From a Volunteer: Caelan Murray

Homestay: Having spent so much time as a volunteer in Isan I’ve really come to love it quite a lot, not only is it beautiful but the people are very extraordinary. I feel that more than even in other parts of Thailand, and we’ve heard other travelers say this too, the people here are super kind, helpful and friendly. They, for the most part of course, are just such genuine caring people. One example of this is our grandmother from the homestay, she didn’t speak a word of English and our Thai is so limited that we really didn’t say more than a few words to each other but when we were doing a goodbye ceremony with the family she actually cried. And she had our host mom, who speaks some English, tell us how she will miss us and how she loves us so much. Just so incredibly sweet. I think this is also a lovely example of how I’ve found you can really connect with people despite a language barrier and that that connection is just as real and meaningful as any you could have if you did speak the same language as them.