Unit 3- dun dun duuuuh

Ben yang ngai? Hope things are going well with you all - make sure to update me on your life too :)

So we're about to start Unit 3 which is when us CIEE students write a HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT, dun dun duuuuuh. haha I'm actually very excited, but I hear it will be intense. The half I'm in will be going to an illegal forest community and constructing a report based on some of their main stories/issues, using feature stories, summaries, the Economic Social and Cultural Rights Report, and also having photos and personal accounts to go along with it all. So that'll be the next few weeks....

But before that, this past week staying with slum and landfill communities was a strong mixture of emotion, but universally I loved the homestays and I had a great time. It's so easy to just "have fun" as a student staying with them. You listen and play, eat good food, chill on the main street where all the houses are open and exposed to visitors - and then you get to leave. You don't have to stay with the trash smell, or live every day with the fear you could get evicted. Instead you hear a little about their issues and are incredibly touched by their patience and open hearts. Especially at the choom chon eh ad (community of packed housing - it's a better term than "slum") - we went swimming in an irrigation canal, got delicious coconut/corn ice cream, played with the kids on an open field, ate STIR FRIED SQUIRREL that was recently shot by a bibi gun...it was all so fun. And my family personally went out fishing at 3:30am every morning - I got to see Paw walk around entire lakes/large ponds with a net to catch shrimp and small fish in. I got to see the sun rise, hear the quiet cricket and bird noises, see a silent storm, sleep on mats on a road (literally, IN the road), and two less pleasant things were getting a snake out of the net and painfully experiencing being right on top of a red ant hill. My mom cried when I left and I had only been there for two days. I will never forget (and hope to visit soon!) that village and how awesome of a time it was.

I think I might go to the "aerobic step" class at the gym soon (Thai's love aerobics) so I must be off!