Gday Cak! Gday Princess! J I hope this blog finds you well and rested b/c I am testing the limit on blog space with this write up and I promise I left some stuff out …..anyway welcome to Gretchen’s Agfest Adventure----
AgFest is something that not only the rural youth club looks forward to but also the state of Tasmania. It is said to be the most fun and tiresome week for the Rural Youth club and at times a bit of a shock for the exchanges. It is a week that the members spend numerous weekends not only physically preparing for but mentally as well. Vacation days from work are saved throughout the year so that members, volunteers, and tourists can attend. AgFest was the first thing the coordinator told me about when I found out I was going to Tasmania back in December-It was finally here.
AgFest is something that not only the rural youth club looks forward to but also the state of Tasmania. It is said to be the most fun and tiresome week for the Rural Youth club and at times a bit of a shock for the exchanges. It is a week that the members spend numerous weekends not only physically preparing for but mentally as well. Vacation days from work are saved throughout the year so that members, volunteers, and tourists can attend. AgFest was the first thing the coordinator told me about when I found out I was going to Tasmania back in December-It was finally here.
Twenty-nine years ago the Rural Youth program began running what they call AgFest because the government had stopped their funding and without some fundraising they would cease to exist. In the beginning about 9,000 people visited over a two-day span. Today around 60,000-80,000 visit over three days- Thursday, Friday, Saturday and they reckon at some point AgFest will run through Sunday as well.
Many weekends are spent throughout the year getting things ready through working bees. With AgFest drawing near comes the arrival of the AgFest operations managers two weeks before and then the rural youth had 114 volunteers that stayed to anywhere from 1-10 days to help as well. In addition to the volunteers, about twenty people for security also arrive a week before, running a day and night shift to watch the grounds/gates/ and equipment that venues have set up throughout the week. The exhibitors with large equipment spreads can arrive over the weekend but most are invited on Monday and expected to have things removed and cleaned up by the Tuesday after Agfest is complete. During the actual three days of AgFest the gates open at 6:30 for exhibitors to get into the grounds and open things up but they must stop running vehicles at 9. The gates are open for patrons from 8-5 and again the exhibitors can run vehicles from 4:30 and must be off grounds at 6pm. There were around 700 exhibits consisting of different kinds of vehicles, Tassie agricultural equipment, several food caravans, a building called “Utaste” filled with gourmet foods and beverages, three craft buildings, a stage for modeling the clothing being sold, a 4-wheel drive track, equine center, a paddock showing off how sheep dogs work, a dairy pavilion, hunting equipment, helicopter rides, the local cell phone provider, a central arena with live music and other forms of entertainment, etc.
On arrival volunteers are given drink tickets, a lanyard with an id, a hat, our room key, and a few other safety bits in a bag on arrival. A Hi-vi (high visibility) vest was also given to us that we were required to wear if we were ever on-site day or night. Eating wise breakfast was on your own- toast or what not, for lunch we were given ten dollar vouchers, and dinner was served at 6:30 every evening in the function center on-site. Dinner was always entertaining with stories from the day, fine sessions, announcements, and meetings to keep things running smoothly. After dinner we all hung out in a lounge room called the crib room and if we were hungry we were given snacks well into the night there as well. Needless to say, we never went hungry. Chocolate bars and drinks were frequently delivered during the day and dinner was always a three course meal with soup and rolls, an entrée, and dessert. I think I gained two kilos just in the one week. ANYWAY, Now that I have given a bit of background to start my story, I will go back to the beginning of a week never to forget.
Sunday evening Lisa came to pick me up at Heidi and Perry’s and we headed off to AgFest for my 8 day stay. Immediately the fun began. The fog was a bit thick and Lisa had been having trouble with her Land rover. When we stopped at a market quick we noticed it was smoking and had a bit of a burning smell to it. After phoning her husband Matt, who was already at Quercus (ag fest site), he assured us we were fine and we continued to drive. Every time we came to a stop and had to turn or what not, we watched the smoke roll out from under the hood. This time was Lisa who assured me we wouldn’t blow up because it her ute ran off of diesel not gas. It was after 9pm the gates were closed so we phoned someone to call security to open the gates for us. Down the road came three vehicles, all with yellow caution lights rotating on top of them. Lisa informed me that apparently we had a few escorts (Marty & Jade) meeting us at the gate as well as the security. I jumped in with Jade where I discovered his fireman equipment in the back seat and had a bit of a laugh playing with it thinking of how I could scare everyone as the Kansas exchange and arrive with a bunch of fire equipment on. I figured everyone that I had met so far already knew how random I was so I had better not to try to scare anyone else………
Once I emptied my things from Lisa’s vehicle and made my bed I met the other exchange student Ruth from Northern Ireland…she had just arrived a few days before and was thrown in to the excitement of AgFest. J I was excited to have someone else to share my adventure with and since I had been around for awhile I was able to help her out a little bit. I then walked into the crib room for a fun night ahead. One of the volunteers (Warner) that I met made a joke because of my 6ft build that I was the Chinese swim coach…..I was no longer Gretchen from America. All in that one night I went from being the Chinese swim coach, to stretchy, to Shrek, to Princess Fiona- and a few of those names stuck the rest of the week or used in variation such as grouchy, grouchin, stretchin. Stretchy has stuck past AgFest …I now have my first official nickname since middle school when I was termed Baby Monster by my sister’s friends from a neighboring town.
