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Monday, December 08, 2008

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:55:50 GMT

Week Sixteen (1 – 7 Dec)

I was supposed to have a day off on Monday but I was wakened up by the driver at six in the morning. He asked me if I wanted to work and of course I answered yes because I didn’t want another day off. I worked with another few Koreans and we took the transport for such a long time to reach the farm. When the supervisor arrived, he asked me to go to another side of the farm while other people followed another supervisor.

My job was to collect the water pipes in the field. I had to tie the ends of the water pipes to the tractor so that when it moved forward the pipes would be pulled out of the soil. In the middle of the field, the tractor would stop. I had to control the speed of the turning machine so that the water pipes could be winded up properly. When all the water pipes were winded up, the process was repeated for the second half of the field and the water pipes would be disposed. The job was easy and comfortable because I could always sit on the tractor when it was pulling the water pipe out. I got really frustrated when the pipes were broken because they were stuck in the grass. I didn’t bring any lunch there but the supervisor gave me a lot of food to eat. The job finished at around three o’clock.

The Gatt’s cherry tomato farm reopened on Tuesday, but I really didn’t want to go there. I couldn’t grumble anymore because so many people were on the stand-by list. Margaret was not here to arrange the jobs and so many people did not have a job. Every time I went there, I really wanted to leave and after making the twentieth bucket, I already wanted to stop. I made twenty two buckets for the whole day and I already did not mind how much I could make. I just wanted to enjoy life in Australia. Because we had finished the whole block, we had day off the next day as usual. I chatted with the Taiwanese girl Chi-Chi and German guy Stephan outside the backpacker for more inner feelings, which was so nice. We chatted till 1:30 am because all of us did not have to work the next day.

However, the next morning, I was wakened by the driver and I was informed that I had 10 minutes to get myself prepared for work. I had to substitute someone from the watermelon farm. I hesitated a bit when I knew that I had to work in the legendary farm requiring workers to throw the watermelons. However, I didn’t want to miss the chance to work.

When we arrived there, we had to make the bins and put them onto the wooden block so that other staffs could fix them. Then we headed on the field and we started to stand in two rows. The front row had to cut the watermelons and we had to pick them and to throw them to the person standing next to us. Finally all the watermelons could be passed to the edge of the field. Thank God, some of the watermelons were smaller so that I could hold them. However, the seeded ones were enormous but I could catch them. We shifted our position from time to time because the guys in the middle of field were the most tired as they had to catch and throw the melons at the same time. I drank so much water during the break and my arms began to feel so sore.

I did not bring food to the farm because I did not have enough time to prepare for it, so one of the German guys shared his lunch box with me. After the lunch break, here came the worst and hardest part of the day. We had to throw the watermelons up the tractor and they knew that I was too weak to throw them up, so they assigned me to clean the watermelons first and then came back to help. However, I was amazed by the fact that I could throw the huge melons up the tractors, even the seeded ones. The supervisors and farmer were so caring and they asked me to take a rest when they saw me feeling so tired. This eight-hour job today was the best farm experience to me throughout my whole stay in Bundaberg.

I was so proud of myself because I did not give up although I wanted to. The backpackers working there told me many people left after the first hour of work but they appreciated that I could withstand it for the whole day.

I went to another farm for weeding on Thursday and later on I found that it was the new Queensland Harvester, but the name was changed now. All of a sudden, all the horrible memories of working there came back. However, it was completely different now because the contractor was changed. The supervisor was very nice and even we did slowly, he wouldn’t hurry us. The weeding job was hard as usual especially under the fierce sun. However, in the past, we had to finish two rows before we could get the water to drink and today we could finish the first lane and get the water. The best part of the job was probably the discovery of cucumber field next to the tomato field we were weeding. We picked a lot of cucumber back to hostel. They were so good for making sandwiches!

The Gatt’s melon farm re-opened on Friday and Saturday. It was one of my favourite jobs so far in Bundaberg. We worked for nine hours on both days but I did not feel very tired because I loved this job. However, I hurt my hand when I was working on Friday. The blood dyed the white glove red and that looked horrible. However, I had to keep working as the watermelons were coming incessantly. When I was working, I did not feel that much pain.

