E-fish-ent

Today we went to a fish hatchery.  It really was one of the coolest things ever.

It is run by an NGO called the Foundation for Enablement or something like that, and while I probably won't remember much about what they actually do or what is really sustainable about them until we talk all about it on Monday at school, I know that it was an almost offensively fun day, for being in school.  The fish hatchery raises tilapia, with some carp in there for good measure, I think to ward off monoculture.  We had a tour through the Five Stages of Fish Eggs, which was weird and generally uninteresting.  Then, clothes and all, we hopped into some of the many fish ponds to do one of three things:

a) Move fish from one pond to another.  This is done because they like to clean the ponds (which are fed through a canal) and re-plenish them or something like that.  We move from one huge square net to the next, scooping out big netfuls of fish and scrambling with them across the knee-deep mud and chest-deep water of the pond, up and out of the pond, and over to another pond, where a far more capable Thai worker is waiting to take them from us hastily;

b) Taking a big net through the entire pond after the aforementioned big square nets have been emptied and taken out.  This is accomplished by keeping the lead line (heavy line) of a dredging net (I think) at mudline and holding the floatline above water and walking the net through the pond, lead line first.  Then when at the very end of the pond we toss the lead line over the float line, shake the fish down through to the end, and scoop them out (repeat step A); or

c) GETTING EGGS OUT OF FISHS' MOUTHS FOR INCUBATION. this was SO FUN.  Basically we stood around a net, grabbed fish with nets/our hands, and tried to find females with eggs in their mouths.  When we find one, we gently push its gills and shake the eggs into a fine net to be taken to the hatchery and then toss the female back into the pond.

Also we scrubbed nets, ate fish, and got slimy and filthy.

I went home all by myself today!  I feel that this is a sign that Mae Aun might be seeing me as more than an inept, infantlike creature.  Though it might be a one time thing, because I just realized that Mae Aun and Ben have made a chart on the family's dry-erase board  that signifies who can take me to school and who can pick me up. As in "Monday:  Morning - Ben.  Evening - Mae Aun."

Also, I now have wireless and can use my computer perfectly well.  THANK GOD, because I feel guilty/frustrated using Mae Aun's computer because it probably sucks up energy faster than a Hummer, and the keyboard apparently doesn't agree with Thailand's climate.

There may or may not be more to write.  Life here is really fast paced. I am learning probably a lot of Thai.  I really love this country.  Sorry if this post was supa boring.

LuvEmblz