Two months volunteering on a coffee farm in Chiang Rai with the Lahu community
By Alessandro Carosi
Like every coffee lover at some point the dream is to be able to spend some time on a farm to understand how coffee is born and grows and that will ends up on café tables in liquid form and which many of us love especially in the morning,

I am passionate about Asia and Thailand so I looked for a farm that combined coffee with a more sustainable approach and after months of research and thanks to websites such as Wordpackers and Workaway I came across this eco-sustainable plantation, Suan Lahu coffee farm run by the Lahu community in their own territory in the mountains between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

Website : suanlahu.org/

Facebook : facebook.com/SuanLahu

Instagram : @suanlahu_organiccoffee @suan_lahu_organic_coffee @suan_lahu

The Lahu are an indigenous ethnic group residing in the mountainous regions of the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and China meet, they have a rich cultural heritage, a distinct language and a history of resilience, balancing traditional customs with modern influences, in Thailand, the Lahu community is concentrated in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai where they have become known for their agricultural skills, particularly in coffee cultivation.… anextraordinaryandordinarylife…

Maybe I should have taken that plane to Romania
By Alessandro Carosi

It’s 10:30 p.m. I’m at Pescara Airport, the first train home leaves at 5 a.m. I decide to get some sleep on an uncomfortable bench, I sleep badly but I have a dream, I’m going down into one of those underground car parks and I find myself in front of four men, in the dream, I know they are Romanians. The dream is longer, but that’s all I remember when I wake up, in front of me is the departure times screen, the first plane leaving in the morning is… to Romania, Bucharest. I come to terms with it, go to the bathroom and, checking Instagram, I notice a message from a barista I know, she thanks me for participating in a coffee tasting a few days earlier, I notice that the name rings a bell, it can’t be, but it is, however, I know there is nothing strange about it; she is Romanian.

I stop to look at myself in the mirror and try to understand what all this is trying to tell me, I know that synchronicities always have a hidden message, in my journey through life, it means I am on the right path, other times it has other meanings, in this case, I can’t find any connection with my presence in Italy, but I am still happy about the message. I try to go back to sleep, but it’s impossible, so I decide to walk to the station. Looking for a bar to have a coffee, I come across a place like the ones I used to go to when I was a boy, full of alternative people and live music, I stay until 4 a.m. the evening and morning have already been a success.

I continue to think about the meaning of Romanian synchronicity, but I can’t find it. All that remains is the confirmation that the world we know is just an illusion.
…. anextraordinaryandordinarylife…

Maybe I should have taken that plane to Romania
By Alessandro Carosi

It’s 10:30 p.m. I’m at Pescara Airport, the first train home leaves at 5 a.m. I decide to get some sleep on an uncomfortable bench, I sleep badly but I have a dream, I’m going down into one of those underground car parks and I find myself in front of four men, in the dream, I know they are Romanians. The dream is longer, but that’s all I remember when I wake up, in front of me is the departure times screen, the first plane leaving in the morning is… to Romania, Bucharest. I come to terms with it, go to the bathroom and, checking Instagram, I notice a message from a barista I know, she thanks me for participating in a coffee tasting a few days earlier, I notice that the name rings a bell, it can’t be, but it is, however, I know there is nothing strange about it; she is Romanian.

I stop to look at myself in the mirror and try to understand what all this is trying to tell me, I know that synchronicities always have a hidden message, in my journey through life, it means I am on the right path, other times it has other meanings, in this case, I can’t find any connection with my presence in Italy, but I am still happy about the message. I try to go back to sleep, but it’s impossible, so I decide to walk to the station. Looking for a bar to have a coffee, I come across a place like the ones I used to go to when I was a boy, full of alternative people and live music, I stay until 4 a.m. the evening and morning have already been a success.

I continue to think about the meaning of Romanian synchronicity, but I can’t find it. All that remains is the confirmation that the world we know is just an illusion.
…. anextraordinaryandordinarylife…

Forse dovevo prendere quell’aereo per la Romania
Di Alessandro Carosi

22:30, sono all’Aereoporto di Pescara, il primo treno per tornare a casa alle 5 della mattina, decido di dormire un po’ su una panchina scomodissima, si dorme male ma faccio un sogno. Sto scendendo dentro uno di quei garage sotterranei, mi ritrovo davanti quattro uomini, nel sogno so di essere Rumeni, il sogno è più lungo ma è tutto quello che mi ricordo quando mi sveglio, davanti a me ho lo schermo con gli orari delle partenze, il primo aereo a partire in mattinata è …. per la Romania, Bucarest. Me ne faccio una ragione, vado in bagno e controllando instagram noto un messaggio da una barista che conosco, mi ringrazia per aver partecipato ad una degustazione di caffè qualche giorno prima, noto che il nome mi dice qualcosa, non può essere, ma lo è, ma so che non c’è nulla di strano, lei è Rumena.

Mi fermo a guardarmi allo specchio e cercare di capire che cosa tutto quello stia cercando di dirmi, so che le sincronicità hanno sempre un messaggio nascosto, nel mio viaggio della vita, significa di essere sulla strada giusta, altre volte ha anche altri significati, in questo caso, non riesco a trovare nessuna connessione con la mia presenza in Italia, sono comunque contento per il messaggio. Cerco di tornare a dormire ma non se ne parla e decido di incamminarmi alla stazione, alla ricerca di un bar per prendere un caffè mi imbatto in un locale come quelli che frequentavo da ragazzo, pieno di alternativi con musica dal vivo, rimango fino alle 4. La serata e mattinata sono stati già un successo.

