Hidetomo Kimura's Art Aquarium: Fishy fun

One of my favorite things about traveling is that when you're in another city or country you have the opportunity to discover different cultures, take in the sights, and enjoy the local cuisine. One of my travel traditions is to to visit an art exhibit or museum that exhibits local talent, because it provides me a glimpse into the values and mindset of the place I'm visiting. I'm hoping to continue an 'Art and Travel'  segment that highlights either exhibits I've seen personally, or ones that are upcoming around the globe that I'd love to see. Here's a glimpse into an exhibit I visited last summer that perfectly blended art, culture, and history.

Originally posted on my wordpress site: TheRoamingHeart

Hidetomo Kimura's Art Aquarium

Goldfish are ubiquitous during Japanese summers; they can be seen lulling in the cool waters of reflection pools at the local shrine, evading being caught by old and young alike at festival game booths, and gracing the yukata of stylish ladies. It is nearly impossible to evade these lucky fish when you visit Japan today, but this wasn't always the case. Goldfish, or kingyo (金魚), first came to Japan, in about 1502. At this time they were few and thus considered a rare and precious item belonging only to those of power and influence. It wasn't until the Edo Period (1603-1867) that the presence of goldfish spread to the entire population and began to influence art and fashion, appearing on woodblock prints and kimonos. Kimura's exhibit aims to recreate the ambiance of Edo Japan and the reign of Kingyo for this years theme: "Cool Goldfish of Edo".

Kimura's art aquarium is a relaxing way to beat the heat of Tokyo summer. A perk, in the evenings the exhibit turns into a lounge where you can order a glass of champagne or sake while enjoying the languid movement of the surrounding goldfish dancing to a DJ's set. If you didn't catch Kimura's exhibit this past summer, he puts on a fresh art aquarium exhibit every year. Location details at the bottom of this post.

A projected kimono with live goldfish mimics the authentic kingyo adorned kimono from the Edo period on either side. Taken on my Iphone

The magnum opus of the exhibition, The Four Season Aquarium. The projection changes to depict spring, summer, fall, and winter. Image Courtesy of culture.cdjapan

A kaleidoscope world. When fish swim by the lens, the pattern changes as though you are rotating the kaleidoscope. Image courtesy of Japan Times

Image Courtesy of Spoon&Tamago

Hidetomo Kimura's Art Aquarium
Dates: Held annually July-Sept
Times: Art Aquarium 11am-7pm
Night Aquarium 7pm-11:30pm
Venue: Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall-5F Coredo Muromachi, 2-2-1 Nihombashi-Muromachi,  Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Admission: 1,000yen for adults, 600 yen elementary school age and under
URL: h-i-d.co.jp/art/index.html or www.facebook.com/artaquarium1

Resolutions

It's nearly a month into the new year of 2014 and it's likely many of you have already started your resolutions of saving more, going to the gym, or eating healthier- to name but a few popular resolutions. On the other hand, there are others -you know who you are- that started the new year with gusto: new gym membership and tons of fitness apps to keep you motivated, but somehow find yourself to be more acquainted with  the cast of your favorite television program than your gym trainer. In previous years I'd choose a resolution, usually to save money, and at the end of the year realize I'd not made much progress from the year before. I mean, if I had been adept at "saving money" over the past 5 years, I'd probably have my student loans payed off already. So this year, I decided to try something new- and so far it's too early to say if it's worked, but I figure ,"why stick with something I know doesn't work"? If you' found that you've already fallen off of your resolution bandwagon or are beginning to slip perhaps you can join in my "resolve not to resolve" experiment.

On New Years day I woke up early and convinced myself that although I hadn't decided on an "official" new year resolution yet, staying active and fit was probably good idea. And I rationalized that although I'd rather stay in bed under the cover,  if I couldn't muster the motivation to get up and get out on the first day of the new year, there was no way I was going to make the commitment last all year. As  it turned out, I was one of many who stepped out into the "practically sub-tropical temperatures"and flocked to the running trails surrounding suburban Seattle hoping to get a head start on living a healthier 2014- or, as I joked to my mother, "we were going to run feet first into the new year". Each time I met a fellow runner, cyclist or walker we would exchange smiles or words of encouragement, the mixture of physical exertion and consistent salutations meant that about 1 mile into my jog I was already reeling from a slight deficiency in oxygen. New years day is probably the only time of the year that the I-90 bridge is more congested with foot (and bike) traffic than automobiles. Because of course, just as I have been slacking and finding reasons to postpone exercising post-new year's day, so too have many of the other families that crowded the running paths early on January 1st.

