Tisch Global Jumbos

Thailand 2025 Cohort

Prompts:

1. Something I learned about community
2. Something I learned about (Northern) Thai culture
3. Something I learned about myself
4. I learned the most from…
5. A habit or way of life I want to bring back home with me
6. Six word story (to describe this 45 day experience in Huai Lan)

Something I learned about community:

Axelle: We don’t need a lot to be happy. All we need is love, a bicycle, and some deep fried bananas.

Flora: Community can be temporary, diverse, and built across many cultures. Community is fluid and ever-changing.

Syd: Community is more than just living in the same space but where people truly care about each other and where everyone knows everything (in a good way, of course!).

Avery: Community is a living, breathing thing that exists separately from the individual.

Yeili: Community trespasses any language barrier.

Brandy: Community means showing up at people’s houses unannounced, inviting everyone to whatever you’re doing, smiling and laughing with neighbors, stopping by to say hi, loving to love.

Kaliyah: There’s no set time on how fast community builds. I was in the kitchen learning a Northern Thai dish the first night, and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.

Lucy: Caring for each other comes in so many forms, not just loving through words or physical touch.

Something I learned about (Northern) Thai culture:

Lucy: There are an infinite amount of dishes unique to Northern Thailand. And they are all “lum”. Delicious.

Kaliyah: Some hobbies I was used to back in the city surrounded by water quickly were replaced, but with some awesome things that Northern Thai locals love. Why go to the beach when you could bike through the mountains? Both sound good.

Brandy: Community and animism and food and family. Everyone is great—and says hello and knows your name whenever you bike by. Sawatdii jiao whenever I bike past. Food for spirits (animism) in the forest: first before eating breakfast at the reservoir. Kanom culture: so religious! Making snacks with my family and the community and eating it later. Banana and sticky rice and coconut and peanut kanom. Mushrooms and exercise and; eating often and together after picking the mushrooms in the forest. Clothes: so much tie dye! I love it, it’s fun! Crafts—tie dye, embroidery, cooking (yummy)! The moms can do it all.

Yeili: Sticky rice in bamboo is a must! Women have large roles in their families.

Avery: They eat heavy breakfasts and lots of sticky rice. They like things that are sweet, I think.

Syd: Northern Thai culture includes having a massive meal for every meal! Also, the traditional Thai skirts are often different patterns than the ones in Central and Southern Thailand.

Flora: Northern Thai people have their own dance and temple rituals.

Axelle: They’re good at embroidery and weaving.

Something I learned about myself: 

Brandy: I really like people and have learned to be a part of a close knit community and show up to anybody’s house to hang out and spend time together. I have learned the value of time: it is not just to work or “get my to do list done”; it’s to make memories, spend time with family and neighbors, go outside, laugh, play games, dance, and sing. Life is so much more than just working. I have learned I like to bike and like to wake up early to see the sunrise.

Kaliyah: I don’t always need to subject myself to the critique of the world. Everyone is on their own path, and though mine seeming different may scare me at times, embracing it with patience and grace allows me to enjoy the rocky moments and the fun ones at the same time.

Lucy: I get very reserved when I can’t communicate fully through words. It’s okay to not speak perfectly in a language—you’ve just started learning, don’t set unrealistic rules for yourself!

Axelle: I am capable of being a morning person and enjoying it.

Flora: I enjoy alone time but also want social connections sometimes.

Syd: I have learned that being more go with the flow is okay and I have learned to be okay if things don’t go as planned (though I still always feel obligated to be early to everything).

Avery: While I am willing to try anything, I don’t necessarily go out of my way to find new experiences. This is something that can be improved on.

Yeili: I have learned that having feelings of love is essential for me. That I work best when I am surrounded with it, and that I am nicer to myself when I don’t feel pressured.

I learned the most from…

Yeili: Mae Tim: small acts of kindness speak volumes of love. Everyone from my host family. Na Noor: to laugh and love myself. Na Wan: to be kind.

Avery: Mae Supan has taught me a lot from practical skills to more cultural knowledge. She is a big reason that I interacted with the community in the way that I did.

Syd: Mae Wandee, Na Noor, Mae, Tim, Mae Wanna!

Flora: All the Maes.

Axelle: Sydney/Bla Meuk.

Lucy: Bao Bei!

Kaliyah: P’Daeng. In his quiet rides and his ones of laughter, his observation of life is quite inspiring.

Brandy: Mae Wanna, Por Suphot, Yaai Rai. Mae Wanna on love, family, fun, smiling, laughing, food, community. Por Suphot on art, history, waking up, being active, patience, fun, laughing. Yaai  on waking up early and communicating with language barriers.

