APW: Get In There, Trilingual houses, Digging Ponds

 

 

 

Namaskaar,

 

English is diverse, though it lacks a simplicity that provides more depth in conveying what you are trying to say in fewer words.  Living in a trilingual environment this fact resonates with me more.  For example, there are many words in different languages for snow or rain that are more poetic than the everyday word.  Or there are sounds, conjugations, or conjuctions that can be added to the end or part of most words to either alter the meaning or to give respect to the person you are talking to.  In Nepal, in the city, one often says Namaste as a greeting to each other, and in the village, which is more traditional and respectful, you are more likely to hear Namaskaar.

 

So I greet you all, close friends and family, with Namaskaar.  I hope this letter receives you all well and I hope if time permits itself for you to reply, I would love to hear a catch up from your end of the world.  It does not matter the place, the time, the usual or unusualness of the circumstance.  Each day is important, and it is the act of recognizing this that proves this so.  When we are abroad or away from home in an unfamiliar environment, we are drawn to recognize the fact that our time is borrowed and beautiful more easily.

 

While in Nepal, do I think about other places in the world?  Certainly.  Hawai'i, New York, California, Australia, Israel, Spain.  Friends, Family, Landscapes, memories of them all come through like waves.  Do I wish I was anywhere else right now?  Not at all.  This has been a very eventful month, full of many things that I once dreamed about.  I have this hill, Sunapati, behind our house overlooking the village that takes about 30 minutes to walk up to.  I try to go most mornings and catch the sunrise.  I do not fear tigers, though they are said to take the occasional goat.  The colors that are spread across the Himalayas in the distance, towering over the world at 7000 Meters, and the clouds that sweep there way through the valley, are breathtaking (or maybe it is the temperature that steals the carbon dioxide from my exhales).

 

Afterwards I walk back to the house I am living in with one other American and 6 Israelis and we have coffee or tea with buffalo milk which is picked up from a nearby neighbor (nearby is relative, everything here is a good walk away) each morning, and if hungry, a delicious, simple breakfast to start the day.  We are living in a village that takes around 8 hours to get to Kathmandu, through walking, jeep, walking, public buses, microbus.  And though we bring some vegetables with us, most is bought, traded, or gifted from what is available in our gardens, neighbors, or the  local Pasal (shop).  The Pasal, on a good day, as in there is no strike in Nepal, will have eggs, flour, rice and lentils.  We eat what is in season as far as fruits and vegetables go, and we have enough to make the traditional Nepali meal, Daal Baat, eaten by locals twice a day (Rice, Daal (soupy lentils), Tarkaari (Vegetables cooked in turmeric, curry, coriander, salt, garlic, chili).  And when ingredients are available, we will have Saag (cooked greens) and Archar (spicy chutney flavored differently depending on what vegetables or fruits you use).  Also corn flour and white flour is available, and with our Israeli "wonder pot," besides chapati, we have been able to bake Corn Bread, Challahs, No Knead Breads, Pitas, Cakes and more. 

 

I have been eating extremely well in a remote place that is not "economically thriving," though the quality of life is high.  The educational system, job opportunity, women's rights are not very developed and we are here not to change tradition, but to assist in bettering the villagers in holistic ways.  We are working with the youth, the women, the schools and the farmers. 

 

So far in Agriculture we are forming 2 new groups to help set up satelite farms and provide trainings.  Another group we have already begun trainings.  And the last group we have set up a demo farm showing different trials of traditional vs. modern planting.  We are practicing and training in the benefits of crop rotation, growing diversity, spacing and watering, building nurseries, applying compost and liquid manures, organic insecticides, and animal husbandry.  We have tapped into a local spring and have brought and dug a pipe to the farm so we no longer have to carry buckets from a stream about 150 meters away.  We have dug out a pond where we will install a plastic liner and fill up.  From this pond we will set up drip irrigation and share the benefits of water conservation so crops can still be watered during the dry season.  Right now, the practice of agriculture of cultivating a field involves plowing it with buffalo, scattering your seeds, and watering once.  Plants grow here, though the diversity will benefit both the soil and nutrition of the Nepalese families.

 

Our kitchen garden's seeds are sprouting, the bamboo fence is mostly keeping away the chickens, and in a few months we'll be eating out of it.  Without trying or explaining, we have seen a few plots copying ours with the same fence and design of raised beds.  The Nepali culture is fascinating and incredible and it would take a very long time to attempt to explain what I have experience and learned from the few months of being here.  They are a simple and warm and curious people.  Well rooted in tradition, in religion (both Hindu and Buddhist), very hardworking, and a lot of smiles.  We have been here for multiple festivals and have felt very welcomed as becoming a part of the community.  There is a language barrier, but with what we have learned, we are able to communicate the basics and non-verbal communication can go very deep too.

 

Besides the Nepalese, the plants, and the landscape (November has been beautiful and clear, the Himalayas are visible each day), the culture that the Israelis bring here is also amazing.  It is a strong community, with a great knowledge and pride of their food, history, music.  They bring their home with them wherever they go, and I am happy to have landed in this trip among them.  Shabbats celebrated each Friday night into Saturday have been the best food and laughs. 

 

Our group has become a family, and when I return from Kathmandu back to the village in under a week, I will feel like I am going home.  To a simple, quiet, hardworking life where everything I do and experience around me I will witness or feel the affects of.

 

Happy trails all.

 

Excerpt of what I wrote in the village:

 

Nearly two weeks into Nepalese village life.

No exception to the rest of the world,

Time behaves in its own way here.

 

Major differences between the western world and here:

 

A mind perceiving this region of the world from a developed culture may say this place is backwards, or rather behind in relation to the rest of the world.   Which would be accurate, as Nepal still had its doors closed to the world as most of the surrounding the countries and continents took quantum leaps forwards in the last few centuries.  Though behind in time does not constitute an undeveloped human (not without health issues that could be remedied by modern implements but where do you draw the line).  One whose path has not been exposed to the abundance of choices that lead to both fortune and fame means little.  To distinguish between righteousness and sin, good and evil, and approach the day with wide, caring eyes is very present here.  To think critically and try to understand a situation with depth by cultivating your mind through education is another matter.

