Day 20: Time for Celebration

The Bhikkhunis ordained 2 laypeople as samaneris today. It was a spectacular experience.

 Decorations

Colors decorating the boat

First we shaved their heads, which freaked me out a bit. Mostly because the razors made a scraping sound against the nun's buzz cut and I could not handle the sound. The other layperson's haircut took less time because they used an electric razor. Both of them cried as we shaved, I could feel the heavy emotion in the air. How they were giving up a normal life, possessions, romance - everything for a simplistic monastic life.

Before the haircuts

And the shaving begins...

 Apparently this was not so painful, but it looked like it was.

After their haircut, they wore a white outfit and we formed a line to the vihara (the building with the Medicine Buddha).

The white outfits

The procession

Dotcom joining the parade

I got to hold one of these fun sticks with some others in the back.

 We circled the vihara 3 times.

Then they received their orange robes.

 

Throwing flowers behind her

Chanting for the Bhikkhunis in the mud house

 Receiving their bowls

The procession back to the dining hall

As we walked to lunch, people stood in line to donate money and food to the new samaneris. We had a big lunch with good food and I felt so happy to serve my friends for the first time.

The line of Bhikkhunis and samaneris with the newest additions

 Visitors serving the food

Picture of all the Bhikkhunis and samaneris

From noon until 2 pm I packaged Ven. Dhammananda's dhamma talk CDs. I got hot in the office and had to take a break. Someone was hogging up the fan...

Not a fan of this dog (no pun intended)

My first true friend from the wat came back to visit today and told me that 18 students from Dayton were coming to visit tonight around 5 pm. It turned out there were only 17 students since one lost his passport in Cambodia (quite unfortunate). Only 3 are girls, so they will stay here while the boys will stay in a nearby hotel with the professor. We took the group of students on a tour of the wat and then had dinner. I thought it was funny to have pad thai because first of all, we never have dinner prepared. Secondly, we never eat pad thai, so it really did not depict life at the wat or in Thailand. I am not complaining though! I thoroughly enjoyed my prepared dinner.
Afterwards, we attended evening chanting in the room for Sunday services in order to fit everyone. We only have 6 English chant books, so the students were pretty lost, hot, and uncomfortable. Many of the guys struggled to sit for so long and some of them looked like they were in pain. I tried to recite everything from memory and I actually did better than I thought I would. I definitely enjoy reading along better though. After the guys left, the 3 girls and my friend gave offerings/prayers to the spirit house. I talked with one of the girls from the trip and they went to China, Cambodia, Tibet, Vietnam, and Laos! They will go to Burma after Thailand, but come back to leave from the Bangkok airport. They are all business majors taking a General Education course on Buddhism. They also learn about business in each of the Asian countries. I thought it was such a cool idea.

Day 19: Belonging

I decided to take a picture of what it looks like when I leave my room at 5:15 am.

This is how I start my day. 

It actually looks more like this without the street lights.

Today we went out for alms on the path where we spend some time walking on the highway. My friend pushed the cart on the road while we walked along side. She will be ordained as a samaneri tomorrow, so this was her last day of acting like a layperson.

 Walking on Phet Kasem Highway

The sunrise

Last time I saw at least a dozen snails on the road and in the garbage cans, but I could not find any today. I saw the same stray dogs and people giving alms, I think I am starting to remember their faces.

Walking near a pond

I saw the monks (Bhikkhus) collecting alms along the route again. I tried to discretely watch them and it looked like they did not recite blessings like the Bhikkunis do. The people deserve a nice, long thank you for giving up food and water every week. Maybe they said something, but I did not hear it. Hopefully they thanked the people.

My sneaky picture of the monks

I love going out for alms because I get to see how people live in the area. For example, Thais do laundry differently than us in America.

Hanging clothes

Apparently Thais make fences with car parts.

I also love seeing the joy on faces of the villagers for "making merit" by giving food to the Bhikkhunis. It puts me in a good mood for the rest of the day. I especially liked this child's slipper that he took off to pay respect to the Bhikkhunis. I did not even notice until I looked at the picture a second time that his sock has a hole in it.

Cute kid

After breakfast, I skyped with my mom for a bit and then heard the bell for afternoon chanting. I forgot that we do afternoon services on the days we receive alms. No one really tells me anything anymore. One of the samaneris did a dhamma talk in Thai and all the people in the room were laughing. I could not understand the speech, but hearing the laughter made me happy. I have begun to pay attention to the energy and emotions in the room, rather than the words since I cannot understand them. I meet someone who speaks English after chanting - Ven. Dhammananda told him to keep me company since I am lonely. That made it a bit awkward. We did not end up talking very much and he left after donating a bunch of goods to the Bhikkhunis.
I looked for some English books in the library today and WOW there is quite a collection! I wish I could take them all back to America because I know that I will not have time to read them all here. It inspires me to try to read as many books as possible before I leave.
The alum's friend sent me the last Harry Potter to read before I see the movie on my birthday and it came in the mail today. It was so exciting to get a package. It made me feel like...
1. This place exists (contrary to google maps - I cannot find this temple no matter what I search)
2. I actually live here
3. People can find/contact me
I am now reading "Thai Women in Buddhism" by Ven. Dhammananda, "Buddhism: The Living Philosophy" by Daisaku Ikeda, and Harry Potter 7. The Harry Potter book looks nothing like the American version. At first, I was worried that my friend gave me the Thai one, but it must be the British version?