A habit or way of life I want to take back home with me:

Avery: Eating breakfast and biking around in the morning or evening.

Yeili: Enjoy every small part of life (trees, water, etc.), be more calm.

Lucy: How you start your day truly matters. Wake up early. Go for a run. Get up. It’s so easy to not, but in reality it’s just as easy to just do it and your whole day starts off accomplished.

Brandy: waking up early and going out in the morning with loved ones and spending time with others in a relaxed manner. Taking it easy and enjoying people and time.

Axelle: waking up early and eating vegetables.

Flora: Eating breakfast, doing creative stuff (journaling, sketching, reflecting), regulating my emotions.

Syd: Continue waking up early in the morning to walk, run, bike, or exercise. I also want to cook a lot and show my family the recipes I wrote down.

Kaliyah: Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner at a regular time every day; truly at my healthiest.

Six word story (editor’s note: maybe more than six words!):

Flora: I wander around villages on bike.

Lucy: Mountains, khaaw lam, conversation, cockroaches, c(h)rods, angepnaam.

Syd: Love, family, contentedness, community, peaceful, educational.

Avery: Loy Krathong, fireworks, lanterns, sticky rice. Am happy.

Yeili: Love, peace, family, calmness, and silence.

Axelle: hardworking, loving, sticky-rice-loving and good-singing moms.

Brandy: civic semester cohort, nature views, host family (krop Krua), love, khaoniaw, community (aroi).

Kaliyah: the whole experience. End? It has only just begun.

Thailand 2025 Cohort

Six and a half weeks ago, as our van wound its way through the country roads away from Chiang Mai and towards the homestay village for the first time, students chattered amongst themselves. Filled with anticipation, nerves, and excitement, they posed question after question: What would the village look like? Who were the families? How would they communicate? When would they feel like the village has become their home?

Now, a month and a half later, our time in the village has become a core part not just of this civic semester but of students’ understanding of community, family, and cultural exchange as a whole. Thank you, dear homestay families in Baan Pong Huai Lan, for making the experience so memorable! Here is another batch of student reflections. -Hannah

Prompt: How I want to remember Huai Lan…

Flora:

Huai Lan was everything I envisioned in a village life and so much more. I remember it for the way it smells. Fresh air without trails of car exhaust or city dust, wild grass inhabiting flies and insects, wet mud breathing in the morning moistness with snails and earthworms hiding under. I remember the rains–sometimes drizzling, sometimes down pouring–most of the time it feels like a pat on my head, a light embrace, a cup of warm water. I remember the faces and houses, their smiles and chimney smoke indicating types of tasty food ready to be served. I remember the dogs, their dirty fur and the warmth of their lick, them leaving paw marks on my jeans. I remember so much yet still too little.

Avery:

The sun glistening off the water’s surface. The sun’s sherbet gaze peaking over the mountain’s crest and illuminating the rippling fields of rice. The cheerful greeting of the mothers in the morning, the overwhelming portions of rice every meal. The four wet snouts getting in my way every time I walk to my bike. Huai Lan is less a place to me and more a living and breathing entity that exists only in my mind. The warmth of the people, the beauty of the land, the atmosphere which makes you relax your shoulders and makes you drag out the krap/ka at the end of every sentence, all of it is Huai Lan. And yet, Haui Lan is still more than that.

I think capturing the entirety of my experience of Huai Lan in words is an impossible if not crass thing to do. All I can truly say on the matter is that I had fun, too much fun even, and I recommend that anyone who is interested at all: go and see for yourselves what Huai Lan is about. My memory only exists in my mind after all.

Kaliyah:

How I will remember my village, Huai Lan.

Mali. A jasmine flower in Thai.

Flower.

Like a stem the way the puuhao — the mountains — stand tall and strong over the village, supporting its visitors with a stable peace.

Flower.

Like petals, the way the stress of the day falls off my face when I’m asked if I’ve gin leaao ru-yang — if I’ve eaten dinner yet.

Flower.

Like the center, how the face of my Mae blossoms into a yim — smile — whenever I remind her that she is suay tuk wan — beautiful every single day.

It’s not true that the thought of here won’t be met with tears. But it will also be embraced with gratitude, showered with laughter, and cared for with longing.

But I hope to meet it again with people, those from home.

To bring them from one home to another. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a family reunion.

No matter where I go, though, I know love will rush into all places. To and from me. Showered upon us.

Like rain. On a Mali.

