Working Travel: Realizing a Dream in a Year

Chapter 15 Life doesn't care about what you get, it only cares about what you have done

wandering every night

Motueka is located in the north of the South Island. The backpackers gathered here are basically divided into two groups, picking apples (from the end of February to the end of May) and going to Abel Tasman National Park. For the latter, Motueka It's just a short stop.I am different, in order to stay in the same city with Sophie, I can do any job.Sophie lives in the dormitory arranged by the packaging factory.The dormitory was a bit strange. Although it was located in an orchard, it was not badly built. There was even a pool table in the spacious living room, which could accommodate more than 2 people.Most of them are Asians, mainly Japanese. It is said that the foreman is quite partial to the Japanese because he has been in Japan and has a good impression of the Japanese.When I visited Sophie for the first time, there were two Japanese couples cooking dinner in the kitchen, and there were a few Japanese girls playing ball in the living room. I felt that they were very different from the Japanese colleagues I met at work, cheerful And enthusiastic.

Thomas Brothers Apple, where Sophie works, is full, and this dormitory is not open to the public, so I cannot live under the same roof as her.I stayed in the car for two nights and then moved into a BBH inn with a rather peculiar name called The Laughing Islander.

"Maybe it's not so easy to find a job. It's the end of February now, and many packaging factories are not short of people." I told Sophie.

But I said again: "There must be a way for the car to reach the mountain, and there will be work. Tomorrow morning, you pick me up, and I will visit the packaging factories in your area one by one. Maybe there are still recruits."

Thomas Brothers, where Sophie works, is located in the Riwaka area, where a considerable number of packaging factories in Motueka are concentrated. I thought that this way of finding a job would be more efficient, and second, the place of work was close to Sophie. Maybe we can commute to get off work together in the future.

So, at 6 o'clock the next morning, we set off.When I arrived at the company, there was still a while before going to work.Sophie went to punch the card first, and I said, "You don't have to worry about me. I'll go directly to the office to ask your manager if there are any vacancies, and then I will go to each house to ask."

I was waiting in the staff lounge on the second floor. There was the faint roar of machines downstairs. Shortly after 8 o'clock, a fat man who looked like a bear appeared.

He pointed to the other four people in the room and said, "You, you, you, and you come with me."

I also stood up, and he noticed me and asked, "What are you here for?"

"I would like to ask, is there any job opportunity now? That..."

Before I could finish, he interrupted me: "I'm sorry, I can't help you. We have no shortage of people."

The tone was beyond doubt, I was so disappointed that I even forgot to say thank you, and left in a hurry.

It was the first hour of the day, the air still smelled of dew, the sun had just risen, the skin was a little cool, everything was fresh.I started looking for packing houses along the way.I can't remember how many times I walked on the empty road, but most of those memories are related to the ride in the twilight, and there are lonely figures.

But today's mood is different.

I noticed that some of the leaves above my head had changed colors, red and yellow. A few thin lines between the poles stretched straight forward, across the blue sky and red leaves. the emptiness.All this is so familiar, ah, isn't this the scenery that made me stop when I first arrived in New Zealand?
How helpless and hesitant I was at that time, standing on an unknown street in Auckland, looking at the gradually changing leaves, I was inexplicably relieved.It's been almost a year, have I lived in this strange land for so long?I asked myself, kind of inconceivably, how time flies.What's important is that I'm still alive and well, like a leaf on the land of New Zealand, green and yellow, yellow and green again, growing stronger year after year.I feel like one of them, living an ordinary and serious life.

I spent the whole morning walking through 6 orchards in the Zhiwaka area, and only got a few managers' business cards and a map of the orchards.

At an intersection, I saw a girl, looking helpless.There was a sign next to her leaning against the tree wall, and I walked over to it.

"Where is the orchard on this sign?" I asked her.

"I've just been there, and they're not hiring." She's Japanese, and her accent gives her away.

"So you're looking for a job too? Working holiday?"

"correct."

The girl's name is Natsumi, from Hiroshima, Japan, with two parents and a younger brother.

"Aren't your parents worried about you running so far?"

"Worried, I used to work in a bank in Hiroshima, which was very stable, so my parents were particularly opposed to my coming to New Zealand."

"But you're still here."

"Well. I have to work overtime every day at the bank. I can't leave before 7 o'clock in the evening. It's boring. I like New Zealand. I came here once when I was a child to see the school here. It's a pity that I couldn't study here later."

"Isn't working overtime a traditional virtue in Japan?"

