O Green World...

We had an exchange on the last night of our farm stay. It started out with such a warm atmosphere – we ate dinner all together on mats in front of the house, so much food, I could barely walk afterwards. People were talking and it seemed really warm as Paew passed out sips of local rice whiskey. Then came the exchange, which, well… didn’t go so well. First exchanges are supposed to run like a flowing conversation most times. However, this flow is really difficult to construct and one of the focuses of our program. Well, our exchange instead went rather stilted and awkward. No one was asking questions, except after awkward silences, when the questions resulting would be scattered. We had no flow, all scatter, really frustrating, especially as I was facilitating. The main speaker, Mae Arangua at one point called us out on our scattered questioning? “Why aren’t you asking about policy?” she asked. “You ask about such little issues.”

Hit the nail right on the head.

The exchange hobbled on from there, not necessarily getting worse or better, just ending. When it ended finally, we had another bai ci (string tying) ceremony. I have fewer strings, but since I bonded more with my Surin Mae, these seem to mean more. We ended with a brief dance party.
Mae must have stayed up all night preparing for Saturday’s Green Market. She was still wrapping bags of chili paste, spicing curry, and packing fruits and vegetables, the television blaring steadily in the background, when Elly, Anne, and I turned in for the night. I woke up several times during the night, and from the sound of it, Mae was still at it.
At 4:30, we students woke up to help our families set up and sell at the Green Market before another exchange. The early mornings always contain such an air of excitement, even if tempered with early-morning exhaustion. Watching the sunrise over the rice paddies from the van, while tje group half-napped on the way, it hit me for the thousandth time – my god, I’m in Thailand.
Like all Thai markets, the Green Market is a condensed flurry of activity. However, the Green Market is all organic food, far more environmentally conscious. Perhaps the best part was the passion fruit that Anne and I found and ate. Or the hour-old slaughtered pig-face on the butcher’s table. Or maybe it was seeing all of the food items we’d seen Mae work on for the days we were there on sale. It brought the situation pretty full-circle.
Once again, I’m struck by the communities that we meet on this program, their internal strength and power through solidarity. Not to sound trite, but it’s inspiring. Our group is learning what we can achieve, and coming together, but where we’re at is nowhere near any of these communities yet. I’m also constantly inspired by our group. We’re such a cool group of people, each with individual interests, specialties. We’re teaching each other, whether we know it yet or not. For example, Tess and Elly wrote an article about the landfill incinerator last week. They didn’t need the assignment to do it, they just got riled up by an issue and felt the need to produce this work that may or may not be able to get real awareness about this real issue. Real issues. This is really fun.