Brandy:

I want to think about the mountains and rice paddy fields we would pass on our way to Mae Wanna’s Baan (house). Riding our bikes from house to house.

I want to think of my home: the beautiful elephant backdrop, the beautiful Huai Lan sign adorned with pieces of tile.

I want to think of the dinner table, and most importantly, the people who sit right by my side: the beautiful people who tell me to eat more and laugh when I don’t really have to respond in Thai because my face says it all. Between my widened eyes and wide smile, they can read I’ve never had food that’s been better.

I want to remember biking to the reservoir with my host dad, and meeting my host mom there, assuring me she’ll catch up soon.

I want to remember the cool mountain view dissipating into a warm field of bright light and glistening water.

I want to remember walking side by side with Mae Wanna, our arms linked, asking if she’s slept well. Lap sabai mai kha? Or another question: wannii khun tam arai kha — what are you doing today?

I want to remember her smiling face when she sees her friends with their hands full of mushrooms. I want to remember wondering how he walks so fast?! I want to remember Mae Wanna and Por Suphot leading me into the forest, where the insects would make me jump. Where I needed to hold onto Mae Wanna to get a mushroom. When I succeeded in picking it. Walking back to the bike and eating kanom (snacks)–so yummy, before gliding down the hill home on my bike.

I want to remember helping to pick cilantro and banana leaves in the garden.

I want to remember late at night, getting my hair dried and styled happily by Mae Wanna.

I want to remember teaching her Uno and having a heated game. I want to remember Por Suphot rejecting Uno as a farang (foreigner) game after losing. Him showing Lucy and me a Thai game, but us forgetting it.

I want to remember asking if she’s tired, and her saying yes.