 

Consider this:

 

The wheel (outside of the few jeeps and trucks that ride these mountainous rocky "roads"), risen bread, and the bucket or shovel are not visibly seen here.  Fields are plowed by buffalo.  There is one tool for all of agriculture work. Women cut and carry animal feed using a woven basket on their back and strapping loads three times as big as them around their necks to their mud homes.  The same goes for carrying water from local streams (some families have begun to tap into local springs.  The language, according to English standards, is missing more than a few words.  We are here, with our ways and our past and our knowledge of the outside world.  We are privileged with opportunity and we must be culturally sensitive to what we expose them to with our culture.

 

Result:

 

Simplicity.  Truth.  Buddhism.  Elements of the Caste System.  No one is homeless in the village.  Hard work.  Eating the same meals.  Close friends.  Close family. 

 

My perspective:

 

Warm welcome.  Beautiful mornings, 6,000-7,000 Meter Himilayan Mt. Range to the north.  Cold nights, open sky loaded with stars.  Curiosity all around.

APW: Uncharted Territories

There is no short, accurate way to sum up my last month’s experience.  I can toss words around the blender, knead them into something that will build and become more active over time, splash them around like a child’s first time in the ocean, or sit in this room, unthink, and attempt uninterrupted flow between environment, mind, fingers, and page - throwing in the variable of Time and Emotional state of author and reader whilst engaging..

No wait time to climb this temple. 
Being in such close proximity to monkeys lately, anywhere from 15 chewing on the freshly applied compost to working their way across electrical lines like trapeze artists, I reflect on evolution, what is a civilization, and how lucky we both are to have fingers!   

Walking with a friend to Swayumbunath at night, she kindly and fiercely converses in Nepali to avoid paying for a ticket to enter, whipping out the NGO card.  We climb to the stupa, walk around clockwise, admire the stones, the curves, the angles, the way the monkeys climb up the prayer flags disregarding their ‘holiness’ or paying respect in their own ways, and find our way to a vista of the city.  30 years ago this was a forest, besides the very old temple that we stand on, and now we see it is developed with lights and houses and people and thoughts from the outside.  All these sounds, colors, shapes, smiles, then and now, a feast for the senses.  It wasn’t long ago that Kathmandu and the whole of Nepal denied access from the outside world.  Now, the western world emerges into this sealess region of Asia with tremendous water resources.   It arrives and disrupts and blends what was into what is.  It has diverted and confused some aspects of the culture, built, develop, change, help, and stirs the pot on low heat and wonders what will come out.

This, of course, is not black and white.  These concepts of globalization, development, quality of life, poverty, growing your own nation, assisting other nations, define the history of the world and its people.  We are shaped now by these actions of the past, when hunters and gatherers ran out of food, when agriculture became a practice and settled communities, when communities grew curious of the world outside, when we began to no longer be satisfied with our needs of the present.  Any graphs of population and development display a slow steady growth line up a slightly bumpy desert trail over the last 10,000 years.  The last 150 comparatively display the Dead Sea to the summit of Mt. Everest.  Check out the movie “Home” if you would like to learn about the state of the natural world as a result of this influx in ideas, people, greed, consciousness, diversity and belief.

What I am engaged in now is not “Saving the World” or “Changing the Planet” on any scale.  And I wouldn’t be so arrogant to presume that my life isn’t being benefited by these volunteer experiences.  We are coming into a country where opportunity simply stated isn’t the same.  It is much more difficult for Nepalese to leave their own country and it is fairly easy to enter here from the outside.

We are in a nation where there hasn’t been an election in over 5 years, not from Nepal’s lack of trying (Maoists and other variables have consistently disrupted this process), and there hasn’t been a clear ruling party since the King died.  There are over 140 candidates of varying political philosophies being represented for the next election, this November 2013. 

In Nepal, there are over a million men working abroad in gulf countries because of the western presence (or pressure) and its values (without connoting good or bad) of money and development.  As a result of this high population of migrant workers (generally happening in poor conditions with little compensation), an average of 5 to 7 Nepali’s day are being sent home in a body bag.  In Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city, the main river was drinkable thirty years ago and is now filled with garbage.   We are in a nation where the statistics of income, malnourishment, and abuse are shocking.   The caste system is still in effect, though becoming slowly more modern, and progressing still.  I am no expert on Nepal.  I am not even an amateur of knowledge.  I’ve only been here a month and I’m relating both facts and stories of those shared by Nepalis and westerners who have lived here from 5 to 30 years.  They speak truths and you can see it in their eyes and hands and feet.

The boy on the street without family asks me not for money but for a biscuit, as he gestures his hand to his mouth. He is not alone in feelings of helplessness.  There are those who come to the city for work as shopkeepers, transportation workers, stone breakers, brick builders, most all of them leaving their family in the village.  They are hoping to live a life where they can strive for their dreams by making money or pursuing an education.  The city life is very difficult and is without the promise of making enough money for oneself to survive, let alone extra to provide for their family back home.  Those who come to the city for work are not just men. I am speaking too of 16, 12, or even boys under the age of 10 coming to the city alone.

Nepal is mostly Hindu with pockets of Buddhism throughout the country.  Buddha was born here, in Lumbini, and offered his hand to a tiger, in Namo Buddha (where I was very lucky to see a sunrise and explore the monastery earlier this week).  Nepal is vivid in color, smells, and life.  Quality of life and eastern values are different here, though we meet an interesting intersection.

The fact of the present is we are here, and we can openly acknowledge that we do not know the future. Are we supposed to change their culture?  Take away traditions?  Teach them English so they can function and be successful in this modern world?  These are questions that the NGO I am working with asks.  TBT does not enter blindly and it doesn’t leave hastily.  It works holistically with social justice, from creating and establishing youth movements to be sustained by the Nepali people and Nepali staff.  TBT also develops women’s empowerment groups, teacher’s clubs, and sets up demonstrative organic farms to display methods of growing a diversity of healthy, nutritious crops. The model of the demo farm is simple.  Share knowledge of growing a diversity of vegetables, practice crop rotation, and utilize all that the land has given us without waste (making compost and biofertilizers from buffalo manure).   It includes training, trial and research, and a phase out period to help ensure its sustainability.