"That's the concept of the older generation, and the younger generation doesn't see it that way."

We chatted while walking in the direction of the city.I propose that we look for a job together.It was already noon when I returned to the city, and before I had time to buy ingredients, Xia Mei said, "Go to my place to eat, I'll make lunch."

"Okay, I'll invite you to come tonight as a guest."

Xia Mei lives in Baixiang BBH, which is related to some packaging factories. As long as she lives in BBH for a week, she can get the opportunity to work in a kiwifruit packaging factory in April, so Xia Mei doesn’t have to worry about working after April.But until then, she is reluctant to sit idle, as she has already spent a lot of money to attend the language school in Christchurch.

There is also an Asian couple in the kitchen, the boy is from Hong Kong and the girl is from Malaysia.The same visa makes us young people living in foreign lands have a natural closeness.They heard that we were looking for a job picking apple bags, and they enthusiastically gave us advice.

"You can try Talley's. They recruit people all the year round. We also looked for a job in a packaging factory for a while, and finally went to Talley's." The boy said.

Tallis is the largest frozen food company in New Zealand, specializing in the production of vegetables, seafood, ice cream, etc.

"It's just an evening shift, starting at 6 p.m.," said the Malaysian girl.

Natsumi and I thanked them and hurried out.Looking for a job in New Zealand, you can't do it without a car, but Xia Mei and I have to walk for an hour to get there in 5 minutes by car.But walking also has the advantage of walking, you can slowly feel the beautiful scenery of New Zealand.In the crisp autumn afternoon, with the cool sea breeze blowing, the mood naturally opened up.We spent the afternoon doing two things, walking and getting rejected.No, there is one more thing - light chatting and mutual encouragement.

"What is there to do in Hiroshima?" I asked Natsumi.

"Our county has a world cultural heritage called Miyajima."

"Oh, what's so special? Is it an island?"

"No, it's a shrine," she continued, tilting her head slightly, "I don't know what's special about it."

In Natsumi, I saw the excellent quality of Japanese women's hard work and hard work. After walking for a whole day, she was not tired of shouting, but always pinned her hopes happily on the next packaging factory.In the end, she said, it was too late, let's come back tomorrow, and it would take an hour to walk back to the city from this place.

In the evening, I cooked several Chinese dishes for Xia Mei. There were meat and vegetables, soup and dry food. It seemed a bit rich for a friend who met for the first time, and Sophie also came.I once told Sophie that almost everyone you meet on the journey will be a passer-by in your life, time is loose, you meet and then leave.You don't have to have high expectations for your future.The more beautiful the relationship looks, the faster it withers.

Sophie seemed to have doubts, and I knew what she was thinking, so she went on to say: "This doesn't mean we should use indifference to protect ourselves, we still have to treat everyone sincerely and help everyone in need, but don't Looking forward to the return."

Paying for utilitarianism is too tiring, and it is easy to be disappointed.

Natsumi said, "If there is a chance, please invite me to make Japanese curry again." I smiled and said, "Okay."We haven't seen each other since.But when I write here, I can still remember the unpretentious smile of this simple Japanese girl, like an unknown roadside flower, and I am naturally beautiful.

After dinner, I was chatting with Sophie in the living room. The boss came in to make rounds. I caught him and asked, "Boss, do you want someone to change rooms?"

"This... theoretically we need two, but it's the low season for tourism, and we already have a German girl helping with cleaning. I need to ask the boss for instructions."

"Aren't you the boss?"

"My wife is."

Sophie and I looked at each other and smiled.

It seems that my luck in finding a job was misplaced, and I quickly changed accommodation in this BBH.Every day from 10:12 am to 2:[-] noon, work for [-] hours.Cleaning the kitchen, wiping the bathroom, washing the toilet, and changing the sheets are nothing more than ordinary housework.Even so, my work rhythm was still very slow in the first two days, and I gradually caught up with the speed of the foreman.In return, I was given free and quiet living in an RV in the backyard.I am temporarily less stressed about finding a job.

There is a beach in the southwest of Motueka. When the tide is low, there are many shellfish to pick up.I'm still unemployed, but that doesn't stop Sophie and I from digging for cockles.Sophie doesn't go to work on weekends, so we checked the low tide time before departure.

The beach after low tide is full of mud, and some cockles are stuck on the surface, and some need to be dug.The two Japanese couples I met in Sophie's dormitory also went together.In the end, we had a bucket full of trophies, and Sophie kept releasing the little cockles back into nature and asking them to grow up.For dinner, we baked and boiled cockles in two flavors.