I had to go back to cherry tomato farm on Sunday and it was my seventh day work of the week. However, there were only a few people working, so it took a long time for us finish picking the whole block. Again, after the twentieth bucket, I wanted to stop picking. However, if I stopped, it took longer to go back. I must continue to pick. We worked from 6:15 to 3:30pm and despite my laziness for the last few hours, I was able to make 43 buckets.

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Photos of watermelon field

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:29:11 GMT

Week Fourteen (17 – 23 Nov)

We only worked for two and a half hours in the grape tomato farm on Monday because there were not enough tomatoes again. Luckily in the afternoon, we got another job in the sweet potato farm. Our job was to plant sweet potatoes and it was simple but tiring. We were given some branches of sweet potato places. Then we had to use our four fingers to press it into the soil and covered it with soil. The crazy supervisor did not allow us to wear gloves because he thought the gloves would bother the working process and it would burst anyway. After the four hour work, my hands were full of soil and the pits of the nails were extremely dirty.

The weather on Tuesday morning was so gloomy and it seemed to rain soon. It was still fine when we started working at 6 am. However, there was very light shower after around one hour and the rain got heavier and heavier. At one moment, it poured and everyone in the farm screamed. By the time, we were still picking the fruits and we were all soaked wet. Actually I would like to continue to work but the supervisor thought it was very dangerous to continue. Therefore we had worked for only two hours and stopped.

Although we had one full day’s work on Wednesday, we had only worked for 5.5 hours on Thursday and Matt told us that we were going to have a day off on Friday. Fortunately, I was arranged to another farm with two other Koreans to pick sweet potatoes. Despite being bad to the back, it was really simple. What we needed to do was to pick up the sweet potatoes on the field and put into the buckets. We finished our job in 4.5 hours and I picked one sweet potato back hostel. However, I had no idea how to cook it.

Many friends who were working in the tomato farm left this week. Yutaka, the Japanese guy and Stephan the German guy left on Tuesday and we had a mini farewell dinner with them. Brock left on Saturday and there would be one person less to share the “special lunch” Chocolate Scotch Finger. He would go to Sydney and we promised to meet each other there next year. I started to cook with Chi-Chi, the Taiwanese girl this week and she taught me how to make mashed potato with cream sauce.

After a day off on Saturday, I was arranged to pick watermelons on Sunday. I was so worried but yet excited because it was a new experience to me and I heard from other people that watermelon picking was so harsh. Some German guys in the hostel told me they had to throw the watermelons. When we arrived at the farm, we were asked by the supervisor to go up to a big tractor with a treadmill. There were five big paper bins on it to place the watermelons. Two people had to pick the watermelons from the ground and place them on to the treadmill. The watermelons would be sent to another person and he had to clean the surface of the melons. Then he had to pass the watermelons to the remaining two people who stood around the bins. The watermelons were placed into the bins until they were filled almost full. Thanks to the treadmill, we didn’t have to throw the watermelons. However, the picking job was still hard due to the heavy weight of the enormous watermelons. Therefore, we shifted our duties after finishing each traitor of watermelons. I was amazed by the fact that we had picked over ten tones of watermelons today. I really love this watermelon picking job and I especially love the part when we ate fresh watermelons together during smoko time.

Week Fifteen (24 – 30 Nov)

I love my watermelon picking job so much and I wish to continue with it. I asked the reception whether I could stay in that farm and she said it was possible. However, when I checked the work list, I was still in the Nixon’s grape tomato farm. I was a little bit disappointed but I was glad that they were operating after three days of rest. However, on the way to the farm, the farm phoned the driver that we were not working and we were lifted back to the hostel. I was discontent because we had to wake up so early and we had dressed in our dirty work clothes already. I spent the whole day playing with computer and I was able to survive a boring day. I found that I was put to another watermelon farm, the Gatt’s melon farm. I was excited again because I could pick watermelons again.

