New Faces

When I take any form of public transportation, I can’t help but stop and think about the faces around me--the sleepy stares, the timid smiles, the noses tightly blanketed by pages… I know it’s cheesy, but as I sit or stand I wonder about each person--where they’ve come from, what moments have shaped them, what lessons they’ve learned, how we may be connected, what experiences have brought them to this train, metro car, bus…. Then I think about the faces I know and try to remember when the faces I now hold most dear were new.

You never know what someone has the potential to mean to you.

After several days in transit, Amanda, Global Playground’s Thailand Teaching Fellow and I reached our new home in Mae La Noi. We were brought from Chiang Mai to Mae La Noi in a van with Mae La Noi Daroonsik School teachers who we could only exchange sparing words with, as we haven’t taken Thai language courses yet. We were greeted at our house by Kroo Soi, a new face, who we learned would teach English with us and be our “go to person” if we need anything. She had worked with the other teachers to help furnish our house with cute cartoon bedding, matching polka dot umbrellas, and a crate of water to hold Amanda and I over until we figure out how to get the bare essentials in Mae La Noi. We've had a few days to rest and today was our first day 'teaching' at Mae La Noi.

Today Amanda and I were introduced to a thousand new faces. Mae La Noi Daroonsik is home to approximately 1,000 students and a team of about 40 teachers so we got our first thousand 'wais' out of the way. We were asked to introduce ourselves at our morning ceremony, were given our teaching schedules, and were immediately asked to teach our first four classes. In all honesty, it was a blur.

I wonder what all these faces mean to each other. I'm still adjusting and trying to get a sense of the community here, savoring each new moment, but I look forward to the day when these new faces grow familiar, and maybe one day become home.