Picking Grapes with An American

I was married in Moldova to an American woman in August. We stayed in Moldova for a few months after we were married to help my family collect and gather crops such as corn, potatoes, and grapes. Wine is very traditional in Moldova. Most Moldovan families have their own house wine which means that they all have land that they grow grape vinyards on. When my family started to gather grapes my new wife helped for the first time and thought it would be fun. We woke up at 6AM, ate a bowl of chicken soup and drank a small glass of wine. My wife thought that eating chicken soup and drinking a little wine in the morning was strange and all she could eat was some bread and butter. After breakfast we went to the vinyards. It was very cold in the morning and my wife had to wear 5 layers of clothes. She even had two pairs of gloves on! We started picking and gathering the grapes the baskets. It is very hard, physical work. After about 4 or 5 hours we all took a break and had a picnic together. After lunch we picked grapes for about 3 or 4 more hours. After our hard day of work we all went home and my mother cooked us all dinner. We do this day after day until we harvest all of the grapes. My wife said that she was so tired and sore after the first day. She could not believe that we do this for many days in a row. She also said that she could not believe that my 60-year-old mother was able to do this physical work, she said that most Americans do not do this kind of physical work ever in their lifetime. Although it was not as fun as she thought it would be, my wife is very happy that she had the opportunity to help my family and she is happy that she was able to have the different experience.