Cotton Picking Year #2

It is that time of year again…cotton picking season. This year I opted to go with my co-workers. All doctors are required to put in a certain number of days picking cotton, actually all government workers are required to pick cotton.
Therefore this morning I got to work at 8am, waited until 8:30 when my co-workers were ready to go. Because villages are relatively small there are always cotton fields nearby. Because all of the doctors had to go to a specific field in order to get credit for going it took us a while to locate it as it was in a neighboring village.
10am arrived at the cotton field and dressed for work: long sleeve shirt over a long dress, socks, a head scarf and (for me) sunscreen. We picked cotton for the next hour and twenty minutes after which I was covered in a sheen of sweat only to find I had picked a grand total of 6 kg of cotton…
11:30 lunch time: Everyone grabbed their belongings and pulled out whatever odds and ends they brought to make a lunch. Lots of bread, some honey, fried potatoes, some bread fried with meat, and a lot of candy. Whoever owned the field was kind enough to provide lunch for everyone – there was a huge pot of boiling soup. Lots of broth, a little bit of everything else. And of course, tons of hot green tea.
12:30: after being goaded into drinking far too much tea to be good we waddled back into the field for another go around. This time we are out for nearly 2 hours. I spent the time enjoying some podcasts from the states and getting tons of scrapes and scratches all up and down my arms.
2:30: To my delight I find I’ve picked 9 kg over the past two hours! That puts my total up to 15. This year they are paying at the rate of 700 old manat/1.40 new manat (~$.50) per kilo. That means at the end of the day I’ve worked hard for four hours and earned enough to buy a snickers bar. Now, as a Peace Corps Volunteer I’m not allowed to accept money for anything I do and therefore couldn’t accept the money, but I think they’re going to buy me a snickers bar with my earnings anyway.
They didn’t end up buying me a snickers bar, instead I got two pairs of socks, not the super cool homemade socks that are awesome, but two pairs of normal everyday socks.