Kimberton Waldorf School

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Summer Explorations

Summer in Thailand
By Julian Romano, 12th Grade Student

I was very fortunate to be selected with 8 other students from around the country to travel to Thailand this summer. Our trip was centered on the plight of the Asian Elephant and conservation efforts of Thailand’s wildlife in general. Below is a brief look into our stay there. 

Half way around the world, in the beautiful country of Thailand we land after 36 hours of travel. The heat and beauty immediately enveloped us. Gathering our gear we traveled from the city of Chiang Mai to the ENP (Elephant Nature Park), where we worked on clean-up of park and the sleeping areas for the elephants, gathering food for them, bathing them, assisting in medical care, and grass cutting. During our stay we learned how the native people would treat the elephants, their mahouts (owners) forcing them to give rides to tourists, beating them, harsh mating practices and even starvation. If something is not done to stop this there will be no elephants left in Thailand. This is where ENP comes in, providing sanctuary for these elephants and their mahouts. Our time there was also spent in brainstorming on how we could help. A group decision was made to help write a grant for the ENP to purchase a 2-acre parcel of land for reforestation and habitat preservation. After seven amazing days experiencing the beauty and the nature of these majestic creatures, and waking up each morning to the magical sounds of the elephants moving about and communicating to one another, it was time to head back to the city. 

For the next 3 weeks we stayed in a hostel in a rustic little community of Chiang Mai. The owner of the hostel was a young man named Noom; he showed us the city and taught us all about Thai culture. During the first week in Chiang Mai we had many tours of the city, and the many different markets. We visited a local school and taught English to young children, and we in turn spent time learning Thai. The food and people changed my life, how kind and polite they were made me contemplate why is it that our culture can be so rude. We then trekked up to a temple called Doi Suphet; along the way we saw many beautiful waterfalls hidden in the jungle. We also saw a hidden temple on the edge of one of these waterfalls. It was a mystical place, very peaceful, with a feeling of no fear, just serenity surrounding it. At the end of this week we biked out to the countryside and spent a whole day at a cooking school learning to cook a variety of Thai dishes; so delicious and fun.
 
The next week we went to a zip line place called Jungle Flight, flying through the jungle with trees whizzing past you at 300 feet. This was a lot of fun, even for the people who were afraid of heights. For me something about free falling and the speed made me feel happy, I felt liberated every time I jumped off the platform into the air. We then drove to a hot spring spa for a night out under the stars, and in the morning trekked home. We hiked through many small villages and terraced crop fields built into the side of mountains. Also during this week we spent 24 hours of silence and meditation at a Buddhist temple. The next morning had us chanting and moving through a step at a time every 3 seconds. This was a very challenging 24 hours! After 3 weeks of study and observation we began work on our individual conservation projects. 
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Week 4, our last week in Chiang Mai we went to the highest point in Thailand. We visited the botanical gardens with beautiful plants hundreds of rare and endangered orchids, and the Tiger Kingdom. We did more Jungle trekking through clouds blowing in our faces, and smelling the many different fragrances of the flora and fauna as we hiked. At the Tiger Kingdom baby tigers were everywhere; the babies would play on your lap, or you could just lie on one of the bigger tigers. We then traveled out to the county side and worked at planting rice, a very mudding hot job standing in 6 inches of mud with crabs, tadpoles, fish and even eels swimming about your feet. These were once in a lifetime experiences.
 
Our final week we headed up into the jungle to live with a Karen Hill tribe. Our purpose there was to work with the tribe on sustainable agriculture projects, help fix their huts, and ultimately release some elephants into the wild. When we headed out for our 10-hour trip it had been pouring rain, which made the roads very muddy and the drive very difficult for the truck. From the moment we arrived at the village it didn’t stop raining. We had to cut our stay short due to the rain, which if we hadn’t left and headed back to the ENP we could still be there, or even worse possibly dead. A huge landslide happened just after we left, killing 7 people and 14 others went missing. We found this out a day later. I felt so relieved to be safe, warm and dry. I then thought how native people in so many countries have to deal with disasters, and especially with their lack of modern resources. I am blessed like every other American to live in a country that has resources and support from the government when hit by a disaster.
 
Our last days together we bonded even more than before, spending the time learning much more about each other. I felt like I was part of them and they were part of me, something engraved into my heart and soul. The last adventure of our five weeks was the travel back to the USA, where we said our goodbyes with some tears and hugs and parted ways. I was happy to be home, but I will miss the people who I met along the way, and all the people in my group. They are my second family.
 
You are also welcome to check out our blog that has some pictures, a movie, the beginnings of our individual projects, and link to a photo site. Enjoy! http://loopabroad2011.tumblr.com/

Recent Projects

To check out what our tenth grade has been working on recently, please visit their artisan internship blog here: http://kwstriskelesartisaninternship2011.blogspot.com/.