A Blonde With a Backpack

By the title of this post, you may think I have included the wonderful things I've acquired in Thailand that I will be taking home to America. However, this post is about something entirely opposite of things. Yes, I have acquired beautiful wooden spoons, handmade dresses, and cute drawings from my students. However, the "things" I will treasure most from Thailand are not things at all; they are emotions , ideals , and values . I'm going to try my very best to explain these intangible "things" to you all. 1. Family . I love my family; always have and always will. However, the draw of family is huge here. Most young Thai people do not move out of their parent's house until they marry. Even after they are married, they typically still live very close to their families. Everyone is involved in everyone's life in the family and raising children is truly, truly a family effort. 2. Adopting the  ไม่เป็นไร (English letters= main bpen lai) li...

I did it. I've put a date and time on it, and I officially have a departure ticket home in April.   As of today, I only have ONE month left of school with my amazing students. My feelings? All over the board. I'm very excited, overwhelmed, very sad, but most of all...I'm scared. Scared of leaving this place I love so much. Scared to leave my wonderful class to whatever teacher comes next. Scared to restart. Scared to assimilate back. Scared of/for so many things. It seems strange, the feeling of being scared to go back home. I've never felt scared to leave somewhere or get on an airplane and leave before, until now. The life I've built here is entirely different than my life in America. Different food, different stores, different way of teaching, different clothes, different way of driving, different ways of travel, different language, different customs, and even different ways of cooking/eating. It feels strange to know that I will soon be an "out...