Musings

Last night I sat in a Thai restaurant waiting for some friends to join me and realized that I had already forgotten how to order food in Thai. The little Thai that I speak is slipping so fast. My main use of Thai now is for remembering things. Somehow repeating to myself that I parked my car on ha level makes me remember it better than if I just told myself that I'd parked on level five (believe me after a long day of work it really helps to remember what floor your car is on!)

People in Orlando ask me where I've moved from and I tell them California since I have lived in California for the last six months. But I regret saying that because every time I say that I've just moved from California, it feels like Thailand gets erased a little more.

Last week was my first week of teaching at my new school. My students are great. I like them. I respect them. I even enjoy certain aspects of teaching better here than in Thailand (i.e., the American propensity to talk in class) and yet I can't imagine that these students will be as special as the MC students were to me. It's just a different school culture. We have 2,700 students and yet only a handful dorm. There's not a real campus life or a sense of belonging to each other (for better or for worse) that we had at MC.

I know that this is simply a different season in my life. I know that I needed a change from MC and yet I cannot help but miss the things that I loved so much about the place.