Ronny's Last Day
Today was Ronny's last day at SEDS - for this visit, anyway. Ronny has been a visitor and volunteer at SEDS for many years, and these days he comes for a month twice a year. Ronny will be back with the SEDS family over Christmas, and maybe I'll get to return some time and coordinate so I can catch up with Ronny again :)
The day started out like many others, driving out to field work on the biogas project. A small difference was that this time we passed a few of the field workers in a small car, having driving lessons... Most of the field workers ride motorbikes, but none of them have ever driven cars before. Seeing how excited they all were to get driving lessons was kind of cute, and watching the staff in our jeep laughing and teasing the ones who were in the car learning was really funny!!
We met up with another different field worker today - I think there are about 14 field workers altogether - and the work pace today was a bit quicker than usual for the most part.
Despite getting through the work swiftly, there was still some time to talk with the local people. I had the confidence to ask for another tattoo photo this time, and once again the lady was very happy to show off her ink and ask about my husband. She also explained that part of the tattoo are her own husband's name on her arm, which is quite common here. Now that I understand that the necklaces worn by the Hindu women are the equivalent to our wedding rings, it's amazing the extra 'conversation' we can have through sign language and pointing. Women will often gesture to their necklaces and point at me, and then I know they are asking if I'm married. If they have necklaces, then I know I can ask about children as the word 'baby' is understood. I have also downloaded some photos of my family and my wedding to my phone, so that when we're out and I have no wifi I can show the pictures if people are interested. It's just a small conversation, but people here don't have much time or money for luxuries like leisure time, hobbies, or material pursuits. Family is important though, and here family relationships and dynamics have a whole host of other significance and consequences, hopes and concerns, compared to my personal culture, so it seems a good topic to connect over and a good way for me to learn more.
Moving on to the next place, there was a pen of kids - the young goat kind, not the young human kind - out the front of the house. The kids were penned up together while the adult goats were out grazing with shepherds. The kids must have been at least partially weaned as they were chewing away at bits of foliage that was provided for them.
They were incredibly cute, and incredibly mischievous. Escapology and climbing seemed to be their favourite hobbies, and I collected one tiny goat that had gotten out. I didn't put it straight back inside though, it was far too cute to not give it a bit of a cuddle first!
Again the work at this place was moving along at a quick pace, and without much that I could contribute to it.
I was in a better frame of mind to deal with that this time though (maybe the therapeutic effects of cuddling cute baby animals!) and while Alex was able to assist, I enjoyed looking at the beautiful clothes and jewellery of the women of this household, and accepted their offer of tea as well. I love it when we are offered tea while we're out!
We moved on to the final biogas unit for the day, and a group of men were clustered outside, chatting and drinking tea. I pushed myself into the work, and managed to help a little bit, which made me feel good. I always feel a bit accomplished, like I've outsmarted Shammy, if I manage to help him - he's always trying to not let me help, often by hiding any work from me. But with Shammy I feel like it's an ingrained need to 'protect' women and/or guests from doing anything too heavy. I never feel like it's meant in a derogatory or offensive way with him, even though the end result can leave me frustrated. We seem to have a good-natured (I hope!) mini battle between us sometimes, where he tries to hide the work from me and I try to outsmart him and force him to let me help...
As the biogas work was finishing up, the men asked if we wanted tea. Manni passed on the invitation to us, I said yes without hesitation, and Alex laughed at how predictable I am when tea is involved... Some of the ubiquitous plastic chairs were fetched for us to sit on, and a women appeared from inside to bring us small cups of tea. She also brought out small dishes of spiced groundnuts, which were absolutely delicious. I shared them round all of our team, and we all really enjoyed them. I wish I knew how to make them myself, freshly made with fresh, organic ingredients, they tasted so much better than any processed packaged peanuts I've ever eaten.
We sat outside talking with the men, and when they asked if we had any Australian money we could show them I kicked myself for not thinking of bringing any with me on these trips (I put an Aussie note in my purse as soon as we got back in case the same request happens again).
After we finished our tea, we headed off. Venkatrammadu was on his bike, and we followed him out, pausing while he dashed off to a little roadside shop. He ran over to the jeep, and handed us each a small packet of biscuits - such a sweet gesture!
We got back to the farm in time to have our last dinner with Ronny, who needed to leave for the airport at 9pm. It was a slightly emotional goodbye, as Ronny has been our main supervisor so far and has gone to a lot of effort to give us good experiences while he was here. I got off to a slightly iffy start with him right at the beginning, as I had found some of his helpfulness a bit patronising. Once he realised that I wasn't a 'youngster' with no travel experience, and once I realised he had been genuinely trying to help us out and be friendly, things were a lot smoother and I had become kind of fond of him. It will certainly be different without Ronny, although having a bit of a safety net removed can also be very good for your learning.
We couldn't get too maudlin about anything though. As Alex, Trisham, and I sat outside talking about Ronny's departure, a pair of bats just fell out of the sky and landed near the table! We weren't sure if they were fighting or doing something else beginning with 'f', but it was a very strange moment and it soon had us laughing again!!
