#27 - Quick Notes on the First Job External Trip

I was set for a team of external trip about 300Km from the company headquarters. We would manually harvest a big area with many different soy technologies, as the company is focused on genetically engineering strains and will need collect all sorts of information from the soy beans to advance their research further. I should not be very specific about anything because of contractual terms, but will talk broadly because anyone minimally working in this agricultural field will know about these and other routine procedures..

I was happy to do some hard work as the human resources woman had told me it would be.

I was not wrong when we started pulling the plants and I said jokingly that seemed to be the easiest part!

The hard part was carrying all those plants back to the truck and handing them over to the truck boys, so a machinery would process and have the material labeled.

As I was the eldest novice, they would give me a little more hard work and, of course, I wanted to do all the hard working I could so not to leave a bad image..

I had some terrible shortness of breathe, even thought about the possibility of passing out but kept working hard, sometimes I would just sit down on some straw material and catch my breath for a couple of minutes. That worked but I had to do it constantly, and resting 10 minutes was enough to feel comfortable even under the sun.

I actually was working close to the machinery without the ear protection (I had forgotten it back in the hotel!), so the noise must have gotten into my brain.

But also, as I was using a tight mask to avoid breathing dust and particles, coming from an extremely sedentary period of my life and still a smoker (although I am working on reducing and quitting it!), my body obviously would not handle 3 or 4 days of such a hard work.

I sincerely thought I was a little more physically fit than I actually am right now..

At the end of day, we were together talking and having some fun at the hotel and after everyone went to their quarters, I knocked on my supervisor door and told him to end the experience.

In retrospective, I think I should have tried at least one more day without telling my supervisor anything and taking any decision, or should have warned him that I could only work so much instead of asking for the end of the experience period. It was a rather drastic decision and I was too nervous to think with due care and diligence but, then, maybe my performance could become shameful as time would wear on my strength..

I was devastated to leave them without my effort. I arranged to work until lunch time the next day so they would still get some (small) help from me. My supervisor took good care of me and drove me all the way back (unfortunately, I could not simply take a bus back with my own money, which I did insist on many times).. He told and explained many precious things to me during the trip back, for which I am so grateful.

So I am not sure what will happen next. In the worst case scenario, the company will end the contract in the next few days. In the best case, it will assign me a different kind of work which I am able to perform until the contract expires in about 3 weeks.

Don't get me wrong. I liked to work there. I observed everyone and everything. Perhaps I haven't got an elephant memory but did learn a lot. I find their work really amazing and have got the greatest of respect for it. It will eventually generate soy which is cheaper, more productive and efficient for the farmer, and also more nutritious (more protein), cheaper and of higher quality for the end consumer.

After thinking about it over, such a common expression in this field genetics and plant improvement is really just genetics improvement because you can not teach a plant how to use less water, for example. I reckon any distinction is not really necessary unless to (maybe) consider epigenetics heritage.

PS: the company decided to end my experience contract due to the fact my supervisor could not find another department with a vacancy for me. Human resources woman was nice and said something like maybe it will work out better next time/chance!..

PPS: Here is an excellent video sample they sent to the harvest WhatsApp group on the second night.. After this, the younger agronomists became more talkative about women, dates, sex, massage houses and the sort.. Enjoy the best of countryside girls!