Storytelling

Exactly 2 months have passed by since I arrived in Thailand and I couldn ́t be more grateful for all the memories I`ve already made. I fell in love with the country from the moment I arrived. The nature, food, culture is unique and stunning, but the best thing is the people. We experienced an overwhelming welcoming and hospitality which made us feel comfortable from early on. One of the biggest hurdles that volunteers face abroad is usually the progress of adapting to a completely different culture. I wouldn’t say that every day is easy, because you are far apart from your home, but the environment helps a lot to get through bad days as well. It is completely normal to have good and bad days and it is also part of the adapting process I believe.

As we arrived just before the semester break at Rajaprajanugroh 24 School, it offered us the chance to travel before the new semester starts besides preparing lesson plans and many other tasks such aslearning the first words in Thai. Travelling to Bangkok and Krabi was an amazing adventure and it showed us the diversity of Thailand at first hand. While Bangkok stands out because of its unlimited opportunities, Krabi was a unique experience in terms of the landscape. Pileh Lagoon was maybe the most beautiful place I ́ve ever seen. After we came back from this trip I got to meet my parents in Chiang Mai. They are visiting Northern Thailand for 2 weeks, so I was pretty excited to show my parents the school and everything that this area has to offer.

After they visited my school , the new semester was finally starting. A mixture of excitement, happiness but also nervosity was piling up on that day. But the nervosity went right away after a short period. I feel like the students have a strong eager to learn and I like to bring new aspects and ideas into their daily lessons. Furthermore I try to indicate the importance of learning English throughmmy lessons and how it can enrich their future. It is amazing to see how happy and caring the students are with each other even though some of the students have a difficult background. Its not about just me teaching them English but also learning from them. And that is what this Intercultural Exchange Problem is all about. I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to be part of this program and I can ́t wait for the next 10 months!

Vincent