Thailand 2007

I'm back in Mae Sai.

In fact, the reality is that I knew I would be back here when I left in October last year. I told them I was about 95% positive I'd be coming back in January. It just didn't feel like it was at that wrapping up point but at the same time, it was time to be home for a little bit.

It felt weird to be in transit to Thailand. I made a few stops along the way to visit my Aunt Frances, Betty and Mary Clare in Tennessee, and then my sister Emily in Los Angeles. Those two stops along with the 15 hour layover in the Beijing airport where I paced back and forth endlessly, I was wondering to myself why I chose to work out this experience this way. I answered that question, "How was Thailand?" at least 1000 times. The way it was talked about in conversation, the experience was all in retrospect. It was all wrapped up and neatly filed away in the archives of life experiences and I led enough people to believe that I was ready to move onto the next thing.

But now I'm back. I was very warmly welcomed back by kids and staff alike and I spent my first day at work for 14 hours. To my surprise, everyone has said to me, "You lost weight!". No really, very much to my surprise, because I was referred to as the fat teacher for my last 6 months of working there. I guess the last month of my diet of holiday pies and chocolate paid off.

There were meetings with foreign sponsors and classes that needed to be substituted at the very last minute. Unfortunately, even after all that time in the work place, dusting off my Thai and interacting with various staff members, I never actually sat down to talk to the directors about what I'd be doing this term. After all, now there are other people taking care of my previous responsibilities. About a month ago, our grant writer figure left the organization and volunteers have had to fill in for her without having had the experience before. This new volunteer, Amy, a very bright woman, very proficient in Thai, has been filling in for her. I remember recieving her application while I was working last year and I knew she was mostly interested in working at our centre for victims of trafficking and not an administrative position. It looks and sounds like she's been doing an excellent job in place of Elaine, but it might be against her volition that she's ended up with that job. She's been in Thailand for 2 years working for NGOs, and she's really eager to be involved in the work that is personally active in working with victims. This isn't what she signed up for exactly.

Tomorrow we're having a meeting with all of the volunteers to talk about responsibilties...our desires, capabilities, how we'd each be most useful in the workplace. Until then, I am just a radio DJ and substitute teacher.