Before arriving on the organic rice farm six weeks ago, I had no idea what jobs my volunteer assignment would entail. Of course it being a rice farm, I had a vague notion that I would be involved in some form of, well, rice farming… but what rice farming was and how one actually [...]

Growing up, I loved reading Little House on the Prairie and other books about people living off of the land. But, personally, I wanted to live off of Lucky Charms and plump, pink chickens wrapped in plastic wrap and styrofoam.

You see, I grew up on a small farm in New York State, where [...]

This Monday marks my one-month mark on the organic rice farm in Southern Malaysia where I’ve been volunteering. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun! Time also flies when you’re busy worrying about pythons and mud parasites and sneaky no-good hoe-stealers.

To be honest with you, I’m surprised I’m almost at the one-month mark. [...]

In February, before I headed off to rural Northern Thailand to cat-sit by myself for two months, I worried about being stuck out in the middle of nowhere all on my own. How would I survive in the jungle by myself with absolutely no ability to speak the Thai language and an absolutely uncanny [...]

When you tell people that you’re going to quit your job and spend a year traveling around Asia, most people tend to be pretty supportive. I’ve had friends, family members and complete strangers wish me luck, buy me drinks and make me promise to send them postcards (umm, about those postcards…).

On the other hand [...]