The next morning, I had a full breakfast and got prepared for a day’s work. A tractor with treadmill was used in this farm, same as the last one. However, there were 9 bins on the tractor and I was asked to stand inside the bins rather than beside the bins. In addition, the farm looked larger than the previous one. Personally I like this farm even more than the previous one because my colleagues were so fun, especially the Danish guy, Casper and the two pretty French ladies. Casper was arranged to pick the melons, probably because he looked stronger. The two ladies only had to clean the melons coming from the treadmill. We worked fro nine hours but I didn’t feel that tired. I picked two melons back and gave one to the Japanese girls. I had the same job on Wednesday but the time of working was a bit shorter. The guys who worked in the first watermelon farm came into Gatt’s farm to work which made the atmosphere even better. I love this job so much and I thought I could stay there for a week or so more. However, when I checked the work list, I was put to Gatt’s not melon farm but cherry tomato farm which was paid per bucket. I consoled myself that I only had to stay there for one day only.

On Thursday, our crew of cherry tomato pickers went to the “old farm” and there were so few tomatoes. One bucket was only around 4 dollars after tax and we picked for 4.5 hours today. I was able to pick 20 buckets and the per hour paid was actually higher than hourly job. However I still like hourly job more because it was too competitive and I hate people grabbing tomatoes as if they had never hold one in their hands. There were so local Vietnamese-born Australians who picked incredibly fast. They basically grabbed all the tomatoes and the whole block could be finished so early. I couldn’t talk to people in this job was another part I hate about this job. Friday was a dayoff because there were no more tomatoes in that farm but on Saturday, I had to work on the same place again.

I did not have much incentive to work in this job although the per-hour rate was higher than my previous jobs. I was so unhappy and tired after the work and I basically did not want to do anything. I finally realized that a job which enabled me to earn a lot was not the most important to me. I preferred a job that I enjoyed and if I enjoyed the job, I would still like it and wouldn’t feel exhausted even I had to work for so long hour. I spent the afternoon shopping in Woolworths with Chih-Chi and we bought a big box of chips near the train station.

This week was completely my spiritual depression and may be a day off on Sunday was a good chance for me to refresh and re-adjust myself.

However, there were some delightful events in this week. For example, cooking with the Taiwanese girl Chih-Chi was really nice. I bumped into Yutaka and ,Stephen, who left our hostel last week, in the library one day and they gave me a lift back to the hostel. I cooked Stir-fried Rice noodles with chicken with Chih-Chi and Yutaka joined our dinner. There was a Hong Kong guy came to East Bundy. He was a little bit weird and he was so quiet (may be shy). One day, I asked him if he wanted me to cook him lunch. He praised my spaghetti with cream sauce (can’t believe it).

I found that I had already concerned less about how much money I could get before end of January and I just wanted to enjoy everyday in Australia. I had understood myself more and had known more about what I really wanted this week. That’s a good sign.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:14:56 GMT

好想同屋企人去三上食壽司

好想同CMG 去食韓燒

好想同趙必銓食上海野同唱overnight K

好想同教會弟兄姊妹打邊爐

好想同陳秋陳春食南記同去利東duk 野食

好想同Psycho 同學踩單車

好想同張家寶去 CC Can 食桂花糕

好想同劉灝顯去扒王之王剧扒

好想同Bobo 同 Out of Control 去小巴黎食檬粉

...................

原來係身邊d 人支撐住自己

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:34:05 GMT

最近每日出worklist ... 真係有 ALevel 放榜一半咁刺激

一個星期去左五個唔同geh 農場

一時摘sweet potato ... 一時摘 cherry tomato .... 一時摘西瓜 ....

突然覺得 Nixon's Grape Tomato Farm 好好tim ....

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:55:25 GMT

Week Twelve (3 – 9 Nov)

I thought most people would be so hard working after the announcing of 14 buckets per day (which was impossible). I worked so hard and made twelve buckets but it turned out that people only made seven or eight buckets today. However, I knew I had to work hard for Christ’s sake. In the quiet time recently, I read 1 Peter and God taught me to serve my supervisor well in 2:18, despite his leniency. God also taught me to behave well in front of the foreigners, so I mustn’t be that lazy.

Tuesday, I miraculously picked 15 buckets, partly because I had to pick some cherry tomatoes which were enormous. Although I told myself not to work too hard after knowing many people were not putting in effort, I thought I had duty to do my best because I got paid hourly. I could never believe I could do more than 14 buckets in a day together with the break. I suddenly remembered one sentence “God could do what people couldn’t do” in the Bible. The weather was getting hotter and hotter, so I began to sweat a lot when working. To me, the hot weather was okay as long as I could earn some money. Unfortunately, the supervisor told us we would have a day off the next day. Actually I preferred earning money to taking a rest.

