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Published: August 9th 2009
Sorry its been a while friends, but as it stands many of our days have been the same these last few weeks and an average day looks a little like this:
4:20am
First alarm goes off, KJ rolls over and hits snooze
4:29 am
Second alarm goes off, KJ rolls over and hits snooze
4:38
Third alarm goes off, KJ rolls over and hits snooze.
4:45
KJ hits zach and says “we really need to get up”
A quick mad rush ensues as we go pee (in disgusting bathrooms - more to follow), fill up our water bottles and walk to the orchard (in the dark - as the orchard is on a hill, we can actually see all the lights still on in Kelowna).
We pick cherries from about 5 until anywhere between 11 and 12 which is super awesome wicked fun (note: sarcasm). Its actually not too bad, although we constantly have filthy nails and hands, scratched up legs and a constant fear of falling off the ladder whilst still half asleep. In fact I myself have seen 3 people fall off their ladders, there is definitely no health and safety laws here
and as we get paid by the bucket people would rather reach out to grab that small handful of cherries than get down and move the ladder. Some people (no names mentioned…Zach) even move the ladder while they’re on it. Scary. We also get to wear these fun harness things so we can clip on our buckets for easier access. I think i now know what it feels like to be pregnant with 10 pounds strapped to your front - at least we can take it off though. The sore back, let alone awkward maneuvaribility and difficulty in lying down is contraception enough if ever I've seen one. We also have not had a day off in two weeks and tomorrow marks the 15th day straight of getting up at stupid o'clock. Legal or illegal? You decide. Apparently the only way we will get one is if it rains, we have seriously looked into doing a mass rain dance. I'll keep you updated.
So the picking isn’t ABSOLUTELY awful, just a little bit awful. Our first few days were especially awful when I only got 12 buckets ($30) and felt like I was about to pass out from physical
exertion and sun exposure. Quitting was definitely a viable option. But not wanting to be quitters we stuck it out and are making on average between $85 and $100 per day, which is not too bad. We also have pretty much a whole day to do what we want which is sometimes hard as there are only so many free thing you can do in this town. Our favourite activities include: going to the beach, going to the library, and going to the skate park (some days we do it in a different order).
We have met quite a few people and it is nice to be able to socialise with more than one person. Our regular crowd includes Sarah; a girl from New Brunswick, Katie; a girl from Melbourne and Andrew, a guy from Brisbane (mum - I realise the use of colons slash commas is probably atrocious and making your eyes bleed. I apologise sincerely). So we have all been hanging out and going to the beach and bitching about our boss and eating together so fun times. There are a few other girls that we hang around with as well and the camp has become quite
working hard
note: wearing a hatsegregated with Frenchies hanging out in the old disgusting kitchen and the English speakers hanging out in the new kitchen - and I use the term loosely. The new kitchen is confined within a shipping crate, I kid you not, and contains two fridges and three stoves. No sink or running water of any sorts. The steps to get up to the platform are a couple of cinder blocks staked on top of each other and feel as if they are going to give way at any minute. The bathrooms are disgusting, the toilets have been blocked for the last week (we now have port a potties that get emptied once a week - yummy) and people still continue to use them even though they are STILL blocked. Some people honestly have no common sense at all. We also have a few crazy old drunks that roam around, a French guy called Francewa loves his beer and likes to sing loudly at 11pm at night. His repertoire includes: the cherry blues, and drunken inane ramblings. Ahhh good times. People are leaving left right and center or getting fired and not getting paid properly which we are also super excited about.
Oh cherry picking, how I will never do you again.
Its not all bad though, the people around have made it bearable and we pretty much get out of the camp as soon as we’ve had some lunch and sat around and relaxed for a bit. We went on a nice hike the other day to a waterfall and took some beers and chilled by the lagoon which was nice. We also volunteered at a festival where we got free entry, free food and free drinks which was pretty cool. Us girls spent about 20 minutes sitting at a screen printing t-shirt stand, and were then moved to putting wrist bands on peoples ankles (I guess that makes it an ankle band) followed by a late arvo shift of opening the gate so VIPs could park their cars. Fun. Meanwhile, the boys were put on rubbish duty and spent pretty much the whole day changing bins and picking up garbage. Joy!
Our friend Sarah left the other day and we spent the afternoon at the arcade at the go-kart place (we were going to go go karting but it was way too expensive) followed by a delicious dinner
at the pub where they had beach volleyball out the front (we didn’t get too play as there was a competition going on but next time). And for $8 we got a chicken burger (real chicken), baked potato, corn on the cob, pasta salad, potato salad and regular salad. Delicious and cheap!
Speaking of food, for all the food connoisseurs, some of our meals of the last few weeks have been as follows:
- Chicken salad (romaine lettuce, capsicum/ peppers, cucumber, carrot, chicken, topped with Caesar dressing)
- Pita wraps (steak, lettuce, tomato, tzatzki all wrapped in a wholemeal pita)
- Steak dinner (two delicious barbecued pieces of steak accompanied by a baked potato with a dollop of sour cream and salad)
- Tortellini pasta with red bell pepper sauce
- Perogies with ham, cheese and sour cream
- Bow pasta with tomato sauce, carrots and garlic bread (that lasted two nights as we were getting VERY low on cash)
- Toad in the holes (that’s for you nan)
Dear friends I also have some bad news. The inevitable has occurred, Stan died. One fateful Sunday afternoon after we had spent a lovely day in the park
and were driving back up the hill, we saw some of out friends walking up and so stopped and decided to offer them a ride. They were taking there time walking over so zach stopped the van, once they were in and settled he tried to start it up. Nothing. Our friends then got out and continued walking while we waited for AMA. Apparently stopping to offer friends a ride gets negative karma. We got a jump start and managed to make it up to the camp. As we got back at about 10.30 we missed the announcement that we were now starting at 5 (instead of 5.30) and were awoken by Sarah telling us to get up. After work we got the van started and drove down to the park, once we wanted to leave - same thing. The van didn’t even turn over. We needed groceries and so we walked to Safeway for food in about 40 degree heat and I bought some jumper cables. We trecked back, pushing our groceries in a shopping cart and got a jump back to home. Luckily enough our foreman was friends with a mechanic who came and looked at the ole
van and decided we needed a new alternator. He couldn’t fix it, but called a guy who could and we got it done for cheap. The other upside is that the mechanics daughter works at Big White managing 3 hotels and gave me her number. Job for the winter, here we come.
With all this car drama and a quick calculation of how much it is going to cost to get back to Ontario, we have pretty much decided to either store the van in Calgary somewhere (abandoned farm anyone?) or sell it if we can and fly back. Sad I know, but picking cherries just doesn’t give you cash like it used to.
Well folks, that’s about all from us. As I said our days pretty much consist of getting up ridiculously early, napping and trying to waste the day away. Good times.
Love to everyone
KJ and zach
P.s. Pop the fires are still going strong, we came home one night and could actually see the fire on the ridgeline. Looked kind of cool but a bit scary.
PPS. Dad you would be so proud, i can now actually reverse a car
using side mirrors, go me!
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Millipede
non-member comment
preggers
ha! kj i'm so proud, you and your cherry baby. waterfall looks super awesome, and your dinners look delish-o! can't wait for the next installment. let me know when you're in a 'real house' and we can skype it up, baby. love love xo