The 20 Essentials

First off, just a quick update. I already worked yesterday and today but I still have five more days of work this week. This week will be spent digging the new cistern as much as possible. Next week will be renovating a few caves of Daoud's family in the valley. After that, some more farm work and junk and then July 12th starts the Children's Camp. I'll be with the kids for about 5 days and then I head out July 18th; while the time goes by, it seems like it slowly shuffles past me, but when I look back on it, it all seems to have flown by.

Now, I'd like to teach you guys some things I've learned while working on a Palestinian farm. Some of them are just jokes but others make a lot of sense. I call them: The 20 Essentials.

1. Farms, and everything on them, are dirty, embrace it.
2. The body can handle not showering for 5-7 days, it's the mind that's bothered by it.
3. Germans have great work ethic, as long as someone is keeping an eye on them.
4. French folks whine a lot, but they realize this and apologize for it, so not a huge problem.
5. With horses, be respectful without being afraid - if this fails, just don't get kicked (almost happened to me, damn horse).
6. Goats literally eat eveything, I mean, shouldn't thorns hurt while eating them?
7. Water is precious.
8. Arabs don't show thankfullness for doing your job (I'm not really bothered by this but the Europeans seem to be).
9. Work gloves are great until they tear, get used to working without them at times.
10. A bandana is probably the greatest, most versatile piece of material ever created, ever.
11. You don't have to like your job to enjoy the fact that you're doing it.
12. There is no such thing as instant gratification on a farm, I probably won't see any real benefit from the work I'm doing during the short time I'm here.
13. Sun screen is great but sometimes the sun just wins in the end.
14. Without television, one truly begins to find the beauty and wonder in reading.
15. Fecal matter, both human and non-human animal, is a necessary and multifaceted material that can be utilized in many aspects of the rural ecosystem (shit's great).
16. Music makes the work, not easier, but a little more fun - Guster, Alison Krauss, Dessa, Alkaline Trio, Weezer, John Hiatt, Ben Folds - just some examples.
17. You bend over a lot on a farm.
18. Even though the work is just as hard as it always has been, it gets easier.
19. Since everything you do on a farm is phyical work, take that time to think, philosophize, learn, wonder, and dream - unless you're working with heavy machinery or sharp tools.
20. Chill out, guarentee every single one of you is stressed in one way or another right now, cut it out. What's the point? Life can be hard and life can be easy, it'd be pretty damn boring if everything worked out for you, wouldn't it?