Author: Kirsten Ruyter

Kirsten Ruyter was born in small town Iowa, and raised in a small fishing village south of Bangkok, Thailand. After running wild with neighborhood children for a few years, her mother eventually enrolled her in a British International School. Upon graduation she returned to Iowa, enrolling in the University of Northern Iowa at the age of fifteen. Having grown up in the slums of Thailand, and volunteering her time at an orphanage in Peru, Kirsten was inspired to study Social Work, and earned her B.S.W. with a Minor in Health Promotion. After graduation, Kirsten and her now husband migrated their way west, first settling in Sioux Falls, SD before relocating to the Bay area in California to be near family. She took a position at an agency that offered employment services and job training to the mentally ill, but before long she was once again faced with an opportunity to return to Thailand with her husband to work for her parents as a company translator. She took this opportunity to study the language, and began writing about the experiences they had. Kirsten and her husband will be returning to the Bay area in early December of 2010.