DAY 1:
Monday morning I woke up to someone fixing my door using a rattle gun (cordless drill). I am pretty sure they were doing it on purpose over and over just to get me out of bed. I put on my sweatpants and sweatshirt ready to battle the day and was then told that I needed to change because I looked homeless…Well that wasn’t the look I was going for so I put on some jeans, grabbed some breakfast, and was headed back to my room to grab things for the day only to realize that I couldn’t get my key into my door. So now..my handle had came off, the door didn’t close properly, and now the key hole was covered. Once again my door was fixed and finally I was ready to begin the day. One of the operation managers took me around site to show me everything and answer any questions I had. The exec committee of ag fest have “ag fest” phones and radios so in the mean time I think every five minutes he was called to do something and we ran around site most of the day answering exhibitors questions or sorting out a problem here and there. Mid morning I while waiting on the guys to answer a few questions, I piled up Jade’s fireman equipment and rested my eyes J ……my little snooze was rudely interrupted by Prewer opening up the door and me nearly falling out. Taught me not to fall asleep on the job!
At some time in the morning I had apparently lost my key to my room and at lunch it was returned but of course not without being teased by my friend Perry & Will. I didn’t know whether to be glad that those two had found my key or nervous with what they did to my room before they gave it back to me.
After lunch we finally did something I could help with and Owen, Ruth, Jade & I built a fence and did a few other odds n ends jobs and that evening I jumped in with some other members to fix some fence in one of the car parks. Due to a late night the night before, I was keen for a quick dinner, shower, and relatively early night to bed. I learned quickly that even when you plan for an early night, it never really works out that way. I went to bed around twelve but because I heard everyone else still up at 1 am and couldn’t go back to sleep I got back up again and headed to the crib room until I was tired and ready to go back to sleep.
DAY 2:
Tuesday was relatively similar to Monday but I did a bit more helping than riding around. Will and Perry taught me how to weld. Well kinda. They basically gave me a helmet and a brief lesson and said here ya go – play with it. Perry failed to mention that you are supposed to hold the tool closer to the metal…I was trying to weld from the end of the burnt residue hanging off the end of the tool and it was making quite the display of sparks J After welding we spent some time delivering and spreading wood chips, shifted a power point that was misplaced, and spread wood chips at the craft shack before and after tea. Once I was done spreading wood chips a few of the guys were still doing a few jobs on-site. I was running around with them when we managed to get a flat tire on one of the trucks that was given to rural youth as a utility vehicle to get things ready and also as advertisement on-site. At first we thought we were without a jack but once it was found we couldn’t figure out where to jack it up. It seemed much easier to get a fork lift so we took that route. J Finally we headed back for a normal evening in the crib room.
DAY 3:
Because I was not as productive as I should have been the first two days, I was ready to go flat out Wednesday being it was the day before AgFest and we had loads of work to do. There was a board full of jobs in the personnel office to be done and basically you walked in, was given a job, finished it, and moved on down the list. I walked in Wednesday morning and was asked if I wanted to weed whip the car park…specifically thistles. Gotta love them. J (By the way in Ireland it is called strimming and in Australia it is called brush cutting) I was over excited to do some physical work so I jumped on the job. Late morning I ran out of fuel and called someone to come fill me up and five minutes after they left I ran out of string. I was too embarrassed to call them back so I walked up to the shed to fix it and decided to call a lunch break. After lunch I went to cut around the toilet blocks….I had a man come up and tell me “You were the one making all of the noise while I was trying to go to the bathroom!” …Awkward. J He then managed to have a fifteen minute chat with me about the importance of ear plugs because at a young age he was deaf from not taking proper caution to loud noises. Haha. After I finished weed whipping, I had to do my daily tour around the site because it’s just what I do and then just as I was headed to craft to do some work I was hollered at to get in a van. As I got into the van I realized the other exchanges were in there as well. I was a little bit hesitant…I thought we were going to an exchange initiation by the looks of the 15 passenger van with limited windows but it just turned out that an agfest alumni “Boof” was head of the duty and I had not met him, he was harmless (well kinda ;)) and we were really going to lay rubber matting over the power cords to save patrons like myself who are clumsy and would trip. I learned the hard way not to grab the biggest rolls of matting to save trips because if the tape comes undone that holds them in a tight ball before you get to the cord, you are out of luck!