Quitting or shall I say forgetting -none of us are really quitters at heart -a  resolution has become just as much, if not more so, of a tradition within our society as the act of picking and making a New Year resolution. In part, this is why I haven't really decided on what I want to resolve to do this year. If I can't stick to a resolution, is there really any reason to make one?  Instead, I've identified areas in my life that I'd like to improve on, which don't necessarily require building a new habit or breaking an old habit, because I believe that these are impediments to maintaining a sustainable new year's  resolution.

1. Become more in touch with my interests:  Like many other twenty-somethings I've found myself facing a "quarter life crisis" because I thought I'd be doing xyz career, be at xyz point in my life,  xyz etc., and I'm not. I'm not even too sure exactly what I want to pursue as a career. So I decided instead of resolving to do something in particular, I'm really just going to figure out what I like doing, and do it.
Steps I've taken: I've set aside time (about 1 hour a day) to pursue my interests and made a "hobby list" of sorts I don't have to do all every day/week/month but I make sure that I do at least one of them 1 hour a day (or more, if I'm enjoying what I'm doing). Some of the "hobbies" I've been pursuing include: exercising, writing, improving my french, reading, and attempting to master Indesign and Photoshop.

2. Identifying Excess and Trimming the Fat: This started as my tried and not so true "save money" resolution, but I wanted to think about how I could make spendings and savings observable and I've actually started applying this to other segments of my life: i.e., use of time, food habits, etc. Note: if you're not into micro-management, then this probably isn't something you will enjoy.
Steps I've taken: In order to observe my spending I started by actually utilizing the checkbook that my credit union gave me when I opened my new bank account. *At the end of the day I update my check book an identify what was frivolous spending and aim to reduce or cut needless costs. I also evaluate purchases on a need vs. want, usually comparing it to my student loans. (I have 3 coats, do I really need to get another one...or do I need to make that student loan payment this month. hint :student loan payment always wins). I've also used this method as a way to attempt to utilize my time better. It seems like everyone complains there isn't enough time in the day, so at the end of the day I think about what I've accomplished for the day and look for where I've wasted time. Commutes (via train) to/from work are now used to listen to french lessons, staying in touch with friends, read a book or watching an episode of SVU (vs. marathoning episodes when I get home).

3. Get out of my comfort zone, but only to the point that it's still fairly comfortable: I want to feel more comfortable networking/having small talk/ and just feeling confident talking to other people. I'm a natural introvert and having spent the past 2 years living in the Japanese countryside has exaggerated this trait. Instead of ploughing head first into speaking in front of crowds, rushing out to make new friends, etc. which would likely fail, because for me that's as natural as walking around backwards, I'm working on small transitions. I'm learning to share my random thoughts and  opinions with my co-workers instead of keeping them to myself. A lot of the time I sound a little disjointed- because I'm not used to vocalizing weird tidbits, but I'm slowly getting better at small talk. Wether you're goal is to eat healthier or be more social, remember that you need to start within your comfort zone. Not ready to give up eating cookies or treats or bacon, that's fine. Just aim to moderate (Identify excess and trim the fat).

4. And my one solid goal: Get a job that is more challenging/meaningful than I'm already doing.
So far this hasn't been going so well. I've sent out tonnes of resumes from Dec-now and so far no substantial leads...my non concrete resolutions are definitely seeing more progress than this concrete resolution. (another reason I'm currently a believer in non conventional resolutions).

Alright. I'm hoping to that with this post I will somewhat manage to revive this blog. Hopefully I'll be posting some of my not yet posted photos from Japan, and just start exploring my interests in writing.

We'll see how this goes. Let's resolve to not resolve!

