My Spring Break... @ World Hunger Relief Inc., Elm Mott, Waco, TEXAS....

will post more later... i promise... i need the pics on my laptop... and i'm currently at the computer lab...

ok... i'm back... and updating with lotsa photos... dial up killer!!!

first... we set off on 25th of Feb... (saturday) morning at about 9am...
these are my stuffs...
everybody is in a really good mood... excited and all about the trip... the long road trip (20+ hours driving... no including stopping) down to Waco, Texas...
that's Sandra and Kristin... here's Aaron and Jess
and here's Sarah and Stephanie...
last but not least, Jenn (passenger seat), Beth (driver) and Jeff (the guy in the cap)...

so, 9 of them + me (the photographer...) = 10 of us set off at slightly after 9...

first stop at some rest area...had peanut butter(PB) and Jelly (J) sandwiches, some cheese, and carrots and all as lunch...on the way, i saw some migratory birds flying... tried taking a pic and this is what i caught... (try searching for lines of black dots(at the bottom part of the picture)... We stopped and rested for the night at Tulsa, OK at about 1am... and the next day, we set off at about 9-10am... and reached Dallas, TX at about 2-3pm...a city view of Dallas, Texas...
we were about half an hour away from Waco, Texas... and since the sun is setting, i took a picture of this nice view and getting ready(mentally...lol) for our arrival...

We arrived there at about 7pm and met a couple of interns (Jeanan and Wes)... where we introduced ourselves, and asked them some questions about the farm, and where to get groceries and all... and we headed out to get groceries at about 9pm... and then, got back, played some games, and met another intern(Aaron)... and then, called it a night...

The next day... 27 Feb (Monday), we started working on the farm... Jeff, Aaron and I (all the guys on the trip) woke up at 6.10am to brush up and went to the dairy to milk some goats... it was really an amazing experience... learning about the whole process... like cleaning, feeding, milking, bottling and all... and we did some gardening for the entire day... and for lunch, we met all the volunteers and the admin staffs there... really fun... for dinner, we had Jess... the chef cooking us really good food... the lasagna was awesome... and the salad... (the salad on the entire trip was soooooooo goooooooood because the vegetables were harvested fresh from the garden... and were organic... where the carrots were so sweet and other vegetables were sooooo fresh...)
(missing Beth, under the weather, and Jenn, on the phone, and me behind the camera...)

we played board games and met all the other interns (David, Lenna, Allan, and Meredith) later that night...

this is where i sleep...

the next day... 28 Feb (Tuesday)... i went helping to milk the goat again... then, it was rather early when i'm done with that... and had breakfast... and then was reading on the swing, under the tree and i got pooped on by a bird... how lucky i was... striking the lottery...
later in the day... i went to the dumpsite to get rid of a hell lot of rubbish which we loaded the truck yesterday... Wes, Aaron and I... dumped a lot of about 700 pounds of rubbish...

in the afternoon, we did more gardening...

and for dinner, we had more pasta and stuffs...and for the record, V is for me (Voon) and S is for someone else... (Sandra, Sarah, or Steph)... but V S is my initial... Voon Seng... what a coincident...

another beautiful sight of sunset...
and the laziest cat in the world... it's sooooo lazy that u have to see it to believe it... really...

the next day... 1 March (Wednesday)... i really can't believe that it's already March... dang...
i didn't take any photos that day... in the morning, i went milking again... i ended up bottle feeding them because they were others milking there, and crowding the room will kinda affect the goats' sanity... :)

so, in the morning, i went to the Pecan Orchard... and there, i handled a chainsaw... how cool is that...!!! crazy!!!..... i got bitten by quite a number of fireants... (i counted 12 bite marks...) well... because when i felt the first bite, i need to stop the chainsaw, take of my goggle, and only i can start killing the ants...not funny... and i'm a scratcher... so, go figure...

in the afternoon, i was repairing a couple of bicycles... mostly, repairing the punctured tubes and then, oil some really rustic chains... and trying to put the 'crusted' chain back into flexible one.... and again, the magical WD40 (R) saves the day....

at night... we watched a documentary that totally changed my world... the Invisible Children:Rough Cut... the pictures are really gory and the truth is painful... it's rather hard to see why such inhumane thing is happening now and for so long... and yet it's ignored and remain unknown... damn... what's wrong with the world...

the next day... March 2 (Thursday)...
woke up early again, did the usual, bottle fed rabbit, and what not... we did the road(where because of erosion, the road needs some repair... and we removed the excess dirts and laid it at some lower ground (some holes and all) elsewhere... it was really tiring, to rake a truckload of dirt to flatten the dirt and even the ground...

in the afternoon... we had a simulation of living on the other side of the world... where we divided into 2 groups... a group of Haitians, and another group of Guatamelans... basically, it's more like Meat-eater vs Vegetarian... where Meat-eaters are Guatamelans...(that's Sandra, Sarah and Steph and I)... to collect water, we need to walk more than a quarter mile uphill ... to make a fire, we need to collect branches from another quarter mile away... we also collected some eggs... and we were supposed to kill a guinea fowl for meat... but because of insufficient time, we didn't do it.. (i was prepared to be the one to kill that bird... but well, too bad... it didn't happen...) it's a lot of mental preparation to set up for it... and not being able to do it was a really huge disappointment...