We had a good dinner and then split up again for jobs to finish things up before the next morning- the big opening day. Our first duty: put out bollards to keep incoming traffic from switching lanes. Ready, set, go…. I happened to be working with a very entertaining group (Brad, Boof, Carly, Etc) that kept the night extremely entertaining even if it was freezing and we were all exhausted. I put all my warm clothes back on from being inside for tea when I noticed that someone had decided to put pads of butter inside of my gloves at dinner. J glorious. Anyway, in fits of laughed from jokes and comments being made around us a few of us struggled and couldn’t get the bollards onto the trailer (Timmy, Ruth, & i) and partially because of height differences; however, all-in-all it was a quick job and a job well done. We then moved on to put 400 trash cans out. I wanted to make things more exciting so I climbed into the middle of the trailer full of trash cans for a ride to the place we were to set them out …..I was then given the named “grouchy” for Oscar the grouch. Good thing I didn’t have to hide from security as they came around because I couldn’t get my 6ft frame to squat into the middle and get the lid shut. I was out safe and sound when Boof and Brad had the grand idea to put me back into the trashcan and wheel me around at high speeds --- I just closed my eyes and prayed that they didn’t drop me. J In the meantime Brad and Boof also taught us all what the term “dropping your guts” means – enough that I was nearly dead at midnight. It had been awhile since I had worked ALLLL day long and it showed. For once I went back to the living quarters and went straight to my room and fell on my bed without even thinking of going to the crib room.
Day 4: First day of AgFest
After lunch we finally did something I could help with and Owen, Ruth, Jade & I built a fence and did a few other odds n ends jobs and that evening I jumped in with some other members to fix some fence in one of the car parks. Due to a late night the night before, I was keen for a quick dinner, shower, and relatively early night to bed. I learned quickly that even when you plan for an early night, it never really works out that way. I went to bed around twelve but because I heard everyone else still up at 1 am and couldn’t go back to sleep I got back up again and headed to the crib room until I was tired and ready to go back to sleep.
DAY 2:
Tuesday was relatively similar to Monday but I did a bit more helping than riding around. Will and Perry taught me how to weld. Well kinda. They basically gave me a helmet and a brief lesson and said here ya go – play with it. Perry failed to mention that you are supposed to hold the tool closer to the metal…I was trying to weld from the end of the burnt residue hanging off the end of the tool and it was making quite the display of sparks J After welding we spent some time delivering and spreading wood chips, shifted a power point that was misplaced, and spread wood chips at the craft shack before and after tea. Once I was done spreading wood chips a few of the guys were still doing a few jobs on-site. I was running around with them when we managed to get a flat tire on one of the trucks that was given to rural youth as a utility vehicle to get things ready and also as advertisement on-site. At first we thought we were without a jack but once it was found we couldn’t figure out where to jack it up. It seemed much easier to get a fork lift so we took that route. J Finally we headed back for a normal evening in the crib room.
DAY 3:
Because I was not as productive as I should have been the first two days, I was ready to go flat out Wednesday being it was the day before AgFest and we had loads of work to do. There was a board full of jobs in the personnel office to be done and basically you walked in, was given a job, finished it, and moved on down the list. I walked in Wednesday morning and was asked if I wanted to weed whip the car park…specifically thistles. Gotta love them. J (By the way in Ireland it is called strimming and in Australia it is called brush cutting) I was over excited to do some physical work so I jumped on the job. Late morning I ran out of fuel and called someone to come fill me up and five minutes after they left I ran out of string. I was too embarrassed to call them back so I walked up to the shed to fix it and decided to call a lunch break. After lunch I went to cut around the toilet blocks….I had a man come up and tell me “You were the one making all of the noise while I was trying to go to the bathroom!” …Awkward. J He then managed to have a fifteen minute chat with me about the importance of ear plugs because at a young age he was deaf from not taking proper caution to loud noises. Haha. After I finished weed whipping, I had to do my daily tour around the site because it’s just what I do and then just as I was headed to craft to do some work I was hollered at to get in a van. As I got into the van I realized the other exchanges were in there as well. I was a little bit hesitant…I thought we were going to an exchange initiation by the looks of the 15 passenger van with limited windows but it just turned out that an agfest alumni “Boof” was head of the duty and I had not met him, he was harmless (well kinda ;)) and we were really going to lay rubber matting over the power cords to save patrons like myself who are clumsy and would trip. I learned the hard way not to grab the biggest rolls of matting to save trips because if the tape comes undone that holds them in a tight ball before you get to the cord, you are out of luck!
