First Day

So, today was my first day working on the farm. We started by waking up at 7 AM (which is what it'll be every morning), ate breakfast, then the Frenchman, Daher (Daoud's brother), and I headed to the valley close to the farm where we grow apricots and apples. We spent a couple hours harvesting, then headed back for a break. After the break, I went and helped out the Germans dig holes around small almond trees with pick axes and hoes. The ground is pretty rocky and I got some gnarly blisters from the work, about 5 actually (then figured out I should throw my work gloves on). We took a break for lunch and then finished up digging the holes. After that, we collected six containers of water from one of the cisterns and brought them back to the field to water all the trees. After another break, I helped Tom (one of the Germans) water the sage and grape plants. Then after checking some of the hay bundles for snakes, we fed the goats, rallied up the horses/fed them too, and locked them all up. Then we fed the chickens and pigieons, got one egg from the coop, and that was it. Our day ended at 6 o clock and the rest of the night was just relaxing and hanging out.

I'm beyond wiped out right now and it was ungodly hot today with no wind. Hopefully we have more of a breeze tomorrow. Other than all the work, I learned a little more about the farm and about the Israeli settlements around the farm. We are literally surrounded by these settlements, some of which people don't even work in - they're just paid by the governemnt to pray and occupy the West Bank. I'm pretty jet-lagged and just worked for 11 hours so I think I'm going to head out but so far, so good. I'm enjoying the work and it's for a great cause so I'm going to try to go balls to the wall on this one. Ma salaama.