The day started out like many others, driving out to field work on the biogas project. A small difference was that this time we passed a few of the field workers in a small car, having driving lessons... Most of the field workers ride motorbikes, but none of them have ever driven cars before. Seeing how excited they all were to get driving lessons was kind of cute, and watching the staff in our jeep laughing and teasing the ones who were in the car learning was really funny!!
We met up with another different field worker today - I think there are about 14 field workers altogether - and the work pace today was a bit quicker than usual for the most part.
 |
| Venkatrammadu at work |
Despite getting through the work swiftly, there was still some time to talk with the local people. I had the confidence to ask for another tattoo photo this time, and once again the lady was very happy to show off her ink and ask about my husband. She also explained that part of the tattoo are her own husband's name on her arm, which is quite common here. Now that I understand that the necklaces worn by the Hindu women are the equivalent to our wedding rings, it's amazing the extra 'conversation' we can have through sign language and pointing. Women will often gesture to their necklaces and point at me, and then I know they are asking if I'm married. If they have necklaces, then I know I can ask about children as the word 'baby' is understood. I have also downloaded some photos of my family and my wedding to my phone, so that when we're out and I have no wifi I can show the pictures if people are interested. It's just a small conversation, but people here don't have much time or money for luxuries like leisure time, hobbies, or material pursuits. Family is important though, and here family relationships and dynamics have a whole host of other significance and consequences, hopes and concerns, compared to my personal culture, so it seems a good topic to connect over and a good way for me to learn more.
Moving on to the next place, there was a pen of kids - the young goat kind, not the young human kind - out the front of the house. The kids were penned up together while the adult goats were out grazing with shepherds. The kids must have been at least partially weaned as they were chewing away at bits of foliage that was provided for them.
They were incredibly cute, and incredibly mischievous. Escapology and climbing seemed to be their favourite hobbies, and I collected one tiny goat that had gotten out. I didn't put it straight back inside though, it was far too cute to not give it a bit of a cuddle first!
 |
| Terrible baby goat selfie |
Again the work at this place was moving along at a quick pace, and without much that I could contribute to it.
 |
| Manni supervising the men's work |
 |
| Alex helping |
I was in a better frame of mind to deal with that this time though (maybe the therapeutic effects of cuddling cute baby animals!) and while Alex was able to assist, I enjoyed looking at the beautiful clothes and jewellery of the women of this household, and accepted their offer of tea as well. I love it when we are offered tea while we're out!
 |
| Beautiful colours |
 |
| Stunning jewellery |
 |
| Beautiful women |
We moved on to the final biogas unit for the day, and a group of men were clustered outside, chatting and drinking tea. I pushed myself into the work, and managed to help a little bit, which made me feel good. I always feel a bit accomplished, like I've outsmarted Shammy, if I manage to help him - he's always trying to not let me help, often by hiding any work from me. But with Shammy I feel like it's an ingrained need to 'protect' women and/or guests from doing anything too heavy. I never feel like it's meant in a derogatory or offensive way with him, even though the end result can leave me frustrated. We seem to have a good-natured (I hope!) mini battle between us sometimes, where he tries to hide the work from me and I try to outsmart him and force him to let me help...
As the biogas work was finishing up, the men asked if we wanted tea. Manni passed on the invitation to us, I said yes without hesitation, and Alex laughed at how predictable I am when tea is involved... Some of the ubiquitous plastic chairs were fetched for us to sit on, and a women appeared from inside to bring us small cups of tea. She also brought out small dishes of spiced groundnuts, which were absolutely delicious. I shared them round all of our team, and we all really enjoyed them. I wish I knew how to make them myself, freshly made with fresh, organic ingredients, they tasted so much better than any processed packaged peanuts I've ever eaten.
We sat outside talking with the men, and when they asked if we had any Australian money we could show them I kicked myself for not thinking of bringing any with me on these trips (I put an Aussie note in my purse as soon as we got back in case the same request happens again).
After we finished our tea, we headed off. Venkatrammadu was on his bike, and we followed him out, pausing while he dashed off to a little roadside shop. He ran over to the jeep, and handed us each a small packet of biscuits - such a sweet gesture!
We got back to the farm in time to have our last dinner with Ronny, who needed to leave for the airport at 9pm. It was a slightly emotional goodbye, as Ronny has been our main supervisor so far and has gone to a lot of effort to give us good experiences while he was here. I got off to a slightly iffy start with him right at the beginning, as I had found some of his helpfulness a bit patronising. Once he realised that I wasn't a 'youngster' with no travel experience, and once I realised he had been genuinely trying to help us out and be friendly, things were a lot smoother and I had become kind of fond of him. It will certainly be different without Ronny, although having a bit of a safety net removed can also be very good for your learning.
We couldn't get too maudlin about anything though. As Alex, Trisham, and I sat outside talking about Ronny's departure, a pair of bats just fell out of the sky and landed near the table! We weren't sure if they were fighting or doing something else beginning with 'f', but it was a very strange moment and it soon had us laughing again!!
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