Keri

Everyday

This year I haven't posted as frequently as I had during my 1st year living/working in Japan. The main reason behind this is because I had felt that I had finally settled into my life here and things began to feel routine and thus not worth a blog update. However, now with less than 18 days until my last day of classes and 20 days until I move out of my apartment I have come to realize that a lot of these seemingly mundane occurrences are what I will miss most about my job and life here in Japan.
So below are a few moments that I have experienced and shared with my students this past week that, although may have no significance to the reader, hold a special place in my heart.

- June is rainy season in Japan and as such many of my schools resorted to letting the students  use the gym as a space for them to release all of their pent up energy during lunch recess. This past Wednesday had been one of the rainiest days on Oshima this tsuyu (rainy season). So during lunch break I ran beneath the covered pavilion connecting the main school building to the gym to meet with my students to play an indoors version of one of their favorite school yard games jintori (It's kind of like capture the flag). I'd been a little late in getting myself over so by the time I arrived in the gym they had already taken off their shoes, finished setting up the flag posts,and were beginning to divvy up the teams. As we were playing I kept noting this wet foot shaped prints around the gym floor and was a little perplexed. Surely my students weren't running around so much that their feet were leaving sweat marks about (gross). In hindsight, the answer seems pretty obvious perhaps you've already figured it out. When the school bell chimed to announce the start of cleaning time we all piled out of the gym and started to make our way back to the main building. However, my students stopped about halfway and started shouting, "Keri 先生、見て！”(Ms. Keri, look/watch!) and proceeded to jump into a large puddle of water and drag their way through it all while looking mighty pleased with themselves. They then ran across the playground, that  by this point bore more of a resemblance to a pool, to the school entrance as I stuck to the covered path. Ah hah, that would explain the soggy feet.

- Yesterday while eating lunch with my elementary students one boy, Taiko an ichi nensei (first grader) had a piece of rice stuck on his face just below his eye (we were eating giant onigiri and elementary school kids are sloppy eaters). His fellow classmate Makato (the smallest cutest boy ever) turned to Taiko and told him that he had a piece of rice on his face. With Makato's direction, Taiko was able to pluck off the piece of rice and pop it directly into his mouth. Shortly after, Taiko managed to get another grain stuck on his cheek and after more help from myself and Makato, Taiko again proceeded to pluck and pop and mumble about his messy eating. It was very sweet and funny.

Even at my trouble maker school, I've managed to have some memorable (pleasant) days. This week's class has proven to be the most...semi successful class in awhile. While I don't have any particular anecdote to share, I want to be able to remember that even at my most trying school there were days that I really enjoyed. On many occasions I would arrive at this school dreading to teach the lesson because the students are so rowdy, lack attention, and chaos rains throughout the class. So the rare moments, like this week, when the students would behave and practice their english reassures me that perhaps they were getting something out of our lessons.

Definitely the best memories that I'll be taking with me when I leave Japan involve my students. Working here has been such a challenge, originally with 16 schools it was impossible to develop any sort of relationship with my students and it was obvious that they were disappointed when I couldn't remember their names (but how could I, there were about 1,000 of them!) . And while cutting down to 8 schools has lead to a generally less hectic schedule and being able to remember most of my students names it comes with a different price of its own. I've been able to get to know their personalities, share jokes, and learn more about them (even the trouble makers). So now when I leave I will be saying goodbye to Moeka, Mai, Ken, Aito, Risa, and Sei (to name just a few). Now these are no longer just names that I've memorized to please my students. These names now embody silly moments, personalities, and friendship.

I'm not ready to leave.

Thailand: Photos from my Iphone

I know I have already posted about my time spent volunteering in Thailand, but my mom keeps asking me when I will post about the rest of my trip. So in this post I'll be sharing some photos I took with some notes and commentary about my trip dispersed throughout.


Although it is nearly 10pm in late December, as I step out of the cab at Don Muang station, Thailand greets me with a smothering blanket of humidity. Surely this gesture is intended as a welcoming embrace, but I can't peel my layers off fast enough  (talk about a warm greeting!). According to my ticket my train should arrive at 10:20pm, but in reality I'm sitting at the station over an hour after my supposed departure time before I finally hear the low rumble that announces the trains imminent approach.

