We arrived in Bundaberg on Sunday around Midday. Christine (the owner of our hostel) came to pick us up from the Greyhound station in a van with Spray paint all over it reading “EAST BUNDY BACKPACKERS”. When we arrived at the working hostel it was very different from our other hostels. Most people stay here for three months at a time searching for farm work in order to get a second year working holiday Visa for Australia.
(For all other countries NOT INCLUDING AMERICA, Australia has a deal that if you do 3 months or 88 days of farm work you automatically get a second year working holiday Visa). I can’t earn a second year visa because America doesn’t provide working holiday Visa to foreigners....so in short, I only have one year in this country unless I find a proper job willing to sponsor a professional Visa for me. I am traveling with an Irish girl (Catherine) and she needs to get farm work and well lets be honest ( we have been on vacation for 2 months) I NEED MONEY...and quick. Most people from our hostel talked about how they work here and there but there isn’t much farm work right now... I started making plans to leave on Sunday and go back to the Gold Coast so I didn’t have to pay for accommodation while I figured out how to make some money. 3 days went by and I got called to the office about a JOB! ( Most people wait 3 WEEKS!!!). It was such a blessing because I was really starting to stress about money!!!!!
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| SORRY MY COMPUTER WOULDN'T LET ME ROTATE MY PICTURE....LAME. |
My first day of work I set my alarm for the wrong time so I was woken up the bus driver at 5:30am telling me I had 10 minutes before we left!! I jumped out of bed and got ready quickly and made it to the bus just in time! I am working at a place called Ackers Farm home of the quality sweet potato!! My job is in a packing shed sorting sweet potatoes in to different sizes and shapes....it is the most repetitive, back breaking job EVER but it pays 20 dollars an hour/ 6 days a week so it will do. My boss is a MONSTER and she enjoys shouting ALL DAY! I have come to terms that she will always scare me...She calls me Rachel (even after I corrected her) and likes to say things such as:
FOUR POTATOES, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE FOUR POTATOES IN YOUR HAND!
FASTER GIRLS, YOU JUST DON’T GET IT!
IF YOU ARE SO WORRIED ABOUT THE TIME YOU CAN JUST GO HOME AND NEVER COME BACK!!!!!
WRONG, WRONG WRONG...ALL WRONG! WHEN WILL YOU GET IT RIGHT?
I could go on forever!! I will never be able to complain about how terrible a boss is ever again for the rest of my life because I have literally found the absolute worst!! I am literarily surprised every single day that I still have a job at that farm because she always says such awful things about me like I am too incompetent to understand the science behind sorting potatoes.(I just tell myself that I am good at loads of other things...potato sorting is not one of them).
Most of the girls I work with have varies degrees and are educated women (they are all backpackers working for their second year VISA) but our boss talks to us like we are complete idiots...I am just one of those people who do not work well in that type of environment and I am REALLY proud of myself for not crying after being yelled at (yet). This is one of my new year's resolutions...so CHECK?!?!
We begin work at 6:30am, have a smokers break (I have a pb&J sandwich) at 9:00-9:20, lunch at 12:30-1:00, and finish between 3:30 - 5pm (most of the time its 5pm). Thankfully I have made some really nice and wonderful friends!! My work BFF is named Julia from England and she is an ANGEL from heaven because she makes my work day seem bearable. We sing songs and tell stories whenever the monster isn’t close by. She has a degree in Education and plans on teaching in Australia for the next school year. Sadly she is near the end of her 3 months of farm work...She is my absolute favorite thing about potato picking!!
Most days we aren’t allowed to talk and my inner dialog sounds a bit like this:
I am so cold. I wonder how people do this for a living? This is sooo easy. I could totally do this for 3 months, I would make a million dollars! Oh my Gosh I am going crazy. I hate potatoes. Large. Large. Large. Who cares if this is a medium small or medium large? I hate this job. Uhhh she is such a monster. I really want to stand on that conveyer belt. I really need a real job. When I get home I sending out my resume to everyone in Australia. I am so hungry. What time is it? Why is it so cold in here?
I basically go crazy all day.....
My first 3 days were a bit rough but then I had a day off and day 4 and 5 were AMAZING. I even had a bit of fun. Day 6 was the worst day EVER! I started with getting yelled at by the monster about how shit I was at sorting potatoes and how I wasn’t progressing. She made is sound like she was about to fire me on the spot. It took every ounce of might in my body to stop the tears....I was trying really hard to care about potatoes but today I just didn’t feel good (I should have called in sick but I feared losing my job). Then I got moved away from Julia to add a cherry on top of a bad morning!!!! I got moved by this Australian boy and here is how our conversation went.
Aussie boy: are you from England love?
Me: No I am from Texas in the U.S.
Aussie: oh we never get Americans here! Are you African American?
Me: BURST INTO LAUGHTER...NO! (I turn and tell the girl beside me what an idiot this Aussie boy is) I am Mexican American.
Aussie: oh do you have your green card? I heard about you Mexicans!
Me: I was born in American. That is really offensive.
Aussie: Do you eat nachos and burritos?
Me: it depends on what I feel like eating. I would ask what you eat but I already know what a racist douchebag would eat. (as I turn around and ignore him)
......much later
Aussie: Since you are African American, do you live in the ghetto?
Me:..........I wish you would stop talking to me!
Aussie: You look like Dora the Explorer.
Me: ..........
Aussie: Hey Texas girl, were you a cheerleader?
Me: You are being a really sad representative of your country...maybe if you actually traveled outside of Australia you would realize what a total idiot you are being.
Aussie: I guess you just don’t get me humor.
Me: guess not.
*I thought of about 87 reasons why I should quit this job today even if I make over 1000 dollars a week.
I didn't quit. I am really proud of myself for sticking it out with this job. It is without a doubt the hardest job I have ever had (in the manual labor context). I can't help but feel like I am proving something to myself by keeping a job that is so difficult. I am a bit stronger than I thought I was... I also am proud at how positive my attitude stays even on the worst days!
So here are my lessons for the week:
Laughter really is the best medicine.
Killing people with Kindness doesn't always work but its always worth a try.
Perspective is EVERYTHING.
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