We aren’t changing the country.  We are working in small villages and in the cities, along with the thousands of other NGOs, and have been doing so for 6 years.  The NGO is headed by an incredible man, and staffed by extremely competent, professional and amazing individuals.  The group of 23 comes from different walks of life, countries, and ranges in age from 22 to 51.  The open discussions are stimulating and engaging.  The videos, activities, trainings have been exciting and challenging , both intellectually and emotionally.  I could write pages about each day of the last month, detailing stories of Shabbat dinners to microbus rides en route to holy rivers where bodies are burned to guitar and songs on rooftops to the amazing race in Kathmandu.  I will refrain for now, though the 3 days of living in a Nepali Village with a family of women does deserve and will find its place in future writings. 

I write all this now before I leave to Ramechhap.  I will be living a simple life with 7 other volunteers.  We will be together for the next 3 months, in the Nepal winter at 1900 meters without running water, heat, and electricity, about an hour walk from a large vegetable market.  We have great ambitions and I will update what we build and grow in the future.  As well as documenting our interactions as a group and my personal experience  with the Nepalis in the area. Our understanding of the Nepali language is improving and we have many life experiences that prepare us for this, though there are strong elements of the new for all of us.  There is a medical student, a veterinarian, a public health graduate, a nutritionist, a social worker, two teachers and leaders of communities, and myself.  We are from Israel, California, New York.  We all have different reasons and forces that drew us here and we will soon learn a lot more about each other.  Through this community of orientation, the group I will live with in Helmo, and all interactions with Nepal as a country and its people, I consider this:

What persists is the question of giving and receiving, and how one gives and receives.  As we enter this village that has never had a large group of westerners enter previously into its existence, I will be conscious of a negotiation of choices, this harmonious balance.   I begin by listening, giving myself to the culture, attempting glimpses of understanding.  I hope to be with the good intention of learning and living before thoughts of changes or improvements or western values emerge.  So here I go, walking humbly, open to whatever may come.

And I end with what I wrote about Daisin, the 15 day festival in October where a million people left Kathmandu to go their home village  to be with their family and celebrate life.

It would be best to first mention the row of taxis with the hoods all popped up, maybe 30 in a row, all being blessed for Daisin (Hindu/Nepali nationwide festival). The incenses are burning, the flowers are scattered helplessly across the engine, the bumper, the earth.  Elegant plates with flower, herb, incense arrangements are placed as offerings for each one just above the bumper. The bamboo swings are erected, children are flying 8 or more meters in the air in pairs, and the kites reflecting the colors of Joseph's dream coat are soaring with the eagles.

The streets are crowded, to put it lightly. Music, chickens, goats, ducks, cows, buffalo, pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes, cars, tuk tuks, microbuses and buses are making their way across town to the rhythm of Daisin. The Buddhist and Hindu gods share history in specific regions and the integration of architecture, art, temples, caste system are fascinating to me.

The colors of the city are like the stimulation of the classroom, with passionate Israelis throwing ideas around on topics of social justice, poverty, globalization like a food fight in grade school.  People amaze me.

I walked today by a river where they cremate bodies. From there I walked up through a large temple and into a forest and was surrounded by large trees and interesting looking plants and wild smells. I sat for awhile watching the monkeys, either playing or resting, or sleeping with their baby on its lap.

I sat with some holy men from India. I took a microbus with 40 other Nepalis and found my way to my present home in Swayambhu. Shabbat is just around the corner. I love these long weeks knowing there will be a special day with a special meal, and great rest, and laughing and sharing stories. This group is already more than friends with each other.

There are holy places, holy people and then there is us, living these moments. Life's only certainty is it is here in front of us, like morning winter breath, beckoning us not to miss it.

APW: Counting

1 deep breath
2 weeks into the 14^th Cohort of Tevel B’Tzedek
2 Shabbats celebrated (stories, alcohol, games, songs, resting!)
3 weeks into life in Nepal
3 Trips to the Swayambunath, the Monkey Temple (hundreds of monkeys around the house and temple)
10 Daal Bhat’s eaten
25 amazing people brought to live in a house together for a month and then to be dispersed in both urban and rural sites to assist in areas of sustainable development
49 Nepali's and one Matt crammed into a 17 seater microbus (no goats on this one)
100s of diverse species on the street for the festival Daisin, ranging from chickens, ducks, goats, cows, bikes, motorbikes, pedestrians and cars, with no separation of lanes
1000s of new sites, smells, sounds, shocks, horrors, beauties, tastes, experiences in Asia

Innumerable things to be grateful for, to name a few

family, friends of the present, friends of the past, freedoms, food diversity, past experiences, ability to travel, recent education and stimulation, communities I've been part of, people I've worked with, teachers, plants, the sun, breath, my feet

I could make a longer list of human rights violations, tendencies of corporations, failures of the government, inequalities across the globe, inequalities within a small town, energy wastes, military spending, purposefully unsustainable and harmful practices, media cover ups, ludicrous regulations that benefit the few and limit the rest 'in the name of democracy', and the like...

Instead I'll check how the bread is rising and fall asleep deeply after a long and wonderful day.

APW: Trips to Places You Dreamed Of

Nepal.  I've been truly excited in the airport a handful of times in my life.  Going to Australia and Hawai'i for the first time for example.  Generally feelings of anticipation, reflection, uncertainty float around with the butterflies in my stomach.  This time, as I walked through Delhi Airport International Terminal to the gate I was boarding, and approached the area where all others were waiting to get on a plane to Nepal, I was beaming. 

Seeing all the trekkers, diverse group of international travelers, Nepalese returning home, and beautiful vibrant faces of others excited about this trip became a very contagious feeling in the air.  The plane ride was smooth and short, and after 5 flights and 20+ hours on the bus the last 16 days, this destination felt very welcoming.  And though I've never been, and perhaps because I have no ticket to leave right now, I had this strange feeling that I was coming home.

I stayed my first 3 days in Thamel in the touristic, crowded, haggling section of Kathmandu.  Rode on a motorbike in the madness of the Far East traffic.  Spoke with Nepali Sarangi (beautiful Nepali violin like instrument) players and makers, wandered the streets at marveled at all the gear shops, and talked story with most shopkeepers and children and elderly who approached me on the street. This is a very apparently developing country and there are some terrible, unpublicized, practices that occur here.  However, The culture is very friendly, and sharing, and always smiling.  Ma Nepali seekday chu (I am learning Nepali), and it is going well.

