burning corn party

I was invited to go "burn corn" the other day by some 12th grade students. It was in the afternoon, at 2pm, so I pulled off a swap to let me ditch class that afternoon (and go in on Friday instead), because hell if I was gonna miss out on burning some corn!

I rode my bike about 6k out to a random field, deep in farm country, accompanied by a little posse of 12th grade students and three of the younger teachers. We settled in on a giant tarp, eating some green mango and hanging out while the students made a little bonfire. I had thought we were going to burn off some giant piles of corn shucks and the leftover stalks in the field, going "oooohhh. ahhhh." while we watched a huge fire scorching the earth, secretly hoping it would go just a little out of control and I'd have a bad ass story to tell later. My inner pyromaniac was pretty excited. But they just made these little fires and then cooked the corn in them.

It was still really fun though! We got some beers and drank with the students, and more food started to emerge from nowhere: skewers of bbq beef, coconut desserts, etc. Then, after the fires had died a bunch of the students ran around smearing ashes on each others faces till everyone was out of breath, faces smudged and black, with big smiles everywhere. Except for this one guy who was being really obnoxious. A group of girls grabbed him and threw him into a pond. Awesome! It was good-natured though. Just added to the fun.

And then - this is one of my favorite parts - while we were sitting there starting to get red-faced and tipsy, a cow behind us gave birth! Just like that. Like, "Hey, Dan, turn around. There's a cow giving birth behind you." "Huh? What? Oh, shit! That's gross..." Really, births are pretty gnarly. Especially when the mom is about fifteen feet away licking the blood, amniotic fluid, and goop off her baby. It was amazing, though. I grew up in cities. The closest thing I've seen to a real birth is that one movie they showed us in maybe 9th grade: "The Miracle of Life."

Anyway, after a few fun-filled hours of burning corn, drinking beer, and enjoying the miracles of nature, I biked home with yet another productive day in Cambodia under my belt.