We had a good dinner and then split up again for jobs to finish things up before the next morning- the big opening day. Our first duty: put out bollards to keep incoming traffic from switching lanes. Ready, set, go…. I happened to be working with a very entertaining group (Brad, Boof, Carly, Etc) that kept the night extremely entertaining even if it was freezing and we were all exhausted. I put all my warm clothes back on from being inside for tea when I noticed that someone had decided to put pads of butter inside of my gloves at dinner. J glorious. Anyway, in fits of laughed from jokes and comments being made around us a few of us struggled and couldn’t get the bollards onto the trailer (Timmy, Ruth, & i) and partially because of height differences; however, all-in-all it was a quick job and a job well done. We then moved on to put 400 trash cans out. I wanted to make things more exciting so I climbed into the middle of the trailer full of trash cans for a ride to the place we were to set them out …..I was then given the named “grouchy” for Oscar the grouch. Good thing I didn’t have to hide from security as they came around because I couldn’t get my 6ft frame to squat into the middle and get the lid shut. I was out safe and sound when Boof and Brad had the grand idea to put me back into the trashcan and wheel me around at high speeds --- I just closed my eyes and prayed that they didn’t drop me. J In the meantime Brad and Boof also taught us all what the term “dropping your guts” means – enough that I was nearly dead at midnight. It had been awhile since I had worked ALLLL day long and it showed. For once I went back to the living quarters and went straight to my room and fell on my bed without even thinking of going to the crib room.
Day 4: First day of AgFest
At 5:30 AM I heard the terrible alarm everyone talks about over the loud speaker. It went off after a few minutes and I got comfy again in bed and went back to sleep. After all, the 5:30 alarm was for the people working in car park. I didn’t have to be up to ticket box until 7:15. WRONG. 5:35 alarm went off again. 5:45 again. I wanted to hit my head against the wall several times. I used to think it was obnoxious when my mom stood at the bottom of the stairs and yelled up to us to wake up for school and then sang to us in her overly cheery tone. This gave me a change of heart. I rolled out of bed earlier than I needed to, showered, ate breakfast, and headed to the front gates to work the ticket box for the first day of AgFest. Two of us were in each box- 6 people total. We were locked in so we had to stay put but we were delivered breakfast, snacks, and drinks. I was a little bit overwhelmed at first given that I had never worked a cash register and I was using Aussie money and the lines were HUGE but after a bit I really caught the hang of it. We were even asked to give back as much change as possible and I had no problem giving people large amounts of coin money but boy did I get some looks. J Also, at times I think people recounted their money after listening to my accent, knew I was foreign, and were nervous that I messed up. A few people just flat out told me that they knew I wasn’t local. To keep me entertained Boof gave me a frequent phone call from the next ticket box over.
After walking around with Ned & Bryce for lunch and a few rubber band wars, I headed over to the Efpos tent. I took credit/debit cards to dispense cash or buy tickets. For the most part I was successful but I had a few mishaps. I managed to misunderstand people because of their accent and almost pull out 400 dollars instead of 40….at one time I charged a man $50 dollars instead of $45….and I quickly had an opening without anyone at the window, jammed a piece of snickers in my mouth just in time for someone to come to the window. I quickly shoved it on the roof of my mouth and Alisha laughed the whole time because not only did I have an accent but I had a lisp as well.
I finished a bit early and was given the go ahead to walk around for a bit- I had to check out the fashion parade where rural youth members were modeling the clothing for sale at AgFest. Apparently that was going to be one of my jobs at one point and I am glad they changed their mind. Keeping a straight face and modeling is not in my dictionary. J Once everyone cleared out for the evening we had an Opening ceremony for AgFest. The exhibitors were all invited and awards were presented for best craft site, best overall site, best safety site, etc. Rachel Treasure, a popular author of Australia who happens to be from Tasmania, gave an opening speech and AgFest coordinator and co-coordinators talked with us too.
Following tea time I snuck away before everyone else to get some laundry done. I put my clothes in, dumped soap all over them, and realized that the washer was broken. Yeah for me. J All of my jeans were now covered in soap – Luckily Alisha saved me- as she seems to always do and took my and the other exchanges clothes to finish washing them so we had things to wear the following day.