After 3 days, I met up with the volunteer program Tevel B'Tzedek that I'll be working with the next 4 months.  After 2 full days, the group already has bonded and knows each other well.  The first month entails orientation and training and the next 3 are going to villages and working in the fields of Youth, Education, Women's Empowerment and Agriculture.  They work with a partner Nepali NGO in establishing holistic sustainable and realistic solutions.  They are generally involved for 3-5 years in an area and the planned structure includes a phase out period where a single staff member oversees the maintenance of the established systems until the Nepalese can self-govern.  I will be focusing on Agriculture and helping establish a demonstrative organic farm in a rural village that has not yet had contact with a developing country.

I'm having a wonderful experience here thus far with the Nepalis and Israelis (two new languages to learn!).  I moved into a house in Swambayu, Kathmandu, home of the Swambaynuath, The Monkey Temple, named after all the monkeys that inhabit and swing and steal food from around the area.  (Of course, the monkeys are all reincarnations of 15th century Lama's head lice).  It is on a forested hill with beautiful mountain views, and I can see the top of the temple from my bedside window.  If I step onto the balcony I can also see water buffalo grazing below.  There are extraordinarily large Buddha statues and Hindu Gods a 5 minute walk away.

Nepal santi ra dere ramro cha.  Nepal is peaceful and very beautiful.
I am grateful to be here, to learn, to assist and to give back.

I hope you all are following the paths that your heart leads you to.

Namaste.

APW: Long Days

How to describe my last week from Korat, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand in 30 minutes before my internet time and money for the evening diminishes?

I consider listing all the events, emotions, and experiences that have transpired to the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” but my brother beat me to it.

Instead, we bring on the prose.

A cocktail of local vibes, exuberant tourism, misplaced debit cards, durian smelling cramped public transport, the only tall farang on the bus, bicycle cruising through millennia old temple cities, ‘you buy this, we make you discount, good good price,’ six on a motorbike, twelve in a tuk-tuk!, joyous hospital visits from Thai moms, Thai volleyball world champs, Cambodian hangovers, and ono grinds all around.

I relate a sequence of events to symbolize the week.

An 11 hour bus ride from Siem Reap to Bangkok.  2 hours of which are spent at the Cambodian – Thailand border, where they could have filmed Indiana Jones.  Many wear protection on their face from breathing in the dust.  Market vendors selling baguettes, amok fish, grilled kabobs over open flame, fresh fruits, dirty politics, all cheap cheap.  Lots of scams at this border, best to arrange transportation ahead of time.   Individual persons carry truck loads of concealed goods utilizing the mother of invention, the wheel, and its balance.  No camels or elephants at this crossing though I wouldn’t have blinked an eye, except for the fact that Durians, Mangoes, Pineapples and Camels generally don’t live together. 

Besides drivers on the one side of the road in Poipet and on the other in Aranya Prathet, the sense and culture between Kingdoms is drastically different.  Strange to compare traveling the same distance in America and arrive from the East to West end of North Dakota.  Came across many different nationalities and accents thus far, though very few Americans.

I arrive in Bangkok after the exciting ride of weaving in and out traffic, ignoring street lines, and chasing the buffaloes off the road into rice fields.  I stretch out.  All in good order after the 17 people (and the unfortunate tag-along Durian) pour out of the van at Khao San Rd, old city Bangkok (tourist and backpacker hub).  I link up with two Germans and head to a well recommended guesthouse for 200 baht a night, in a quiet, less touristic 10 minute walk from Old City.

We check into a non-computerized guesthouse by an older Thai guy not budging from the encroaching modern world, drop our bags, and check out the street vendors.  First thing I do in Bangkok: grab an appetizer of scorpions and crickets (the texture raises your awareness that you are eating an insect, though the flavor is masked well by the shoyu-chili-lime-crispiness).  Then I enjoy the best Pad Thai of my life made in front of me in a steaming hot wok, with 8 different toppings to add on afterwards from 4 variations of hot peppers to peanuts to dried shrimp.  Did I mention that this large portion cost 30 baht, equivalent to 1 US Dollar?  Afterwards we stuffed our bellies a little bit more with a banana and chocolate pancake, cooked on hot plate to order, with the classic Thai-style addition of sweet condensed milk.

So after the day of traveling 500k, I filling up my belly, taking a hot shower, and sleeping in a clean guesthouse, I spend under 20 US Dollar.  I almost got the massage too that night, though I saved it for the next day, keeping my average below 20 instead of below 25 USD.  It is no wonder why SE Asia is so widely visited by Europeans, Asians and Australians. 

I am leaving Thailand tomorrow morning to Nepal.  And though I’ve been reading Buddhist texts and learning from some amazing folk here, I am not going to distance myself and emotions from the ‘I-Self’ just yet, at least not as a writer.  I have had some beautiful experiences here in this country on the farm in rural Isaan, in the breathtaking temples of Bangkok, and the smells and smiles on the street from my basic efforts at the Thai tonal language.  If I come back here after Nepal,  I would love to spend some time in the North, visit Pun Pun and Pai, have a lengthier stay at Rak Tamachat, see friends who I’ve made in the brief time here, and possibly check out Laos and Vietnam.  I would be very pleased with that path if it were placed before me. 

That being said, what is front of me now is Nepal.  I smile knowing its existence and my path cross tomorrow after all-time and no-time.  I accept the unknowing future, and can only take the self that I’ve become to brave the road ahead.  I share with you the (paraphrased) wisdom of a Cambodian Tuk-Tuk Driver, who is no stranger to war, hardship, and the joys of this beautiful life. 

‘There are accidents in this world, and there is too, good all around.  Us meeting is so very lucky.  Until next time, I will see you when you see me, and good luck to you and good luck to me!

In both a literal and figurative sense, every time we had a drink of beer all 5 of us would raise our glasses together and say “Chuk Moi’e,” which translates to “Cheer Up!”

As Jeanette Winterson writes in the Passion, ‘I’m telling you stories, trust me.'

APW #3 Thailand, Rak Tamachat

I am in Thailand now at a Community called Rak Tamachat.  

