First Day at Home of Blessing

At last I'm almost caught up! I've been at home of blessing for almost a week now. Many things have happened, but most are likely to occur again so I will save their description for a time when I can recollect them more faithfully. Here's what happened from where I left off yesterday.
I slept in till nine and then waited for Pastor Sayan to pick us up. While waiting, we stopped at a small cloths shop and got some Thai fisherman pants. I'll just briefly describe these. Thai fisherman pants are very interesting and comfortable. They are huge, and can be worn by men or women. To make them fit, you sort of wrap them around you and tie with a string. They're light weight and great for hot weather. At last, Pastor Sayan and his son Kittipong arrived. The ride to Chiang Kham (where HOB is) was 4 hours. From the very first, I liked HOB very much. It's surrounded by fields of corn and rice that the girls grow and then HOB sells to raise money for the home. Here is an explanation of what HOB is in case I have told you yet. Home of Blessing is a girls home that currently has almost a hundred girls. Most of the girls are here because they are in dangerous situations at home or are at risk of being sold or led into prostitution. In addition to accommodation, HOB provides the girls with practical life skills and christian education. The girls attend nearby public primary and high schools. We got to HOB about an hour before the girls were due home from school. I met Pastor Sayan's wife Siriporn and some of the staff. There are four main staff people that I will be teaching. Nam is in charge of cooking for the girls. Melanie speaks English pretty well and is interning as part of her studies at seminary. Jo and Ing are married and Jo also speaks some English. Ing is only seventeen and they were married two years ago! At last the girls came home. I was a little nervous to meet the for some reason, but they were so completely and charmingly sweet that I loved them at once. In Thailand, you greet someone with a slight bow with your hands in front of you like you're praying, and say "Sawatdee ka" (sawatdee krap for men). So just imagine 100 adorable girls walking up to you bowing and saying sawatdee ka over and over again. They were so excited to see us and we them. Some of the girls changed into traditional Hmong outfits and they all had a little greeting ceremony for us. They gave both mom and I bouquets of flowers and sang for us.

Siriporn showed us to the nearby guest house were I would stay for the summer and we unpacked and settled in. Then it was dinner time so Mom and I went with Pastor Sayan, Siriporn, and Kittipong to a good Thai restaurant.