Farmtown - Holt Rock, WA

     It could be an admiration for the great age-old trade; it may just be the perk of breathing fresh air under the warming sun.  In either case, there is something attractive about working on a farm.  Of course, it isn't for everyone: the work never ends, things always need fixing and bad weather could spoil an entire season's crop.   Luckily for me, as a seasonal worker there is less to worry over.  I'd like to say that gives me more time and energy to devote to taking in the experience of the farm - but how can I say I truly experienced what it is like to be a farmer if I don't live with the fear that maybe this year, the crop won't produce, that there not only might not be food on the table, but the farm would have to be sold into bits to stay alive. As a seasonal worker, what happens to the crop after it has been planted is of little concern to me.  But, as I continue to write and travel, I'm beginning to learn how to experience things through others - just by asking some questions.  It's fascinating to learn personal histories. And also to share them with you.

Driving a very old tractor

The Strother Farm

    Deep in the Southern Belt of southwestern Australia, surrounded by great plains, with distant views of a few mineral mines being the only feature on the horizon, lies little Holt Rock. When I got off the bus, my boss, Wayne, was already waiting for me, and we quickly set out to the farm. We passed by a large shed and he said,

"And, that's Holt Rock for ya!"

Scottish Bruce

He wasn't kidding. We drove another 15 minutes down dirt paths until we finally reached the crippled old building that was to be home sweet home for the next 3 months.  

Without unpacking I went straight to work, preparing the seeding equipment that we would begin using as soon as the rain came.  I met the rest of the seasonal workers, Wayne's brother and his two son's, and of course the horde of flies who became well acquainted with me.  

The Strothers have been in Holt Rock for nearly 100 years, staying even throughout the Great Depression Era, which forced many families to flee.  Wayne has been a farmer nearly his entire life, leaving school in his teens to work full time. He can recall when the area was still mostly bush lands, but a program was run in the 1960's and 70's to clear millions of acres for farming.  Now, there is a ban on clearing, and the vast acreage is owned by only a few.  The Strother Farm is 30,000 hectares - relatively small to the others.

The Job

   The farm deals with growing cereal grains and raising sheep. Our day to day work, besides seeding the fields in gigantic tractors, consisted mostly of preparing those tractors to pristine working order, raking and cleaning up the paddocks, and working with the sheep. Though my surname Baranski means something like "of the rams," I can admit I hate working with them. Sheep are stubborn and smelly; the meat you get from them is stiff and smells even worse. Working with them entails chasing them into pens, shaving off their butts to prevent infection, clipping tags onto ears, cutting off the young ones' tails, etc. All of those jobs are incredibly frustrating. Being how stubborn the 'bastards' are (a favorite word of the Aussies), you can't help but use a little animal cruelty to get some jobs done. If the sheep won't go through a yard, zap it, kick it, bop it, pull it. Have a few vicious dogs bark at it, pick it up, throw it where it needs to go - good luck, it probably still won't go where it is supposed to go.

If it still doesn't move - eat it!

Seeding is like a whole new job.  At its best, seeding can be very easy - you have a full box of seed that will last you the entire shift, the fields are clean, and the GPS actually drives the tractor for you, leaving perfectly straight lines behind, perfect for the harvest.

This is a farm, though, and plenty can go wrong.  The GPS in my tractor went haywire, and I had to operate it on my own.  Many fields were overgrown with old weeds and grass that would constantly block the 60 foot seeding bar.  The seed sometimes comes out at such a high rate that you find yourself loading up hourly - a rough process in the cold night winds all by yourself.  

Day-time seeding (not my usual shift).  That is dust
from the paddock, and of course the GPS isn't working,
So I should probably focusing more on driving than
on taking pictures.

The Night Shift

Nice to see you, friend!

    I was nervous when I was told that I would be working the night shift, though it turned out to be quite pleasant.  No one bothered me on the two way radio, sunrises were breathtaking, and the flies are all sleeping. Another surprise was seeing little birds being woken up by my incoming tractor. These tiny birds are fatter than they are long or tall, and their wings are barely long enough to be of any use at all. Upon noticing the gigantic tractor, they begin to run quite poorly and look rather like a small ball that is slowly rolling away. Then, whenever the tractor finally catches up to the bird, it takes to flying - something it is painly awful at. Its tiny legs spring it up into the air, whence (am I really using the word whence?) it begins flapping so rapidly the wings look invisible. Yet, all that effort leads to little result - the bird slowly hovers while moving at barely perceptible speed. Alas, it's enough to get away from the tractor, and the bird lands a few feet away.

My Tractor ***

*** For anyone who cares about the actual 'equipment' I used: I drove a CAT (USA made!) tractor.  The 'Bar' (middle section, plows dirt and empties seed) was 60 feet wide, Flexicoil.
The 'Box' was something like 4 tonnes, pretty big anyway. Also Flexicoil

Lessons Learned

1. Farming is hard - at the end of a shift, you don't have enough energy to think. 
2. I can drive stick shift now!
3. Mutton is the worst meat of all time.
4. Kangaroos and Emu's are the symbol of Australia.  They are also hunted down relentlessly.
5. Aussies speak funny.  Flamin' oath, mate. Bonsa. Fair Dinkum.