I flew from Manilla to Thailand with the directions to the farm.  Okay, I have my mission.  What I don't have, is any substantial knowledge of Thai culture, transit, language or other foreign communication.  Easy.  Besides being laughed at, or laughed with, a few times, I was able to go from the plane, to train, to cab, to bus, to tuk tuk truck, to farm in nearly the fastest way public transportation can take you there, though not necessarily the cheapest.  Possibly got ripped off by the Tuk Tuk Driver for a few hundred baht (around $5).

All in all, smooth sailing and beautiful farm to land at and start my Asia travels.  Rak Tamachat (Love Naturally) is a young holistic, permaculture learning center, that is in the process of converting a conventional 75 acre corn and rice farm to a permaculture designed sustainable community.  They have planted 10,000 trees and built many impressive natural structures in under 5 years.  I came here to learn, work, observe, and take a 3 day natural buildings course. 

I rise early at sunrise to catch catfish in a throw net and cook it in a rocket stove for dinner.  I help sculpt an elephant being preyed on by a two headed snake into the corner of a cob wall in the composting toilet bathroom.  We mix tapioca starch with our plaster (clay and sand) to paint a water resistant rendering as a finishing touch. I become inspired after watching Garbage Warriors, the lectures and application of natural building to build and design my own home.

I share Awa brought from Hawai'i (thank you good Conor) and mix a tea after we share a traditional Thai dinner.  Som tum (green papaya salad), kaeng khiao wan (green curry) over jasmine rice (grown in the region).  We have a slice of western life here with speakers, a billiards table, and stainless steel kitchen.  The owner of the farm is from Louisiana, and has lived in SE Asia the last 12 years, now with a Thai wife and three children.  It is an incredible piece of land with beautiful buildings, art, and lots of food for the future.  I admire the gift he has given the world.  He intends to start a strong community and share his studies with Bill Mollison and host PDC's (Permaculture Design Courses) regularly throughout the year.

It is nearing the end of monsoon season and I retire to my tent tonight, currently under a roof, with the sound of the rain dripping against the lake, with crickets, toads and mosquitos buzzing.  I hear it all and feel safe, comfortable, grateful to be able to be having these experiences.  I am writing down recipes, taking pictures and documenting with notes and blog entries what I am learning. 

What an inspiration this last week has been.  I don’t accredit it to the space from my life on Hawai’i or the introduction of new ideas, concepts, cultures into my life.  Though all of this helped, it was the personal choice to make changes into my life, and surrounding myself in an environment with the intention of learning.  We make these choices every day, with every bite and every thought .  Here is a great TedTalk, from a Thai builder, grower, and seed saver (all simple), that talks about the simplicity of making life easier for yourself. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21j_OCNLuYg

 

Grateful to have met you all in different walks of life, I'll be thinking of you on my next trip, to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  More soon.

 

APW: Travel Blog #2 - Honolulu to Manilla to Rak Tamachat

Design a life that makes you happy and stimulated.  Create this in a sustainable way that includes abundance for you to give back for all the gifts we are given throughout this life. Live.  Learn.  Live.

Grateful to be alive, breathing country air, choosing to be on the road again.  My spirit has in a few short days begun to feel more calm and free.  The road in front of me leads into the illusive horizon.  I recognize how I’ve changed since the last time I engaged in travel.  I recognize how I will continue to grow and be different, though at the core, I will always be the boy who fell asleep face first into a plate of spaghetti.

I begin my travel, inevitably, with lessons to learn.  Immediately tested with expectations, and how to be patient with your path, and to not get hung up on what you think will be, because there is no true knowing.  All of this translates to: I miss my flight to Bangkok.  It is becoming an unskilled art of mine, to (un)intentionally not take preplanned flights to places.    And having familiarity with this feeling, I chose to avoid feelings of annoyance and disappointment with the expense and the adapted schedule.  So I sat at the airport, accepted the circumstances, and instead enjoyed another 2 days on Hawai’I, exploring the island of Oahu for the first time.    I ventured to the north shore, met a permaculturist from New Zealand on the bus, met some world travelers at hostel I stayed at, hung out on the beach at night, and took one last swim in the Hawaiian seas.

Accept the challenges and changes with introduce themselves into your lives.  Even if they appear disagreeable, invite them in and learn from them.  Do not reject the circumstances that have been placed at the table in front of you.  Rearrange your ingredients, get creative, and cook up something wonderful.

Food for thought:

In the two gifted days on Oahu, I was able to talk story about organic farming with Oahu and Kauai Natives, along with a boy from El Paso, the customs security agent, Israeli and German Travelers.  Previously when traveling I was an observer and listener, now I feel I have something worth sharing.   I will share what I have learned about healing the soil, for the benefit of the plant, the humans eating and breathing, and the ecosystem.   It all fits perfectly, into a natural ecosystem that this world has distanced itself from.  Who knows what any of these conversations lead to?  I was on a whim when I traveled to Hawai’i on a great friend’s suggestion 4 years ago.  We never know what we will become, only that every influence in our lives nurtures growth.

I will not preach, and I let most ideas be, but when a philosophy has the potential to harm the natural world and its inhabitants, it can spread like wildfire, I will stand up and have a go at balancing the larger forces out there.  I will do what I can and find my peace with the rest.

Incredible Person of the Day Award:

On my flight to the Philippines I sat next to a Chef in Waikiki.  He visits his family at home in the Philippines every three months.  What a beautiful responsibility he fulfills.  He told me is so grateful to be able to work away and come home and provide for his wife in children.  Not many are so fortunate to be able to provide for their family and live their passion.  I admired greatly this man named Jazz.

View from the roadside #1: bench at Waikiki Sunset

There was man offering directions and laughing the pigeon’s ineptitude of receiving them.  He did this for hours, waving his hands wildly, raising his eyebrows to the sky.  He was incredulous and mocking, using the rolled up newspaper to slap his hand in disbelief or direct the pigeon towards the ocean, as if that is where his destination lay.

He performed 10 meters in front of me, while next to me lies my backpack: my only belonging and reliable portable home for the next 6 months.  Next to my backpack sat an elderly Japanese woman, a real stunner.  Equipped with silky gray hair, a gentle thin smile and an elegant oriental summer dress. 

