I can remember the exact moment that I got the news that I would be living in Thailand. It was a sunny day and I was walking down a residential street in my neighborhood in Seattle, after eating lunch. I had just eaten pho, Vietnamese noodle soup, with some friends. I answered a call from a Princeton in Asia director, who asked me what I thought about this possibility of moving to Asia. After I told him that I was still interested, he said, “You know what? Let’s do this. I want to officially offer you a position as a Princeton in Asia fellow in Khon Kaen Thailand.” I was so excited that I started jumping up and down, pumping my fists into the air while laughing absurdly into the phone. The man washing his car on the street looked at me and laughed.
I remember this moment very clearly: the sun was bright, the car washer was happy and the taste of pho lingered in my mouth. I can even remember the clothes I was wearing.
Since moving here, I have thought about that moment a lot, because it was so significant. It meant a lot to me. My life was about to change! I had lived in Seattle my whole life, but I was just months away from picking up my entire life and moving it to Thailand.
