Day 2 on the Farm

My second day on the farm was much easier than the first. Today, I primarily weeded through the overgrown vines and shrubs, cutting back just enough to provide some relief to the many suffocating plants. Things sure do grow in the tropics! By lunch time, I had pulled enough overgrown vines and other pesky plants to create a pile as tall as me. By 5pm, that pile had grown 3 fold. There were considerably more clouds in the sky today as compared to yesterday, so the intense afternoon heat that had sweat dripping from every inch of my body, including the tip of my nose, was much more tolerable today. Wilat taught me how to make Tom Yum Kum, a popular sweet and sour seafood soup. Much like a red curry, we used ginger, chilies, lemon grass, and shallots to create the soup's base, and added oysters and prawns for some extra deliciousness! As promised, I took detailed notes so that I can recreate it for you guys once I get home.

While I am enjoying my time here, I am seriously contemplating staying for only 1 week instead of 4. I am expected to work from 7am-5pm, 6 days a week. Now that would be fine if I was getting paid, but while I'm spending next to nothing, my bank account isn't growing either. Working that much, there's no time, let alone energy, to see or do much else. I was hoping working here would allow me to live and work in the community, but I feel very isolated. There's one other worker, but he speaks no English, and Chicka, a WWOOF'er from Japan who's been here 10 days already has the same complaints as me. Plus its winter, so while there's plenty of work to do, it doesn't involve the planting or harvesting of produce, which is what I really was looking forward to. If the hours weren't so long, or if I could have an extra day off each week so that I could take day trips, I think I'd be happy to stay longer. But I'm not traveling to work, I'm here to experience cultures, to go on treks, to ride bikes, to eat great food, and to have a fantastic time. Unfortunately, working here isn't quite helping me accomplish any of that, except maybe the food part! I'll put in a week and then decide, but right now, I am seriously considering cutting my time here short to make room for a stop-over in Burma.