The trolley on the street rings behind, footsteps flood the street, all shapes sizes and colors, a woman plays ukulele to the ocean, which plays percussion for her.  The music of the city.  A city both beautiful and contrived.  With splatters of Hawaiian, Polynesian, International and Metropolitan culture all mixed and spewed on shore from belly of the humpback whale.  A culture that breeds pro surfers, executives wearing ties, bikini models, homeless haircuts, Polynesian dresses and all walks of life.  Similar to Las Vegas for me, Honolulu is a city that does not belong in its landscape.  And it is strange, having lived in such close proximity to this metropolis, but not seeing it face-to-face until now, to feel this way.  We are 2400 miles away from a great landmass, and it is both strange and beautiful, to say a hui hou to Hawai’i from Hana to Waikiki.

I spend my last day here waking up with the sun on the North Shore.  I arrive by bus to the Bishop Museum and then make my way to Waikiki.  Through the long uneventful hours of riding the bus I sit and admire the landscape and introspect on the idea of spending time with oneself.  I have been tossed around the island last year like a rag doll, though this was all my choosing.  I am choosing now to remove myself from the world of clutter and distraction and focus on nurturing myself and relationships and communities around me.  I live with the undesirable sacrifices I made last year. 

Back in Waikiki, a man in robes walks by carrying a torch and touching the flame to the tikis across the boardwalk.  A woman next to me tells me she is unable to write about more songs cause they all end up with pain.  Can’t escape the ‘he-done-me-wrong’ loops.  I offer her a smile and hints of forgiveness.  The sun drops a few inches closer to the horizon, the hula dancers are in swing, and the hokulea and company of twinkling stars awaits beyond the darkening blue sky.  A German with a beer belly, white tennis shoes and an ironed aloha shirt sits down on the other side of me and snorts.  A big smile spreads across his face.  He loves his wife.  He loves his life.  Isn’t America beautiful?

200 years ago who would have thought this would become of Waikiki?  On this trip across continents and seas I will be measuring how times travels across this modern world.    And how the inhabitants of these lands balance its influence.  What do I know?  I don’t lay claims to know more or anything.  I am here to observe, speculate, grow, seek and participate.

As I consider all this, the man arguing with the pigeon returns.  Frustrated, laughing and smiling, I love it all.

 

Soon to come:

My journey to Rak Tamachat in Thailand.
Overview of my natural buildings course.
Ethics regarding the introduction of a non-native species into an environment.

APW: Beginning a Travel Blog

In a sense, this has always been a travel blog.  I journey and write along the way.  However, this is a more intentional phase where I will be traveling and documenting my experiences along the way.

72 hours from now I will be waiting in Honolulu Airport to board a plane traveling west to what western civilization calls the east.  It will be my first journey to a world rooted in tradition that extends beyond the reach of British Imperialism (some of it), and further back than the days of Columbus.  I will be observing, participating, engaging with an open mind, knowing I may be relearning the basics, such as breathing, eating, walking, smiling.  I am entering this new world in a state of transition.  I am not wiping my slate clean, though I am beginning again with an experientially developed foundation.  As cliffs are formed by the prevailing winds, beating rain and the waves of time, I too have been molded by the natural forces of this earth; the events that I have not foreseen or imagined, that have all befallen me while I enact growth on this little rock. The cycling of randomness, the balance that surrounds it, and the nurturing within it.   I am a pawn, I am the chessboard, I am the stillness before the storm.

I am many things and I have lived many lives, and I am seeking not to forget them, but to simplify them into a state of present awareness, where I can engage with others as a better, more helpful self.   My journey is one of learning, and giving back.  I am indescribably grateful for all the people who I have crossed paths with and the impacts each has had on my life.  From the friends growing up in New York to camping trips in the desert and the mountains, from September holidays with family to the mentors who have guided me without trying, from the island dwellers who have humbled me with their good natures and large hearts to the amazing people I have met in just the last month and have shared experiences that I will never forget. 

I am ready to create new loops and finds pace from the persisting ones to help gain perspective and move towards attaining a state of peace with all that has and will transpire.  I am leaving with this intention for personal growth and engagement with cultures I have not yet immersed myself in.   I travel to seek balance between the diverse peoples and places of this world, to note the similarities, and to see how sustainable cooperative systems can be applied across oceans, or simply shared with neighbors.   I will be growing food, and learning how the Nepalese and Thai sustain there ways of life (and thrive) without all the advancements of the encroaching modern world.

I begin this travel blog, still on Maui, not fully ready for flight.  The moment I physically step on the plane and watch the islands become clouds as I ascend towards the atmosphere will cement that all this is real and is happening.   There will be postcards and pictures to follow, and new feelings and sensations to describe.  My eyes are wide and my heart is beating and and I will return, someday, soon myself.

APW: 2013 Still Here, Where'd It Go?

There are thousands of ways to measure time.  What a year it has been.  Some elements of this past year that were previously constants in my life have slipped by without awareness.   Other events have occurred last week and already feel foreign, as if they transpired months ago.   And then, with a few deep breaths and reflection, I am able to recall past relationships and adventures so vividly that I feel the same breeze that blew in years ago. 

We all share this space, this dirt, this air and though we may be on similar wavelengths, we all individually perceive how the day and the seasons pass through our own lens, with our own memories and experiences.  I haven’t consciously not updated this blog.  I have found myself engaged in other experiences, and this was one of the many elements of my life that has slipped.

This will be an update more than a meditation.  A catch up from my end, and I would love to hear how your year is going too.  I have much to share, and I am finally giving myself time tonight, to "finish my thoughts" and reflect more wholly with consideration to the past and the present.  I've been in such a state of hurry, or rather living in a focused and planned present, that it hardly allows time for self-growth, reflection and carefully considered questioning of the day and the moment.

I am guilty too of finding myself lost in moments where I do not appreciate the beauty of the ocean, the wind, the trees, the stars, the sunset.  Too “engaged with work” that when I look up and see the beautiful starry night, I have entirely neglected the sunset and transition of first star to thousand, one of my favorite times to be conscious of the world outside.

What has been existing for me is the meditation of completing the giant task list, problem solving along the way, falling asleep and repeating.  I’m on a 3 week bender of working from waking to sleeping (while taking better care of myself than earlier this year, with good nutrition, and often though not always good nights of sleep).    I will persist this pattern until August 26th when I head up to Haleakala for a 5 day camping trip.  First few days with friends and then some alone time.  I will soon be going on a trip that will draw me away from Maui for the longest period of time since 2010.  And I am very much ready for it, or at least I think I am.

