This will likely be the last day in a long while where I can wake up this late. I felt more refreshed than ever, even though I slept little between 4 and 7. This time the meal was a distance away within the estate so we had to go there wearing the main robe covering the shoulder, which was a little alarming as I never eaten with the robe in that fashion before. This was the way that the robe must be worn when leaving one’s monastery or dwelling. I took a little spoon as well which was ultimately vital as there were none.

There was a great variety of food and I ended up with a healthy portion myself. The problem started with the pre-meal chant as I had no idea about any of them. The novice monk kindly helped me with one passage but beyond that I was lost again. I just mumbled through it pretending to know, hoping that no one would notice.

The meal started off well enough. The bowl was right in front of me, the cup was to the side, the clothes were staying on and I had a spoon. Then I began to panic as I suddenly realised that everyone else was finishing when I was only half way through. I wonder if they were going at the same pace as the most senior monk. I had to gulp down the last half of my bowl as quickly as possible which left me feeling a lump in my chest and tightness in my stomach. Sitting on the floor the whole time didn’t help either

After the meal I had to put the bowl covering cloth back on so it could be carried back and doing that in a hurry while my robe was falling off was stressful to say the least. I finally managed, the whole time being very careful not to let the lid fall off which only added to the pressure. In the end the robe was becoming undone so I simply stood up and started putting on the robe again from the beginning just out of sight. Afterwards we sat back down again for the post meal blessing and I didn’t want to ever remove my robes again because it’s such a pain to put them on. We came back and cleaned the bowls and dried then together as a group.

Tan A. told me that apparently at Wat Pah Nanachat they wear the robes double layered (combined with the outer robe) for the alms round and he taught me how. I was already struggling with just one. Ajahn J. joined in to help as well and eventually they made it look presentable. Tan M. was scaring me slightly about life at Wat Pah Nanachat since he spent a week there before joining this retreat. This week will seem like a dream in comparison.

The evening chant went by without any problems. There’s 45 minutes of chanting followed by 45 minutes of meditation. The meditators had all turned up by now and I saw mum too which was nice. The monks sat together along one side of the room and the meditators sat facing them. I very nearly kicked over a glass which would have been a disastrous first act as a monk in public. I did leave the chanting book on the floor when it should have been on the cushion, which was seen as disrespectful. It was a little uncomfortable as Tan F. had to reprimand me in front of the fifty or so people in the room.

The robe didn’t come undone at any time during the chanting and meditation. I held onto it constantly, even during the meditation which made it difficult to meditate. My legs had their fair share of complaints as I sat unmoved and cross-legged for 45 minutes.