“Before coming to Thailand I knew that I would blend in, but it really didn’t sink in how well I’d actually blend in until arriving,” says Volunteer Erin.
Beautiful image of Peace Corps Thailand by Volunteer Yan. There are 103 Volunteers in Thailand working with their communities on projects in education and youth development. During their service in Thailand, Volunteers learn to speak Thai. More than 5,270 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Thailand since the program was established in 1962. http://bit.ly/2csjsD2
Thailand celebrates Mother;s Day on the Queen’s birthday every year. The queen’s color is sky blue so we all dress up and pay our respects to the queen and to our own mothers. It also happens to be my host mom’s birthday which is really cool. I spent the morning at events celebrating the queen and giving respect to the monks. I then spend the evening doing basically the same thing. It was really awesome to see this event twice and I can’t believe I only have 6 months left. I’m really going to miss my host family and community.
This little lady’s name is Ploy (Thai for gem or jewel) and she is like my little guard dog. When my first grade students come up to me speaking a mile a minute in Thai, as they so often do, I can always count on Ploy to intervene with “puut cha cha!” (speak slowly!). While I’m loving the time away from site (aka AC, fellow PCVs, and reading books in bed when the sun is still shining without feeling guilty about it), I’m really missing my kiddos and our community. One thing reconnect has helped me to realize is that “site” is quickly becoming *home* and that is a pretty amazing thing.🌻
Today is your last day to apply to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand starting in 2017, so maybe you need special inspiration to get that application submitted. Try these perfectly crunchy banana chips, made from @tytimes host family’s recipe. Thanks, Ty!
Ingredients:
1 Bunch of Unripe Bananas (green in color)
Oil to fry chips
Salt
Seasoning (Anything you want)
Preparation:
1. Take the bananas and cut off the stems. Soak them in a
water bath for 30 minutes.
2. Peel the bananas and lay them out until dry.
3. Using a vegetable slicer, slice bananas paper thin into a
skillet with hot oil.
4. Keep stirring the banana chips until they become
crispy.
5. Take them out of the oil and lay them on a paper towel to
soak up the extra oil.
6. Coat the chips in salt and whatever seasonings you
desire. Try “taco” banana chips with taco seasoning or BBQ banana
chips with BBQ seasoning. You can even season them with a ranch packet.
7. Package them and they can stay fresh for up to one
week.
Today, I was very lucky. I was lucky enough to have Khun Rumpai, head of training for Peace Corps Thailand, and my old language teacher visit my site. Because they were finishing up the visits for the new volunteers, they had some extra time to swing by. It was so nice to show them around my community and around my school. We also got to eat yummy food and talk a lot about Peace Corps.
