Emily Takes On Thailand

If you regularly check up on this blog, you know this experience has been a lot of things for me: overwhelming, exciting, inspiring, exhausting. These past (almost) 8 months have shaped me in ways I could not have imagined, and have done so in the most surprising ways. But there is one aspect of my time here that I have not put into words yet, and I would like to do so now: "Emily, our meeting is cancelled today. We have to practice for the staff potato sack race." These exact words were spoken to me not but four hours ago, with the utmost sincerity and no smile to accompany it. My counterpart could see I was headed to her office to set up for our usual afternoon co-planning session and thought she would spare me the walk. Nice of her, really, considering the absurd amount of flashcards sprawled in my hands and sweat trickling down into my butt crack. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see it had already begun. Teachers, most of whom I have never seen without a ful...

I sit across the table from my two counterparts, both waiting for me to begin. I close my eyes to organize my thoughts. This is the first meeting the three of us have had since the Reconnect conference, where we sharpened our skills as volunteers and gained new ideas to use in the classroom. My toolbelt had been completely refurbished, and now was the time to show it to my fellow builders. After being with other farangs for the past two and a half weeks, my instinct was to talk about all the new adjustments to be made at 90 mph English. I knew- or was pretty sure I knew- what we as a team should begin focusing on. I wanted to get it all out in one breath while I still had the guts to say it at all. But as I sat across from them, I hesitated, pressing my thumb into my palm. I needed to reset myself. I wasn't shooting the shit with peers over beers anymore. I was home. It was time to get back to work. As I briefly summarized in my last post, most of Reconnect in Prathum Than...