After depositing my belongings on my bunk I make my way to the food car and am greeted by Christmas lights and bros. From here the heat of Thailand is no longer overbearing, but I'm still glad I opted for the first class AirCon car. 

The view from the food car in the morning (morning used quite liberally as I slept in until around noontime). Those cars you see ahead are the lowest fare seats as you move back they become nicer and more expensive my first class (caboose)  fare was a staggering  900.00 baht, or just over $30.  But put in perspective, this is more than I spent on feeding myself on an average day.

This being my first overnight/long distance rail trip I'm fairly impressed with the experience. While I ended up stuck on an upper berth which doesn't afford me a window view or much upright seated room, I otherwise can't complain too much, it is certainly much nicer than the other seating options I passed on my way to and from the food car . Upon plucking up the courage to use the toilet (a 13 hour train ride means it can't be avoided) I was surprised to realize not only were the toilets cleaner than expected (of course, not up to Japanese standards) but also that the view my upper bunk lacked was more than made up for by the views from the bathroom. Not only could I observe the passing scenery from a small window, but I also got an excellent view of the tracks whizzing by below me as I whizzed down upon it.. 

I didn't take this photo, but this is an exact image of my train toilet experience.
photo courtesy of: http://gobackpacking.com/woman-guide-using-squat-toilets/ (this is also a very insightful article if you are unfamiliar with using a squat toilet).

Most of my stay while in Thailand, volunteering aside, was spent in Chiang Mai, the largest city in Northern Thailand. Being not particularly partial to very large cities, I greatly preferred Chiang Mai to Bangkok.

Alongside being famous for its temples, nature, and wildlife, Chiang Mai is known to host some of the most exuberant Night Markets in Thailand. There is the nightly Night Bazaar, the daily Food Market, the Night Market on Sundays, Walking Streets dispersed sporadically throughout the week, and of course the New Years Count Down and Night Market. Nearly everyday I was in Chiang Mai there was a night market going on.

I met these school girls about to perform a traditional dance while wandering through and sampling the different food stalls. At this point I hadn't found my favorite mango sticky rice stall.

Here I am snacking on some lemon flavored Ancient Ice cream. I'm not sure what makes it ancient, but it came highly recommended by a group of tourist I met on my train ride to Chiang Mai.  It was tasty, and more importantly it kept me relatively cool in the over 80 degree heat.

Here I am posing in front of Tha Phae Gate. Chiang Mai was originally surrounded by a wall  and moat that fenced in the city with 4 gates located at the cardinal points. The wall has since been torn down, but the foundations are still in place and serve as a visual cue that you are crossing over into the Old city. Tha Phae Gate is the most famous of the gates and is the starting point of the night markets held along the main streets of the old city. In Thailand appropriate attire for females consist of shirts that cover the shoulders and no cleavage(!) and bottoms that go down to your knees (at least. At some temples you must wear pants to enter). This can be challenging when trying to stay cool, this day I sweating it out in 90 degree weather.

In Thailand they celebrate the New Year not once, not twice, but THREE times! The Gregorian New Year, Chinese New Year, and the Thai New Year (Songkran). Here I am putting up a prayer at a Thai temple. These all serve as decorations for the New Year celebration. In preparation for the new year the monks were busy wrapping the temples in a yellowish/golden cloth for goodluck, I think.You write your wish and name on your Zodiac sign. Because I am born in the year of the snake and this is the year of the snake it is supposed to be a very lucky year for me. 

Doi Suthep Temple. The grandest temple in Chiang Mai. Being an idiot, and without time to choose a better day, I went on New Years Eve day, probably the most crowded day to visit this already popular temple. 

Khao Soy, the regional specialty of Chiang Mai and some Iced Tea (Thai style, lots of sugar, that's why the Thai are so sweet!). 

Mango sticky rice I made at Thai cooking class. Delicious. 

After a week of volunteering and a week of sightseeing in Chiang Mai it was off to Bangkok!