we had access to the garden too... where we harvested some carrots, cabbage and some herbs...
we were given some black beans and some rice too... and salt and pepper... and some plastic bowls and cups...

while the Haitians were only given black beans and rice... and they had no access to the garden, and no eggs and no meat... and not even salt and pepper... what do they have... 2 pots and rice and black beans...

so, our recipe was, cooking the black bean with rice... and stir fry vegetables... and scrambled eggs... and wrapped it with lettuce... it was really good...

the only problem with the cooking was really keeping the fire going... the fire... oh my gosh... it's not easy to keep a fire going even given matches to start the fire... but, once it got going... it's sooooo hot... and the smoke really choked us and attacked our eyes... and i was the one doing the 'man' job... of keeping the fire burning...

it was an amazing activity... and we learned a lot and understood how it was like to be poor... (not really, but at least, to a certain extent)...

at night... we headed out.... after a fruit salad... it was really good... we headed out to downtown Waco for a concert... an Africa Benefit Concert... A local night for a global cause.... featuring Invisible Children, Stories from the Frontier, Adeline, and Mystery Lectric... it was really good show.... but we left after 2 bands because some of us couldn't really handle another full viewing of the documentary again...

that night... before we left for the Concert... we had an activity, where one writes about what he/she thinks about another person... everybody writes about everybody... it's called Warm Fuzzy...

here's my sheet: (although the writers should be remained anonymous, i could easily figured out who's who...)

Voon:
-I will remember the hilarious ways you surprise me with your comments! And your amazing ability/willingness to eat/try anything :)
-Let's hang out after ASB "Don't you wish your boyfriend were hot like Voon" "Switch"
-Voon rocks my world and can do anything... which is cool
-I like the way you said how you like to milk the goats
-Voon- I'm glad you got up early to milk because otherwise, I never would. Your sense of humor is subtle yet hilarious. Math and Econs!
- Very funny and east to talk to - I feel like you have a secret personality (in a goodway)
that crazy look you get in your eyes I will never forget.... Milk that cow! MILK IT!
- In the beginning, the goats didn't want you, now you hotter... goats all on you! Don't we wush our boyfriends were hot like Voon?
-Voon you crack me up. Crazy kid. I really like how you wear bright colors, you swing a pick axe like it's nobody's business, you are very willing to try new stuff & are a hardworker... "Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like Voon" Yeaman

thanks guys... you guys are amazing...
after the concert... we got back to some amazing brownies... (Sarah made them)it was 'poisoned'.... with Cayenne Pepper... for those who don't like their brownies spicy... too bad... for me, it was actually pretty good... but one thing is, the Cayenne pepper looks a lot like Cocoa powder... so, it's really deceiving... :)

and even later that night.... Aaron made us some really good Mexican Hot Chocolate.... where u boil milk in a pan and throw 2 oz of chocolate into it, for every 8 oz of milk... it's crazy lot of choc... (i had more chocolate on this trip than 3 months consumption elsewhere...)

last day.... March 3 (Friday)... it was rather sad to wake up this morning, realizing that it's the last day of the trip... and the director, Neil, decided to milk the goat instead... so, Aaron and Sarah helped him out, while Jess, Steph and I bottle-fed those kids...(less than a month old)
Neil brushing down the goat...goats getting ready to be milked....Aaron milking a goat...the energetic kids...goats... more goats....drink it up... Lucky(with the black collar, on the right) and Jinx
Jinx...more of Jinx...they are playful bunch of kids...

and after we were done feeding those kids... we walked around taking pictures... really started to feel missing this place...
the donkey and the dry goats.... the donkey protects the goats from Coyote and wolves...
some babies rabbit... rabbits for their shit... composting and all and the end product... is really good fertilizer...
Composting toilet... where it saves tonnes of water every year... and all you need is some sawdust to cover it so that it won't smell (that bad)... and that's about it...


that morning... after breakfast... we cleaned up our dorm and all... and later, i went to the garden to help out some transplanting... where i got bitten some fireants again....this time, on my fingers... 3 bites... damn... later, we had lunch with everybody... and we had a discussion and evaluation
after lunch... we started packing and all...
this is the bone i found from the Pecan Orchard.....
World Hunger Relief Farm... i will miss you...
my jeans after 4 days of farm work... !!!! Laundry time!!!


the drive back to Ann Arbor from Texas was not easy... with all the memories and feelings, and complications of spring break ending and school starting... damn... it's really complicated... but we still had fun... although it's not fun sitting in the car for more than 30 hours in 2 days...

we got back to Ann Arbor at about 2am (Sunday, March 5).... i reached my dorm at about 2.30am...

overall, i think the trip had really changed my life... my view of life... and also probably many other things.... amazing... Alternative Spring Break... Amazing Spring Break...

i will post some thoughts and feelings next time...