I want to remember her just knowing it’s cold, so she gives me extra blankets…

~~~

Thank you for reading! My hope is that weeks or months or years from now, our students may find their memory slipping…and they can revisit these posts to remember. <3

Thailand 2025 Cohort

After 45 days of love, laughter, and community, we the agonizing task of bidding farewell to our beloved Huai Lan homestay families. While emotions are still raw and it will take our group many days and weeks to fully process the experience, today we had a group reflection. As part of our reflection, I shared a series of prompts to respond to, which we will post over the coming days. Here is the first batch. To everyone who has followed along from afar, thank you for supporting our group on this civic semester journey! ~ Hannah

Prompt: A message to my homestay family…

Axelle:

Dear Mae Wanna,

It is with immense sadness that I write this letter to you now that I am miles away from you. I have always known that it was going to end and that I would have to leave one day, but I didn’t anticipate this deep attachment I have grown towards you. The beauty of life is that experiences like this are bound to end, but I still yearn for one more day of shared laughter with you, being called bababobo (crazy), and watching you un-bone fish for me. I will miss your hugs because with you I felt loved, cared for, and my stomach was never empty. I hope that when you play Uno and dominoes, the thought of me will cross your mind because to me the memories we shared will always be engraved in my heart. It is hard to express all my feelings for you in words, but I hope we cross paths again.

Syd:

Dear Mae Wandee,

Though thank you will never be enough, I think it will have to do for now (until I come back!). You took me in as your own daughter since the moment you tied the cotton bracelet around my wrist. Since then, I have been lucky enough to call Huai Lan home and even luckier to call you family. There was never a time when both my hearth and stomach were not full. You always made sure I had everything I needed and more. On tough days, I was always reassured things would be better as soon as I stepped through the gate of your house. I will deeply miss our very poorly translated moments and my response to that being “toorasap mai sabai.” I am going to miss awkwardly standing around trying to see what I could help you with, so instead I would watch you carefully so I could take your recipes down. I’m going to miss all of the moms cooking at 4 in the morning. I know thank you will never be enough but khap kun maak jiao <3

From your daughter,

Blaa Muk (Squid)

Prompt: How I want to remember Huai Lan…

Yeili:

I know I will remember Huai Lan as a place full of love. A place where I learned that love can come from those who have no “similarities” or who are not related to you. As a place where I felt at peace, didn’t feel judged, and got fed—a lot. As somewhere I felt so important, yet in disguise. I felt at home.

When I think of Huai Lan, Mae Tim, Na Noor, Na Wan, P’Tor, and P’Tai will come to mind. Mae Tim’s food and silent confidence she carries herself with. Na Noor’s effortless dance moves and contagious laugh. Na Wan’s hand gestures when speaking English and kindness and patience when teaching me Thai. P’Tor’s singing and guitar skills, and his jokes. P’Tai’s smile and kindness. I will think of my family away from home. I will remember the house full of laughter during dinner or dancing. Having Axelle and Syd at my house and even when not doing anything, just feeling happy and full. I will remember the mental peace I felt there. Overall, I will remember it as a place where in a short time I felt a lot…love, patience, peace, and growth. The beautiful green rice field when biking to the cafe. A place I would love to tay forever but has taught me so much.

Lucy:

Freshly cut rice fields giving way to an expanse of craggy mountains, dusted by a cloud of morning mist. The Huai Lan Reservoir landscape changes every day. The sun sets and the sky tints purple and pink as a farewell kiss to the day. True green under hot midday sun. Deepened by droplets of rain, the sky lowers into a fog and moistens my skin. Exhausted as I bike up to the Doi Ton Reservoir, relieved when I reach the clear mountain view. 6:30pm, I’m home to eat without fail. My family awaits me, my two little siblings constantly chasing each other, restless. Newton will eat a few bites and declare “Im” — he’s full. Already?! Bao Bei will do the same, but proceed to eat any form of sugar and jelly available. Por Swing and Mae Mai will sit patiently, introducing each dish by their Northern dialect — Kam Mueang – names. Nights at Mae Tim’s, playing guitar with anyone who will listen or play along. Uno – a now Mae favorite – calling card colors and numbers in Thai. Slow days, suddenly being uprooted to go on a trip to who knows where. 6:30am, my ears open to the sound of Bao Bei, of a group of Maes and Pors boisterously conversing just inches from my bedboard. My neighbors cooking, motorbikes coming and going, a constant hum of bird chatter.

The silent care of the Maes. Letting us sleep quietly when we need it. Feeding us even if we aren’t really hungry. No fuss. Take care of yourself, but others also take care of you, and you take care of others. I hope I am able to take care of my memories of Huai Lan, nurse them, and raise them as a beautiful child of my life.

by มะลิ (Mali/Kaliyah)

My second home.

Thank you for the time we danced at Mae Tim’s house every night for a week.

Thank you for taking me on walks (and bike rides) to meet your countless friends.
Thank you for understanding my early mornings and my late ones.

Thank you for letting me help you even when you knew how already.

The little things of pinning my skirt for Loy Kratong,

and teaching you English while you taught me Thai after class,

are the things I will miss, but will never take for granted.

And I can’t forget- the best birthday I could ever have here.

I can’t wait to see you in America someday, Mae.

But until that day comes,
I’ll call you whenever I can.
To remember my second home.

– Mali มะลิ

by Syd

Step One:
Magically have a lot of coconut sugar heating up with banana leaves. As it warms, stir it frequently to prevent the sugar from burning. While stirring, continue to add a little more sugar, because it’s not a Thai dessert without being very sweet! Stir for about 10 minutes, just until the sugar is warm—or until a Mae takes over because you almost spilled sugar everywhere.

Step Two:
Have the dough prepared for you, as it is usually made before you are even awake. The dough is made from some sort of rice flour, with sweet potato and butterfly pea tea (added for color), along with water. After kneading the dough and watching the Maes argue about how much water to add for the perfect texture, you can move on to my favorite part!

Step Three:
Sit with all the Maes crowding onto a bamboo-laying area. Have both the yellow and purple dough ready to be molded, along with your filling (coconut sugar). Be prepared to face heavy judgment on your dough-rolling skills! Take a small ball of dough—probably smaller than you think—and flatten it into a circle. Add about a pinch of coconut sugar to the dough, though the Maes will insist you need to add more because it’s “Mai arroy gap nit noy” (not delicious with a little). Here comes the hardest part: fold the sugar into the dough, doing your best to avoid ripping it. Then, roll it in your hand to create an obscure shape. Repeat this for about one to two hours while the Maes gossip.

Step Four:
Place all the delicious rolled desserts into a pot, noticing that the ones you made are either too big or look nothing like the ones the Maes made. Boil them; I don’t know for how long, so just boil until they’re ready!

Step Five:
While the desserts boil, shred a lot of fresh coconut using a coconut shredder that resembles a medieval torture device. You’re going to shred quite a bit, so be prepared for tired arms! Do your best to keep up with the Maes, who shred coconut like there’s no tomorrow!

Step Six:
When your desserts are finally done, it’s time to roll them in coconut. Make sure they are thoroughly covered!

Step Seven:
Place them into a container and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Finally,  admire your work and realize find that the delicious ขี้เหมียว (Kee Meaw) is in fact not for you but for a group visiting the village!