                              

                 The view of Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) on the approach from the  water taxi. The attempt to catch the water taxi was an adventure, because if you wander onto the wrong port it'll cost you 100x's the cost to catch the longboats. They cost about 1300 baht (after haggling) the water taxi, a cool 15 baht. This is the most stunning temple I saw while in Thailand, the details are amazing, the entire temple is covered completely covered in statues and etchings.  It is a bit reminiscent of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, but more colorful and elaborate. I'll add more photos onto my flickr soon and link to it so you can see, but you can click that link for the meantime to get an idea.

                                     

          Alex and I celebrating our one year anniversary sans our wedding rings at the Thai Grand Palace. haha. No, in reality, I met Alex at the hostel I was staying at while I waited to meet up with my friend Ciara. But everyone kept assuming we were a couple so we started going along with it and telling people we were celebrating our one year anniversary, which got us many congratulations (which was the source of my laughter in this photo). 

On our last night in Thailand we decided to wine (more like fresh fruit cocktails, the passion fruit one was to die for!) and dine at the rooftop bar and restaurant Sirocco as made famous by The Hangover II

Roisin, Me, and Ciara with our diligent attendant Noppadol. He was so sweet and chuckled at Ciara because of her fear of heights.

In the evening we got a party tuktuk, met a new Thai friend, and even stopped by the infamous Khao San Road. Although we joked about going to see a ping-pong show, we DID NOT! Family members, don't look this up. I was so confused earlier when people who were volunteering with me made some comments about going/not going to see a ping pong show. I didn't see what the fuss was about  (on the travel sites it was recommended as something popular to do in Bangkok) until they explained it to me. 

I'll slowly starting uploading my 1000+ (mostly of elephants) photos onto my flickr soon.

What will it be?

A drawing by Yoshinori Takata and myself.
This was from a listening activity using comparatives.

In November, my supervisor at the BOE handed me my re-contracting forms and asked me if I would like to stay and teach another year.
Even prior to being officially offered another contract, a third year teaching in Oshima is something that has been weighing heavily upon my mind. I told my supervisor I would need time to think it over because I really wasn't sure at the moment if a third year is something I would be interested in doing. My supervisor understood and told me that he would need my final decision by February 1st.

With only a few days left until my decision needs to be made it came as no surprise to me that today after class my supervisor brought up the topic of the re-contracting forms. After briefly asking me how my classes had gone today my supervisor points to my re-contracting forms and tells me that if I need a little more time to decide, I can turn in my forms on the following Monday (Feb. 4th). After a moments pause to gather his thoughts he then says in his best English, " In a third year it is your happiness most important. It's your choice. Make your happiness choice". As much as I have heard these sentiments in their varying forms from friends and family it wasn't until I heard my supervisor saying them in his broken English that I really felt the impact of what these words mean.

I'm not sure if I believe in fate, but I'm not sure that I am convinced it  was mere coincidence that today- a day where I left school thinking about how much I love my students, even the trouble maker ones that cause me stress,- of all days would be the day that I would be so clearly directed to make the decision that makes me happiest.
I don't always love living in Japan. And I certainly don't always love living in Oshima. Heck, I don't even always love teaching. But one thing that I do know is that I love my students and I love to see them learning and progressing. It's often the small, nearly missable moments that makes my job feel so rewarding.  Like today when my first and second graders hosted a school fair for the older students. This was a free period, in substitute of a lunch recess, for the students to play fair/festival style games but as I walked through the gaming areas observing my students playing I could catch bits of English floating around: students counting out how many bowling pins had been knocked down, excitement over the prizes they won (cool/cute), and exclamations of "I'm winner".  Other times it is something more obvious that makes me realize how much I love teaching my students.  Many of my junior high school boys hate the fact that they are required to take English. Often when it is time to do speaking activities they will cheat and just show their friends the answer or tell them in Japanese what they are supposed to practice speaking. However, after some one-on-one practice to pronounce and understand the words on their worksheets they are at least a little more eager to try it out/show off to their friends. But the best feeling usually comes after, when in our next class these same boys will timidly raise their hands and ask me to come over and help them understand what a problem is asking instead of just copying off of their friends (or even worse) going to sleep.
Then of course there is also the blatantly obvious that serves as a daily reminder why I tolerate living in rural Oshima. The most egotistically rewarding part of my job, when I see my students reactions as I enter the school and English classroom. After about a year and a half of teaching them I assumed that my original novelty would wear off and that my students would begin to greet me with the standard mumbled "ohayo/konnichiwa" that most teachers receive. But no, everyday without fail my elementary students run through the halls (as fast as it is allowed) shouting, "Keri sensei", rushing to see who will be the first to get to me to say whatever English they can most easily recall that day (good morning, how are you, I'm cold, etc.) Even my most jaded of 3rd year junior high school students when looking up from whatever manga they are reading hidden inside of their English text book will give me a surprised "woah, keri sensei"as I enter the classroom, followed by a very brief smile before going back to their faux studying.  I don't know for certain how much of an affect I have on my students and their motivations to practice English, but I do know they have deeply affected me.

