How to Harvest a Red Ant Nest Part II

We went to a Wat (Buddhist temple) where they make/teach how to make homeopathic remedies for the community.



This is where they make virgin coconut and sesame oil.


Some of us make some medicine with cumin and honey and turned yellow.


After an exchange with the farmers in our community our families did a traditional ceremony where they tied blessed strings around our wrists. They're supposed to keep our spirits tied to our physical spirits which is a good thing since they keep away ailments and bring good luck. If you have enough you may even find your soul mate. I have twelve.




For the last night all the males (since there are so few of us) slept with the interns and ajaans at this guy, Bamrung's, farm. He is a older guy who lived through the labor movement and student uprisings of the second half of the 20th century. I interviewed him and wrote a profile article about his story. Dude is pretty intense. Among his creditials are, being present for the government massacre at Thammasat University in 1973 and being a key leader in the Assembly of the Poor which represents marginalized the rural poor as a collective voice across Thailand which has swarmed Bangkok with tens of thousands of angery farmers more than once. Oh, he is also an ex-communist soldier. Basically, he is a big deal and I interviewed him for two hours and stayed at his house.

This is his house.

It's an almost entirely self-sufficient farm.


Beehive.

Wild pigs will fuck you up. Notice the tusks.

The man himself.

How to Harvest a Red Ant Nest Part I

So we just recently finished our month long orientation and began our first unit centered on rural issues. The overwhelming majority of Thai citizens are farmers, but because of the effects of the Green Revolution, Free Trade Agreements (etc., etc.) the small scale farmer is quickly disappearing from the landscape (like most of the world).
We all lived on separate farms that were practicing a returning to traditional farming practices and working towards self-sufficiency which was primarily was a rejection of the use of chemical inputs (e.g. pesticides) and getting rid of the dependency relationship their use creates. The use of chemical inputs also has had detrimental affects on the health of farmers and because of their high cost, most small scale farmers have large debt.
We learned from talking to our families (yep, we can talk about organic farming practices in Thai) what their past experiences have been with farming with chemical compared to the organic farming that they do now. All the organic farmers in the province have formed a community that functions as a support group, sharing supplies and help when needed. Perhaps most importantly, this community supports the farmers mentally giving a sense of family and validation that is often rare in Isaan (NE Thailand) where the populace is incredibly marginalized and either exploited for the gain of agribusinesses or paved over in the march to industrialization.
On a brighter note the food we ate while at these homestays felt amazing after the grease bowl meals we have in the city. My body hasn't felt that good sense i've gotten here.



This was our house.


Meh.


Gai.


Whoowa.


Ma.


This is how you harvest a red ant nest.


This is how a red ant nest harvests your hand. One week later, my hand still has toxin marks all over it.


One of these things is not like the other.



Kind of a big deal, if you get my meaning. We found one of these chillin above us one night while we slept. Ahhh. Thats the sound they make.

Chang

Second homestay

This time around we each lived with a family by ourselves in the city. I really enjoyed being by myself at the homestay. It created the opportunity to really development intimate relationship with your family while it also pushed you out of your comfort zone and rely on your simple Thai skills for your every need.

This is our house

Meh never stops working.

She cooks the good food. This is breakfast.


We were paired up with either a little brother or sister (about 3rd grade) who we went to school with everyday. Everyday we would line up in the front courtyard and sing songs in Thai and do this weird song/self massage. The first day we had to stand in front of the school and introduce ourselves in Thai. I introduced myself as Ling Lek Lek. This means little monkey. They really liked me after that. A lot.

One day we didn't have classes. We had a "Fun Thai Activity". We didn't really know what was going to mean (While on that note, we don't really know what anything is as far as the schedule goes until its happening. Actually sometimes we don't don't know whats going on while it's happening either). So this "Fun Thai Activity" ended up being the 3rd grade class teaching us short children songs. Sounds fun and innocent right? Well, actually not so much. There was dancing that goes with the songs.

We also drew some pictures with some students. If you look closely there is a "chicken burger" on the left hand side and "chicken nuggets" in the top left corner. Admittedly, Melissa and I both started drawing the picture being critical of meat consumption, but the students took it to a whole new level and added a lot of gore.

One my third day at my homestay I met my pee-saw (oldest sister) for the first time. Well we got to talking and I asked her where I can get some flip flops. Of course she has to show me, so at about 9:30 we went out on a motorcycle ride to the night market. Riding a motorcycle in Thailand is maybe the most exhilarating thing in the world. Also maybe the most dangerous thing. Every other person is either in the hospital from a crash or their best friend is. So like I said, it's really fun. Although, my older sister kept asking me if I was single, which was weird.


Sometimes we wash dishes together. It's pretty romantic.We also did an exchange with an HIV+/AIDS clinic. Their organization was impressive. Since Thailand has a universal health care system people only have to pay 30 baht for a check and medicine (including the arv). Maybe someday the US can learn a lesson, but probably not. They also focus on a holistic approach which includes mental support, counseling, focus on health eating habits and home visits. We went on some home visits, this picture is of a 8 year old girl living with HIV+. She's super sweet and happy.

myspace motorcycle

First Home Stay: Village Life

So our first home stay was in Nong Jon, a illegal village in a National Park. These people took us in their house without knowing anything about us in order to teach us about their way of life. We were nervous and excited having no idea what to expect from our first homestay. We just had survived our week of "Thai boot camp" and well...the experience left us hunger for more lessons.

(some of these photos are Tyler's)

The first order of business was the making of a giant feast. Here is the making of Som Tom or Papaya Salad.

The chopping of garlic

They have these amazing stoves. I want to bring one back.


This is was Tyler, Luke and I's family's house. We would make attempts at Thai and get decent amount of laughter in response.


The next morning our Pa took us farming. But you see the thing is, we couldn't speak Thai at this point and got the directions wrong. So after filling up a basket of produce we picked Pa came over, frowned and dumped it all out. Fail. We did a little bit better the second time around. Then we helped cook our pickings for breakfast and listened to Thai radio while drinking coffee. The coffee was "turbo coffee " and our Pa poured us three packs worth per cup. Thanks for looking out for us Pa.





Then Planet Earth happened.

This be the Golden Temple inside the Bangkok

Many of these types


This guy means business


These are the rolling hills where our orientation was. Pretty, but not hobbit habitat.


Yay, off we go to our first home stay! Ekk?