Group 129 Yearbook: Words of Appreciation

By Peace Corps Thailand Magazine on 13/08/2018 • ( 1 Comment )

Counterparts and Community of Group 129

As Group 129 completes their 20th month of service we look back on what their communities shared about them when they first got to site as a reminder of how appreciated they are and to give them that final boost to COS.

She has been very helpful and understanding for the Princess’s visit. She is so friendly to all the teachers and the students are very excited to have her here.

Valerie Albicker, TESS

He is adjusting to the work very well and he is very friendly with all the staff. He knows everyone and always takes time to meet and talk to all the people at the Tessaban. He is very polite and very riaproy.

Jordan Niemoeller, YinD

Somchai has a really beautiful smile (he smiles geng-maak!) and he is super friendly. He helps everyone out and is very well behaved. We enjoy having him here and working with him has been great.

Kyle Kvamme, YinD

We are very lucky to have Mo here. She is very punctual and her punctuality is a great role model for all the teachers at the schools. I admire how she starts the first class by shaking hands with all the students, even the anuban as it helps them to be familiar with her and it shows how she cares about them. I’m so proud to have her here.

Mookho Kokhesi, TESS

If I have a daughter like Natalie, it would make me so happy and I would love her so much. The school is lucky to have Natalie and we are proud of her. I learned so much from her and she’s a role model so I’m going to continue learning from her.

Natalie Garro, TESS

Now all the kids kept asking for Kru Mamuang, Kru Mamaung. When the kids learned that whichever classes are taught by us they clearly pout and show their disappointment because they are crazy about Kru Mamuang. It has been good to have her here. She really loves the kids and she is going to make the kids and the co-teacher less shy.

Christina Beynon, TESS

Kru Jampaa loves to play with kids and they are getting more familiar with her. She is very friendly and people in the community see her and know her. The school is lucky to have her and her work here is going to be very beneficial to the kids in the area.

McKenzie Paterson, TESS

Lauren is so strong and active! Thank you Peace Corps for sending us such a great Volunteer. The kids love her.

Lauren Cono, TESS

Justin speaks great Thai! He’s also so active which is great. Having him at the school makes the day more colorful and fun for the students.

Justin Lott, YinD

She is so friendly. She is always smiling and she has a great sense of humor!

Cat Nightengale, YinD

We are very fortunate to have Theresa here. She eats everything and exercises a lot. She is a sports girl and is very good at volleyball. Nayok said she is my Look Sao (daughter).

Theresa Kozelka, YinD

Andy is really great with kids. We have many activities we taught together. We appreciate her sacrifice to teach when her 3rd co-teacher is sick. She has nam jai and the kids are lucky to learn with a native speaker.

Andy Anderson, TESS

We want Chandler to be happy here. He is great with children and teachers at school. Every morning he will help the cooks with school lunch. He has lots of nam jai and he always smiles with a beautiful smile that made us know that he is happy to be here and we are happy to have him here.

Chandler Smith, TESS

Abbey is very easy going person. As our village is far from town so we have no place to go for shopping for western grocery and Abbey never gets to eat western food but she never complains about it. She put all her attempts to get to know all of us better. Our family has a bamboo forest business, and often on the weekend, she will go to help us in the forest. It is very hot and not many people would like to go but she does. I am very impressed with her skill to integrate into our family.

Abbey Weiler, TESS

The kids love to learn with Audrey. They love the games and the activities. It’s so fun that now all the other teachers want to learn the activities she does too.

Audrey Ardine, TESS

Barbara is hard working, adaptive, and considerate. Barbara would plan and talk to them before teaching the class. Barbara usually rides a bike to the local market, temple, and also she attends local events. Sometimes she will go to the market and help selling goods at her previous host family’s stall in the market.

Barbara Allen, TESS

Celete is very friendly and works well with the school staff. She adapts herself really well to the Thai culture and living conditions here. She works very hard and is always willing to help outside her working hours. She is funny, laughs, and smiles a lot. We all feel very relaxed and comfortable being around Celete.

Celete Kato, TESS

Chris integrates very well with people at school and in the community. Everyone loves him. Students at the school love Kruu Chris. Even though he is young, he works very hard and takes his teaching very seriously. He always comes up with great activities during planning. He adjusts really well with Thai culture, especially food. He can eat anything and never complained about anything.

Christopher Pinkos, TESS

Clarence has been so flexible. He really integrated himself into the community already and even helped the SAO with one of their events. We are so happy to work with him.

Clarence Say, TESS

I have such a good working relationship with George. He is very dedicated to his work. He has been guiding me on teaching and on classroom management techniques. I enjoy working with him.

George McCaffrey, TESS

I admire Christine’s contribution to our community. Every day, she will bike 5-10 km to go teach children in a different school. Everyone in the village is familiar with the scene where she bikes back from the market with a basket full of supplies at the back of her bicycle.

Christine McCaffrey, YinD

Kaori has been showing us devotion, patience and engagement in the classroom. She is a role model for all of us of as a teacher at heart. She always puts great effort and attention when she’s working. Above all, she adjusts very well in our community.

Kaori Cierra Alonso Yamamoto, TESS

People in the community know and love her. She integrates well with people. She comes with skills and knowledge which can help the school and counterpart. She always looks professional and puts everything into her teaching.

