Rice Rice Baby

The wandering continues...

In the coming days I'll be heading to Thailand to pursue a long held dream of mine: to 'do' the whole rice growing season (or most of it anyway!) As a kid growing up in the hills and valleys, fields and forests of Maehongson, I was always home from school for summer vacation/holiday and so I've witnessed the initial field preparation, the plowing and harrowing and transplanting of rice. I've more than once fallen off the edge of the field into the mud. Before most everyone switched to plowing their fields with large oversize roto tillers, I would often go out with my neighbors and friends in the late afternoon and bring home the water buffalo that used to be used for plowing. But then I went back to school and I never saw anything  else...the growing... the actual harvest. 

A trial run 10 years ago in Napajat

So this year, I'm going to do it. 

Just because. 

First, I'm only able to to this because Andrea has given her blessing, and knows that for whatever reason, this hair brained idea/scheme/dream is important to me. For this I am grateful. It is not without some significant sacrifice.

With my recent job transition and the ability to work remotely I can do some virtual work for KonTerra so I'm not completely living off Andrea's continued full time labor while I'm 'outstanding' in my field:-) (She is also outstanding in her field by the way!)

After seven years of pretty intense work here in DC and around the world, I can tell I'm needing a bit of a break and breather. So I'm treating this as sabbatical and rest - even though I'll still be doing some virtual counseling work and a whole lot of physical work - which I think will be helpful for me. I'm hoping a few months away from living in the epicenter of craziness will help neutralize (?) and work out some of my angst at our current political climate and I desperately just need a break from it. This will serve both purposes nicely.

And let's face it, at some point, my young youthful body won't be able to do this as easily. Rice growing is backbreaking work - there's a song I learned in Tagalog that is translated - planting rice is never fun, you can't stand up, you can't sit down. 

And though I didn't think about it when deciding to do this, I realize that perhaps I can model what self care could look like to others. Maybe it won't be growing rice, but what does it look like to take a break every now and then, to be replenished and rejuvenated - even if in mid career?

And it's a chance to go to a place... places... I call home. 

A little blurry, but this is it, one of the places I call home (PaTyng) and some of the fields I will be working. 

So for all these reasons. It's time. 

That's the plan. Follow along here on the blog or on facebook. If you're the praying kind, I value your prayers for rest and grace in all I encounter, that I don't lose a toe, that the snakes stay away, you know the usual things. 

 Duncan

Israel

A last minute work trip took me to Israel for a week in March. The ticket was purchased Wednesday and I flew out of Washington on Friday via JFK to Tel Aviv, arriving Saturday evening and then departed the following Friday, arriving back in DC Saturday morning. Given that I only had two days notice, I hadn't done any research about anything so I quickly scheduled a one day tour of Old Jerusalem and Bethlehem for the day after I arrived, before the work week started. I wanted to take advantage of being there for sure!

I've known many people who have visited Israel and it has been a transformational life highlight, after all, this is the sacred center for three major faiths of the world. I didn't know what to expect, but I was expecting (perhaps hoping) to feel something...and... I really didn't. Whether this was because of the last minute nature of my trip and not having spent time reading through Old and New Testament scriptures in preparation or the reason for my trip (hello US politics - I could write a whole post about that) which certainly added a weight to the trip, clouding any spiritual/faith discovery, I don't know, but it was interesting to not really feel much of anything.

I will say one of the places I felt something was when we were at the site of the upper room and last supper. Our guide took us in and sat us down, read the passage of scripture and I thought, yes, I can imagine it. Then the guide said, ok, now I'll take you to the 'room' which was next door! We weren't even there yet! So much for my feeling anything! The other place I felt something was on the Via Dolorosa at the spot where they say Jesus fell and Simon of Cyrene was forced to pick up the cross and carry it the rest of the way.

I also appreciated Bethlehem as a town (actually more than Jerusalem) but the Church of the Nativity was too crowded and we had to wait too long and I was over it and wanted to go. Even as I write these words almost two months later, I think, wow, I was at (in theory) the exact place Jesus was born...and that was my reaction?! So perhaps a visit back to Israel is called for at some time in the future when I'm not working and have had time to prepare and the politics and backdrop of the current US administration don't spoil the reason for being there. Or maybe I need to reflect on all I saw and be grateful for having the opportunity to see a place where a brown skinned, refugee teacher once walked, setting an example of love and peace that will long outlast this current politics and also gives strength to persevere in the face of all that is going on in the world at this time.

The other place I really enjoyed was the ancient port city/town of Jaffa (Joppa). This is the port where the Cedars of Lebanon passed through to build the temple. It's the place where Peter had his dream that carries so many significant theological ramifications about what is labeled clean and unclean. I felt something here - the example of accepting something to be true that you previously believed was not true.

Many more thoughts, but that's all for now. Enjoy the photos. Hope it gives a flavor of what I saw and experienced. (Hotel review as always on Trip Advisor here)  - Duncan

Tel Aviv - city view from my room

...or if I looked toward the water...

Tel Aviv

Do you know what this is? Outside of many doors including my hotel room - see Deuteronomy 6:9

Starting point in Jerusalem - looking out to the Jordan hills

And then from the Mount of Olives - looking toward Old Jerusalem, graves in front

Graves - it is tradition to leave a stone on the grave when you visit. Though not at this cemetery, Oskar Schindler's grave is covered in so many stones as it receives so many visitors.

Where they say the 'Upper Room' was...

I believed it, and could feel I was there...until the guide said, ok, now I'll take you to it! What?! I thought this was it!

No, there has to be a church marking it...

Any guesses what this is and why it is there?

Western/Wailing Wall with a convenient diagram explaining what you are looking at...

Belize - Third time's a charm (- not that the first or second times weren't!)

January saw us getting out of DC's winter for a week and heading back to Belize, the third time we have been able to visit this lovely country. See previous more comprehensive post here. We were able to find really good mileage awards on Delta and bonus...got upgraded on all our flights! Frequent travel status paying off! We stayed at Treetops Guest House on Caye Caulker which is where we stayed our very first time in Belize fourteen years ago. When we were last on Caye Caulker, we were a little put off by some aggressive touts but this time, in spite of even more development, we found this lovely island back to it's charming self. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It was so good to be warm, watch the water and sky through the coconut trees, do a lot of swimming and snorkeling and be far far away from Washington.

The view from our room

Our room

How every morning should start...

...followed by a walk along the water...

...to Glenda's where they still serve great Cinnamon rolls...

Continuing your walk after breakfast, you might pass this mural...

...or see these friends...

...and this colorful boat

If you arrive at the split, you'll notice some changes, it's all be fixed up!

Back to Treetops and some hammock time on the roof...this is your view