So here I go, being more mindful about my thoughts and writings, as I recognize I have not treated my last year with that same sense of awareness and intention.  It has been full of spontaneity, and often disregard for myself in light of the bigger picture, which are neither good nor bad qualities.  I’d suggest they are necessary in this life, though they require a balance.

My work with the Community Work Day, now Malama Maui Nui, a Maui non-profit that focuses on the resilience, beautification, sustainability and restoration of culture and food security on Maui nui is coming to a healthy completion.  We just had a large workday at the greenhouse with 12 volunteers, about 8 from Hana, and it went excellent.   It was well planned and well executed.  We did a complete transformation of the gardens outside and the greenhouse inside.  Did a lot of work on plant hygiene and plant propagation.  All the plants in the greenhouse are grown for school and community gardens.  I am feeling more  comfortable each week handing this over to very capable hands.  I believe it will continue its path of maintenance, steady growth, and thriving plants.

The nursery business has been a larger learning experience than I could have imagined.  I have been running it the last few weeks without Jason, my business partner.  I now have a full grasp of the operation from production to finances to marketing to administration.  I have learned some, (though so much more to learn!) of the Hawaiian landscape, made many great connections, learned about budgeting and scheduling what it entails to run a business.  Though it has been a roller coaster year, I am grateful to have seen it through to this point.  I am taking space from it after creating many sustainable systems, where it will continue to grow.  In the last year we have annexed and established infrastructure in two new growing spaces (had to establish one twice after a flash flood), and one 4000 sq ft. greenhouse filled with healthy plants.  We now have benches in multiple retail stores (Home Depot and True Value) that sell Certified Organic Vegetable and Herb Starts (only nursery on Hawai'i to do so!) and Organic Edible Landscaping and native plants.  We have and are growing many fruit trees and beneficials as well and I am proud to contribute in this way to taking small steps towards food security on the island.

I'm slowly getting ready for Nepal, where I’ll be doing a 4 month program with Tevel B’tzedek, an Israeli Non-Profit that focuses on Environment, Agriculture, Education, and Women’s Empowerment.  I am hoping to be involved in the agricultural end of things, helping set up demonstrative community organic gardens in rural areas of the country.  I have not yet mentally prepared myself, as it never feels real to me until I step off the plane.  Then it all tends to come as quite a shock.  I have recently decided my path before going to Nepal which I am greatly excited about.  I'm taking 10 days on Hawai'i before flying over, which will allow me to catch up with friends and hikes and campgrounds and beaches that I've neglected this last year.  And possibly to make a trip over to Lana'i.  Then I'll be flying to Thailand for 2 weeks to visit permaculture farms, take a natural buildings course, and visit temples and mountains, and of course, eat local grinds.  I fly to Kathmandu 2 days before the program starts and will be in a great state to immerse myself in the new environment.  I am very willing to give all of myself towards something, and I prefer to do that in a focused area, instead of the scattered state I am currently in, growing plants in 3 towns spread over 2 hours of driving time on the island.

I have done a recent 5 day cleanse and feel much better, which has been essential to getting the amount of work done that I desire to do.  And though I have lots of planning and prep still to do for my trip,  I have taken some early necessary steps such as vaccinations and booking flights and I believe, as Modest Mouse sings, "It all will fall, fall right into place."

I hope you all are well and are finding peace in the present with the past year.  It has been a difficult emotional year for me, and this all leads to strengthening and shaping us into who we are and what we can give back.  We all have the amazing ability of knowing what is best for ourrself and others in the moment even when emotion overwhelms.  I am so grateful to be brought up in a family of amazingly large hearts and giving souls that have created my foundation.  I am grateful to all the friends I have met and will make and all the experiences we have shared and will share throughout our lives.  I wish you all much luck and happiness, with the ability to positively engage with all the unknowns of the following year.

With much love I will be thinking of all of you as I journey East.

A hui hou kakao malama pono (be well until we meet again),

Matthew

All Pursuits Worthwhile: Staring at the Dividing Line

Each day the sun will drop from sight and return on the other side of the world. It passes through the horizon, the divider of earth and sky. Though the distance between our eyes and the horizon remains the same, our intimacy with it varies as we move forward in time.   As I gaze towards the ocean, and the sky lights up reflecting colors, lights, and shadows from below to above, I waver between notions of helplessness and purpose.

Our perceived timelines are so small, it is difficult to feel like we are enacting any great change on this world. Still, the amount of damage and benefit we affect on our community is enormous. The history of this world has created our present.  It is our choice to engage with it positively today.  I am finding myself less worried now about receiving or finding definitive answers, less concerned with a career choice. I've been around too many good friends and family passing on lately, and all were happy until the end.  It gives me hope that I too will end up happy.

There are ladders to climb, vines to swing, branches to grasp and tree houses to erect. People on all sides of this universal tree that we play and share our stories in are expressing their insights, knowledge, experiences. So many people in this diverse ecosystem to receive truths from! One suggests all you need is a college degree, masters, and PHD and you can teach Grad school! Another winks at you saying, Come get your hands dirty and learn how to work with natural systems to instill permaculture design into the landscape and attitudinal and design principles in yourself! Then some beauty says something in a foreign language and laughs and disappears into the next tree and you would could spend the rest of your life trying to understand her laughter. Complete sets of answers for your own contentment and stimulation are available in 1, 5, and 20 year plans!

These paths would all do me well. Anything that would allow me to sustain my existence would be positive, yes (or should we quarry about happiness and suffering, what is good and what is bad)? All paths allow for endless growth depending on one's commitment and engagement. Here I am though, hopping one from one path to the next, committed in the beginning and then interest drifts like a bird in the breeze. I am six years out of High School and my experiences have piled up like the bottom of a composting toilet. Does the substance of what you've accomplished matter, or is it how you personally recollect your past? Is what matters what you leave behind for the next generation?  The ripple effect of their memories and lessons that they carry in their hearts?