Laura Hernandez Figueroa, TESS

Michael is very polite, easy going and willing to help and learn. He motivates us to learn English. He is the best foreigner we have ever known and engaged with. We are blessed to have him with us in this community.

Michael Marano, TESS

Singkorn is very nice and easy-going. He is brave enough to try everything we (teachers) and host family have to offer! Though he is young, he is polite and knows how to be with the community. We feel like this is family and he is our brother.

Nikolai Stern, TESS

He always smiles and makes people around him happy. He always says YES to everything we ask him to do. His Thai language is good and he is willing to try to use it every time he has a chance. He is polite, fun and integrates well with people.

Randall Glasgow, TESS

He adjusts himself to the school, the environment, the people and the community very well. He works hard and always comes up with great ideas to use in his class. He is fun to talk with and always greets people. He gets along well with everyone. He can eat anything.

Ray Kornegay, TESS

Tubtim is narak mak. She has integrated very well with our community. Students love her and they are very keen to study with her.

Tiffany Fitzgerald, TESS

I love that Rae smiles all the time. She is very energetic. She always shows up every day with an attitude to serve people. She always makes sure that the classroom is fun for kids. We learn a lot from her on the teaching techniques. She can use simple material to create very good learning tools for kids. I think I will be able to do it next time.

Rae Richards, TESS

Kru Yuth has wonderful teaching techniques that we can learn from. Also the students are very happy. He’s adjusting to work and life very well. He’s easily beloved by our community!

Yousif Al-Amin, TESS

Mali is amazing. We didn’t believe at the beginning that she could do all this job at site as she looks so young and like a spoiled kid. But later she made us change our mindset; she does a great job and has high responsibility. We’re proud to have her here with us.

Alex Cotrufello, YinD

She is friendly and always smiles. She likes to talk and make new friends, especially with the elderly. The community loves her already. She is also hard working and detail-oriented.

Anna McGillicuddy, YinD

She’s well integrated and I feel like I have another family member, an older daughter. She’s never made me feel worried about her as she has high responsibility. We’re very happy to have her as a part of our family.

Carly Allard, YinD

Christian Ramirez, YinD

He is very well adjusted, learns quickly, enjoys having typical Isaan food which is great! He behaves well and tries to understand the Thai cultural context. He has good teaching skills and is supportive for his students.

Dalton Striedel, YinD

I am happy that our SAO got Diana with us. I would like to thank Peace Corps for sending her here. After we have been waiting so long, I think it is worth our waiting time. She is full of energy and I like that she is willing to try new things all the time. Diana will eat everything. She smiles to everyone in the village. She spends her time with the elderly people in our village and has now won a popularity award from these people.

Diana Garcia, YinD

Chompoo is very adaptable and well integrated. She’s very nice, helpful and positive. I can trust her and so glad to have her here.

Elizabeth Marik, YinD

She always greets, smiles and talks to people. She is very committed to doing her work. She adjusts herself very well to everything at site. We like her when she is direct with us. She always tells us what she likes and doesn’t like which is good for work. We feel very grateful to have her here.

Eygiel Limbo, YinD

She is one of our good role models for Tessaban staff on how to work actively in the community.

Genevieve Montreuil, YinD

She likes Kanoms! She can speak Thai very well and always dresses very Riap Roi. She is “Narak” and gets along very well with her students. She is well adaptive, helpful and intergated into the community. She is diligent, active and self-reliant.

Kat Giannini, YinD

She has a unique smile. She is well-integrated into our community. I feel glad and happy every time I see she interacts with community members with that smile.

Kayla McCabe, YinD

Her ability to speak Thai esp. some Isaan words is impressive. She quickly adjusts herself into the community. Her attitude and willingness to learn new things makes her become a part of the SAO and schools. Her continuous and various activities are useful for the students.

Megan Cindric, YinD

We love Nathan. He is our family now. He shows up at work on time and is dedicated to all of his work. Just only a few weeks after he had moved here, he managed to go to all the schools in our sub-district and fill his work schedule. I love that he is very systematic. I can rely on him to do everything on his own and definitely sure he will do it well.

Nathan Caballero, YinD

Her Thai is very good. She is adaptable, responsible and always on time. She gets along so well with her host families, people in the community and counterparts at SAO. Students love her and are excited to participate in her activities.

Hoi Kipgen, YinD

We love to hang out with her after work at the Tessaban office. She is willing to learn our Phuthai culture and speak our language. She has been working so hard to integrate to our community. We are impressed with her commitment to be here in Kudwa.

Olivia Dawson, YinD

We all love P’ Pao. He’s not only smart, tall and handsome, but also clever and hard working. He is very polite and presentable all the time with people both at work and in the community. When he works with the kids in the school and the football team, we got very positive feedback from their parents. All the kids love him. We feel very fortunate to have him here. Thank you Peace Corps.

Pablo Doster, YinD

Quincy is very sweet. Except me, none of the staff understand English. I know that she tries so hard to learn Thai so she can communicate with us. She is very easy-going person and very independent. I brought her to get to know the community just one time and then she biked around to get to know people in the village herself. I admire that she tries every possible ways to integrate into the Thai community to make her services work.

Quincy Clowe, YinD

Despite any difficulty he has in communicating with Thai people in our community, Romil never gives up trying new ways to get to know and integrate in our community. He is working hard. His schedule is packed almost every day.