Maanoo!

So its near the end of the rainy season which means A) Its wet 2) suusuulaa siiyaata le (mosquito is plenty) 3) it's time to harvest rice. I've been going out to the 'faro' (rice field) every once in a while to help weed...not easy. And now all that hard work is paying off - with more hard work. I never really thought about the fact that rice is a plant like every other starchy food we eat, and for some reason, I was slightly surprised that it looks a heck of a lot like wheat once its grown. Actually, harvesting rice is not physically difficult - just take a small knife and clip the stalk a few inches below the rice grains. The difficulty lies in distinguishing ripe rice from not-ripe rice. Apparently, ripe rice is lighter in color... but since my ability to distinguish colors is 'poor', ahemm....well let's just say if my family's food sucks for the next few weeks, my bad.

As my mother, brother, and I were out in the field, a storm was abrewin'. My mother kept trying to convince me to go home because I would get wet. "The wind is here...the rain will follow... go home." Now, in hindsight, I think it was her way of making me stop prematurely harvesting her beautiful rice, after seeing the quality of my work. I pretended to ignore her until the rain finally came, then we loaded up the rice on my bike. I got completely soaked on the way back home, carefully transporting our rice down the muddy, winding, windy bush roads. As soon as I got home, I stood outside with the Sisqo, King of Dragon, topless, enjoying myself. The women go topless - so why can't I?

--Junkung Bless Kumpawarrior