I spent my holiday in the library, surfing the Net. It was such a boring day and I definitely prefer working. Thursday’s work was harsh because the tomatoes were so down and Matt told us again the boss was going to kick the slow pickers out of the job. They had been saying that for a week without taking any visible action. That made me rather insecure and somehow lost motivation to work. May be that was the reason why I could only make 9.5 buckets today. However, I guessed it was partly because of the poor tomatoes today since most people picked less than me.

Friday, I tried to motivate myself more to work harder despite feeling bored about the picking job. The block we picked today was also shitty because the tomatoes were at the bottom again. However, it was better than my first pick of that block as they were at the CORE of the earth. I could not believe I picked the most buckets of tomatoes for the first block. The second block we picked was a bit better than the first one and I sat the buckets and picked them. The whole day I made 11.5 buckets and I was quite satisfied with that. I checked the salary after taking a shower and I found that the stupid ATM machine took 4 dollars for my service charge in total for merely checking my balance. I was damned angry and grumbled to my dorm-mates. I would never check balance using that stupid machine again! 4 dollars is two packs of Doritos!

We only had to work for 4.5 hours on Saturday because the supervisor claimed that there were no tomatoes. However, my friends and I thought that was not the reason since we found there were so many tomatoes in another block. Probably it was because of salary or management stuffs. In the afternoon I went out with Matthew and did some shopping and I also wanted to check whether I was paid for last week. I had only received $220 which was only for the contract amount for the first two days. I found that we had another day off the next day. The poor management of the farm really made me hate it more. I just wonder why all the farms I worked for had some problems with management. Should I request for a change in the farm? I really didn’t know what to do. I really want to work for many hours a day and seven days a week.

The next morning, I got up at 5 am in the morning because I had slept too much. I found the lady I met from Hong Kong was sitting in the common area waiting for a transit. I chatted a bit and she told me she had forgotten to bring water. I immediately went to my room and gave her my bottle. Due to the wet floor after the rain, I slipped and broke my one of my slippers on the stairs. I fell and knocked my forehead on the staircase. Fortunately my forehead did not bleed (thanks for my long hair in the front) though my leg and area around my right eye hurt a bit. I felt a little bit dizzy right after my and my arms were so dirty. I washed myself after giving the bottle to her. I grumbled a bit in my heart and recalled the lyrics in song “Cross” sung by Kay – “No good consequence after doing good deeds”.

I went to church after listening to some music. There was communion today and I didn’t have it for a long time. After the worship, I chatted with other backpackers and had a cup of tea in the common room. I met Ted of the church and he was so kind to drive me back to the backpacker. I was amazed that he told me he broke up with his wife and we had a very nice chat.

Week Thirteen (10 – 16 Nov)

This week is a rather peaceful week and I was enjoying the farm life. Recently, I could make over 14 buckets on most of the days (I got 18 buckets on one of the days). It was so miraculous when I thought back. Matt, the supervisor one day emphasized to everyone that all the people should be able to make two buckets per hour because of the good fruits. He came to me and said that was no problem for me because my performance was always good. Despite the knee pain and lack of motivation, I forced myself work a bit faster than I wished for that day. I didn’t want to fail him though.

A Taiwanese girl Chi-Chi entered the hostel and we could always chatted in mandarin. She cooked so well and I decided to ask her to teach me how to cook! I got a day off on Saturday and I spent the whole morning in the library with Brock and Taka. On the way back to the hostel, we met an English guy. He came to us and asked where he could find a working hostel. I introduced our backpacker for him and we led the way. However, on the long way back, he told us he needed to get his car and asked us where the hostel was. I indicated him that it was near the water tower. I thought he might be impatient to walk such a long way, so he left. However, I saw him appeared in the backpacker after two hours.

