HAHA

this sums up the Mae Tang Fishery Day. (well no fishing poles were used)

I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. ~Jennifer Yane

belated phototgraphy

[In order: Umbrellas in Bosang- the Handicraft Village.

crazy kids at Mae Tang, pt1 and 2.

Dancing during lunch at Mae Tang.

Gad Luang Market,

from bridge

various vendors.

FISH! and MUD! and FISH!

'I could tell you my adventures - beginning from this morning,' said Alice a little timidly: 'but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.' Alice - Through The Looking Glass

Yesterday was incredible. Mae Tang Fish Hatchery!

So, we arrived around 9am and were in the water by about 9:30.

While fighting to not sink in the mud, we scooped the corralled fish out of their nets with mesh baskets and carried them across the path to their new ponds. The fish were tilapia, ranging from about 5 inches long to a foot long. They’re strong fish! And with hundreds to thousands of them in each net, it was hard work moving them! After we emptied and tore down all the nets in that pond we used a net the length of the pond to do a sweep of the entire pond. It took all 30+ of us to walk the length of the pond holding one edge of the net along the bottom of the pond while the other edge floated along the surface. This process caught more than just tilapia. We also caught the large carp (by large I mean like 15lbs/1.5ft long) and large catfish (a foot or longer) and moved them to the new pond so the old pond can drained and cleaned.

Lunch was surprisingly enough a main course of tilapia with a sweet chile sauce and rice with fruit after. The fish was sooooo good! After lunch, some song and dance broke out, don’t worry there’s a video.

Back to work! This time we were checking fish for eggs. The workers had done this a couple days earlier so only a couple people found fish with eggs. Overall, the day was amazing! It’s so unreal to think that this is counting as school!

Well well well. Here I am. Getting ready for school today, Friday, and I’m not wearing the black and white. No, I’m wearing hiking clothes. BECAUSE….drumroll…we are going to an NGO about an hour outside of the city today. Anddd…!!...there was promise of swamp romping. Oh yes, chest deep swamp water. Full of all those weird Thai bugs. This might all sound sarcastic, but I promise you I am very excited! Very excited! This is one of those Binney type excursions, I was always the first to jump into the waders and climb into the water. I really can’t wait. It feels a little more like home now.

School’s been going well. I’m only slightly homesick. And I’m only keeping track of weeks not days. So there’s that. To be clear there are 22 weeks until I’m back in the US. And I keep having strange nervous dreams about being back in the 269.

Back to school, yesterday Greg Hamilton(?) came to show a documentary he made about a traditional game in Mayanmar(Burma). It was beautiful! Chinlone. A game like soccer, but with only one team, the goal to juggle the ball as long as possible with any body part accept the hands. And the ball is wicker, woven of came, and smaller than a soccer ball.

I’ve got to go to breakfast now. Fried rice! And ride my bike to school.

My Room

Eating New Things

So. the other day I ate a bug at the market. they're expensive. and prized. because they live their entire lives in above ground in bamboo.

Today I ate glass shrimp at the Fish Hatchery. ((WHICH WAS AWESOME!)) pictures soon! oh by the way, you eat glass shrimp when they're alive!!!

The Fish Hatchery was completely amazing today, I've never had so much fun while being so completely soaked in mud!

bike ride

Alright so the way I go to school. I ride my bike through the neighborhood to the main road and stash it at the corner restaurant because my host mom is friends with the woman who owns it. Then Mae An (Mae means mom) pick me up there and drives me into the city to school because she teaches at the government high school. After school, I ride a local taxi to Cad Luang (the huge market in chiang mai) and then a rural taxi to my bus stop, get the bike and ride home. The bike is the best part. It’s so great to see everything along the way and be able to stop as I go.

american radio is everywhere

tracy chapman on the radio.

thank you thailand.

First Day of Class

Quote from today:

the Superhighway is 4+n lanes. n being the number of motorcycles and cars that decide to not drive in the lanes.

well class today went well. ISDSI is very nice. essentially a large house. but very nice and air-conditioned in some classrooms! and lunch was great! mostly just basic orientation today, some basic thai, an outline of the semester, and a little intro into what to expect.

