aloha

So my first days on this new farm have definitely been a change!  I work 4 hours, 5 days a week and it works out well because I start around 8 and can be done working in time for lunch.  That way I have the afternoon to myself.  My first day I used the free time to explore my new area and then yesterday, I just read a book.

My work is more of what you'd expect on a farm.  I start the morning off by going to carefully orchestrated duck-shit ponds and transferring buckets of this to young mango, avocado, star fruit and lychee trees.  I sloshed this water up my side today, and it didn't bother me, which might be worrying.  Then tasks vary, but today I spent an hour popping coffee beans out of their berries and then soaking the beans in water to remove the coating and prepare them for the drying process.  Then we planted some basil and I weeded the gardens a bit.

There is a chicken John refers to as Miss Smartypants.  She is the only free range chicken on the land because her sisters attacked her and poked her right eye out.  The other chickens remain in their spacious, mongoose protected areas, while she roams freely.  Today I walked out on our deck and there was Miss Smartypants pecking her way into our box of almost-ripe papayas.  I'm still not really sure what  to do with chickens.  I know you can pet them and hold them, but this thought still puts me on edge when I see them flapping their relatively useless wings to escape John's initial capturing clutch.  So I gently pulled the papaya out of the box and set it on the rail, hoping she'd hop away from the precious remaining fruit and continue to eat the already mangled papaya.

However, one peck on this perch sent it over the porch railing and Miss Smartypants didn't really live up to her name, but rather stared blankly across the fields as if the papaya had vaporized.  Then she hopped down from the table and walked into my house.

Somehow, Ashley and Joel's bedroom door had swung open and I had a chicken loose in their bedroom.  I sealed all exits but the one towards the outdoors and kind of awkwardly shuffled the invader out.  Tentatively trying to touch her, while jumping away when the wings flapped and the squawking started up made me feel pretty ridiculous.

In other news, I attended a birthday party for the past two nights.  John plays electric violin and mandolin and his friends have either hosted or played at these parties, and I've been invited to tag along.  This has involved me eating copious amounts of party food and cake while making conversation with completely random people.  The party last night was fancy - at the do it yourself bar instead of my usual well vodka & soda water I made a Grey Goose with fresh squeezed lime juice and Pelligrino.

Today is Saturday, but to offset the other workers Friday/Saturday weekend, I'll be working today and taking a Sunday/Monday weekend.  But I'm done by noon and I get to go explore the island!