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Bundaberg is a beautiful place ~ here are some photos of the fields

Friday, November 14, 2008

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:58:47 GMT

I know some people are interested in my farm life ~

I don't say much, I just post some photos ~

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:22:38 GMT

per bucket-paid 的工作突然變成 hourly paid 的

我開始體會到順服的重要

有很多韓國人討厭這個轉變

因為他們每天賺少了 ~~

很多人開始按章工作 ... 一天採不夠十桶 ~

有些更說要quit 這工作 ... 可是 ... 至今我仍然看到他們在上班

*** "誰想講骨氣最先必須有一些儲備" ***

我有時都想偷懶 ... 但人家hourly paid ... 我就更加要努力

人在做,天在看

Monday, November 03, 2008

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:54:36 GMT

Week Ten (20 – 26 Oct)

This week’s life has been very calm and monotonous. For seven days, I repeat what I have done for the past week over and over again. I could now tell the difference the job that I like and the job that I don’t like. Every morning, I feel “Oh-my-god-how-come-I-arrive-at-the-workplace-so-quickly” when the shuttle bus arrived at the shed of the farm. I want to go back home not even I have started working. I don’t like this farm job and I want to go back to school.

My picking skills improved over the past week. I could pick less than 6 buckets on my first day but on this Saturday, I could pick over 12 buckets. Every time I when I thought of family, friends and things in Hong Kong, I told myself that I have to work hard for these things. Things in Hong Kong are my source of power to work hard! It seems that it is more useful to think about these instead of treating every tomato as money. Strange, I have been grumbling how I hate the job. However, I kept going to work for two weeks.

I was supposed to get paid on Friday afternoon, but I wasn’t paid. Therefore, I asked the supervisor on Saturday. He said there might be delay in sending my information to Melbourne since I started on last Tuesday. I wanted to get my money as soon as possible so that I could calculate the balance.

Something really scary happened on Sunday. I went to the reception and wanted to pay for the dorm fee for the coming week. Margaret told me that the computer system didn’t have my record of my last week’s pay. She asked me to show the receipt and I quickly headed to my room to get it. At the moment I thought the issue was going to end, she said it was not my receipt. What? I exclaimed in my heart and looked at the receipt. The name on the receipt was not my name but someone called Adam. I explained immediately that was really my receipt and I had not idea why the name was Adam. Thank God, Adam was in the kitchen and explained that he only had to pay till Thursday. Therefore the receipt shouldn’t be Adam’s and after around 10 minutes of checking, she just took that receipt was mine. Unfortunately, I missed my church time, so I went to supermarket with Matthew.

Week Eleven (27 Oct – 2 Nov)

Monday and Tuesday were still routine and monotonous. However, on Wednesday, when I nearly finished picking the first bucket of tomatoes, the supervisors asked us to stop picking and to gather in the empty space near the shed. After a while, the cherry tomato pickers arrived on the trolley driven by Matt, the supervisor. The atmosphere was a bit serious and nobody knew what happened.

When all the pickers gathered, the supervisor told us that the farmer wanted to change the contract pay-system to hourly rate. However, the farmer said everyone should pick two buckets per hour, which is fourteen buckets a day or being sacked. My first response was “How could I pick fourteen buckets a day?” The supervisor said it was ridiculous because that was really harsh for a lot of people to pick fourteen buckets of tiny grape tomatoes. Anyway, he asked us to try our best and they wouldn’t count how many buckets we made today. I saw some people simply slowed down but I did put in effort to pick and I made 9.5 buckets in around five hours. I have been longing for an hourly-paid job and it suddenly became reality.

The next day the supervisor told us that we had to make at least ten buckets a day. Although I could make more than 12 buckets sometimes, I didn’t have confidence to make over ten each time. We were given a smoko, rest time at around 9:30. Actually I preferred to have more working time to finish our duty. At the end of the second block, I found that one of my buckets of tomatoes was counted less. Therefore, I quickly did another bucket and finally I made 11 buckets for the day.

On Friday, Matt told me he found my bucket, but anyway, no matter what I had finished at least ten buckets. However, today he suddenly told me I forgot to put my tag in one of my buckets. I had been working there for three weeks and it was unlikely for me to make this mistake. I was scared no matter whether that bucket was really mine. If it was really mine, it meant that I might possibly forget to put tags into some of my buckets. If it was not mine, that meant I couldn’t make ten buckets today! Anyway, I should stop worrying about that.

