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Bike Day: “Leaning in”

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In the past week, Group 131 has been working diligently under the theme “you can do hard things.” It seems like an obvious statement at first, but once you repeat it in your head when you’ve been put to the test, it energizes you. I want to explain how it helped me today. Most people know that I’ve never been a strong biker. I start off alright, but if I hit an obstacle or an unexpected bump I get what some refer to as “muppet arms,” flail about, and crash to the ground. So today, when we were expected to bike 10 kilometers in Don Chedi, our new home in 3 days, I was nervous. The morning started out alright, I got my bike (which is beautiful!), adjusted the seat, and did some practice loops in the driveway with my team. I was starting to relax when I saw the person in front of me had stopped, and I plowed into them, causing me to fall off my bike. I was horrified, but got up and made jokes so people wouldn’t worry. My hands were all cut up. I thought “God if I can’t do this how ...
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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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The Big Pineapple

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"You look sad," Oh said, rather matter of factly, when she walked up to me at assembly this morning. She explained in great detail how sunken in my eyes were, and that my skin seemed more irritated than it usually was. Since daily reports on my physical appearance is something I'm used to, I responded by sticking my tongue out and scrunching up my nose. She laughed and walked away. I wasn't sad. But I guess I wasn't not sad.  This is officially our third week being back to school since our month long break in October. I spent it with the very best buddies a girl could ask for in Krabi (Southern province in Thailand) and Cambodia (not a country in Africa, weird white lady I only knew for ten minutes). This was the longest time I had spent with my fellow Peace Corps volunteers since training, and it was a break I really needed. We caught up, hugged a lot, drank with complete professionalism, and pretended not to have a care in the world.  Of course, there wer...
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