In fact, not long after I arrived in New Zealand, I had a desire to go to the beach to catch clams. I didn't expect it to come true until the end of the year.I recalled the excitement of making a wish at that time, and now I am fulfilling my wish calmly, time really is a butcher's knife.

I lived in the Laughing Islanders for a week, and the boss suddenly told me that the change of accommodation ends here.I'm a little stunned, how can it be over when it's over?I had no choice but to pack up my things and leave.I don't really believe that some people like the feeling of being on the road all the time. Sometimes wandering is involuntary.The prodigal son may want to go home more than anyone else, but he needs a stronger sense of belonging than ordinary people, so ordinary nostalgia is not enough for him to stay.

Sophie told me that there is a free camp near the beach where you can spend the night, and the stay is limited to one night.I said, "Just go there."

It was very late when we arrived at the beach. There was a small parking lot in the campsite, which was full of RVs. Although the light was dim, we could see that the spray paint patterns on the RVs were bizarre, typical backpacker style.Next to the parking lot is a lawn filled with tents, so I found a relatively secluded corner to settle down.After 10 o'clock in the evening, there were still many sleepless people making noisy noises, and rock music was playing on the stereo of the RV somewhere.I close my eyes and struggle to sleep thinking of all those sleepless parties in the cherry orchard in Cromwell.

When I opened my eyes the next morning, the first thing I saw were the shadows of grass leaves on the outer tent, probably because the sea breeze was blowing slowly, and these shadows danced lightly as if they had life.Get out of the tent, walk up a few wooden steps, and the sky is high and the sea is wide in front of you. It feels like a long tunnel has finally come to an end, and the light of the whole world surrounds you in an instant.I love New Zealand because at the beginning of each day, it always makes me forget the unpleasantness of the previous day.

most boring season job

It has been almost two weeks since I came to Motueka, and the days of living in no fixed place have finally come to an end.The day after Ivan, the manager of Jinwan Orchard, informed me that I might work as a porter, Sophie brought better news that I could go to work for Thomas Brothers.Manager Brian Bear has made an indelible contribution to the friendship between the people on both sides of the strait this time.What is even more grateful is that he also arranged for me and Sophie to live in the packing factory, which is only a 5-minute walk to work.

The hellishly boring apple packaging career kicked off like this.

My job is to put the selected qualified apples into cartons. At one end of the conveyor belt are the fruit workers, and I stand at the other end, stuffing the full trays into the boxes.A little carelessness, either the paper tray was torn, or the apples rolled off the tray.

From the first second when I entered the factory at 8:5 in the morning until I got off work at 3000:[-], I repeated the same action more than [-] times a day. My colleague Alan taught me two English words "monotonous (monotonous)" and "repetitious (repeated)" is an excellent portrayal of life in a packing house.

The only fun is "exploding fruit".

Sometimes the conveyor belt will go crazy and send a large pile of apples to the exit at once. The girls who pick the fruit are not supercilious, so of course they can’t handle it, so the conveyor belt is instantly full of apples. If they cannot be processed in time, these apples will be sent to the airport. To the other end of the conveyor belt, which is the packing point I was guarding, and rolled all over the ground with the momentum of breaking the embankment.This is the most chaotic and lively time of the day, and the only way to break the maddening calm and dullness.

I think each of us has become perverted by this job, and has become afraid that the world will not be chaotic.

At first I worked on the first floor, and occasionally I could brag with some colleagues on the other side of the conveyor belt. After a while, Irene, the supervisor, assigned me to the second floor for some reason.The main job on the second floor is to deliver cartons to the packers on the first floor.After the cartons come out of the machine, they are placed on the conveyor belt, and we deliver the cartons from upstairs to down according to the situation of each packing point on the first floor.There are only three or four people on the entire conveyor belt, and each person is responsible for four or five packing points, so our work does not interfere with each other, and there is almost no chance to talk.In addition, the packaging factory did not see the blue sky, and over time, the whole person became like a moldy apple.

I asked other colleagues in the factory if they thought this job was interesting, and most of the answers were: "This is the most boring job I have had since working holiday in New Zealand."

It was such a boring job, but it taught me a lesson.One day when I went to work, there were a lot of small footsteps behind me. I looked back and saw many children aged seven or eight standing on the stairs and the aisle on the second floor, watching our every move with wide-open curious eyes.

What are they here for?

While I was working, I grabbed a little boy.

"Are you here to visit?"

"Yes."

