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“Jai-yaen-yaen”

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Excuse the Instagram screen shot, but this is the only picture I have that captures the essential moment of the week: MEETING MY HOST FAMILY! The morning we were leaving the hotel, everyone was excited. We were finally going to be able to put our Thai to use. I rehearsed my lines over and over (in Thai) “My name is Emily, I am from America, I have three sisters, my dog’s name is Tilly, I like spicy food...” my teacher (aajan) told me I was ready. I felt ready, too. We ate our last meal at the hotel (which was the hotel’s attempt at mashed potatoes special for us), loaded our stuff on the bus, and headed to meet our families at the Don Chedi hub. When the busses pulled in, my heart skipped a beat. Alright Em, phase 2 of training, here we go. We got out, sat down across the aisle from the host families, and endured an excruciatingly long opening ceremony. No one was paying attention to the speakers because we were just too excited to see who got who. When it was finally over, nam...
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Ban Huaymongkol

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Ban Huaymongkol School opened in the rural outskirts of Hua Hin in 2514 (1971 in farang years). It is roughly 4 acres large, and on them sit bright red academic buildings, quiet teacher dormitories, and a large soccer field with real, plush grass. From it you can see the Huaymongkol temple, where   Luang Paw Tuad's black marbled, tired body sits criss-cross and smirks at tourists walking by. The school is home to 350 students, donned in red and black uniforms (the school colors) with brown tennis shoes that you can usually find kicked off and splayed , somewhat chaotically, outside a busy classroom. It is home to 22 teachers, 7 of whom stay on campus during the semester. It is home to a passionate, driven, young principal ( Paw Aw).  It is home to three cats, Fried Egg, Black Egg, and Egg Boy, and roughly 7 stray dogs, whose names are unknown. And as of about three weeks ago, it is home to me: Emily, aka Kru Chunpoo, aaka Kru Emily, aaaka Teacher, aaaaka Kru Emiloosh (...
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The Pool

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Growing up, my family and I would drive up to Boston to see our relatives every year. I remember never being able to sleep the night before, so excited to see everyone again. My sister and I are two of eleven cousins, so you can imagine that this annual one week trip was absolute, joyful chaos. Nothing but swimming, snacking, and laughing until the sun went down, only to rinse and repeat the next day. I've been thinking of these summer days more frequently since moving in with my site host family. My host mom is one of six siblings, and together they have a total of -ironically- eleven kids. They all come to my Yai's noodle restaurant (nextdoor to us) for dinner every night, which means every night it's a party. It's fun to watch: the older cousins play dominoes at the small marble table, the younger cousins run around out front blowing bubbles, and the adults sit on various benches and chairs eating and talking about their days. I understand roughly thirty percent...
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