Day 8: Goodbyes

Today I actually woke up to one of my earlier alarms, despite going to bed "late" (around 10:30 pm), but my back hurt during chanting/meditation. Afterwards, we went straight to the road to collect alms. I tried observe my surroundings while still respectfully keeping my head towards the ground and not making noise with my shoes.
I saw many snake and reptile skins along the road. 3 stray dogs from the wat came this time and they did their business wherever they felt like it. I think they do that anywhere possible to mark as much territory as they can. Oh man, the air smelt like doggie business too. In one area, there must be at least 5 golden retreivers and they barked at us (or the dogs) as we walked by their fences.
I do not think the government enforces rules against littering because garbage lined all the streets. I recognized some of the families from last Sunday and it made me happy to see their dedication to the bhikkunis and the temple.
As usual, we sorted the food when we returned to the temple and had breakfast. Ven. Dhammananda told me that she received an email from my mother and now I have "two mothers." I assume she meant herself, which put a big smile on my face. She gave me her duran fruit to try, but I did not enjoy it that much, so I gave it to two laypeople. Ven. Dhammananda gave me a specific job today - I will email an American regarding the Living Buddhism retreat in November. I offered to help with the English website, so that will give me another responsibility here. I need to work on the transcriptions, but I have gotten very sleepy since the heat rash started and take naps during the afternoon.
The bhikkuni from Burma and Buddhist scholar from Malaysia left today after staying for three or four days. I gave the woman from Malaysia a big hug and it made me sad to know that I may never see her again. In fact, I may never encounter many of the people I meet here again in my life. It gives me a strange feeling - I want to get to know people, but I want to keep my distance because I know that we may not see each other after this trip. I think my fear of trusting and rejection keeps me from reaching out more to the people here, but I want to start putting more effort into knowing the bhikkunis and other laypeople at the wat.
I had bread and butter for dinner again with my yogurt, it was exciting. When I went to the shower, my frog friend was sitting right near the door. I kept the door open thinking that maybe he would like to finally leave the shower. He did not move. This may sound silly, but I actually hoped he would stay in the shower. I realized that I enjoy the company of another being, even if it means a frog (or a toad...) sitting on the shower floor. This probably means that I should start talking to people more.