More on the farm

 For a place with basically nothing going on, I guess a lot has happened.  First off, the girl from Malaysia took off to go to another farm, but we managed to have long talk before she did.  It was interesting to have another perspective on this place.  She wasn't all that happy for a couple of reasons.  According to the rules of WorldWide Opportunities  on Organic Farms (WWOOF), volunteers are supposed to work 4-6 hours a day in exchange for room and board.  This would in theory give ample extra time to explore and pursue other activities.  So far we are in the farmhouse every day at 7am (something my friend did not like but which I had expected), start work by 8 and finish by 12 for lunch and a nap (I give
up my nap to write these) until 2.  We then work until 5 or 6.  So we end up working 7 or 8 hours a day seven days a week except Sunday, which may be a half day unless I just got it off because of the rain.  That's a decent amount of work.
   I found out during this conversation that all the plum trees are up on the mountain,  just we're not.  No one goes up there but during harvest time, and they mostly pay temp workers because it's supposedly dangerous. I was a little bummed by this, but not enough to leave.  My friend was heading back to a little farm owned by a Dutchman and his wife, which is supposedly a lot more laid back.  As learning the language is my priority  I figured that wouldn't be my best choice, but we'll see.
  I can freely admit I was feeling pretty depressed after talking to her and she left, but I figured I could make the most of it.  After a morning of preparing plums for sundrying (a nice break from weeding) , the clear weather ended.  During my nap my boss came running into my room needing my help to cover all the plum racks.  They really got angry with each other about the best way to deal with it all.  A lot of stress, I'm just glad it wasn't aimed at me. 
  After we were done the rain started and everyone dissapeared, so I told my boss's friend I was going for a run and took off.  It was the best I'd felt in a while and basically covered the  main length of the  road through the township.  Not a lot here.  Before I headed back I had hit 4 miles, was running in water up to my ankles, and could barely see.  I'm sure everyone who saw me thought I was insane, but between that and waking up early to practice kung fu today I'm feeling recharged.
  Without anyone who knows any english,I'm getting a decent amount of language practice whenever I'm not weeding, which feels a little like counting trees in Siberia.  The only real problem is how isolated we are.  Not a lot of socializing opportunities.  I figure that if I stay here at least two weeks, I'll have split the train fair to get down here and back up north into the equivalent of living on 3 dollars a day.  Besides I'm sure the hard labor is good for me, it builds character, as if I wasn't enough of one already. I have no idea what I'll do then, but I might need a vacation spending a week as a beach bum in a surf town...