Hur mor du? (How are you in Swedish)

i know i haven’t had any updates in awhile, the main reason being so much tired after work starting last monday. i bid farewell to the grapes since last week and embraced apples with ever enthusiasm as i always thought picking apples is definitely easier than working in the vineyard. however, i was wrong. it was even horrible. not that i’m complaining, my friend, what i’m doing and where i am right now is something i chose and have no regrets whatsoever. i’m still enjoying everyday life and the very simple idiosyncrasies of how i get by each and every day have been so rewarding in my own opinion.

so, today was payday from vineyard work done last week, and the last money i snatched out of grapes. this is how seasonal work goes here. work first, then pay. you work for a week, and you get your pay next week. i got $452.10 after taxes, or $552.82 before taxes, so apparently, tax is not minimal here as well. it was really not bad for having worked 4 days as last friday was a holiday here.

since i got some pay, we decided to eat out again. we had dominos pizza as well as fish and chips the previous payday and we were meaning on trying indian food for today. however, it was a lot more expensive than we thought, so settled on fish and chips again. helen, reena (of finland), fabian (of germany), and myself bought some takeaways from hawke’s bay fish, which is a very nice and inexpensive fish and chips shops several blocks away from the hostel. it was drizzling when we left the hostel but one thing i noticed here in nz is that they don’t make much use of umbrellas. even when it’s raining hard, people will just go walk under the showers unminding getting wet. back at the hostel, looking forward for a sumptuous meal of fish and wedges, i found in dismay that they gave me the wrong order! instead of fish and wedges, they packed wedges and chips instead! what would i do with 2 dishes of potatoes!! i ran my way back to the shop it was then a downpour. the attendant was nice apologizing about the mistake and they gave me a snapper instead! one of their finest catch of the day! it was even bigger than the normal fish (the one i was suppose to have) so i cut it into 2 and put the other half in my lunchbox and that makes fixed my lunchbox for tomorrow, plus some wedges. running like a maniac drenched under the rain paid off i guess.

back to the apples, it was my 4th day today having started last monday. kelly, the supervisor, is nice showing how things are done, but sometimes i just don’t get him as you never could do anything perfectly right. if i’m not picking too green apples, i’m leaving a lot of red apples to be picked behind in my lane or plucking leaves and branches unnecessarily. working and getting paid by picking apples in the orchard sounds definitely cool, and even suggests a pleasant way of earning money, but you have to believe me it’s not as easy as it sounds. yes, i can eat apple as many as i want (an additional benefit apart from the money compensation), and i eat lunch under the shade of apple tree (how idyllic is that?!?), but i also pick more than a ton of apples each day, and i refer to that ton as in the unit of weight measurement. on my first day alone, which was last monday, i filled in 2 and a half bin. a bin is a monster wooden case where we put all apples we picked using a small bucket (could hold probably around 10 kilos) strapped in front (like how you do a reverse backpack). a single bin has room for about 380 kilos, so that gives 950 kilos of apples on my initial encounter with the fruit. second day was bit better with 3 bins, as well as on my third day. today was my record having finished 3 and a halffuls bin, which is 1,330 kilos! you could only imagine how fast i picked, frantically moving from one tree to another.

it’s getting late now, although i would really love to write more about what’s going on as there’s so much apple tales i have to tell i better end this for now as work is early tomorrow. just wanted to make a quick post today to say everything is going alright with the short time i’ve been quiet.

until next time!

some pics from the vineyard:

my alcohol (not for drink!), one of the things i learned from my mom. often times, she has a small bottle of alcohol for cleaning the hands when dining out, and as working in fields, i find myself eating lunch in between vineyard lanes, or small trees to get some shade.

my shade under the sun. some days here could be really really hot, and i mean, it’s burning hot that the sun literally burn your skin in under 2 minutes!