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| Pretty forest next to the sala |
After Mae Ta we went to The Nest,
a bungalo-type place in Chiang Dao. We shared little cabins in the woods. I was
with Liz and Kari for those two nights. We got to The Nest in the evening, with
enough time for dinner and mid-course essay writing. I was snuggled up in THE
most comfortable bed I’ve been in yet in Thailand, with a down comforter and a
cool night air coming through the window. I was hoping to finish my essay
before midnight so I might get some sleep, but alas, twas not the case. 12:00
am came around on October 7th 2012. I was writing an essay in the
most comfortable bed since this quaint little in with down beds, comforters and
pillows in the Swiss Alps. It was my 21st birthday. :D
Unfortunately, my birthday was
relatively uneventful. I woke up and had some great American food (bacon and
cheese omelet with a small warm loaf of bread/bread roll). The place caters to
Americans and Europeans, so they didn't have much Thai food. Then I had class
where we got to draw with oil pastels to depict how the village of Mae Ta was
all interconnected within the context of the three pillars of sustainability:
environment, social, political. Lunch, good as always and afternoon lecture was
on genetically modified organisms, aka GMO's. I brought some sugar donuts from
the Tesco to share as a birthday treat, just like in elementary school.
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| "This is your classroom" |
Dinner that evening was at a nearby
restaurant. We were nestled into the mountains and had a great view from our
table. There were two great parts of my day, and one occurred on our way back,
in the dark of night. We looked up as we were walking along the road, forests
up on either side, and saw the milky way! It was gorgeous! I have never seen so
many stars before, not even in the most rural of the Ohio locations I’ve been
to. The sky was alive with stars, shining down on us with such expanse it
nearly took your breath away. To count them would have been impossible. The
second great part of my day came soon after. We were settling down to watch
Food Inc. when all of a sudden I hear Charlotte and Pi Amy start singing Happy
Birthday. Soon the entire class is singing along. I turn around to see
Charlotte and Pi Amy holding my “birthday cake”: three boxes of various kanome
(basically any type of sweet, be it a cookie, piece of chocolate, or plain
fried piece of dough) with a candle on top. And milk :) I love milk. Charlotte
also bought me a jar of peanut butter and a bag of chocolate chip cookies as a
birthday present. Not even nearly halfway through the movie I was stuffed to
the brim, happy as could be. A close contender for my day was getting to nestle
back into that down comforter and drift off to sleep. The 9 imaginary shots I
took that day were an added bonus.
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| Imaginary shot at dinner! |
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| Charlotte across the dinner table. |
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| On a break, Liz and Kari playing some ping pong. |
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| Cool lizard guy. |
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| Goat! I fed him. The groundskeeper told his he recently lost his lady friend, and is now very lonely :( |
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