On Chai
“Drinking chai… punctuates our day with precious and refreshing pauses, whether it is after a satisfying meal or when taking a much-needed break in our busy schedule”-Mutsuko Tokunaga Before I came to India, I knew I was going to be…
Category Stories
Due to popular demand: a proper update
To all readers at home curious about what I have been doing the past two weeks, I bring you a spark notes version of my new life in Cape Town thus far. Day 1-2: A looong flight literally across the…
Penpals and Friendship Bracelets
This week, I feel like I have grown to love Koh Tao for what it is. Despite all the crazy tourists and weird positions I have found myself in, it has become a kind of home. Having taught here for…
Walking Far From Home
“India has a lesson for you, whether you want to accept it or not is your decision”-Sarah Davitt, ProWorld coordinator This quote was prominently in my mind while I was preparing for India. It stuck out to me while…
Muay Thai and more Friends…
This week in school was an interesting turning point. With the discovery that the children cannot read, Nikki, Gregg, and I revamped our teaching plan. We decided that we would start teaching them to read. We began incorporating vowels with…
We all share roots
I began my journey to South Africa six days ago… I began attempting to write this blog post six days ago. Literally, I have tried to sit down countless times hoping that inspiration would immediately begin to flow through my…
It’s All About Literacy
This week, the whole experience of teaching changed with the change of volunteers. Gregg and Nikki are a great pair of volunteers for me. We work well together. Every night before school, we plan, prepare props, and put together a…
Transitioning
Up until this point, I have been learning from the other volunteer teachers how to go about the tricky parts of this position. From everything from cultural, administrative, and resource issues at hand, there are a lot of compromises from…
Teacher or Student?
Friends, The past couple of days have been an interesting exploration in the school for me. We have come to the conclusion that there are very few resources for us to use. As a result, instead of copying or using…
All the Small Things
I’m finding that so much of what I miss in telling the story of the culture and people of Koh Tao is in the small things. There are a couple specific things having nothing to do with what happened today…