Even now after writing all of this I'm still not 100% sure which choice is the right answer for me. I'm certain that no matter what my final decision will be I will feel some degree of regret to either stay or to leave. Will I love living in Japan another year. Maybe, but maybe not. Will I love living in Oshima another year? Probably not. Will I be happy teaching my students for another year? Maybe not everyday, but there will be those days and those moments that makes the rest of the year and living in Oshima worth it. Is this post saying for certain that I will stay another year? Not at all. From the very first day back in November when I was asked if I would like to stay another year I knew my decision would not be made until the very last day when I draw out my signature and put the little tick next to  the box marked yes or the boxed marked no, and so it will be. I have a lot to think about still and even though I am leaning to stay one final year, I need to make sure that it is my "happiness choice"

Some photos from the school fair today

Prizes that students could win from the fair/gamebooths

Students seeing if they can complete the puzzles in 2 minutes to win a prize

One of the most popular games was this fishing game. There were 10 fishes with a metal paper clip inside them. Students had 1 minute and 30 seconds to catch as many with their fishing pole baited with a small magnet.

Journey to Freedom:my week with ellies (lots of words.lots of photos)

Herein lies the tales of my adventure of spending a week in the relative wilds of Northern Thailand.

Me standing reluctantly close to one of the elephants upon our guides insistence to get closer.
 Clearly I am terrified.

A two hour jostling ride cramped into the back of a pick-up truck is not how many people imagine spending their winter holiday, myself included.
Yet there I was stuffed into the bed of a Toyota Hilux with a sore bum alongside twelve other road weary travelers being informed by our guide that we had another 30 minutes of bum bruising back roads to bounce through before arriving at our destination. That very destination that we would later find out consisted of cold showers, modest lodgings, a lack of electricity, one seriously out of service Western toilet, and a handful of muddy squat toilets to compensate.
What could possibly be the allure that would draw thirteen relative strangers away from the comforts of their everyday lives to spend a week experiencing and participating in what can accurately be called the simple life? Well the answer, much like our accommodations, is simple; the thirteen of us traveled to this back hills village along the Thai-Burmese border to volunteer our time working with  the Northern Karen tribe and their elephants through the program Journey to Freedom.

Journey to Freedom is an ongoing project initiated by the Elephant Nature Park in 2010 that allows elephants owned by the Karen in the north of Thailand to retire from trekking camps and return to living in the jungle near their villages. Here, elephants enjoy a more natural existence and the tradition of Karen people living with and caring for their elephants can be restored.
In response to the ban on logging in 1989, many Karen men left their villages and walked with their elephants to work in one of the many trekking camps that were established and still exist in Northern Thailand. The Karen men often missed their families and old way of life and would return to their villages, leaving their elephants at the camps on lease. These elephants, living among strangers, were often mistreated and the traditional bonds between the Karen and their elephants began to erode.
Journey to Freedom provides volunteers with the opportunity to live with the Karen for a week, learn about their culture, volunteer around the village, and be amongst elephants living in the jungle. Funds generated by this project help support Karen families and their elephants, and also benefit the community in the form of maintaining roads, temples, and bridges, which also includes building amenities such as toilets, a small school, and a clinic.