"But, this job is very boring, what is there to see?"

"We're here to learn how to make money."

After hearing this answer, I was very shocked.I immediately discovered two facts: The first fact is that survival education in foreign countries starts very early, and children know from an early age that they need to earn money to support themselves.When I was this old, I only knew how to stretch out my hands for clothes and open my mouth for food.When I graduated from university, I realized that I was going to make money by myself. I was really caught off guard.The second fact is that bagging apples is a dignified way to make money.In the eyes of these children, this kind of work is very normal, but in many domestic educational concepts, although such a job as a packing factory worker is not to be looked down upon by others, learning is definitely not advocated.In Germany, a senior restaurant waiter earns very high income, but it is impossible in China.However, high income seems to be an important criterion for measuring whether a job is decent or not in our society.A lot of unhappiness is because we can't get what we want, but who gave us so many desires?
cutest grandparents

Most of the colleagues in the packaging factory are old couples and old wives from New Zealand. They are all old, and they are still doing these tiring jobs. "Grandfather Santa" Gore's daughter is one of the founders of New Zealand's largest outdoor brand, and he is fighting so hard in the apple packaging factory.He likes fishing very much. Every weekend, he and "Hunter" Bruce said to me: "Come with us to halibut this weekend."

"tie?"

"Yes, I want to find a moonless night and go into the water two hours after the tide ebbs. At that time, I will hold a seawater searchlight in one hand and a harpoon in the other, and I will stab one accurately!"

"What is a seawater searchlight?"

"Sea searchlights only work in salt water, and they won't work if they're put in plain water."

"It's amazing!"

But Santa Claus and the hunter obviously didn't take the flounder too seriously. Drinking was more important to them than catching fish.

After get off work on Friday, there is free barbecue and drinks in the orchard, which is a happy hour for masturbation in the long and monotonous work. After getting off work at 4:[-], everyone came to the open space outside the packaging factory, where the grills and wine tables were already in place.The ingredients for the barbecue are beef patties and sausages. Everyone can take toast and butter as they please, and then go to Uncle Bob to get the roasted meat. The shiny grill is smoking, and we wrap the meat with toast The intestines are big and special.Beer, red wine, liquor, juice are all available.

Johnny gulped down his beer and said brightly, "This approach is worthy of emulation by domestic enterprises!"

The time of drinking and eating meat always passes very quickly, and Santa Claus and the hunter never give up just because the entertainment in the orchard is over.They returned to their RV base in the Brooklyn Canyons and continued to eat and drink.So I knew pretty quickly that I couldn't count on them to take me fishing.

On Saturday, the factory was closed, and I was spending time at home, when the sound of a car came from outside the house, it was the good pair of Gore and Bruce.

"Hey Fei, sorry, we drank too much yesterday so we couldn't go fishing..."

Hmph, I already knew that.

"But I'll show you the seawater searchlight today. By the way, we're going to catch mussels, clams and Pipi tomorrow. Do you want to come together?"

"Is it far?"

"It's not far, it's in Stephen's Bay, you're here to find Bruce's blue pickup truck."

It rained the next day, and after discussing with Sophie, I felt that Mr. Gao and his wife would probably go to the beach as promised, so we put on our raincoats and went out.The beach was littered with shell fragments, but the beach looked alive.We first went to the reef area where mussels were caught, and the high tide had already begun. The part of the reef above the water was densely packed with black shells, which were juvenile mussels.Helpless, we wandered randomly along the coastline, trying to search for Santa Claus and the hunter in the hazy rain and fog.Sophie spotted them first. The two old men were carrying buckets, and they seemed to have gained a lot.Seeing us, they quickly put the bucket in place and turned back.

There are wide, shallow folds in the beach, and our prey are buried in them.Goyle and Bruce worked hard to dig, and in a short while, Sophie and I's cloth pockets were filled with shells, big and small.

"How about a tour of our mobile camp?"

That's exactly what I mean, and Ian has invited me so many times.

The coolest and warmest home

This is a caravan camp in Brooklyn Canyon, affiliated with the New Zealand Caravan Association.When we arrived, it happened to be lunch time, and the owner decided to treat us with seafood pancakes.Gore's wife, Jenny, is today's chef. We first put the clams we caught in a large pot, added a little water, and steamed for a few minutes on high heat. Seeing that all the clams opened their mouths, Jenny poured flour, beer Mix it with onions to make a batter, add steamed clams, and finally put it in a pan and spread it into pancakes!Served with plum sauce and Worcestershire sauce, it tastes delicious.

