30 Days By Train

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The dollar has been slipping against the euro. Our limited funds have become more limited with each passing day. It was time to find a job and make some money. But what? I don't speak German. I'm not a EU citizen. Manual labor was my only option. But I had to get paid under the table.

So I spent the morning picking organically grown apples at Herr Herbert's "bio" apple field with a crew of motley pickers. Four hours earns you € 32, which is roughly $38. I will not report this on my income tax.

My efforts to organize the pickers fell on deaf ears. They don't unionize easily. But they're a hardy lot, and Herr Herbert is a good man. He invited us to his country store after we filled ten large crates, most destined for produce, the others for apple schnapps. The morning ended with an invigorating shot of Herr Herbert's apple schnapps followed by an outrageously delicious Bavarian donut. (It's not really a donut but I forgot the German word. Freshly prepared by Frau Herbert, it could make the best donut you ever had taste like playdough.)

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