Log 37: Deal or No Deal?
Anastasia has been promoted to Farm Operations Manager! It's something she really wanted (which is good, because it's definitely not a gig I want), and she'll be paid, so I'm really happy for her. I now feel confident that she'll be just fine if Christine and I end up leaving Liberty Vista.
So, about that. Christine and I have been talking, and put together a tentative plan. It feels like we’ve become a bit of a package deal - if one of us goes, the other is coming with. I refer to Christine as my “maui mother.” Despite my protests, she calls me “Princeton.”
This morning, we pitched an idea to Erica (the owner) that would ensure our staying in the farm until March 7th. Basically, we would ask for Erica to give us access to a rental car, and in exchange we would continue to work at the honey stand, as well as try to turn the camp around and get it back in fighting shape. Personally, I think she'd be crazy to turn us down - after all, without us, you no longer have a single volunteer.
If she turns us down, Christine will secure a rental car herself, and she and I will depart soon, and stay a night at a hotel to figure out our options. I'm looking at either trying to secure a job in Paia and live in a nearby hostel, or find another WWOOFing location to spend the rest of my stay at.
Speaking of hostels, I am in Paia today for my day off, so I can enjoy both cell service and the beach. For breakfast, I went to a small cafe. As I was waiting for my bagel, I heard someone call out, "Hey! Aren't you..." I turned around to see a smiling black man sitting in a booth. He looked so familiar. But who would be familiar to me here? I don't know anybody! Then it hit me. "You were at the hostel!" I exclaimed. During my time at the hostel on Oahu, I had seen him just once, on my way up to my dorm. We smiled and exchanged hellos, and continued on with our days. What are the odds of him turning up in Paia in the same cafe as me?!
Highlight: Yesterday, while I was working the PM shift at the honey stand, a man and his daughter turned up just before closing time. While the daughter headed to the snack shack where Christine was working, her father came over to browse through the honeys. I gave him my usual spiel about the bees that made each honey, my personal favorites, and the deals of the day - but it seemed as though he didn’t really understand much of what I was saying. He just sort of smiled, pointed, and nodded to communicate with me. Then, I just barely heard him mutter something familiar under his breath. Chinese.
“你是中国人吗？我可以跟你说中文。” Are you Chinese? I can speak in Chinese with you.
The man's head snapped up from the bottle of honey he was examining. He looked a little shocked, but there was a huge smile on his face.
“哇塞，你真的会说中文！你是在哪里学习怎么说汉语？” Wow, you really can speak Chinese! Where did you learn?
As rusty as my Chinese is thanks to this year off school, I told him I’d learned at school, and we're chatted for a bit, during which time the man’s daughter came over too, equally surprised to hear her father and I conversing in Mandarin. Before the two of them left, we took some pictures together at the man’s request. He kept smiling the whole time. And so did I.