After drinking and eating, we visited Ian's RV. Ian asked me to stand in the bedroom, and then pressed a certain button. Something amazing happened. I only heard the rumbling sound in my ears, and the whole The bedroom actually shrinks inward, and the room becomes smaller!At that time, I was stunned like seeing Transformers.

"When we are on the road, we shrink the room in, otherwise the whole road will be blocked, haha." Ian explained.

In addition to being able to deform, the modernization of the interior of the RV has amazed me, who has ever made electronic products.A full set of floor heating system, multi-pipe water system, satellite antenna receiving device.

"How much is this car?" I asked.

"The RV cost 9.5 New Zealand dollars, and the decoration inside cost 2.5 New Zealand dollars, plus 3 New Zealand dollars for the trailer, a total of 15 New Zealand dollars (equivalent to about 75 yuan)."

Ian and his wife Sue come to Motueca this time of year to pack apples, start traveling in June, then work for the irrigation system company until October, go to the cherry orchard in Cromville in December to shoot birds, and the following year Headed north again in February, returning to the Nelson area.

They are on the road year after year, and the scenery outside the window is different every day.They made their homes in every piece of land they loved, just like our nomadic ancestors.

On the shell of the RV, I spotted a red badge.

"This is the logo of the RV Association. The number in the center of the badge indicates the membership number. Counting from the first RV in 1952, there have been more than 4 RVs in New Zealand. There are not many people like us."

"Are there any young people?"

"There seem to be very few young people."

Yes, this kind of life is really too carefree.Some lives can only be used to envy or admire, not to imitate.Everyone has their own way of life.For me, living an ordinary life with the one I love is enough happiness.

Every day when I got home from get off work at 4:5 p.m., I started to wash and cook rice; Sophie washed, chopped, beaten and peeled vegetables, and we talked about the interesting things that happened that day while we were making preparations.Sophie and I seldom worked standing together, and then we went upstairs and downstairs.If there is nothing special to talk about, we will continue to do our hands quietly with each other, and occasionally look at each other and smile, enjoying this silent tacit understanding. At [-]:[-], the rice is cooked, and the kitchen is full of rice fragrance, which smells like home.The hut we live in is really small, with only one bedroom and a kitchen, and the kitchen has only one stove, so every time we have to wait for the meal to be cooked before we can start cooking.Probably because I have worked in a restaurant, at first I thought it was a waste of time to cook like this, and it was intolerable.Then gradually I got used to it.

We don't cook a lot.Usually on the third or fourth day, the dishes from the first day will be repeated.Sometimes, I eat the same meat or vegetarian dishes for several days in a row.For convenience, the next day's lunch is repeated with the previous day's dinner.Sophie often asks me, "What's for dinner tonight."

My answer was: "I'll find out in the evening."

Quite a rascal.Fortunately, she is not picky about what she eats, and I have no pressure to cook.If we don't go to the city to buy food, we will finish dinner at 7:[-].Then go out together and go for a walk in the orchard before dark.

Looking back now, the clean dining table, the yellow light directly above the dining table, the textured cloth curtains opposite the dining table, the assortment of refrigerators and cabinets, became something better than dinner.By the way, there is also the appearance of Sophie eating.

One day, we were having dinner in the room, looking at the second-hand sports car outside the window, I jokingly said to Sophie: "We also have a house and a car, in New Zealand."

It's talking to itself, but our happiness is so real, so real that we believe this is a place to live and work.

What should come is coming, and I ushered in the last day at the Apple packaging plant. On April 2011, 4, my work in New Zealand came to an end.When I hugged and said goodbye to some uncles and aunts, I felt a little sad.Every farewell is like this, because no one knows if there is a chance to see you again, as if goodbye is a happy unknown, and the only solution is always uneasy expectations.After this hug, New Zealand and I are about to see each other again, and I always say with certainty to everyone who asks me, "I will be back".This is not simply because I have left footprints here, but more because of the traces left in my heart by various personnel and events.When I was about to leave, my heart gradually became as clear as the sky in New Zealand.These invisible past events are like white clouds in the sky, I know they have a hometown in my heart; these short-lived fates are enough to gather into a transparent nostalgia, when I stand in the distance and look at them, I can see their appearance .

Sophie once asked me if there was anything I had to do before leaving New Zealand. I was silent for a long time, and then said, "I will take a deep breath of the air here."

Even such a small greed is actually futile.I can't take any more because I've already taken a lot, a lot.

(End of this chapter)