Hey look! I'm actually updating this!

Hey guys. This actually happened around a month ago, but its saved on my computer, so I figure I'll put it up on here.

In terms on a quick update on what I've been doing for the past months ish,- we just completed agroforestry course. Highlights include slaughtering a pig, learning about citizenship issues in thailand (long story short- ethnic minorities here, many of whom were born in Thailand, don't have citizenship, and don't have basic rights- like healthcare, and the ability to move. By this I mean they don't have the right to leave their teensy little villages. Its actually a lot more complicated than this but I dont feel like explaining it right now, so  oh well.) Learned about farming. By this I mean I watched people farm at a non profit, and then lived with a host family for 4 days. One day I harvested rice! I'll post some pictures on face book. Its fun. I came in after all the rice stalks (rice is a grass- so just think of big piles of grass here) had been cut. You take these two sticks that are connected by a rope, and you use it to sort of collect a bundle of the rice around the rope, and then you lift the bundle of rice over your head and thwack it over and over again on a block thats on a tarp until all the rice grains pop out. Its a hard image to describe but I think you'll get it from the pictures which will definitely pop up on facebook and might show up here. anyways- you Repeat process. By the end of the day- sore shoulders.

During these four days I trompled my way around, and mimed my way through the Thai language. they dont speak english in Mae Taw, which is the name of the rural province that I visited.  it was (as always) a brutal process- but i started getting the hang of it by the end. I can muster my way around in thai fairly well now. Reading is anouther story (test at the end of this week- ahh!)

What else did we do? did I mention that we killed a pig? I have a big long emotional piece of writing that is on my to do list of things to post for this blog. In summary: It was wierd. not as bad as I thought. sent shivers up my spine- yet was strangely beautiful.

For the next course- is the big hiking one. going to villages where thai is spoken as a second language! this will be fun! So now, on top of learning thai- we're getting some insta- Bak-in-yah classes on the side! So far, the language sounds like a series of grunts to me- but then again, I've only had one lesson. Hello is dtah bleug (say bloog while smiling, and you'll pronounce the second word right.) Happy is Ote Choo, sad is Duh Ote Choo. How are you doing is Otechoo wa?
ohhhhh host families. ohhhhh language barrier. so crazy.

We also compared western perceptions of "Nature" to Thai perceptions of nature. This I thought was really interesting. For class, we all brought/ drew pictures of our favorite natural places, and our professor had the THai staff drew pictures of their favorite natural places. We all brought them in and hung them up in the morning and compared.

Our natural places were all big open empty spaces. Many were very scenic- taking pictures of things that were far away. For example- a picture of this mountanous back drop, or this high up view. They all were in public places- like national parks. They all were vacation spots. A lot of us wrote romantic little notes below our photos of natural places- things like- "Here, it is perfect. I have no worries. The stars are all around me...."   Our nartual places lacked signs of a permanent human presence as well. Hardly any people in the pictures. The people who were in the pictures were smiling.

In the thai pictures of "favorite natural places": (the thai staff all drew their pictures. we had the option to either print off a photo or draw. for some reason there were only 2 illustrations in the western group.)
-They all included rice paddies. Even the one of the giant tropical river with massive coconut trees and wild flowers had a little rice paddie in the corner. They all had houses. They all had domestic animals. People were present- but they were working. (little stick figures wearing farmers hats or holding ploughs)

We were asked what was dangerous about these places. we said getting lost, and wild animals. 

Over all - Nature thailand is seen as something that includes people. There is no romantisism. Attitudes towards it are very pragmatic- this began when teak (teak is a type of tree used for hardwood) trade exploded back in the day (like the late 1800's I think. I might be wrong on that though). There is also a huge fear of spirits that live in the forest. Wild animals aren't a threat- but spirits are a big one. ok. This is a blog post. I have another one I wrote about a month ago about getting drunk and seeing an elephant that I'll put up right after this.
Cool Beans!