That evening I went to put some signs up on site that had been forgotten and or misplaced. I am all about having fun and was feeling rested from going to bed what is called early at Agfest (12 am) so I was a bit wired. In that time I managed to pretend I was skiing, nearly hurt myself with the two fence poles, had a dance party outside to the ipod music while we were putting up the signs, and demonstrated the table top star jump. The fun did not stop there. A few of us got into some good conversation and lost track of time (it has happened a lot since I have been gone…sometimes I don’t even know what day it is). I even thoughtfully called my Mom at 3 am my time – About noon at home—to see how she was and put her on speaker phone to meet everyone else. By the end of the evening, as you all back home know how I am, I was delirious and laughing fits were leaving me breathless. At 4 am we called it a night.
Day 5:
Friday I got to sleep in a bit longer because I was in the feature tent. Well kinda sleep. The walls are so thin in our dorm that if you roll over and bump the wall in your bunk it echo’s about three rooms down. But after the rush was over I did fall asleep til about 7:30. J Because I was in the ticket box the day before and we had mini heaters in them, I made the mistake of forgetting that I was going to be in an open tent and it was below freezing. We spent a bit of time scraping frost off the bleachers of central arena and by the time I was finished, I was slightly numb. I snuck off to the dairy pavilion for an Anvers hot chocolate (the best hot chocolate ever) and came back to sit in the sun while watching a presentation on solar power before the crowds arrived. It was then that I got my laugh for the day. I leaned back to tell one of my friends that I thought my cheeks had frost on them. He laughed and said he would lick it and see if it was like the movies and get his tongue stuck. Apparently he thought I was talking about my face cheeks because I don’t think he meant to comment that he was going to lick my butt cheeks. J Thank you to Will for giving me the chance to give my one and only fine of my visit.
The feature tent is split in half. Half of the tent has information about rural youth, ag fest apparel to be sold, and pictures of rural youth events throughout the year used to encourage people to sign up for the club. The other half housed the local band of the Wolf Brothers, who were performing in central arena, and Rachel Treasure, also a local, but an author of books popular all across the country.
Throughout the rest of the morning I had to take a few walks just to get circulation so my toes didn’t fall off but by the afternoon it warmed up to a beautiful day. Having the feature tent right next to central arena was a bonus. I got to watch several demonstrations such as whip cracking, 4-wheel driving, and other product demonstrations. Lee Kernaghan, a popular Aussie country artist, came in as well to sing a few songs for the crowd and head off again shortly after. I was a bit surprised with how quiet the crowd was except for two ladies, well into their 60’s or 70’s that were dancing their little hearts out. I even got a video. J It made me think of something my grandma Joan would have done.
The other exchange Ruth finished her work early and so the two of us headed off to visit some other parents of families I stayed with previously and to see some more of AgFest. We were headed for some ice cream when Anthony, the Ag Fest manager, handed us two free tickets to go up in a helicopter to thank us for the work we had done. It was my first helicopter ride and it was amazing to see how big AgFest really was and to take aerial pictures.
By the time Friday evening rolled around almost all of the volunteers that were coming had arrived so it was said to be a traditional big night for the rural youth club. For awhile now I had been warned about the Ooga Booga club- A little orientation activity for first year participants of AgFest .I was so scared I was going to have this HUGE initiation done to me. They covered the windows and pulled us in one-by-one and you heard cheering and laughter from the outside. My turn came up and in I went …..and I’d tell you what we did but I took an oath to never tell anyone. Boof and Macca, Rural Youth alumni, spent the rest of the evening teaching us little games and pranks that they used to pull when they were a part of the club. At one point they had five people driving an airplane, each person acting as a part of the plane. Eventually the “engine” starts on fire and the person is splashed with a cup of water….or you are told to try to get the quarter from onto your nose into the 20 oz pop bottle that has been cut in half. When you lift your head to set the quarter on your nose, someone pours water into the open part of the 20 oz pop bottle and it gives you the wonderful sensation that you wet yourself. J That is just a few of the many jokes and I don’t want to share all of them or I won’t be able to use them when I get home!
Day 6: Final day of AgFest
Saturday morning was my very early morning because I had car park (parking lot) duty. We had to be out there for the exhibitors to park and the pedestrians came early as well so that they did not have to wait long in line as Saturday was the busiest and final day of AgFest. I thought ahead the night before and set my phone alarm at 5:15 so I would be mentally prepared for the wretched alarm over the loud speaker, which rings the first time at 5:30, instead of wanting to bang my head against the wall. J I don’t know how it happened but I woke up ready to go after having only ten hours of sleep total over three nights.
I got into the van with the rest of the workers and Rod, the car park (parking lot) coordinator, got in, turned the radio way up, and attempted to be extremely enthusiastic. At first I was like oh my dear it is WAYYY to early for this and then I remembered that I am usually that person to the rest of my friends so I decided to jump into the fun.
