My first day!

Well, gang, we made it!

And what an incredible journey it has already been! From unloading tons of suitcases off a bus into LAX, to our 13 hour flight to Seoul where you can literally shower and use the “nap room” for free, to touching the ground in Bangkok, every moment has been surreal!

We’re currently staying in Songphanburi, which is roughly 2 hours north of Bangkok. We will be here for ten days getting the basic-basic training before moving in with our host families!

Today was more of a logistics day, and were only in meeting until noon, so we got to explore the town a bit. I keep wanting to use the word “surreal,” but to describe what I mean by that word is probably best done with this story of the monk in the picture above.

We were in a group of 15 or so, saying “sa wat dti ka” to everyone we passed, who usually said it in return. We saw stray dogs napping under cars to avoid the hot sun, restaurants cooking their food in their kitchen which is usually outside of the restaurant itself (so you’re closer to the amazing smell), and toddlers sitting between their mother’s legs on mopeds. It was almost too much to take in all at once!

Eventually we came across this temple, and the first thing that draws your eye is a large gold Buddha.  I gasped because it was just such a beautiful figure. However, I did not have time to have a verbal response, because suddenly, a monk jumps out of his parked car to greet us, almost as if he knew we were coming. Without saying hello, he got out and waved us over. We were slightly confused: he didn’t know English, we don’t know Thai, so it took some charades.

We walked up the temple steps, where he told us to take our shoes off. We did that, and then walked over to the Buddha, which is even more beautiful up close than it is far away. Then, he kept repeating something to one of us, over and over in Thai, but we didn’t quite know what it meant. He kept touching the Buddha’s chest. We did not think it would be appropriate to touch it, so we weren’t understanding. Finally, he takes A volunteer’s hand, puts it on the chest of the Buddha, and then shows him to put that hand on his forehead. He did so, and said “oh, NOW I get it.”

We all lined up to mimic him, and when it got to my turn, I had the most beautiful surprise. I touched Buddha’s chest, and when I took my hand away it had glittery gold on it. I touched it to my forehead, and it left a gold mark. And I never want to wash it off.

So what I hope you take away from this is what I did: that Thailand is warm (in emotion but also in temp), and that it is filled with mysteries and with kindness. It does not matter about the language barrier, because warmth and kindness do not need words. In this case, all they needed was some glitter. 🙏