On Saturday, the supervisor suddenly said we had to make 14 buckets if the tomatoes were easy to pick. I was speechless because it was almost impossible for me to pick that many buckets, plus the fact that we started late and we spent time in the break. I joked to the German guy that if I could pick 14 buckets a day, I would cut my head off. I didn’t know how many days I could still work there before I got sacked. In fact many people couldn’t make over 10 buckets today. I would just do my best and I believe “God is watching what people are doing”. This job was gift from God, so it could take it back at anytime. What I could do was to seek the kingdom of God, may be.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:39:30 GMT

紅河村

看小小窗框中的海闊天空　露台灰灰的　汽車聲整天騷動
離家數百米之外　一個叫啟德的天堂　飛機升降　載著我每個盼望
榕樹下看不懂所有棋局　籠中相思雀　很想飛遠方
紅河村中佈滿心事　不要走得這麼匆忙　夏去秋又來　記著會有幾個

騎單車大埔奔向大尾篤　乘巴士火車　都多麼遠　真好
沿海的每寸公路　通向市區的心臟　距離　有時我更加嚮往
每朝七點車廂中　我開始心跳加速　陽光班房　有坐窗邊的你可偷看
在慈雲山的球場七號　相約尖沙咀海傍　定了十年以後再抱一趟

窗邊的你今天也愉快嗎　現實裡有誰　願為你兌現承諾

要守規則　盼有一天攀上高峰　或燃燒青春　要精彩不計較收穫
尋找中各有失落　都有驚喜匆匆閃過　每個笑臉　蘊藏了多少滄桑
還未及著地　又要即將再起飛　從機艙中看這小島一片燈火
紅河村的每個心事　飛向天邊海角　我慶幸你沒有愛上我

紅河村的每個希望　飄泊於天邊海角　我慶幸你沒有愛上我

what a touching song ...

i miss hk ...

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:50:33 GMT

Week 8 (6 Oct – 12 Oct)

Okay, could gig things stop happening for a period of time please? The farm I was working for was on strike and our jobs were ceased until further notice. What I have been experiencing were so insecure like this time. However, strangely, I had unexpected peace in me when I received this news from Matthew, one of my Korean roommates on Monday evening. Once again, I found myself in the standby list and I really hope God would arrange a job for me. Life was absolutely boring in Bundaberg and I played AOC in my notebook for the whole day.

Tuesday was supposed another boring day because I was in the stand-by list. Early in the morning, I chatted with a German girl, named Rahson. She told me she had been to Hong Kong before coming to Australia. It was strange that she said things in Hong Kong were a bit expensive. Later I learnt that she couldn’t find a supermarket and bought all the things in 7-11. We saw Margaret, who was in charge of job arrangement. She greeted us and I told her I was bored because of joblessness. She introduced us to do some cleaning in a farmer’s house. I was so surprised and so thankful to God for giving me a day of work.

When we arrived at the farmer’s house, Rahson and I had been told to do different jobs. She was responsible for the interior cleaning while I was responsible for gardening work. I had to do the weeding and sweeping of the leaves most of the time. Weeding there was so dangerous because many of the plants had thorns and many spikes. My gloves were torn and my hands were hurt. I found I had difficulty in listening and understanding Australia English. They gave me instructions with their strange accent and I had to require them to repeat in order to comprehend. At the end of the job, my clothes and shoes were full of spikes of the plants. However, I was paid $80 in cash for 4.5 hours of work, which was so good. At night, I found that the Queensland Harvesters workers were put to a new farm doing field work. I was puzzled by the term “field work” because it was so unclear what type of work it was.

We took the hostel transport at half past six in the morning and arrived at our brand new workplace at around seven o’clock. The farm we were working was an organic farm and we worked in the ginger farm today. We had to put all the “bile” of hay onto the lorry. The “bile” was so heavy for me, who never had to do any warehouse work. When the supervisor saw me acting stupidly, he joked at me, asked me to eat more vegemite and Wheatbiz. He even taught me how to use effort correctly so that I could utilize all my force. We had enough rest in between work and a half-an-hour lunch break. After transporting all the hay to the ginger field, we had to spread the hay evenly in-between the lanes. We could do this quite fast and the supervisor seemed quite satisfied with our performance. After the whole day’s work, all of us were so dirty. Our faces were all black with hay but we had rather good paid for the day. Unfortunately, it was only a one-day job, but still it was better than nothing.