It was still very dark and again below freezing when we got to our car park down the hill. Rod started giving everyone directions and I just sat there quietly hoping I would catch on. The rest of the rural youth members hate working in the car park but the other exchange who did it the previous day absolutely loved it. I learned my lesson from the day before so at least I had dressed warmly- I had several pairs of socks, under armour under wear, jeans, long-sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, coat, hat, and a special pair of green high visibility gloves on, and of course my green high visibility vest.
There were three grass car parks (parking lots) and one for exhibitors. We spread out waving flags to get people to the proper area and then two people directed the vehicles into the parking spot. Oversized vehicles such as American full-sized trucks, ute’s (small sized trucks) with trailers, and campers had to be parked on the outside of the rows so if one of them came you sprinted across the parking lot waving your flag like an idiot and hoped you didn’t roll an ankle on way to get the trailer to notice and go to the different section. Another flag member motioned like crazy to the next car behind them and hoped the rest of the line didn’t follow the trailer to the outside spot…but like I said, that was just on special occasions. J At the parking spot one person waved the car forward and let them know when to stop and the other person was the guide post. I got the special job of “guide post”. My job was to stand the perfect amount of distance from the previous car and the plan was that it would force the cars park in that amount of space. In result, the vehicles would be parked tight and we could fit as many as possible. HOWEVER, the plan did not always work. Being bigger than the average man I wasn’t scared of the oncoming vehicles USUALLY and my belly button got tickled several times by car mirrors, my toes nearly run over, and a few times I was sworn at. I will admit some of the bigger SUV’s came in way to fast and I definitely got out of the way for them. It became a bit of a challenge how tight I could get the vehicles. J
Everything went smoothly for the most part and the time passed rather quickly. I got weird looks many times either from cars wondering why I was standing in their way, when I busted a move in my high visibility vest in the middle of the parking lot because I had been standing around for hours, or when I started stripping off my clothes because the sun came out and my ten layers were making me sweat. Oh ya, I also had a contest with the guy working with me if I could get more old men to wink or smile at me than him older women. :)
Saturday morning was my very early morning because I had car park (parking lot) duty. We had to be out there for the exhibitors to park and the pedestrians came early as well so that they did not have to wait long in line as Saturday was the busiest and final day of AgFest. I thought ahead the night before and set my phone alarm at 5:15 so I would be mentally prepared for the wretched alarm over the loud speaker, which rings the first time at 5:30, instead of wanting to bang my head against the wall. J I don’t know how it happened but I woke up ready to go after having only ten hours of sleep total over three nights.
I got into the van with the rest of the workers and Rod, the car park (parking lot) coordinator, got in, turned the radio way up, and attempted to be extremely enthusiastic. At first I was like oh my dear it is WAYYY to early for this and then I remembered that I am usually that person to the rest of my friends so I decided to jump into the fun.
It was still very dark and again below freezing when we got to our car park down the hill. Rod started giving everyone directions and I just sat there quietly hoping I would catch on. The rest of the rural youth members hate working in the car park but the other exchange who did it the previous day absolutely loved it. I learned my lesson from the day before so at least I had dressed warmly- I had several pairs of socks, under armour under wear, jeans, long-sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, coat, hat, and a special pair of green high visibility gloves on, and of course my green high visibility vest.
