Start of the semester .....Finally.

So it's been a little while since I wrote in this so i figured I would put my next blog up. Hmm lets see so much has happened in the last few weeks. Well I'll start at the beginning. Recently we began the srat of the actual semester here in Thailand. My classes are going to mainly focus on social issues and research methodology, both of which should be really interesting and a huge switch from the type of stuff i'm used to.
On of the first lectures we had was from a man named Sulak Srivaraksa. The man has been incredibly influential in Thai plitics and is supposed on the Thai governments wanted list for committing less Majestre, which is speaking out against the monarchy. In Thailand the government consists of a constitutional monarchy, where the King and Queen are the heads of the country and are held in the highest regard by most all thai people. Sulak has also been awarded many peace awards as well as being nominated for the Nobel peace prize a few times.

That being said, after his lectures, I don't quite know how I feel about the guy. I came in to Thailand thinking that my views on politics and how things should work was vastly liberal, leaning towards socialism. After lisstening to Sulak's complete mistrust in capitalist society in the past, present and Future, i began to question my own views. The one thing that struck me most about his lectures was when he declared that " social Justice cannot be accomplished in a capitalist society." Harsh words in my opinion, and also a very negative way to approach the problem. Social justice is not a matter of the political system as such, but more so the people in the society and their values. If those values drift away from human accountability and value, like its has in America and many other countries, then things become bad. However if you changes the way they view success and livelihood to such a way that it is not measured by the money you have, then I feel that human value can become more important. ... Well anyways haha.

After a few more random classes, some more exchanges with Thai people in markets, bars, etc. I was off to my next homestay. This homestay was situated at the home of an organic farmer. Apparently due to world bank loans and regulations, the subsidies that huge mono croppers in the us get in order to export to other countries has caused the organic farmers out of not only a job, but a livelihood. In thailand, rice is the major crop, and thus farming rice and other foods have become part of the culture. THe importation of crops that are cheapper then home grown crops creates problems for the farmers, and makes it so that they have to change how they live. My pa and a were old organic farmers that are making a huge push for reverting back to small organic farms around Thailand. we talked to a number of people, including the organic farmers in the communities, farmers that are stuck in contract to large mono cropping organizations, and two leaders influential in changing the way that Thailand agricultural sector is. It was pretty amazing to see how live was tied in to it all, especially because in america you don't normally question how you get your food, you just eat it. On one of the mornings , me and my friend even woke up early to go to our pa's orgnaic farm. It was incredible, like and oasis. Our pa even jumped in to one of the many ponds he had to get the 4 lotus flowers that were in the middle of the pond. it was pretty amazing.

after that homestay, we went off to another village for just one night, were we were all prone to get back in to the old habits that college students do. That night our homestay families took me and a few other people out to kareokee about 20 min away from where I was staying. we procedded on to crowd about 15 falang( foriegners) in to the bed of a pick up truck and went our way. Once we got there, i'm pretty sure we were the most obnoxious people in the world. We tried to sing " hotel california" as a group, and butchered the shit out of it. once we got on stage, we realized we knew only 2 lines of the whole song........ it was aweful. haha.

after coming back to Khon Kaen, life proceeded as it normally did. I took it upon myself to become more intrested in a NGo that was incrdibly influential in HIV/AIDS care in Thailand called TNP+. A few of us went on day to their reginoal meeting of wholistic care centers, and were engulfed by it. We even had to stand up and present ourselfs, emphazising if we were single or taken. Afterwards we met with a few of the leaders and heard their side of the current issue, focusing mainly on access to secondline drugs and their campaign against drug companies in the U.S.

The most recent occurance that happened that most will find ammuzing was my escapade to the Pullman hotel. The pullman hotel is the nicest hotel in the city, and as such has a huge penthouse suite. Me and 3 freinds dressed up in the best attire we had, acted like buisness men and proceded to get a grand tour of the penthouse. It was huge, and the view was incredible. it even had its own pool. haha

Thats it for now. I'll try to stay abit more up to date on the whoel blogin thing in the near future.