hello old friend

I have done it before and I will do it again. And again and again.
You guessed it: weeding!
When all else fails in the midst of my feeling less than settled, it turns out weeding can offer me some solace. Luckily there is plenty of it to do around here and it seems like everyone else has had their fill.
My first morning, I was introduced to a horrible motorized device to be potentially used for the purposes of efficient weeding. You simply start the disturbingly loud engine, put on some protective headphones, lay on it face down, and control all movement with you feet. Err... no thanks?! Apparently this is meant to speed things along and allows you to weed two handed minus back pain. The racket of the motor alone was enough to turn me off completely, nevermind the rest of it. I politely declined and suggested I tackle it the old fashioned way. This idea seemed to be fine enough for the farmers and I have been on my hands and knees with the carrots and onions since... happily and quietly, left to my thoughts, trying to get as comfortable as I can in this foreign land.
I have also since employed a clever little plastic weeding tool which has turned out to be quite useful and appreciated in this mind bogglingly dry and rocky soil. So dry, in fact, that my nail beds are all cracking and callouses looking gnarlier than ever. But, as with everything here at the moment, I will hopefully adjust in due time.