Caleb Roselius is spending a year abroad in Thailand. He wanted to share his experience planting rice.
Rice planting
Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand
Have you ever been eating rice and wondered where rice comes from? Yes we know it's grown in paddies but how does it get there? I had the opportunity to actually experience this the other day. My classmates and I recently went on a field trip out to the countryside to plant rice on a farm.
The first thing we did was rip up rice cuttings from the ground where the farmers had prepped them, and we walked about half a mile out to the fields. One by one, we stepped into a paddy field up to our knees in water where we threw out the rice cuttings. I was standing in 2 feet of water in the middle of a rice field marveling at how I was planting rice that maybe you would eat someday.
After we finished, I thought we would be done and go home. Instead we walked back to listen to lectures about the history of rice in Thailand and what the former King’s mission was, where I did not understand a single word. They also taught us how to make balls of fertilizer for the rice fields. It was all really incredible and unexpected.
Learning to be patient and flexible in this part of a cross-cultural experience is key. You will expect one thing, and then something totally different or unexpected happens. You have to be okay with that. Things are not good or bad, they are just different.
Though I didn't understand the lecture, I am learning the Thai language and able to have more conversations with people. It takes time and I'm looking forward to learning so much more.
So the next time you're eating rice with dinner, picture yourself standing in Thailand in a rice paddy throwing out rice cuttings and being open to everything new and different.