3-5-2012

Today was the first working day we had, so there were bound to be some mishaps.  We woke up at around 9 and walked to the house to grab a quick bite and get right to work in the greenhouses.  We walked to the house and were a little lost as to what to eat for breakfast.  We weren't sure what a traditional Italian breakfast was, so we relied on watching for what other people were eating.  Just our luck no one was really at the table.  We decided that some fruit would do us justice so we grabbed ourselves two blood red oranges, and went to town.  After breakfast we met the greenhouse specialist Fauno ( Maybe? I really have no clue what his name was ).  He showed us around the greenhouses and asked us what our previous experience had been.  I, with a little smirk, told him that I had been on two previous farms, one where I was solely working in a greenhouse.  He didn't take much note of what I said, because he started teaching me how to walk around plants in a greenhouse....uhhh yea, anyone/ everyone knows how to walk on the paths Fauno.  After he showed us how to walk on paths he continued to show us what weeds were, and then show us the tools.  A rake...A shovel...A hoe.  This is square one stuff Fauns, even unexperienced farm workers know this garbage.  Once he showed us all around the greenhouses, he took us to some fields with different vegetables on them.  After the grand tour he told us what we would be doing for the morning portion until lunch.  On the greenhouses here they have full sides of the house that can be propped up  with a metal rod.  The only problem is that when you try to close the doors after being propped up, dirt accumulates where  where the doors need to be so it will stay open a few inches.  Our job was to shovel all of the dirt out of the way for the doors to close.  Easy enough.  So we started on our first door where Fauns was watching us with a weary eye.  We were working fast and a little inefficiently.  After about 10 minutes of shoveling we asked if he thought it was okay to close.  He said, try it and if it doesn't work try again.  So Jason and I unpropped the metal rods and brought the door down.  The door was a still a little far from the sides of the greenhouse.  So we propped up the door again and shoveled some more dirt, and leveled it a bit.  The next try it shut perfectly.  We had about 4 more doors to shovel, so we went to the next side.  We cleared the dirt, and the door closed first try this time.  The next door we went to, Fauns wasn't anywhere in sight.  We walked into the next greenhouse and we found one of the doors' metal rods wasn't connected to the door, so it would be near impossible to prop it up.  With a chip on my shoulder I told him we could still prop the door up.  I propped my side up and Jason ( who was on the side without the metal rod ) slowly followed behind, and when the door was at a proppable position I ran in and put the disconnected metal rod in place to hold the door up.  It worked fine for the time being, and we even managed to clear all the dirt out.  So then it was time to drop the door down to close it.  Jason was a little hesitant to bring the door down fast, but I went full force.  When the doors come down from being propped up they drop fast.  And not only that, but the door is heavy as well.  So My side of the door went down easy, but Jason on the other hand was having some problems.  As he brought his side down, I saw him holding the weight of the door with hands.  The next instant Jason was standing where the door should have been.  In a few words he had successfully poked a portion of the door out on the greenhouse.  Oh boy.  He looked back at me, and I could tell how bad he already felt.  I was in pure awe of what happened, and I had never heard or seen anything like this happen before.  Jason and I stood there looking at the damage, and then it was time for Jason to go tell Fauns what happened.   Fauns came out with a very welcoming tone telling Jason it was ok what happened, and mistakes are bound to happen.  Good attitude.  But then when he looked loser he began to tell how hard of a job this was going to be.  I tried to offer some helpful advice, because on previous farms my farm owners were always open to trying out fresh ideas.  Not Fauns.  Everything I said he shut down.  He told us to try and fix it.  Do the best you can, he said.  After he told us this he walked back into the house.  Without any sort of direction Jason and I started taking apart more of the door to fit back in what we had knocked out.  It will be too hard to explain what we went through trying to put this door back, but just know that it was the most thought and strength I have put towards any project since my last farm, and on top of all this it was cold and raining.  In the end Fauns came back an told us to leave what we had, because he would be coming back tomorrow and we could finish it then.  We both felt extremely bad.  After this we went back and did two other doors, being extremely cautious.  After the last doors we fixed we went in for lunch.  We had an amazing meat pasta, and some more vegetables, and some sort of sausage inside of a bell pepper.  Delicious.  After lunch the Ottario told us we had to go tell the  Damanhur doctor if we had any severe ilness history.  We thought this was a little strange, but we went along with it because we had to.  They just want to make sure that no one has any serious illness when living in this lose of quarters.  At 3 PM she drove us to the little town and we went inside a Damanhur building.  We went downstairs and talked to a doctor about nothing for 5 minutes.  I told her I had a kidney stone a while back, but I am on meds for them now, and Jason said he was a healthy boy.  Then that was it.  We were off the chain.  We hung around this Damanhur builiding, going into some small art exhibit, which was a little different.  I am still learning about this way of life, but one thing is for sure, that I never have felt pressured or anything while at the house, which means everything is fine Mom.  After we got home we ended up playing basketball with the youngest son and an older girl staying at the house solely to learn about Damanhur.  Let me tell you that since I played basketball in elementary school my skills have only sky rocketed.  Goodness, I was shooting baby jumpers, that even Kobe would be proud of.  Yea I was playing against a child and a girl who had never played, but thats besides the point.  After getting to involved in basketball, the whole house basically went to a meditation class.  So from then on the night was prety quiet, Jason and I ate inner with the few that were still there, and then played guitar a little until it was time to go to bed.  Unfortunately, for us it was raining on our walk back at night.  Otherwise everything is great.  Cheerio.