Harvesting rice= Amazing

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Hi everyone,

As for all of you that know me well enough you would know that I am a big foodie and I enjoy tasting new food, cooking and anything that has to do with food itself. so Yesterday I signed up to go and help with the rice harvest at our school, an annual event that takes place 3 different times of the year.

first is when the old students ready to graduate plant the rice, second when we the students finishing the semester (this is only for the Thai students) come and harvest the rice, and third in May when the new students get here they cook the rice and eat it and it is a symbol of the cycle of life for the students! it is an amazing experience!

Only 10 if us signed up for the event and went off to help at the field, we arrived in a van followed by a lot of people wondering who we were and getting a lot of smiles and giggles. it is always interesting to be the outsider, although in my case I kind of blend in a little more, and be treated differently with more privilege. after we got out the ceremony started with professors and alumni present to help and music was being played by a trio, very melodic and it kind of sounded like Andean music, which this similarity is very interesting.

we were handed this tool and shown how to cut the rice from the stalk and put it behind us and move forward creating a line of rice right behind us. It takes some skill to do this and make sure you get all the rice and don't leave any behind, plus it gets really itchy on your legs and arms and they feel as if they are on fire😊
we all plowed through the field and made it to the other side quickly but its amazing to know that their are people that do this for a living, being hunched down for just an hour is pretty killer and your arms and shoulders are really tired after you finish, this taking into account it was only one field! imagine doing 20 or 100?! after we got out the feeling was incredible we got our share of rice and the you could just imagine that although we are only here temporarily we became part of the bigger picture at school!

After this we all ate some pad thai wrapped in a banana leaf and pretty tasty might I say! Fun fact about Pad Thai is that it is a dish created by king Rama the VII to bring Thai nationalism to its country and for people to value being Thai even more! so it is dish that represents the country and thats the reason it has the word "Thai" attached to it!

I will be posting some pics of the rice harvest soon , take care, and although I am away dont forget that I miss you all!!

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Comments

[Elena]

that sounds like such a great experience! I can't wait to see the pictures of it