It's a bird, it's a plane, it's.....life coming in at 1,000 feet!

If you have ever been in an airplane, one of the most magical parts of the experience is flying in to a new city or country and being able to see the little houses, streets, and buildings stretching out below. It looks like little ant cars being driven around on little ant roads, crisscrossing across little ant cities. All these busy little ants scurrying to different places with different plans and different lives. Flying into Phuket, Thailand, my face was pressed against the glass, just as I would when I was an 8 year old, trying to see it all. Only below me this time, were islands stretching out beneath me as we crossed the sky into a region unfamiliar to me. Rivers crisscrossed through a green and expansive land mass, ocean carved the coastline, and slowly small communities seem to pop up in pockets. It was incredible and struck me as exactly how I imagined flying across Thailand would be – island filled, beautiful, and alien to a girl from northern New Mexico. It was surreal.

Thailand has been a nation that continues to stun me with its beauty, both in appearance and in its character. The people and the way of living in this country are unbelievable and it makes me wish that someone would have warned me about how much this country would shake my world view. If you have even experienced culture shock: the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes(thank you Merriam-Webster), then you know what it is like to have your mind blown. Here, this feeling never seems to go away, regardless of the time you spend getting to know the people and culture in southern Thailand.

I would never have been able to comprehend such a completely different way of being before stepping foot in this foreign land. Sure, I imagined that things would not be the same, but hey – I'm a worldly girl, right? I've eaten sushi and gone to Europe. This surely makes me ready for the unexpected!

False. Haha, to tell you the truth my nativity was summarized in this statement: “I can't imagine what I wouldn't love about Thailand – I love the beach, I love rock climbing, and I love Thai food.”

Well, I'm sure we have all moved to new places for more bizarre reasons or maybe it was the simplicity of my decision making that was what prepared me for the difference in consciousness that I would find upon my arrival. More on that later.

All in all, Thailand struck me as an incredible place from a 1,000 ft areal view and the beauty of the nation continues to amaze me, even with my feet on the ground. I'm beginning to understand that this place I've been calling home for the last 6 months has more to offer than what meets the eye. As a teacher in a foreign country, more often I'm the student, the child – face pressed up against the glass, humbled and enchanted by what I see.