Fellow Stories

Trial By Fire

Sunghoon Kwak

2017-11-02

12:33 I entered the classroom with my mentor and pulled out my notebook. It was the first day of my apprenticeship. Observation day. My Teach for India (NGO) teacher sat me in the back of the classroom and told me to take it easy. Okay, sweet. I can do that. 12:47 The lesson had progressed...

Diwali, the festive experience.

Sydney Scanlon

2017-10-30

Red Delicious

Soraya Waller

2017-10-25

So I’m on the recovering end of yet another cold, and this one was pretty rough. I’m getting really used to the general sensation of cold symptoms and hot weather, a combination that used to feel strange and surreal. I think part of why I’ve already gotten sick twice is because I haven’t been eating...

“Teaching Is Easy,” That’s What They Said

Gemma Kelton

2017-10-23

  50 days have flashed by with the blink of an eye, and I’m scared. The next time I blink, 84 days will have come and gone, and soon enough, full 8 months will have slipped through my fingers. I so desperately wish to slow time down, just enough to click a picture, or even...

The Proposal

Isabel Hallock

2017-10-22

To share a slightly less deep blog post, and to keep your interest going, let me tell you about October 20th. The day I was proposed to by a Indian travel guide. My host family and I had walked up this beautiful mountain in Humpi, Karnatika, called Ajani, said to be the birthplace of the...

Bitter Discourses

Isabel Hallock

2017-10-22

The first day I arrived in my host family, my grandmother me an old book called Bitter Discourses. It smelled of curry and old dust, but she said it was one of her most sacred books, and to not damage it, or specifically, put it on the floor. As I began reading, one of the...

Student of Mine

Sunghoon Kwak

2017-10-16

How delicious is our curiosity,Guiding us through night?Unaware of the troubles that are revealed in the daylight A world achesFor a child as bright-eyed as youPain bolstered by the life the child has lived through Yet, you are still beautiful, student of mineWithin a large landscape,You are the shine But like any light, we saw...

Gossip: an appeal for reappraisal

Sydney Scanlon

2017-10-15

    Gossip has been given its nefarious reputation by men jealous of the human discussion they so poorly execute. Testosterone dominated individuals have never been as good at letting things go, periods attest to that. There is something about women and gossip that so pleases the tongue. Why humans so universally chatter is a...

Thanks, man

Soraya Waller

2017-10-10

This one is gonna be pretty short, not really a story as much as a brief expression of gratitude. I suppose I owe a lot to various Japanese men I've never met, but right now I just wanted to take a brief moment to thank one in particular. I get a lot of people asking...

Super Cool Shirt

Soraya Waller

2017-10-03

Today I was under the weather, so I stayed in. By the end of the day, I was bursting with stir-craziness. I’ve been having a sort of psychological dilemma these past few days, and with nothing else to do, I simply stewed in it. That could have been good or bad, but luckily, I think...

Sweet Home, India!

Gemma Kelton

2017-10-02

​​Namaste mera dost, Pune, Bharat se! Aap kaise hain? Mein kush aur aacha hun. (Hello friends from Pune, India. Long time no see! How are you? I am quite happy!) I know you’re wondering how I’ve been getting along in India, and let’s just say that words won’t do India any justice in capturing how...

The Rich Love of India

Sydney Scanlon

2017-10-02

It had been 22 hours of traveling, three different flights, four different sleeping pills through 12 different time zones. I was a little dazed to say the least. As I walked out of the plane and followed the signs to the exit all alone, I tried to determine whether I was supposed to go through...