I was not arranged to have any job on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I was really bored and it was rainy all the time. I found that my Queensland Harvesters Uniform T-shirt disappeared after drying on the poles next to the swimming pool. I didn’t know who took it, so I asked the people in the reception. At first I guessed the staff might take it into the hostel because it rained. However, they said no one took it. I was so pissed off because I am going to lose part of my uniform deposit.

On Friday, I finally received my three-day salary earned in Queensland Harvester, which is over 300 dollars after tax. I hope I could have a long-term job next week. At night, I played Korean games with my Korean roommates. The person who lost the round had to drink a glass of vodka with coke and one mouth of spaghetti. I was drunk after drinking 4 glasses and I didn’t know what I had done. It was a really good activity to kill the boring time.

Week Nine (13 – 19 Oct)

After five days of being on the stand-by list, I was finally arranged to have a job on Monday night. I was arranged to pick grape tomatoes, which was a shitty job according to my Japanese dorm-mate who had been working there for a two weeks. It was a contract job so that the money I got would be dependent of how many buckets of tomatoes I could pick. Therefore, I didn’t have much expectation on this job. After a night walk to the riverside with Joon Ho, my Korean roommate, I went directly to sleep. Some of my roommates would be working in chilly factory at 1:40 am. Crazy!

The next day, I got up at 4:30 am and got prepared for my new job. The supervisor was very nice and supportive, but the job was shittier than I thought. After around seven hours of work, I could only pick around 7 buckets of grape tomatoes. The bucket was around 40 cm depth with a base diameter of 30 cm but the size of grape tomatoes were of the size of grapes. Although the job wasn’t exhausting, I could only earn around 40 dollars everyday which is abysmal. I really prefer hourly paid jobs. I was so unhappy with the job but I guessed I would keep on there for a couple of days at least.

Wednesday was a really sunny day and I had to work under the sun. I tried different methods to pick the tomatoes but I was still so slow. However, I had improvement as I picked 7.5 buckets. I don’t know why people could pick over 10 buckets, there should be some kind of techniques. I really wanted to change to another job, but since still a number of people were on the stand-by list. In addition, God gave me Bible verse from 1 John 2 and 2 Corinthians 12. May be I should stick to the job he had prepared for me.

It rained so heavily on Thursday morning and when we arrived at the farm, the supervisors told us that there would be no work because of danger. They should have informed the hostel earlier so as not to everyone’s time. I got a day off and I went to the library. I arrived at the library before the opening time and so many people were waiting for the library to open. When the library opened, I rushed to the laptop zone which was always full immediately. Suddenly, someone asked me if I was from Hong Kong. I couldn’t believe someone I could meet another backpacker from Hong Kong in the library. The backpacker’s name is Ray and he was living in the worst backpackers – Dingo Blue – which was well-known for cheating people by claiming to provide jobs. Luckily, he would move to another backpacker hostel. Later I learned that both of us lived in Sai Wan. I exclaimed how small the world is!

My life became so disciplined these few days. I woke up at 4:40am everyday and had my breakfast which included toast with cheese and hazelnut spread and oats in juice. Then I changed my “uniform” and put some sunscreen lotion on my face. At 5:30 am, I took the hostel transport to the grape tomato farm and worked for around seven hours, repeating the same actions. I took a shower and had a brief lunch of toasts. I could either go to the library or take a rest. At around 5 pm, I would cook my dinner which was spaghetti with tomato sauce with carrot, onion and egg / sausage. After dinner, I would use computer for a while or chatted with roommates. I read the bible at around 8:30 pm and went to bed at 9:30 pm. In fact I quite enjoyed this peaceful and disciplined life.

Recently, I had been worrying about whether I would have enough money to continue with my trip. I was so worried about the amount I could earn in Bundaberg. However, in quiet time, God told me not to love the world and the things there and his kindness is all I need. I really need more faith in God and I know he has been protecting and guiding me all the time.