Day 2-3: Slowly getting used to the farm life~

View from my bedroom

During these two days, I helped pick tree grapes, yang mei guo and vegetables, dry luo bo (I still haven't figured out what it is - radish? turnip?), mix and pack 360 bags of the six flavored melon seeds. It was tiring and my back hurt afterwards. T.T 

Just 2-3 days of work for P100k+ worth of selling items

From time to time, customers would also come in to look around the farm, pick fruits or buy tea and other products. They usually sit down and have tea with Auntie and Uncle. They sometimes ask me to join them, so I've tasted at least 7 different kinds of tea (my favorites so far are Gao Shan Tea which has no bitter taste at all and Dong Fang Mei Ren Tea which is super fragrant~!) and listen to endless gossip. I guess gossiping is something that's present in all of the cultures I've been exposed to. (If you know a place where gossiping is not common, please let me know!)

There are still some things I haven't gotten used to - like how they count the years, and how Auntie tells some people that I'm her daughter (Is it a joke that I'm not getting?). Auntie keeps telling me to thank my mother when I go home, that Uncle eats so much less ever since "this pretty girl came", and gives me advice about married life (whut?). She's also curious about  how we do everything in the Philippines, and my non-existent love life. She thinks I'm a good girl for never having a boyfriend at this age when some girls get pregnant during high school. Marcos seems to be popular here as there were already two people who have told me how it's his fault that our country has become like this.

I've given up trying to keep track of what I've eaten because they keep feeding me - such as their versions of hopia and taho to this engagement cake. For some reason, I had imagined that they would eat mostly vegetables, so I brought things to snack on just in case I would get hungry... but I haven't touched them since I came. Maybe I should just set up a sari sari store to sell them. I therefore officially give up on my plan to lose weight here... even plain rice is yummy!

And the reason for this combined post is because yesterday was too tiring and I went to watch Auntie's dance class at night (which she also refers to as singing class - are the words interchangeable in Chinese or is she just shy to tell people?) Also, I rode a motorcycle for the first time, on a mountain, in my pajamas! They were shocked to find out that I've never tried it at age 22. (What will they say when they find out that I don't know how to light a match?)

Tonight, I'll be attending a village meeting as Auntie's proxy because she's going dancing again. I wonder if I'll even understand anything, but I wouldn't know until I go right?