My first package!

Cleaned the library again, the floor was so dusty. Dotcom sat outside on the steps, I think she likes me as much as I like her. I really could see having her as a pet at home.

Dotcom helping me clean the library.

 

My third time cleaning the library and each time it looks like no one has cleaned it for years. It gives me quite a workout and I missed the samaneri ordination practice because I needed water and rest.

 The library bookshelves

Front of the library

I feel asleep until 6, so I ate dinner in my room before taking a quick shower. I ate 12 saltine crackers with peanut butter, some pre-packaged crispy butter toast sticks from 7-eleven (I should never have bought those), 3 nutty "cookies" (more like granola circles) with "milk" (UHT milk that suspiciously lasts without refrigeration and for over a year), and a snickers bar. Why did I do that combination? I do not know, but I will not do it again. More importantly, no more toast sticks. They were basically long croutons with sugar on them. I want bread again. I cannot believe that the laypeople went through 2 loaves of white bread and 1 loaf of wheat bread in 3 days! Some must be stored somewhere..?! The cook is sick, so maybe the laypeople loaded up on bread.
Tonight we did chanting for longer than usual for Wan Pra and I actually knew where to go in the book when we skipped around in it! It really made me feel like I knew my stuff. We went to the Medicine Buddha and sat outside. The air had cooled off from the day and it was quite nice sitting underneath the dark sky. We shared stories and for the first time, even though I only understood if Ven. Dhammananda translated for me, I really felt a sense of belonging and happiness. I could not stop smiling and watching them laugh made me laugh. The happiness of Thai people is contagious sometimes and I felt it today.

Day 18: Thailand Critters

Not much happened today, so I will give a brief summary and then introduce some of the critters at the wat.
Even though I could not fall asleep until after 11 pm, I woke up for morning chanting and felt well enough to go. I missed the last two days due to my sore throat and potential fever, but the homeopathy from Ven. Dhammananda seemed to have worked its magic overnight. I did not really trust homeopathy before, but now I actually believe it can work!
I still managed to take a nap and miss lunch. We did our marathon chant tonight, which is called the Gotami Sami. On the way back to my room I saw a spider that looked like a Tarantella, but skinnier, running across the bathroom doors into the darkness. It reminded me of the spiders in Harry Potter. I also saw a spider that looked like a Daddy Long Leg, but it had transparent legs. I blew on it gently (hoping to make it move so I could see how big it was) and I swear it flew at me! Some of these bugs really creep me out here.

Exhibit A: Nest of some sort in my room

Either the bugs died and I have nothing to worry about OR they have yet to hatch and therefore, I cannot kill them. Hopefully nothing lives in the nest anymore.

Exhibit B: Spider in the corner of my room eating a fly

I captured and released most of the flies that appeared at my window one day, but two met the sorry fate of this spider's nest. I do not respect this spider because the nest could not hold his pray and the two dead flies fell on my floor. I have not had the stomach to deal with them yet.

Exhibit C: It takes two to tango

Another gecko joined the other one at my window and I hope there is some secret romance between them so that I can see baby geckos soon. When one moves, the other one moves...it's quite entertaining. It's like watching a rural Thai tv show on my very own screen!

Exhibit D: Little geckos near the bathrooms

They LOVE this area and I always see at least 3 of them on this wall at night. One stays in the bathroom stall I use, but he hides behind the toilet and gives me privacy when I go in there, so I do not mind him. Unfortunately, my frog friend no longer lives in the shower. I hope he's doing okay out in the wild.

Exhibit E: MOMMA GECKO!!!

Ain't she a beaut? This is the only place I see her, so I do not know where she lives, but probably nearby these bathroom stalls. I love her spotting and eyes. I check before turning on the light now because I do not want to scare her with my fingers so close to her mouth.

Exhibit F: Sneaky frog

I saw this frog (or toad) near the bathroom the other night and I liked how well he blended in with the paint. I have only seen him once, when I took this picture.

Exhibit G: Not quite a bookworm

This spider hangs out behind my favorite...and only couch in the library and he made an excellent web behind it. Since I am sitting on the couch right now with my camera, I decided to take a picture of him.

Okay that is all the Thai wildlife I have captured on my camera so far, but I will post more pictures as I discover new species of bugs and reptiles in Southeast Asia.

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