An old friend

I just met up with a girl from my past. She stunned me with her courage, her bravery, wisdom and strength.

She revealed so much in just a few words and my heart jolted and jumped as she told me her story.

At 16, she’d left everything she’d known. She threw herself into a new and strange world. Like a chameleon, she changed and adapted herself to better blend into her new life.

Blending wasn’t easy. Living amongst the petite members of her new community, she was like a giant, stumbling and tripping her way across a cultural divide.

Words and language became uncertain. She could no longer rely on them. So many things were new and challenging and could only be learned through observation and imitation.

How tired she felt, riding the rollercoaster. She danced in the extreme highs and almost drowned in the bottomless lows. Time flew and yet she counted the months, the weeks, the days, the minutes, the seconds. How much longer?!

Some of the people she met still bring an effortless smile to her much older face.

Some of the people she met still make her cringe and shudder.

Though the things she did feel like a lifetime ago, so many of them remain firmly embedded in her memory. They echo the changes in her. Their impact left an influence so strong that she’s only now beginning to realise its depths.

She’s me. She’s my 16 year old self, stumbling off a jet plane and being thrown into the throngs of a complicated Thai family.

My first thoughts of Thailand were of the orange coloured sky, the strange smell and the heavy heat. Anyone landing in Thailand now would think these same thoughts.

In future blogs, I will share some of the stories my year as an exchange student in the North East of Thailand.