Swing Low… Sweet Chariot…

…Comin forth to carry me home… I looked over Leeton
And what… did I see
Coming forth to carry me home
A band of Aussies… abusing labor
Groin’ grapes to make more wine…

Ya… another rough day of work. I dare say, worst day so far. The Danish girls came back. Primarily because of their Yankee co-worker.

Got some more Intel on the boss. Out of the 270 rows of vines that where in need of de-suckling, 153 of them where done by over 6 other people who are staying at the hostel who served one day and quit, one even walking out the same day. My theory was correct, not a single one of them, was American. The 3 of us, in a day and a half, two Danish girls with the help of American Leadership and MANpower, did the remaining 117 rows.

Then, the boss decided to try the "divide and conquer" routine. He took me and one of the Dane Dames to the opposite side of the vineyard to clean out the irrigation hoses while the other girl was left to herself to finish the last 15 or so rows. He harassed the three of us individually. The girls took the hit, I spoke up. It was finally noon, me and Sigrid are almost totally out of water and are about to collapse. We finished the last hoses we had open, stopped working, walked to the side of the road from where we were working and awaited a pick up. We decided these jerks weren’t picking us up, so I gave her the last of the water I had in my bottle, and walked back to the other side of the vineyard to get my backpack (with more water) and Pernille (the other girl). Pernille and I finish the last 2 rows, and are finally picked up, but the guy doesn’t drive down the row like the boss did (his one redeemable quality) he sits there, and waits for us to walk back. After lunch, the boss asks us where we left off, we tell him we don’t know.
“Well didn’t you finish the section?”
“umm… no…” –Sigrid
“Well why not?!” – The Boss (yelling at Sigrid)
“HEY! It was noon! And besides, would you rather us knock off a couple minutes early, or have to go pick up two passed out bodies due to dehydration?” - me
“(silence and a mean glare)” – The Boss

Then the girls also had the question of pay, but wouldn’t ask. Of course, being the American, I stepped right in and asked for them. Then he tried to dodge the question.
“When do we get paid?” – me
“Yur last de, tumarro” – The Boss
“ok… that’s cool… so if I may ask, what’s the method of payment?” – me
“A-ight gurls… git yur things” – The Boss
(Standing still looking for my queue on what to do) – The Girls
“Well, is it cheque or cash?” - Me
“We goyna go bak tu work o yu goyna stan der aRgyuing?!” – The Boss
“Simple question that I think as employees we deserve the answer to” – Me
(Looking suddenly optimistic at the boss waiting for a response) – the Girls
“Cash… tumarro!”
“Well ok then… let me get my water bottle” – Me

That cleared up, I thought I would try to make some effort of being nice and spark up a bit of small talk. The reason for this: I don’t really know, especially seeing as how I could barely understand every other word that he spoke, but, I gave it a go. I asked if these grapes go to Casella wines, because Craig (one of the asshole rocket surgeons) left some doubt in my mind, primarily because of his cruddy answering abilities (being high at work I guess will do that). The answer… No. It goes to some Aussie wine group, that sends it’s grapes to the US, and the wine is made there.

Ok, remember that great awe inspiring speech I gave yesterday about America leading the way, because, we are leaders, and how we can withstand and accomplish anything we set our minds to… remember that? Ya… well, I still hold firm to all that, but, the key thing is, “anything we SET our minds to”. Once I found out that the grapes I am planting and helping maintain are NOT going to the production of Yellow Tail, I pretty much got Senioritis in labor terms and mentally checked out.

I tried to keep in mind the obligation of the Order of the Arrow (Scouting’s National Honor Society – of which I was in charge of the local lodge for 2 years) “I will seek to preserve a cheerful spirit, EVEN in the midst of irksome tasks and weighty responsibilities”. Well, I did manage to keep cracking jokes and keep the Danish girls morale at a fairly descent level.

Another new life experience accomplished: get caught in the middle of an Australian sand storm with just a hat and grapevines for protection (besides my cloths of course). And of course, just my luck, I had to get stuck in the storm with the one of the two girls WITH a boyfriend. Fail. After work, the boss’ wife drives us home, but, she has her older daughter in the car, which has to go to work immediately, so, I of course get taken on a crazy long detour. Proving to me, that the Boss and his son are not the only ones without a sense of time, it is apparently in the family, because when we did get to the girl's work, (2 minutes late) she took her sweet time moseying into the store like all was well.

There was supposed to be some little shindig or whatnot at the hostel the girls were staying at that I happen to get invited to. Only to find out it was cancelled due to the sand storm. FML moment for me. Last chance to see hot Danish girls before they move on to their next stop, wherever that might be. So, going back to American’s never giving up. We don’t, when we are interested in something. But, let’s face it, how often do we help the countries that we have no profit in? So, having learned I will most likely not drink the fruits of my labor, or at least not recognize it, I’ve just decided, the pain in my right shoulder really is more then what I want to work with. Besides, it should be raining tomorrow, it is right now.

This does of course mean returning one last time to pick up my money, but, money is always good, so I think I can handle it.