bins picked. We'll see.
I'm going to talk now about my diet; it seems mildly interesting and that people might be curious. I go through two specific groceries at a ridiculous rate: milk and bread. Everything else is overpriced here, but I can get a loaf for $1 and a 2 liters of milk for $3. The
The living room of my flat
This is the living room, where I'm standing is the television. I sit at the table waaaaaaay too much. That's my roommates bed. most common thing I eat is pb & j, which is about 3 a day, and sometimes 5. I bought hot dogs (they are terrible here) last week, and tore through those in about 4 days. I have also been eating pasta (usually without sauce), and have recently discovered how good egg sandwiches are. And a couple days ago, I bought eggs, which are pretty cheap, and I think that is going to be a staple of my Hastings diet. Any other extremely cheap, extremely easy recipes would be welcome. On Sunday, I was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I dropped the glass jar of jelly. It cracked and part of it shattered. Luckily, I had not yet recycled the earlier jar, so I carefully picked up the jelly, and put it into the other jar. I tried to take all the glass out, but I figure I failed because I keep eating it and having to take tiny pieces of glass out of the jelly. My roommate now only eats the peanut butter, and thinks I'm a complete moron. I probably only told you about this because I am across the world and nobody can really
Bedroom
This is the bedroom I sleep in. I don't have a pillow, but I use some extra silk sheets that my roommate had. How many people reading this sleep on silk? Exactly. I'm living the high life. make me stop.
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Lisa Haney
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Clean Your Room!
Jeremy, Paige thanks you very much for the postcard you sent her! She is very proud and has it posted on her bulletin board in her room! It sounds like you are a very competitive grape picker! Imagine that! We are enjoying your entertaining stories....Keep posting! Take Care, The Haney's P.S. Clean your room and make your bed!