There were three grass car parks (parking lots) and one for exhibitors. We spread out waving flags to get people to the proper area and then two people directed the vehicles into the parking spot. Oversized vehicles such as American full-sized trucks, ute’s (small sized trucks) with trailers, and campers had to be parked on the outside of the rows so if one of them came you sprinted across the parking lot waving your flag like an idiot and hoped you didn’t roll an ankle on way to get the trailer to notice and go to the different section. Another flag member motioned like crazy to the next car behind them and hoped the rest of the line didn’t follow the trailer to the outside spot…but like I said, that was just on special occasions. J At the parking spot one person waved the car forward and let them know when to stop and the other person was the guide post. I got the special job of “guide post”. My job was to stand the perfect amount of distance from the previous car and the plan was that it would force the cars park in that amount of space. In result, the vehicles would be parked tight and we could fit as many as possible. HOWEVER, the plan did not always work. Being bigger than the average man I wasn’t scared of the oncoming vehicles USUALLY and my belly button got tickled several times by car mirrors, my toes nearly run over, and a few times I was sworn at. I will admit some of the bigger SUV’s came in way to fast and I definitely got out of the way for them. It became a bit of a challenge how tight I could get the vehicles. J
Everything went smoothly for the most part and the time passed rather quickly. I got weird looks many times either from cars wondering why I was standing in their way, when I busted a move in my high visibility vest in the middle of the parking lot because I had been standing around for hours, or when I started stripping off my clothes because the sun came out and my ten layers were making me sweat. Oh ya, I also had a contest with the guy working with me if I could get more old men to wink or smile at me than him older women. :)
Breakfast and lunch was delivered to us which was really nice but by 1:30 or so we were done. All of the parking lots and our overflow had been filled and I was free to go tour around AgFest until closing time at 5. Just before I was done though, a car managed to get stuck, and I got to push them out with the help of another volunteer. J
I literally was so exhausted by the time I got back to the sleeping quarters that slipped my shoes off and fell onto my bed. I had to take a quick nap before I walked around…a quick nap turned into an hour but I jumped in the shower to wake me up and rallied again. A few of the member’s parents I stayed with were working at AgFest so I went to say hello and my goodbyes to them and then took a little tour. I was told I had to buy some R.M. Williams vests (which is a popular country brand like Wrangler at home) and an Akubra (an Australian cowboy hat), and I purchased a few other things and headed to the fashion parade one more time to tease my friends that were modeling. It was then that I realized I had lost my keys……for the second time that week. After searching around for awhile I gave up. I had heard stories about the final night of AgFest and I didn’t want to miss out so I figured I had better take advantage of some free time with another nap before dinner.
We had our final dinner at AgFest, shared lots of laughs from stories of the week, discussed numbers, and gave thank you’s. I felt very special when of the members got up and thanked the two of us exchanges for the help (or more excitement) that we had added to the week but of course not before I was fined for having a bunch of bruises without knowing where they came from. (Those of you at home know that I bruise easily and it happens all the time!) At that time I should have stood up to thank all of them as well but if I had I probably would have “got emotional” and I didn’t want to be “that” girl. J
With the stress over of an AgFest well ran, about 100 of us moved on to the crib room for the AgFest after party. We had live music from the local Wolfe Brothers and dollar drinks. AgFest was ALLL about safety first so I wanted to wear my high visibility vest and gloves as my outfit because for one, it had been my outfit all week so why stop now, and IF I was to get lost that night, I would easily be found. The night went on with lots of singing, dancing, and laughing. I had learned the words to some of their favorite songs throughout my stay all but for those I didn’t know I just pretended as everyone screamed out the words. I will never forget watching Rob do the car park dance with his flags, Dana giving Alisha a shower, and thank goodness for Eleta’s midnight snacks she was always making us even if it meant her little “teapot” self pushing through crowded people dancing outside by the live band. The band quit and we hung around talking by the fire…I went to bed at around 4 am and apparently was exhausted.
Day 7:
I should tell you the rest of my AgFest story is history and spare you the detail but now that I am ok, too many funny details were mixed with my hospital visit so I must share…I woke up Sunday morning about 8 and basically couldn’t move my upper body. There I was laying there nervous and not sure why I felt the way I did (no I didn’t have memory loss from the night before- nothing had happened to me to cause this pain.) and for fear that it was something serious- I headed to the hospital. I found out on my trip over that I don’t take well to morphine or a neck brace. My diagnosis: I had slept on my neck way wrong and due to exhaustion my body didn’t wake me up and tell me to change positions. I had a severe stiff neck and some nerve damage on my left side. With my prognosis and some pain killers, my fear turned to laughter when I found out I was ok. This was why: I had a student doctor come in who acted a bit awkward and was obviously a bit nervous. He asked me three times if I was sure I wasn’t pregnant and I’m not sure if I should laugh at that or be offended. J He also had an obsession with poking at every bruise I had and asking if it hurt. It reminded me of a game my sisters and I played when we were young just to torture each other. I had taken pain killers on an empty stomach so Alisha, who went with me, got me a few sandwiches, and when that didn’t work they served me a hot lunch. We lifted the lids to the food, I had a few bites of stew, and then discovered this glorious green something that was a mix between jello and mush. Neither one of us feeling very well we still thought it would be funny to have a stab at it. A few minutes later I was waking Alisha up, who was asleep in the chair, to me yelling her name asking for my puke bag. I was released and the doctor left to let me get dressed…Good thing I was comfortable with Alisha because she had to dress me and after a bit of struggle with the undergarments we noticed they had not taken out my IV needle in my mid arm. The doctor asked me removed it and asked me to hold pressure over it for thirty seconds before continuing to get dressed. Five minutes later Alisha asked me if I was done. Apparently I had spaced out. Lastly I had to go to the restroom and I learned wiping with your non-dominant hand is a bit interesting. Alisha and I stood in the bathroom in fits of laughter before walking out….plus the laughing while I was getting dressed in my hospital room, I am sure that the hospital staff began to wonder about us. Another member, Amanda, picked us up and we headed back to AgFest to pack up and head off to Alisha’s for some rest and relaxation. Moral of the story: Don’t sleep only 14 hours across 4 days or maybe don’t try to hang with Australians for a whole week straight.
