Initial Impressions

So it turns out that I am actually staying in Chiang Rai. In a little room down behind the church down the street from Siriat's home. It seemed strange at first that I wouldn't stay with my host family but I think it will be nice to be able to get away now and then since her house is so busy. This weekend siriat is hosting 30 people from a church group in Bangkok at her house so things have been crazy preparing everthing. The kids from her orphanage had the day off school today and I spent all day with them helping to prepare the foods we needed to cook dinner. I sat on the floor with the kids from 6 in the morning until about 11, peeling and cutting garlic, onions, and ginger. No one speaks any English excpt for Siriat but everyone is incredibly friendly. I really enjoyed getting to hang out with the kids and they seemed really excited to be able to interact with a foriegner. After we were done preparing food, I went and got my Thai-English phrase book so the kids and I could at least have some form of communication. Even if it was just pointing to words. They couldn't read English letters for the most part since Thai is all characters completley different than ours. Luckily my book also had the Thai lettering. A few of the kids went and grabbed their English workbooks from school so they could show me what they were learning. I was suprised by how advanced the books seemed from the maximum of 3 words the kids could actually say in English. We traded words and phrases for a few hours. Pointing at things and saying the words for them or drawing pictures and reiterating their meaning in both languages. It seemed like the kids were picking up some words and I was starting to get down a few phrases in Thai. It will be a dificult language to learn. Siriat said that on sunday she has a group of about 40 kids she would like for me to teach after bible study. She is very religious and does everything in the name of God. It doesn't matter to me whose name she's doing it in, she seems to be involved in everything and the amount of good deeeds she does daily is incredible. She is running 3 orphanages on the board for several schools, running a women's group for vocational skills like emrboiderysewing and computers, and helping them fund the materials they need to work as well as helping them sell their wares. She already told me I have to come to church with her family. I didn't object. She said it was very important. Every night after dinner she lets the kids from the orphanage come over the her house and watch TV. The trade off is that after they watch TV, they have to worship and do bible study with her. She's smart like that. I am very excited to work with her on as many projects as I can. I think that there are alot of great learnin opportunities here and i intend to take advantage of that. Siriat seems more than willing to let me as well. Her hospitality and kindness are unmatched.