by Yeili
As I sit in the common area, surrounded by the soft sounds of crickets and music in thai, I’ve been reflecting on my first week in Huai Lan with Mae Tim. I didn’t realize how much I needed a home-cooked meal or how comforting it would feel to be in a space filled with the warmth of family.
I remember one of our first days in Thailand, when Hannah read a YAK post about homestays. The student wrote about how their host family reminded them of their family back home. I didn’t fully understand it then, but now I do. That’s exactly how I feel here in Huai Lan.
From the very first dinner with Mae Tim, Na Noo, Na Wan, Pi Tai, and Pi Dtor, I felt something familiar, a rhythm, a sense of belonging. Like my home, Mae Tim’s house is always full of people, and I love it. There’s nothing that makes me happier than sitting around a full table, hearing everyone talk and laugh, sharing stories about their day. Back home, every Sunday my mom, her sisters, and their husbands come together to eat, sing, and dance. It’s not so different here, where after dinner we often dance for an hour with Mae Tim’s friends and sister-in-law. The joy, the teasing, the shared energy, it all feels so much like home.
Mae Tim reminds me so much of my mom a strong, steady woman who shows her care through the smallest things. I feel like one of her own children when she quietly turns on the fan so I don’t melt from the heat or when she serves me fish, carefully making sure there are no bones left. Na Noo and Na Wan bring the same warmth and humor as my aunts and uncles back home, whenever they walk in, the whole house lights up with laughter. I can feel Pi Dtor and Pi Tai’s deep love for their mother too, the same kind of care that keeps families close no matter where you are.
This weekend, Na Noo and Na Wan took me to visit a nearby temple. We teased each other about there being a buffet afterward, and I couldn’t help but think of my uncles and aunts back home, how they always joke, feed me too much, and make me feel loved in a hundred small ways.
Here in Huai Lan, I’ve realized that love, family, and connection don’t need to share a language to be felt. Each person in this house looks out for one another with the same tenderness and laughter that fill my home back in Illinois. And in that, I’ve found a kind of home away from home.