Just call me Nina. Or Muchacha. Chica comes up pretty often too.

If you had told me I’d get a college degree and end up in a field picking berries with Mexicans, I can’t honestly tell you how I’d react.

Because that’s absurd.

Except its true.

And even more surprising? I’m loving it. :o)

I’m doing quality control on a berry farm for the summer. It’s decent pay, 10-14 hours a day. Decent for a job. And it’s A job, which is hard to find these days.

But I’m learning Spanish. Slowly, painfully, but I realized I really enjoy learning other languages, and I’m developing an ear for it. Wanna learn some Korean too.

And I get to spend all day out in the sun and warm summer breezes. It smells like dirt, sun, and fruit. On the way to work yesterday, I saw an enormous rainbow spanning the valley– can life be more simple and beautiful than that?

I like that I can see concrete results. I see the flats being filled, I see the truck filling with flats, and I punch the pickers’ tickets, seeing each ticket fill as the day goes on.

I absolutely adore learning. And in 3 days, I’ve learned so much about berries, quality control, picking, packing, Spanish, people, and farm organization. I’ve watched my boss on the phone and admired how she handles delicate situations with customers. Whether I’m in the field, on the truck, packing berries, or in the office, I’m constantly learning new stuff, and it’s my crack. I can’t get enough!

I also learned that I love working across a language barrier. We have Mexicans, Koreans, and even got some Ukranians yesterday. My experience in Japan gave me the tools, patience and understanding to teach even when we don’t speak the same language. And while teaching is rewarding, somehow, this kind is even more so.

Oddly enough, I feel like I’m finally using my degree! In the most unlikely of places too. While I am still learning (therefore some of the other guys have to explain and do things for me ’til I get it), I’m essentially, or soon will be, in charge of 50-100 people, depending on the hour and day. I say what fruit passes, I say whether their tickets get punched (the tickets record how much they picked, and it’s how they get paid), and I help teach them what to do (after I learn it myself, of course).  Hello management! And I love being in charge, I love having people look up to me, I love being asked questions and knowing the answers.

And I’m getting a tan! Woohoo! It’s only three days in and I’m comfortably pinkish beige now, so today I’m gonna pick up a wide-wrimmed hat and more spf 50, but I gotta admit, it feels good not to have translucent skin anymore. Well, fine, it IS a farmer’s tan, so it has it’s limitations.

The sun is actually clearing up my skin too, which I can’t emphasize enough how cool that is. I hate looking 13 when I’m 25. Apparently some of the Mexicans think I look 20, so that’s a happy medium I can live with.

It’s weird how many odd, “lowly” jobs I’ve gotten this year. I feel like it’s God’s way of teaching me the hard way to appreciate laborers, to value them as human beings. He’s giving me experience with the things and people I always believed were beneath me (some consciously, some subconsciously), and its so humbling. Shatters my pride, explodes my heart. And surprisingly, I feel like I’m learning more skills than I would in a boring 9-5 office environment.  They’re usually monotonous and drama-driven. However, this past year has been challenging, personal, real, rich, sometimes painful, but each day is so full of lessons, faith, and growth that I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And it has me excited and a bit apprehensive of my future. With the crazy and varied “training program” God has me on . . . exactly what is he preparing me for?