Apples – It’s a love hate relations…

Apples are yummy and healthy, as a saying goes “An apple a day keeps the doctors away”. However, when you are the ones picking apples, you won’t really fall in love with them. After a week of apples picking, I am covered with bruises and aching shoulders. My legs are bruised from kneeling at the ladder so that I can reach far enough to get hold of that one apple. My hip joints are covered with bruises from the basket that keeps swinging from left to right to facilitate my picking. My shoulders are aching or bruising from carrying the ladders or the baskets. My hands and fingers are being pricked by the branches. And my fingernails are covered with dirt that you are unable to get rid of them no matter how much you wash your hands. Actually, apples are quite dirty as there are alot of bird shits, not sure when they reach the packed, will it be washed, now I know why some people peel the skin. But I still eat the skin, just that wash more thoroughly... So everyone, please treasure eating your lovely apples as they are not easy to pick. Sometimes, you sought of go to the extent of risking your life to pick them and the situation is not too good when the weather is not that friendly. So let me reiterate, treasure eating your apples…

Since apples picking depend on the amount of bin (400kg) you are able to collect, so you got to be fast, swift and accurate. If you are slow, your apples will be picked by your competitors. No wonder there’s a Chinese saying: 战场无父子. You got to be accurate, because you got to pick the apples that are red, ripe and of correct size. There will be no time for you to slowly measure the apples. Time is really money. Lastly, apples picking also depends on luck, if the row you are given have lots of nice red apples, then you will have nice time working. My achievement this week is 9.5 bins. So please have mercy, let me have good, nice apples. Hee, hee…

Living at the apples orchard is also very poetic. Every day you wake up to nice, crisp apples smell. There are nice sunrise and sunset for you to view (the front door is facing west). At night, the stars in the sky are so plentiful that covered the whole sky. Maybe it’s true that the moon on the other side is always rounder.

I am staying in the same room as Jas where we are living in our private world from the Czech friends. I am sleeping on the upper deck of the bed, so every night i got do the climbing... Oh, we give them little nicknames so that they won’t know we are taking about them and sort of remember them, but we are getting to remember their names already. And thanks Tom and Simona (pardon me if I go my spelling wrong) for driving us to Taradale town yday so that we can get our things done at the bank and post office also to the supermarket. Else we really don’t know how to ride in such a rainy day. Continuing about the place we stay - There is a common kitchen cum living room, toilet, and shower room. Thanks Jas for being the cook where she cook our meals while I am the dish washing lady, so everyone gets to do something. Oh, I am also the cutting person to practice my cutting skills, all chefs start with the washing and cutting, so next time maybe I won’t do the washing anymore… Ha ha ha… Since alot of things are shared, so we got to be considerate and fast in the shower. The shower head is a bit small and the hot water usually need time to wait. Yun, now I know how difficult to bath with such small amount of water. Argh, jin small and jin slow…

Oh last but not least, jas give me a flying kick yday and now my right leg little toe is covered with bruise. 是痛的咯。。。To jas scandals, see how jas love me that she gave me this gift to remember our good time in NZ… OUCH…