Good on ya for reading! Ta!  

--Veet

Here's me chasing an Emu at 50 kph: (sorry if the quality is grainy - I'm new with video editing) 

ลาก่อน สกลนคร, Hello Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy

Perth Skyline

St. Andrew's Cross Spider (I think?) 

Camping with the farangs at Phu Pan Mountain

 Oy! I'm in Australia now! In fact, I've been here nearly a week - the weather is absolutely spectacular, the roads are paved, and a looming knowledge that I'm in a "western" country again.  Yea, I can't get much farther east than Australia, but really, this almost feels like being back in New Jersey.  Just no familiar faces and no guidos.

     It's easy to start thinking too much when you have to go to work everyday and do absolutely nothing.  Really - We spent a few hours in the office everyday and went home by lunch time.  Since classes were finished, few students were at school, even most of the Thai teachers showed up just to sign in and go home.
Well, I started thinking that maybe I was leaving Thailand too soon.  I missed a lot of places - particularly Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hua Hin.  But, in the end, I realized I'd had a great time, learnt a new language, met wonderful people - all that nostalgia.  Basically, I just knew I was going to miss Thailand as soon as I left.

Yui - at her restaurant around the corner.

     After one last wild night in Bangkok, where I met a new role model, Jenni Jane Hellstern, a travel writer, I got my "never drinking again" self onto a crappy, poorly air-conditioned minibus headed for the airport.  Luckily, the airport was cold enough that I could relax.  Next, I boarded my first flight of two, both to be operated by Air Asia - a budget 'no frills' airline.  I immediately regretted not upgrading to a seat with some extra room for my gigantic legs.  Even more luckily than before, I had a leftover pain killer from having my teeth pulled out - that knocked me right out!

Air Asia - Low Prices = Crunched Knees

I woke up just as we were about to land in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Wow - the view of the city, with the famous Petronas Towers, AND a violent thunderstorm not so far in the distance - simply stunning.  After a short delay in KUL, we boarded for Perth.

Sawadee Krap! Australia!

Go Glory! 

First thing I noticed about Australia occurred as I was going through customs check: A young Australian guy was talking to a Thai guy about - I have NO idea what! The dialect here is wild! The old people I can understand, but the younger ones are a mystery to me.  After some serious thought, I deciphered what he was saying: Eyeteen Mawnths is Australian for eighteen months. Ah! He hasn't been in Australia for eighteen months! Couldn't tell by your accent, dude!

Perth is beautiful - I always said Chicago was the clean version of New York. Well, Perth is the smaller, modern version of New York.  Fifteen years ago, there was almost nothing here, and still they are building new infrastructure such as rail lines, bike paths, bus routes . . . but whatever there already is, is and works well. The streets have funny names, the towns are even whackier, and the people noticeably larger than my Thai fellows.  There are loads of immigrants here - everyone really, and they are mostly all friendly.  I've eavesdropped on a number of Polish people, some Germans, plenty Irish, and the 'locals' are really so-called "POHMs," or "Prisoners of Her Majesty."  Heh - catchy nickname, one they aren't too fond of though!

Golden Orb Spider

      I'm still getting a foothold of this strange new place - so far I've stayed with family friends who have done whatever to keep me happy and well fed.  As for work - I haven't had much luck landing a job, but there are opportunities everywhere.  I could always stoop down and work as a picker on a farm, but I'm aiming now to make my way up the west coast to Broome, where I can work on a pearling boat for some decent bucks.  Along the way, I'll probably pick up temporary jobs doing whatever.  My method of transportation? No, I wish it was a kangaroo, too.  I'll be hitching rides with others doing the same sort of thing I am.

Lake Joondalup Park

Burns Beach

Go ahead and think of something more relaxing than this

Loy Krathong

A few of the teachers from my school, as well as
 the various directors up on the float.

Whoa! Two updates in as many days. I must have nothing better to do.

I thought I'd tell you about a particular holiday we celebrate in November - Loy Krathong.

    Loy Krathong literally translates to "float flower-arrangement," and it is essentially that - putting these little arrangements of flowers and plants with candles in them into the water, where they joyfully float and bob up and down. The whole idea is that we are thanking mother nature and forgiving her for making water dirty throughout the year.  The tradition signifies a sort of "rebirth" of nature and allows us to cleanse our sins away.

Leila and Patrick

Madness! The parade begins.

    First, there is a big parade throughout the entire town - a real challenge to the otherwise rather lazy Thai people, who refuse to exercise for any reason.  One of the Thai teachers jokingly told me that after the parade of Loy Krathong, at least 3-4 kilometers, the rest of the year is devoted to relaxing and recuperating enough to be in the next parade.

Of course, some of the more respectable characters - the higher ups and directors of various important establishments - get to ride out the parade on parade floats. But, the general masses of students from schools all over our province and the normal teachers get to do the walking.  The whole town is either participating in the parade itself or showing support from the sidewalks.

