1、Going to Letu
A Special Education Teacher from Singapore looking to do some volunteering work during my block holiday, I started looking up teaching opportunities on Workaway.
Long story short, to avoid paying registration fees for a one-off (to be confirmed) volunteering opportunity, I tried hunting Alain down on Facebook (and succeeded!). She was sowelcoming and accepting (despite my stalker-ish approach).
However, she explained that she had just taken up a job at a sustainable farm where she will help develop education tours in sustainable farming. That marks the start of my 2-week stint at Joyland Farm!
作爲一名新加坡的特殊教育教師，我在暑假期間想做一些相關的志願工作，于是我開始在志願者網站上尋找教學機會。
雖然個中曲曲折折，但簡單說來，爲了避免支付一次性（且有待確認）的志願工作機會的注冊費用，我試圖在Facebook上與Alain直接溝通，並且竟然成功聯系上了！
Alain欣然接受了我的申請，完全不介意我這種略顯“打擾”的溝通方式，但她解釋說，她也剛剛到一個可持續農場工作，將幫助發展這個農莊的自然教育。這意味著我在樂土農莊的兩周時間即將開始！
En route to Letu 在去往樂土的途中
2、What I did at Joyland
My volunteering days were simple and enjoyable. We made plant labels by writing their names on old wooden blocks that we collected and smoothened. To label smaller flowers we did the same on rocks. Other times, we helped with simple manual tasks around the farm such as putting up a bamboo fence or ferrying fresh picks.
做志願者的日子簡單而快樂，我們把植物的名字寫在收集起來的並打磨過的舊木塊上，以此來制作植物標簽，在石頭上也做了同樣的標簽。有時候，我們在農場幫忙做一些簡單的體力活，比如搭一道竹籬笆或運送新鮮的果子。
3、Life at Joyland
Born and raised in a city my time at Joyland had put me through a lot of my ‘firsts’. This includes my first time eating ‘柴火飯’ where each meal was cooked and served in a huge pot and every one took their share to their likeing. I also loved how everyone would gather around the table and have evey meal together, accompanied with chats and laughter.
思穎，快過來！小鴨子來了！
在城市成長的經曆讓我甚少接觸到鄉村生活，所以在樂土的時光使我遇見了很多人生的第一次，包括第一次吃柴火飯。這裏的柴火飯每頓都是在一個大鍋裏煮的，每個人按自己的喜好來挑自己喜歡的菜。我也很喜歡大家圍坐在桌子旁，伴隨著閑聊和笑聲一起吃飯。
我在樂土農莊的住處，農場主人很好，提供了一間客房用來休息。
Can you spot the baby watermelon?
Alain’s friends came to visit one day and we lunch at Joyland’s in-house restaurant! I miss the food already.
有一天，Alain的朋友們來了，我們在樂土農莊吃了午飯，我已經開始想念那些食物了。
Although I only had a short 2-week stay at Joyland, my phone gallery definitely suggests otherwise. The clear skies, sceneries and florae there are all too beautiful and I just couldn’t resist taking photos. When I shared details about my time atJoyland, my family members commented that it seemed more like a holiday retreat than a volunteering stint and I couldn’t agree more. I am so thankful for the hospitality received and accommodations made.
雖然我只在樂土待了兩周，但這段時間卻帶給我不一樣的手機相冊。這裏晴朗的天空、風景和花叢都太美了，我就會忍不住拍照。當我分享我在樂土的時光時，我的家人說，這似乎更像是一個假期，而不是一個志願者工作，說得太對了！非常感謝熱情款待和提供的住宿。
On my first day at the farm,何叔showed us around and introduced us to the farm’s ways of organic and sustainable farming. As a cynical consumer whenever it came to ‘organic’ produce, I was both surprised and impressed atJoyland’s emphasis on genuine organic and insecticide-free crop.
In fact, despite their huge farmland, their produce ratio was much lower as they insist on using organic compost and refuse to introduce pesticides to their crop. It was very different to the ‘Chinese business practices’ I was exposed to on the internet.
During lunch, 何叔recognized my confusion and said, “Because of your field of studies, our ways may not make business sense to you. But maybe and hopefully, after your time here, you will come to realize that sometimes, some things come before making money.” And I did.
記得到農莊的第一天，何叔帶我們逛了一下農場，並介紹了農場的有機和可持續農耕方式。作爲一個憤世嫉俗的消費者，每當談到“有機的”農産品時，我都對樂土農莊強調的真正有機和無殺蟲劑作物感到驚訝和印象深刻。
事實上，盡管他們的農田面積很大，但産量卻比較低，因爲他們堅持使用有機堆肥，並且拒絕對農作物使用殺蟲劑，這與我在互聯網上接觸到的中國商業慣例非常不同。午餐期間，何叔看出了我的困惑，說：“因爲你的研究領域，我們的方法可能對你沒有商業意義。但或許你在這裏待了一段時間後會意識到，有時候，有些事情應該是放在賺錢前面的。”
當然，現在我意識到了。