Anxiety. Excitement. Anticipation. As I stuffed my sweatshirt into my carry-on, I worked up a smile for the immigration camera and customs officer. It was midnight, and he graciously greeted me with my first SA WA DEE KA (“Hello and how are you, ma’am,”) and asked me my business in Thailand.
I told him I was on an educational exchange. Satisfied, he stamped the king’s logo on my passport.
I moved past security, sweating in the steamy 98 degree heat, scanning the crowded area. I was finally one of those people met by someone with a sign in the airport! There it was — FULBRIGHT!
Over the next month and a half, that word would become comfortably familiar as it was flown from every door, meeting hall and school as I traveled with 14 teachers in Thailand and Viet Nam.