Everyone dresses up.

    After the slowly crawling parade finally reaches the park, a loudspeaker calls out whom, or what, the various groups are representing. With that, we are now allowed to light our candles and send the floats adrift.  Thousands of floats take to the water and a beautiful swarm of flickering candles light up the multi-colored flowers and decorations on each float.  Khom Loi, similar to Chinese lantern, ascend to the heavens.  Since Loy Krathong is also a romantic holiday, you are meant to float your arrangement out with someone special.  According to myth, if your floats stay together and reach the middle of the lake, you will have good luck in love. Aren't Thais romantic?

Floats take to the water, and lanterns can be seen above.

Yaya, the Chinese teacher at my school.
Apparently, our floats never got too far.

For more info on Loy Krathong -----> Click!

Details of Teaching

Welcome back! Its been a long time ---

I have been teaching in Isaan for nearly one year now, and without a doubt, it has been amongst the msot eye-opening experiences I have ever been through.  All the students have now finished taking their final exams, the graduating class have been accepted into their separate universities, and I've just one month left before I leave for Australia and continue my adventure around the world. I thought I'd go into some detail about my experience abroad as a teacher.

The average class has about 50 students. That's right, 50. And I have a few with 60.
I teach each class ONCE PER WEEK, for 50 minutes. If you know anything about learning a language, you know that daily practice is a must. Repetition is vital, and one-on-one lessons are very important.

Now, do some basic math and you realize that if I were to spend one-on-one time with my students, I would have less than 1 minute per student, per week.

The only other English practice the students get is from a Thai-English teacher. These teachers are in charge of grammar lessons.  They also have the English level of an 8 year old native-speaker.

This is honestly a shame and is a point in the Thai education system that is a major flaw.  It also means that whatever I was taught in my TEFL course that I completed back in the US would be moot for teaching in such conditions.  Luckily, I am free to teach however I like - the most important thing to my bosses is that I show up for work everyday and take a lot of pictures (no kidding).  So, I spent most of my lessons joking with the kids, playing games that made them use whatever English they knew, and occasionally doing actual work and writing 'tests'.

Students - the first impression you get when you walk into a classroom is that of utter shock: for the shear amount of kids and for how they react to seeing a foreigner. This is northeast Thailand, a region known as Isaan (ee-sahn).  Foreigners are scarce, and some younger people are absolutely, petrified scared of me.

Luckily, most students are eager enough to want to meet me and get to know this tall, strange looking creature from a far away planet.  This was true even of my youngest students, which are 10-12 years old, some of whom had never seen a foreigner before.  But, it did not take long to establish a friendship with every one of my students.

I found this on my student's facebook page . . .

After one semester of teaching that was cut short due to a rather terrible motorcycle accident, I returned for a second semester at my school.  This was actually not what I had originally planned to do: When I first came to Sakon Nakhon I established that one semester would be plenty and that I should go somewhere else for a second semester.  However, after the way the staff and students took care of me after the accident, I just couldn't leave them behind so quickly. So I resigned my contract with AYC and returned to Thatnaraiwittaya.

A second semester in Sakon Nakhon was exactly what I needed.  After a long break from teaching, even I was eager to see my students and actually do some teaching. A fellow teacher came up with the brilliant idea of creating zombies with his children - he allowed me to steal his ideas- so I decided to let my younger students create aliens.  These aliens would eventually have little biographies - simple stuff like what they liked to eat, where they came from, how old they were, etc.  The kids loved this idea and we spent 2 months creating aliens.  I wanted to sit down with them and make my own alien too! (Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures of some of the really impressive aliens - I'll keep looking and post them up for your amusement when I find them)

Now, a second issue in the Thai education system is the enormous amount of down-time the kids get.  Seriously, every other week we have a day off, or a special day for dancing, or a whole week to play sports, or, my personal favorite, a day long speech about how attending class everyday was vital to education and missing even one lesson had serious consequences. I had to give two of my classes their mid-term exams when their were only 2 weeks left in the semester - the other students had done them over 2 months before that. My students have often complained, even to me, that they rather go to class and learn than have to miss class so often for silly dances and sing-alongs.

Kids spent a full week making "EM-balls"

However, it is hard to complain when you get paid and don't have to work.  In fact, the educational system seems to focus more on students having fun at school.  This is hard to raise an issue with.  Students are hardly under stress until maybe the last 2 years of high school. Tradition is meant to be taught in the schools as well. For an entire week, kids made "EM-balls," or small mud balls that would be sent to flooded regions of Thailand and literally be thrown into the water to help the devastated area.

The school receives a blessing on its 27th birthday. No classes!

David helps kids make Christmas cards - with Buddhist children. No class!

As you can see, there are certainly some pros and some cons to how the Thai school system works. We could get in a long discussion about it, as I have many times with fellow foreign teachers all around Thailand, if you'd like.  However for now, you're just going to have to look at pictures of super happy kids instead.

M-1 students

M-6 students. Seniors

See you here again soon, I swear I'll keep this thing up to date. Maybe.
V