The people of the 21st century like to call themselves modern and contemporary people.
Modern man goes to gym, Pilates, yoga, aerobic, or something similar to look ‘fit’. Modern man goes to manicure and pedicure, has plastic nails and fake eyelashes, he puts implantants, removes fat and wrinkles, does the nose surgery and transplants hair because he always wants to look better and younger.
After some while new trends appear and our modern man tries to satisfied new needs. He goes to the malls and ‘‘shops until he drops’’. But, time passes as always, and once again he realizes there are new trends, younger people and new changes that he wants to follow. Our modern man starts to feel sorrow, hopeless and depressed. Every age brings its own problems and diseases and while people used to fight against hunger, plague and tuberculosis, modern man is fighting against depression due two months old shoes and stress.
Luckily, there is a cure for these modern problems. Imagine this: you have a whole week for yourself on the sunny island. You are surrounded by beautiful nature and spend your days by picking olives. When you get bored of view on the green-purple fruits, you just turn your head around and new view of the sea and neighboring islands appears. Wondering why you have not seen this in travel brochures? Believe us, the best thing islanders keep to themselves.
Picking olives is trendy!
First, some basic facts about olives:
- Olive tree is a symbol of peace, and a tree that is almost immortal. Smite it and it will grow again.
- Average family on the island of Korcula has around hundred olive trees.
- The olive harvest takes place mainly through November.
- Daily amount of picked olives is around 50 kg per person.
- A liter of oil costs around 80 kuna (price also depends on annual crop so price can be much higher).
… And this is how looks like a day if you go picking olives:
Picking olives is activity for the whole family – the more people, the better, because there is a lot of work. Islanders harvest olives mainly on weekends, and they often take vacations from daily jobs in order to finish olive picking.
When person goes to pick olives it need to wake up early in the morning. No worries, there is a weak possibility that you will have a hangover from the night before, because during the autumn there is no nightclubs open on Korcula. After you wake up, you are dressing your oldest clothes that is also preferably little bit torn and it has some oil stains from previous harvests. For climbing trees, going through fields and carrying heavy bags you don’t need to wear anything fancy. On the contrary, ‘ghetto look’ is what you need.
It’s nine o’clock, the morning has just started and you’re already at the position: you have come to the land and taken out from the car: rakes, machine for picking olives (aka. ‘’The hands’’), and most importantly: brnjal – plastic cover which covers the ground around the olive trees so that fruits do not fall on the ground and which makes olives easier to pick them up.
Let the fun begin!
For first half an hour you rake and feel great. You chat, tell jokes, and simultaneously stretch to get the highest branches. This stretching feels better than your hardest Pilates workout. Then you continue to rake. And rake, and rake, and raaaake…. Finally, a lunch break! Oops, false alarm. Your stomach is hungry, but it only 10:30 and it’s still too early for lunch, so you concentrate and continue raking. You climb the trees, imitate Tarzan, rake branches above, rake branches below, while some of them constantly stab your face. Unfortunately there is no time for a break because autumn days are short and most work must be done during the morning…
Around noon lunch break finally begins. You make a sandwich, eat a can, some oranges and even those biscuits that you usually don’t eat because you want to stay fit. While you’re eating you are convinced that this has to be only a snack since it is not possible at this is all that you will eat. 
Then you continue to rake.
And rake.
Rake.
Raaaake…
When you are sure that there is no tomorrow, you hear someone saying: ,,It’s getting dark, we have to pack everything up and go home”. You pack olives in sacks and carry them to the car over the rubble and stones, through the bushes and up to the hill because there is no parking lot adjusted for your land. While you are carrying a 30 kg bag on your back, you are sure that you will never again in your life give 300 kuna per month on a gym’s boot camp program.
When you’re all packed you finally drive home. Its 6 p.m., your favorite tv show will soon start and you’ll finally be able to check all cellphone calls because for whole day there was no signal. All the sudden you realize that you have been tricked. Tricked worse than those people that trust to television fortune tellers that read them destiny from the cards:
After hours and hours of olive picking they do not drive you home but in a tavern (but not that one where you can have a nice dinner!), and there you have a wooden board to sort and separate the leaves and twigs from all the olives that you have harvest that day. And so on and on for the next hour.
When you finally reach home your hands and feet hurt, and back feels painful too, so you forget the cell phone and series and everything else because all you want is to sleep. Or eat – the whole fridge. Your emotions are empty – no sorrow, no depression and stress, just olives. And tomorrow, and dy after tomorrow, and three days after that. Remember that the average family has about hundred of olive trees, and today you have finished picking at only six of them.
Therefore, if you feel sad and tired, hate all the tram and have not laughed for days because your smile could elicit only one new things from shopping mall, come to the island in November. Your life will get a whole new meaning!
