Hau’s Week 8: Intensive! @__@

I cannot believe that week eight is over–time flies!  I had fun working for Chiwara.  It was inspiring to interact with approximately 20 people from different backgrounds who came to the Chiwara’s 1-day intensive to learn how to apply permaculture into their lives.  I enjoy learning about their backgrounds, their perspectives about what is social justice, how to empower Detroit, and their future plans with integrating permaculture into their career and homes.  I thoroughly enjoy conversing with the people while simultaneously expand my understanding of permaculture, what is social justice and meanings of life.  One of the members introduce the idea of integrating spirituality into social and political activism, which I found to be interesting.  I have not thought about promoting mental well-being with activism through gardening, so this idea captivates my thoughts.  I will further ponder about this idea to see how it can be applied into my life.

(Please pay attention to the sunflowers in the background.  They were only sprouting when I started this internship, but now, they are twice as tall as me! I am so proud of them. =] )

During this past week, I started feeling stress about my time in Detroit.  There are many places in Detroit that I want to visit and there are still many cultural aspects of Detroit that I have yet to explore.  I want to visit the Eastern market, bowl at Garden Bowl, eat at Avalon Bakery and many other restaurants.  With the two weeks I have left in Detroit, I will make it a goal to further explore Detroit.

Besides worrying about seeing Detroit, I also began to worry about the deadline of my report for Chiwara.  I know I will have it done but I struggle with effectively articulating my thoughts.  It is difficult for me to explain my research topic.  There are many dimensions that complicate how I understand my research topic–I am at a point where I think I know nothing about permaculture and social justice.  Hopefully, as I finish my carmel macchiato, my writing will flow though.