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I can honestly say it is possible that I laughed harder in that week that I have ever in another week my whole entire life- I have nearly ten pages of information on this week and there is no way that I could remember and put all of the memories, inside jokes, or the things I learned & did on paper...It blows my mind that a group of 15-30 year olds can organize and run something that big and keep stress levels as low as they were. We worked hard and we play hard. Even when we did a job such as putting out hundreds trash cans at 11 at night, there was never a dull moment. In fact, I am not sure, except for the short amount of time I slept in the week, that there was a dull moment, because when even when I was by myself I was laughing about something that happened the day or minutes before. On a serious note, after my scare with my neck I also realized how good of friends I have made in just several weeks. It was extremely scary with what happened but I was clearly taken good care of and in good hands and was able to laugh about it afterwards and never stopped making memories even in the hospital. I said goodbye to a few people before leaving the Agfest site and already shed a few of my first tears of many I have a feeling. My time has gone fast and after I get healthy, I have a few weeks to make the most of.
I should tell you the rest of my AgFest story is history and spare you the detail but now that I am ok, too many funny details were mixed with my hospital visit so I must share…I woke up Sunday morning about 8 and basically couldn’t move my upper body. There I was laying there nervous and not sure why I felt the way I did (no I didn’t have memory loss from the night before- nothing had happened to me to cause this pain.) and for fear that it was something serious- I headed to the hospital. I found out on my trip over that I don’t take well to morphine or a neck brace. My diagnosis: I had slept on my neck way wrong and due to exhaustion my body didn’t wake me up and tell me to change positions. I had a severe stiff neck and some nerve damage on my left side. With my prognosis and some pain killers, my fear turned to laughter when I found out I was ok. This was why: I had a student doctor come in who acted a bit awkward and was obviously a bit nervous. He asked me three times if I was sure I wasn’t pregnant and I’m not sure if I should laugh at that or be offended. J He also had an obsession with poking at every bruise I had and asking if it hurt. It reminded me of a game my sisters and I played when we were young just to torture each other. I had taken pain killers on an empty stomach so Alisha, who went with me, got me a few sandwiches, and when that didn’t work they served me a hot lunch. We lifted the lids to the food, I had a few bites of stew, and then discovered this glorious green something that was a mix between jello and mush. Neither one of us feeling very well we still thought it would be funny to have a stab at it. A few minutes later I was waking Alisha up, who was asleep in the chair, to me yelling her name asking for my puke bag. I was released and the doctor left to let me get dressed…Good thing I was comfortable with Alisha because she had to dress me and after a bit of struggle with the undergarments we noticed they had not taken out my IV needle in my mid arm. The doctor asked me removed it and asked me to hold pressure over it for thirty seconds before continuing to get dressed. Five minutes later Alisha asked me if I was done. Apparently I had spaced out. Lastly I had to go to the restroom and I learned wiping with your non-dominant hand is a bit interesting. Alisha and I stood in the bathroom in fits of laughter before walking out….plus the laughing while I was getting dressed in my hospital room, I am sure that the hospital staff began to wonder about us. Another member, Amanda, picked us up and we headed back to AgFest to pack up and head off to Alisha’s for some rest and relaxation. Moral of the story: Don’t sleep only 14 hours across 4 days or maybe don’t try to hang with Australians for a whole week straight.
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I can honestly say it is possible that I laughed harder in that week that I have ever in another week my whole entire life- I have nearly ten pages of information on this week and there is no way that I could remember and put all of the memories, inside jokes, or the things I learned & did on paper...It blows my mind that a group of 15-30 year olds can organize and run something that big and keep stress levels as low as they were. We worked hard and we play hard. Even when we did a job such as putting out hundreds trash cans at 11 at night, there was never a dull moment. In fact, I am not sure, except for the short amount of time I slept in the week, that there was a dull moment, because when even when I was by myself I was laughing about something that happened the day or minutes before. On a serious note, after my scare with my neck I also realized how good of friends I have made in just several weeks. It was extremely scary with what happened but I was clearly taken good care of and in good hands and was able to laugh about it afterwards and never stopped making memories even in the hospital. I said goodbye to a few people before leaving the Agfest site and already shed a few of my first tears of many I have a feeling. My time has gone fast and after I get healthy, I have a few weeks to make the most of.
