/

UMF Fulbright Scholar: Not in America anymore

3 mins read
After making a krathong out of banana leaves and flowers for the river goddesses on the full moon, Lauren Crosby releases it in a river. Loi Krathong is a festival in Thailand which is celebrated on the twelfth month in the Thai lunar calendar.

Lauren Crosby is a 2016 University of Maine at Farmington graduate with a degree in Secondary Education. After being awarded the Fulbright Scholarship, she was placed in Thailand to teach English.

Nearly one million options to chose from in Bangkok, and I had finally found the love of my life: the basement food court of the university complex which I was inhabiting while completing my month-long Fulbright English Teaching Assistant orientation in Thailand.

With dim lighting, a convenient locale, and a slight odor of chemical cleanser, each food stall produced an air of mystery for a foreigner or “fah-wrong” coming in for lunch or dinner. Though the establishment boasted no English and was intimidating at first glance, the growls coming from the lower half were reminders that hunger knows no language.

Thirty baht (90 cents) gets you the biggest and the baddest plate of stir fried vegetables and meat products you’ve ever laid eyes on. However, one must be content with not knowing what the meal actually is. I had been frequenting one particular stall–maybe seven times?–and the aging chef knew what I fancied. He grinned mischievously as he toyed with my spice tolerance by adding one too many chili peppers in with the baby corn, and would make a point to walk out of his small cooking area to witness the theatrics of me pointing to a dish that looked appealing (and not TOO spicy) on his menu.

This evening he presented me with a b-e-a-utiful display of white rice, leafy greens, and crumbly…chicken? I know nothing about what goes on in a Thai frying pan–but if it tells you anything, I wolfed that meal down in less than three minutes. As I was collecting my thoughts about cheap eats and loving life in Thailand, I leaned back in my chair, turned my face to the ceiling, and stretched my arms–Eeem! Full!

As if on cue, a fat, hairless, cat-sized rat strutted across the piping directly four feet above me. I swear I heard him say, “swadii fah-wrong, you’re not in America anymore.”

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

3 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.