Here I am, 3 years plus on Maui and I feel the need to follow a new path, though not a new beginning. I seek distance. In order to center, I remove myself from what is familiar. I take away the associations and am left with my naked self and core beliefs to guide me. I seek physical and emotional distance from the landscape I've resided. The last few years have been several journeys, both overlapping and overwhelming. It has become a mashed potatoes of grief, ecstasy, love, sadness, beauty. Mix in New York, Maui, Kauai, Wisconsin, with dreams of Alaska and Spain.

Keeping myself moving. Haleakala, Northern California, Australia on the metaphorical horizon.

Just another rainy morning on Maui. Take what you need, give back what you can,  Spread the Aloha,

Matthew

All Pursuits Worthwhile: Letting in the Breeze on a Chilly Evening

Some words, thoughts. 

What extent of silliness has removed us from ourselves, distorted our notions of standards, removed the hands from the clock and shattered our perception of time? Has this generation evolved so quickly it forgot to enjoy breakfast? Did it forget to wake with the birdsongs?

Yes. We possess a large toolbox. Congratulations. It's kind of heavy though. Why uncomfortably lug around what you aren't using effectively for good or growth? Why be weighed down with distractions and notions of culture that seesaw like the weights of the wallet and  our stress levels.    Ever try measuring knowledge and laughter, unburdening ourselves from desires.

When did this become mine and that yours?   How did the development of faceless control emerge into our 'nine to five?'  Force fed with synthetics, medicating with the same, nurturing conditions for for discomfort without a cure.  I think. I don't know. 

I'm on a rock that's working on feeding the future because these effects have rippled past a strong current.  A current previously unpassable to those with opposable thumbs.  All but the ones in sync with night sky lost their way.

Honestly, I am sharing this because of time, and the biophysical limits of resources on this earth (with potential for abundance if we nurture its natural growth), and the way our reality shifts when we engage the world with our senses, our hearts. Actions ripples, minds perceive. Our senses bridge this barrier of idea and creation. Art, a secret smile, an uphill ride. I see more when I close my eyes . 

I smell the puakenikeni flower, taste a daikon radish, associate the past as a timelapse blooming fire. There are limits to what this life offers on an individual level. On the collective though, the connections and degrees of separation from a camping trip in Western Australia to eating pomegranate jalapeno jelly in the Mojave desert are a blink away, a foot on the map.. We always have the ability to bend time into the scales and proportions of our choosing. 

When the nostalgia clicks in, like a germinated bean seed shedding its shell, the natural progression of skipping through the past occurs. The older I get the more grateful I am for the diversity of experience, the relationships and connections of people and places that have formed, and the reminders of mycorrhizae that connect us. As far as linear time goes, we are growing apart, yet I feel closer to past and future friends when I fall asleep at night.  I try to smile, remember the image of the torquoise mountain in the lakes' snowy reflection, or the time we teared up from laughter as strangers became friends and night followed into day.

Look. There are so many places to look. We aren't changing. We aren't ending, we aren't beginning. We are here, becoming, cycling through as nature intends.  Life will happen, and presumably it feels unexplainable, and we will react and respond as we will.   Patience reveals it was meant to happen.  If there is a goal you have, a yearning to be, what's preventing you? Your mind will play its tricks. Just breathe and enjoy and PURSUE cause on an individual level it doesn't last forever, but as a collective footprint, well, I'd like to think so. Just look, up, at all the stars. They all happened once.

Yes, the world is
real. And yes, there is ripe fruit
splattering

Thankfully, there is an ocean whose current
checks on the elders, like
the sky
for the children, and the wind for the
in-betweeners.

Yes, time isimaginary, and the spinning
is bringing us back
to the middle,
Has Spring crept up on us already?

I jump and I stretch and I reach
and try

to grip a cloud. I pull down
with the loadmy heavy heart
against the weightless cloud and
the scale reads:
empty and true.

Each cloud that passes across
the sky, uneven on the rocky terrain
that I lay on, floats by
beyond reach.

In this everpresent
everchanging landscape
life clings, like
feint songbirds on morning branches,
to a rock.

There is little I know,
and nothing I can confirm,
Yet I retain the belief:There's a bridge beyond the horizon.

Sending aloha vibes to the folk whose seasons are distinguished differently from the volume level of morning birds and the blooming of the jacaranda. Working hard here, living light, loving trips to Hana, remembering the good times, continuing to have them, Haleakala quarterly, Lanai biannual. Spain, Nepal, Alaska, Cambodia, Morroco, Redwoods, Iceland, Friends from the past, Friends of the future, I will see you all soon, one day at a time.
Enjoy Spring, or Autumn for those in the South!
　


maybe to you it sounds kinda funny
but i'm really not too attached to money
maybe cause i can take care of my self
in the wilderness, the country, where fruit values wealth

maybe i'm happy to let the silliness slip
into the comericals, the cities, where idol worships shifts
so what, he can hit a ball or act like a king
i can top that with funny faces, smiling at the laughter it brings

sometimes i'm able to rhyme but that doesn't matter
in the hiearchy of hte universe i'm just a rung on the ladder
wait and be patient when trouble surruonds you
the river will make its pass and the flood will unbound you

with hands that do magic when going deep in the earth
I found what I value, I care about its worth
Lets help those in need with what we are given
Lets engage and be grateful for this life that we're living

you may believe me now, when I say I don't care about the money
waste not, want not, breathe deep, taste the sweet honey

All Pursuits Wortwhile: Self Made Puzzles

After Saturday night, or more precisely, a few hours before the sun rose above Hana's coastline on Sunday morning, I was awake and began to rearrange words and letters. I tried the combination from Paula's series and took the theme into account:

"Words Left Unsaid."

Language and sentence structure take on many forms. I like to think of language as a riddle with infinite combinations and no truly right or wrong ways of doing so. Maybe it has something to do with reading Dr. Seuss, books of Palindromes, and playing mouse trap as a child.


I Draw Sound lifts,

And I Dust Flowers!

Flutes or Sad Wind?

Frost Law: Sun died.

Lost War Side Fund

Run Self, Wait... Odd.

Wait Self, Odd.... Run!

Infused last word:

Louder Swift Sand


What I'm getting at here is everything and nothing. 
Feeling great and rejuvenated from Hana,
Going to Haleakala this next weekend
And I'll be flying on a new breeze of inspiration still