Nung kreng mak!!!

GREAT FIRST WEEK OF SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS.

Have been alternately reading huge chunks of the SFS reader, draining my highlighter of its ink, and exploring Chiang Mai's Huay Caew district eating.  Have found many, many delicious hole-in-the-wall places where the menus are only in Thai and the prices are about $0.75 per huge plate of food.  Also, went to a rotee stand (AMAZING THAI DESSERT-Y DOUGH SNACK) where my friend Martha did her Independent Project last year and THEY REMEMBERED HER. Jordan and I managed to ask them about her in Thai, which was awesome.

later that night, was walking back to the apartments with Jordan and Sarah (my other roommate) and we saw a small elephant walking down the street being led by two men.  We followed it for several blocks until finally they gave us some sugarcane to feed it for 20 baht.  When it had eaten all of the sugarcane, it squeaked.  WHY ARE ELEPHANTS SO CUTE.  I hope they were not mistreating it, since it was clearly a tourist trap type thing.  But a tourist trap that was so, so worth it.

Next week we head off on expedition, to Mae Ta (a community which switched from agro-industrial to sustainable organic farming) and then to UHDP, where I think we will learn about ecology.  But I'm not really sure.  It'll be great to get out of the classroom, even though the "classroom" is a patio with a metal corrugated roof.  Also, this week has been one of the most interesting academically in my life....I love the readings, and also the teacher.  Today we had an essay about building a sustainable food system in Thailand due, but it was only supposed to be 5-6 notebook pages long (we handwrite all our papers).  It was so short that it was almost impossible to write, and last night instead of managing my time wisely I went to a salad place, did none of the readings, and then cranked out a few pages while having wine, which may or may not have helped its eloquence, but I looked later that night I finished it and was more or less happy with the outcome.  Which was pretty much what you would expect from a prompt given to us 24 hours before the due date, mandating that we cram history and social planning into roughly a page and a half on a computer.

On Wednesday, went to an aerobics dance class at the Chiang Mai University alumni center with Hannah, Mackenzie, and Kelsey Elwood, which was seriously the most hilarious experience of my life.  There was a series of three dance instructors who wore progressively tight pants and hipthrusted confusingly to earsplitting American pop music in front of a huge crowd of Thai people, who spanned the demographic from young and hip to old and sweaty.  Later that night, made guacamole with the people in my Thai language class for Ajaan Danai, who had never had it before.  He seemed to like it, the operative word being "seemed," though he jokingly clutched his throat when he first tried it, which might not have been a joke at all, I guess.

Today, as I said, was our last day of classroom Agroecology learning.  Seminar was from 9 to 11, and I spent this time in a state of heat-crazed, sleep-deprived delirium.  Tried to contribute to the class discussion a few times, but couldn't really form a coherent sentence, so instead spent class taking hilarious notes with Ted.  Example:

Feeding Cities: Options-
1. Soylent Green
2. Local feudalism
3. Monthly raid on the townsfolk

Toward the end of class, humiliated self by sharing that I had participated in 4-H long ago, except instead of doing something cool like pig racing or whatever other kids do, I did cat 4H.  In truth, didn't even participate in the actual showing of the cat because I had camp on the day of the contest.  I just dragged my pissed-off and terrified cat to a series of embarrassing 4-H meetings where the lady tricked us into thinking our cats would just lay there docilely if we tried to bathe them.  As I recall, my cat not only didn't like being thrust under a running faucet, she probably would have ripped my sister's chest open if she had any claws on her front paws.  Painful memories.

In an hour or so, we will be going to a CP factory, one of Southeast Asia's biggest food conglomerates and touring.  Direct quote from Ajaan Mark: "Try not to fall into the big grinding factory vats. We don't want a repeat of Slaughter-house 5."

Went to a little coffee shop with Anna and Tay Stamm during break to get some coffee since I really only got a few hours of sleep, and when we asked for "Ga-fe yen sai nam tang sai non" (Iced black coffee), the barrista looked at us like we really might be berserk.  Thailand is the land of sugary NesCafe.  It's hard to get away from.  I am pretty sure that the Mocha Chip ice cream Jordan and I bought is comprised of NesCafe, brown dye, and some ice.  But whatever, take what you can.

Stay safe, friends in Ecuador!  Big coup, or attempted coup, from what I heard.  Yikes.

Luv
Emblz