Continuo a pensare al significato della sincronicità Rumena, non lo trovo, rimane solo la conferma che il mondo che conosciamo è solo un’illusione.
…. anextraordinaryandordinarylife…

What you think is energy, always keep an eye on your thoughts
By Alessandro Carosi - I am in London and, cycling to work, I start thinking about when my dear friend and I went to Cupra for the chestnut festival and how magical the evening was, I think about Grottamare Alta, a beautiful village near the town where I was born, which my friend promised to take me to when I returned to Italy. This thought triggers another thought, which is to write to her to find out if she and her son are well, she replies that, as has happened in the past, she was also thinking of me and was planning to write to me, I tell her that I was thinking of Cupra and Grottamare and that’s why I wrote to her, she says, surprised, that she was thinking exactly the same thing and that’s why she wanted to write to me.

What does this mean? Thoughts are energy, more powerful than we can imagine, the people we think about can feel this invisible frequency, and it is important to maintain only positive and benevolent intentions. Everything starts with a thought, thoughts trigger emotions, and emotions emit an invisible energy that allows us to manipulate external reality and transform it into what we desire.

Always keep an eye on your thoughts and emotions!!! …. anextraordinaryandordinarylife…

What you think is energy, always keep an eye on your thoughts
By Alessandro Carosi - I am in London and, cycling to work, I start thinking about when my dear friend and I went to Cupra for the chestnut festival and how magical the evening was, I think about Grottamare Alta, a beautiful village near the town where I was born, which my friend promised to take me to when I returned to Italy. This thought triggers another thought, which is to write to her to find out if she and her son are well, she replies that, as has happened in the past, she was also thinking of me and was planning to write to me, I tell her that I was thinking of Cupra and Grottamare and that’s why I wrote to her, she says, surprised, that she was thinking exactly the same thing and that’s why she wanted to write to me.

What does this mean? Thoughts are energy, more powerful than we can imagine, the people we think about can feel this invisible frequency, and it is important to maintain only positive and benevolent intentions. Everything starts with a thought, thoughts trigger emotions, and emotions emit an invisible energy that allows us to manipulate external reality and transform it into what we desire.

Always keep an eye on your thoughts and emotions!!! …. anextraordinaryandordinarylife…

A small donation for a family in desperate need of help
By Ivo Gabrielli

Hello dear friend…

I am a volunteer of the association

Servants of Mary Mother of God and Our –
I wanted to send you a personal message, but I didn’t have the chance, but consider it as if I had written it just for you.
I am a volunteer who devotes himself almost 24 hours a day to those who suffer, I want to speak to you with my heart in my hand and many tears that are wetting my soul:
I am experiencing a moment of desperation for a family with children I have known for 10 years….
They have serious problems that are making me suffer deeply, but Jesus tells us:
There is nothing GREATER than giving your life for your friends.
They have three problems that make them unique in their pain:

the three children have serious illnesses, but still no pension.
the father lost his job almost a year ago due to covid
they have been bullied and have been running away from the council house where they live.
Now they have finally received one, but they have to pay a lot of expenses (about 7-8000€).
I’ll send you a list of their main needs:

a car for work for mum and dad and to take the children with many chronic and important illnesses to make very frequent (two or three times a week) visits many kilometres away.
50€ per month for supplements for mother and daughter’s severe sickle cell anemia.
200€ a month for various expenses that they can’t get with the associations’ package.
In the future, to try to stop the advance of their (mother and children) retinitis pigmentosa, which is not curable at the moment, the hospital in Ancona has been prescribed a stay of a few days in a clinic in Naples.
This requires a considerable economic effort.
Supporting expenses for the children’s school.
I’ve asked associations and organisations, friends and relatives… but now I have to expand the network because there are so many expenses.
I thought that since I have so many friends, both real and virtual, on social media, if each one of us with good will and great sensitivity were to put some small drops … according to my opinion … in freedom,
…according to our possibilities, we could save this family together, because they risk losing their council house and finding themselves homeless, and we must try to avoid this for sick children, whom I have followed and follow personally.
I ask your good heart for a drop to make a small ocean to raise this family full of trials. God will give us credit for it and I ask you also and above all to pray a lot for them.
Thank you

IMPORTANT: write for the reason for the payment write for FAMILY IN NEED

ASSOCIATION OF CATHOLIC SERVANTS OF MARY MOTHER OF GOD AND OURSELVES (Ass.ServidiMaria)
mail:ServidiMaria.12@gmail.com
Tax code 91.05.03.90.441
PEC: poste.cgm@pec.it

SERVANTS OF MARY : PRAYER AND CHARITY
+39 3481882597

BANK HEADQUARTERS
4163 7801 7720 2928
PNTMCL62B13E207F
COORD. PIUNTI MARCELLO
BANK TRANSFER-BANK SELLA-IBAN
IT 08 I 0326 8244 000 5236 8186 980

BENEFICIARY: ASSOCIATION
CAUSE: NEEDS
HEAD OFFICE: VIA SANTA CECILIA 8 – 63074 SAN BENEDETTO DEL TRONTO (AP)
山s
SSS. Trinity

Which I have created especially for them, I only ask for a grace… Maybe an answer anyway … Because it makes me happy to know that you have read the message I wrote with all my heart and my sincere pain.
You can also contact me on +39 3381611201 (Ivo) for further explanation.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart and the Lord bless you!!!