Day One: Arrival
This day, as hinted at above, was mostly spent traveling from Chiang Mai to the Karen village in the northern province of Mae Sariang, which took about 6.5 hours in total-4.5 by van and 2 by truck. We arrived in the village shortly before 6 and after our arduous adventure our only interests were in getting some food and some sleep. After unloading the trucks of all our provisions for the week, our two guides, Jane and Mix (their nicknames) worked on preparing us a delicious yet modest Thai dinner while we went about preparing our lodgings (making up beds, and setting up mosquito nets). After dinner, while sitting by the fire (it gets surprisingly cold in Northern Thailand at night, my guess is high 50's-low 60's.) a few of the local Karen villagers came to welcome us. Although they didn't speak English, and only a few of them could speak Thai (to be translated by our guides) they enjoyed sitting around the campfire and observing the eclectic  assortment of volunteers (from France, US, Malaysia via Singapore, UK, and Germany ;ordered by representation) which included two girls wearing Santa hats and odd renderings of popular Christmas songs being sung all at once in multiple languages (it was Christmas Eve after all).

Some of the Karen amused at our antics

Day Two and Three: First day with Ellies and a Boxing Day Treat
It was a little surreal to be waking up on Christmas Day feeling all of the giddy excitement of a little kid, but instead of the urge to rush to the Christmas tree and tear open presents my emotions were the result of knowing that today was the day I would get to have my very first encounter with elephants.I don't think I have ever been so excited to NOT celebrate the holidays. The only thing that could (and did) bring me down slightly from my euphoric high was the sight of the accursed trucks from the day before. So my (Christmas) day yet again began  with a bumpy ride, thank goodness it was a very short ride where we then hiked through some fields and across a small stream to meet up with the elephants and their caretakers.

Our village cares for 7 elephants, 3 of which had spent time working for the logging industry before it was banned, 1 who had worked for a trekking camp before Journey to Freedom started and she could come home, and 3 youngsters who had been spared from the harsh lifestyle of a working elephant and hopefully will never be subjected to it. For awhile we had to stay a fair distance away from the elephants, because they aren't used to people other than their mahouts. One thing that is unique to the Elephant Nature Park and Journey to Freedom is that the mahouts do not use any hooks to control the elephants nor do they ride upon the elephants backs (although for one of the younger/rambunctious elephants at the village we were told that the Mahouts do sometimes have to gently tap him on the head with a bamboo stalk. At ENP only positive reinforcement is used with the elephants). However, after sometime we were able to get closer to the elephants (following the mahouts instructions translated to us by our guides) and even touch and feed them fruits that we had brought along from the village! After spending time admiring and taking photos of the elephants it was time to walk them deep into the jungle for them to graze, explore, and bathe a bit in the springs along the trek.

As much as I like to refer to these elephants as being "in the wild", this statement is sadly untrue due to the high rate of deforestation in Thailand. Even though logging was banned in the late  80's there are still illegal logging outfits running in the outskirts of Thailand and the addition of population growth does not make the prospects of a solution to deforestation look any brighter. This being said, while the elephants do have the opportunity to roam free during the day (they have these cute little wooden bells on their necks so the mahouts can find them) they are confined to a small section of the jungle during the evening (when the mahouts return to their home) to prevent the elephants from eating the crops that belong to another nearby village. It was a little disheartening to learn of the reality that actual wild elephants in Thailand are dwindling, but it was also nice to know that through Journey to Freedom these elephants can live a life much closer to their natural lifestyle versus working in Elephants shows or at trekking camps. My current hope is that the King of Thailand will continue to create National forests and nature preserves to protect these animals and their habitat.

The following day, we spent at the village helping out in the small ways that we could. In the morning we went to one of the local primary schools in the main village. Initially, the plan had been to visit a primary/secondary school and assist with teaching some English and entertaining the kids (teaching in Japan has taught me that these two go hand in hand). But, that school was on holiday so instead we went to the primary school and played with the young children (about 4/5 years old, some were younger). One of the volunteers had brought small toys along to give to the children and it was really cute to see their faces light up.
After a little over an hour we walked back to the community where we were staying and prepared some lunch (one of the kind French volunteers even gave me a  really nice bum massage).  Once we had finished our lunch it was on to more toilsome work of peeling corn with the villagers. Some of the corn would be used as feed for their livestock and the rest for making flour. While the work felt a little tedious it was really fun to watch as everyone would freak out about some bug or spider that would come crawling out of the corn husk. I'm pretty sure the villagers thought we were crazy.

