Day 17: A Woman with True Inner Beauty

On July 5th, my best friend here, a temporary samaneri, disrobed (gave up her orange robes and monastic duties) and went back to her home province in Thailand. I will miss her terribly and my time here will not be the same without her. Since she spoke English well, I asked her many questions about Thai culture and the monastic lifestyle. Even if I thought my question sounded stupid, she never made me feel badly for asking. The only people I can truly talk to now are a couple Bhikkhunis who speak English. I feel intimidated talking to them because I never know if I need to pay them more respect with Thai etiquette, such as bowing more or sitting on the floor. It will feel much more lonely with her gone.
This samaneri may be the sweetest woman I will ever encounter in my life. She always looks peaceful and has a smile on her face. What I found remarkable about her was that even though she shaved her head, she was still stunningly beautiful. Bhikkhunis shave their heads to give up beauty, but this did not work for her. And even if something could take away her outer beauty, she would still have such a powerful inner beauty that it would still make her beautiful. She put a smile on my face every day and I will truly miss her here.
She gave me some of her photos from her camera, so I will dedicate this post to the nicest woman I know.

 Us in front of the 52 Bhikkhuni statues

Us and my other friend in front of the 52 Bhikkhuni statues...

You can see how tall/white I am in this country.

She also gave me the pictures I took on her camera of her last alms round on July 3rd.

  

The sun rising as we leave the wat.

3 Bhikkhunis, 1 samaneri, and 1 future samaneri/Bhikkuni

Blessing the people who gave alms

2 of the Golden Retrievers that always bark at us...GRR!

The factory workers who always give alms on Sunday :)

  The laypeople pushing the food cart as we all walk back to the wat.

Picture from her camera = proof that I actually do work here