WWOOFing days

FYI: WWOOFing stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and while we are not actually members of the WWOOFing network, we were essentially WWOOFers for the week.

Sunday, November 28
I sit in the kitchen on our fourth day with Non. We work in the mornings before it gets hot, and in the afternoons we learn about other things, wander about the village, nap in bamboo shelters, and generally have fun. On our first work day, we cut the grass along the path and cleared the area where we would be mixing adobe, using our hands and various scythes and choppers. The next day, we learned how to make adobe bricks, and made eighteen of them, which we set out in the sun to dry (bricks have to dry for fourteen days before they can be used). Yesterday, instead of working, we rode in the back of a pick-up to an elephant camp with Pee Tong Bai (Non's older sister friend whom we refer to as Didi), her husband, and one of Pun-Pun's interns. It ended up being far too expensive and, instead of rides or shows in which, based on our window into elephant captivity in Nepal, I wasn't all that interest anyway, it offered some interesting perspective on tourism in Thailand. One afternoon, we learned how to make banana chips in Didi's kitchen from a local woman's group leader. It's very easy. Just slice up green bananas with a cheese-type slicer/mandolin, drop them in hot oil on the stove, and scoop them out with a strainer once they stop bubbling. They're great with salt or paprika, and probably lots of other things. Different than banana chips in the states, but better, I think. Almost every evening, we swim and bathe at the reservoir up the road, except for one day when we showered at Didi's guest house instead. Today, Janelle, a Pun-Pun intern from Singapore, came to see the place and then went to the noodle shop in the village with us for lunch. Afterward, we stopped by Didi's shop for some sweets, some laughs, and our favorite Namtan Maprau (sugar coconut) drink, then sat down by the guest house kitchen for another little rest, and then went swimming and bought some groceries on our way back up here. Janelle is such a cool person and it was really interesting talking with her about what got her here, Singapore, and education around the world. I hope to meet her again someday.