This weekend was nice! Quiet. my host family consists of a mother and two girls. Nong If and Nong Om. (nong means younger sibling) as well as many aunts who live in various neighboring houses. the food is great! nothing too spicy! the spiciest thai food i've had to date was in America.

My room at home is very nice! It's a very nice house all together, with three other houses in the same property. It's all gated and has a lovely garden! there are chickens that run around everywhere! and a couple unsocial dogs.

I've got to go. my host mom is here to pick me up from school!

More soon! pictures too when I can!

welcome to chiangmai

it's a warm and stinky city.
lots of car smells!
but it's beautiful! the river runs along the east side of the city and we're currently staying about quartermile past that in a hostel/ guest house. it's more like a small resort. we had the afternoon/evening to do whatever we wanted. the market was impressive so many vendors! it was three stories of stuff!

so it's about 4:30am now but i woke up early so here I am.

our host parents are coming to pick us up in the morning around 10.

the other students are all great!

we start class on monday after an awkward weekend of pantomiming with our host parents.

more updates soon!


leaving bangkok





these are the mountains we flew over entering Chiang Mai






and this is over the city of Chiang Mai

Bangkok International Airport

planes shouldn't fly.
they're like bumble bees. huge bodies, tiny wings.
they shouldn't be able to fly.
not over oceans.
not without flapping their wings.

but sure enough they do.
and after four flights
[Lansing>Chicago]
[Chicago>Denver]
[Denver>LA]
[LA>Bangkok]
I'm exhaused. and feeling a little loopy.
we all made it though. and met lots of new people, including two girls also headed to ISDSI.
Thai Air was a very nice flight. good food. good entertainment (movies and video games) and with lots of sleep, the 15hr40min flight didn't seem that bad.

We've got one last flight to Chaing Mai in a little less than 2hours.

that's all for now. more soon!

ps- the stars are incredible from 30,000ft

to Ray Bradbury with love

well I'm in love with Ray Bradbury and yesterday, yes my last day at home, I decided I really wanted to go to this used books store in East Lansing by my Mom's and well if mom hadn't been there with me, I wouldn't have been able to talk myself out of buying all their Bradbury books right then and there.

anyway i feel like this her: "she spread her thoughts through the world, like fingers slipping into a glove." - Something Wicked This Way Comes

somewhere between piles of science fiction books and stuck between the pages of a Ray Bradbury book, I found that I no longer felt like I was leaving, but calmly like I was going.

then we knew we'd never be the same.

Well, here's the approximate list of dates for when we'll be studying what:

Weeks	Dates	Activites
1	Aug 21 – Aug 27	Orientation
2-5	Aug 30 – Sep 24	BLOCK 1: Foundations
6-9	Sep 27 – Oct 21	BLOCK 2: Agroecology
10-13	Oct 25 – Nov 18	BLOCK 3: Forests
14-17	Nov 22 – Dec 16	BLOCK 4: Islands
	Dec 16 – Jan 2	Holiday Break
18-22	Jan 3 – Jan 28	BLOCK 5: Intership

and a more immediate schedule for you:

August 20, 2010 Arrive in Chiang Mai; overnight at hostel

August 21, 2010 Begin orientation; move in with host families

August 23, 2010 Orientation continues; Thai language class begins



something about preparing for leaving for this long is different.
there have been plenty of times when I haven't seen friends or family for 6 months because of college and distance and life whatnot. but that's never the plan. when saying goodbye at the end of summer or after Christmas dinner I don't have the intention of being evasive for half a year.

i think that's why it's never felt like this. i feel like i've been slowly backing out the door for a week now saying good bye to friends, grandparents, cousins, and lastly tomorrow my mom.
being so alone hopping across the country by plane tomorrow will be a rude way to enter this experience. And this fall with my mom living in a new city entering a new experience of her own, leaving just feels very strange. like the timing's slightly off.

but I suppose it's like ripping off one huge band-aid. it's easier when done all at once.

One Week

A week from today.

One week and at this time, I'll be sitting on a plane on my way to LAX.

and at 11:20 pm, I'll be leaving LAX for Bangkok, Thailand.


yikes.