One of the friendly Karen villagers I met. His wife thought that I was feeling sick and offered me some strange looking medicine. Our guides explained it was because she thought I wasn't eating enough.

Day Four and Five: More Elephants and a Jungle Trip to a Waterfall
After a day of no elephants we were all excited to hear that the next two days we would be able to head back into the jungle to spend time with our favorite pachyderms. On this particular day we would be traveling by trucks (urrrgh) to a separate village to spend time with their elephants. Thankfully, I was able to snag a seat inside the truck to avoid any major bum bruising that would render my massage from the other day completely pointless. On the 30 minute drive we stopped a few times to collect a small banana tree and some bamboo shoots to bring along with us to feed the elephants. The 2 elephants that belonged to this tribe had both spent a lot of time working at trekking camps (the female) and at an elephant show (male). Which meant that they were very accustomed to humans and thus extremely sweet and docile, this also unfortunately meant that they had been subjected to Phajaan (a brutal elephant training technique) at a young age. Almost all working elephants go through Phajaan, which is one major reason why any informed tourist would/should not finance any attractions that involve elephant rides or elephants doing tricks.
After spending time taking photos with the elephants we then walked with them to the top of a mountain, again, to give them a chance to really stretch their legs, explore, and graze.

The male elephant was so comfortable with people that he was more than content
 being handfed and swiping fruits right out of our hands. Tamara (France)

The following day started out with much of the same but with the elephants back near our village, so I won't talk much about it. But one interesting highlight was that the young rambunctious male elephant charged at one of the young Karen boys. Our guide explained to us that it was because the boy looked different to everyone else (he was shirtless because he had been fishing in one of the streams nearby previously).  After spending a good two hours with the elephants we went on an hour and a half long trek with the Karen to a waterfall hidden away in the jungle. It was an interesting hike because along the way when we would pass through the river some of the Karen villagers would start fishing. While most of the older Karen villagers accompanying us would use the familiar tactic of using a net to catch fish, the two young boys would use these interesting homemade contraptions to do something along the lines of spear fishing.

Subrutai (in red) and Midar.
 Mix threatening to throw poor Suprichai into the waterfall.

Usually, on the sixth day, volunteers would visit the third neighboring village and their elephants before heading to the ENP, but because we were visiting so close to the New Year we had to leave early in the morning to avoid heavy traffic on the way back into Chiang Mai. And, again I was thankfully able to secure a seat inside one of the trucks, so I wouldn't have to spend 2 hours sitting in the back again!  After our 6 hour drive we were rewarded at the Elephant Nature Park with warm showers, proper toilets, and a bed with as decent a mattress you'll find in SE Asia. Maybe a later post will talk more about my day at the ENP, for now I think it is time to wrap this one up..

Although the squat toilets and cold showers were less than ideal, I really enjoyed the time I spent volunteering with the Karen and their elephants. In retrospect, I was a bit surprised that we weren't given more tasks to help out in the village. Other than peeling some corn, a missed opportunity of teaching some English, and walking with elephants and collecting some food we had very little responsibilities. Regardless, I was really pleased with the experience and would really love to go back again sometime. So, if you like adventures,  love elephants, and don't mind spending a week living the simple life,  I highly recommend Journey to Freedom.

Keri

In hindsight-afteruploading photos to this post- I've realized I didn't get any photos of the rambunctious boy elephant. Probably because I was too scared to get anywhere near him. All the other elephants at our main village are females.

L-R Jessica (US via Myannmar) and Thibaut and  Alia (France)

enjoying the fire.

Our guide Mix showing us the art of Zen

blurry photo of Momma and baby sniffing for goodies

Me with Buzo (spelled how it sounds) one of the kind Karen women who liked chatting with me-
she would speak to me in Karen and I in English. Probably on completely different topics.

Suprichai on the left chuckling and snacking with his friend.

Midar and I. She could speak some English.
 I usually started the morning by doing dishes with her, subrutai, and their brothers.

Me with the twin ellie girls (2 years old).  

Where in the world is Keri hints

Hint 2:
This country is home to 1/10 of all animal species, which happens to include one of my favorite animals.