I don’t know how to relay “The Olive Harvest” to my friends and family back home. For anyone who knows me AT ALL, it is pretty obvious that I’m not an outdoorsy kind of girl. I’m just not. Never was. I just want you to keep this in mind when I talk about this.
My job during harvesting season has been to clear and prepare the olive trees so that groups can come in and pick the trees for us. *SIDENOTE: The olives are made into olive oil, which are then sold all over the world. The money is then used for “The Poor Fund”, which aids Palestinian people who come in to the hospital and don’t have the money to pay for medical help.* There are about 800 trees that Brit and I have to go out and clear. Now, I know you’re asking yourself, “What do you mean by ‘clearing’ Stephanie?” Well, here is where the pain comes in.
Brit and I go out with clippers and mini saws and clear out all weeds, unwanted plants, and suckers (which are new braches that sprout near the base of the tree and use up a lot of water and sun, but don’t produce any olives). Alright, this doesn’t sound so bad right? Wrong. Just imagine the kind of weeds that can possibly last and thrive in the desert. These weeds have thorns like you wouldn’t imagine!! My arms and legs look like I either am suffering from millions of paper cuts or that a cat decided to use my limbs as a scratching post (and this is with pants and long shirts on). Alas, there is also the MULTITUDE of blisters that have formed and popped on my hands. On my first night after we started, I couldn’t open a door handle or squeeze a lotion bottle. My hands look like they have leprosy.
Then there’s Mother Nature. The olive grove is planted in what I can only describe as dust. It’s not sand and it’s not dirt. It looks and feels a lot like a combination of dust and ash. This, in turn, attacks the body and laughs hysterically. By the end of the day, we are COVERED in dirt (imagine that Peanuts character)! It is pretty hilarious when we come in and the only part of our bodies that aren’t almost black is where our sunglasses were. We just have a funny imprint of where our glasses used to be. It gets EVERYWHERE! When I blow my nose, I blow out dirt. After a shower, when I’m cleaning my ears, dirt. I go to the bathroom and pee dirt. It’s like glitter (don’t pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about). I’m fairly certain when I get home, I’ll still be finding dirt 6 months from now.
The second punishment that Mother Nature has decided to inflict on us, is the weather. It’s supposed to be Fall here. It’s supposed to be cool enough to wear long sleeve shirts and still be cold. It almost snowed last year at this time. And yet… It has been AT LEAST 100 degrees the last four days. It was 114 degrees in the sun yesterday. Let me repeat that for you…one hundred and fourteen degrees!! Working out in this heat is ridiculous!!
OK. Now here’s the part where I stop complaining and count my lucky stars (although I would almost kill for a little AC).
I’m seriously helping a lot of VERY needy people. This is really cool and I’m honored that I can do anything to help the people who need it the most. The blisters, dirt, heat, unexpected bugs, olive branches smacking me in the face, dehydration…it’s all worth it.
There are also some really cool people who donate their own time to come and volunteer to pick our olives. Today, the US Consulate came out in droves (on their day off) to spend their whole morning and afternoon-in the heat and dirt-to pick olives for us. They were some of the coolest people and they didn’t complain once. They then broke out this amazing BBQ/picnic (actually invited us to join) and we all got to have amazing food from home (including some seriously awesome Smores) and talk about living in Jerusalem!! Who does that?!?! Who gets to laugh, talk, and hang out with the coolest people who just happen to be the US Consulate?!?!
As much as I hate the outdoors and I can’t wait to be home in a library reading and researching---I am having the time of my life out here! I’m doing things that I NEVER thought I would be doing! I don’t know what I did right, but I am one seriously lucky chick!
