Today is Wan Phra so the schedule will be longer than usual. Thanks to Tan T. for reminding me to take my outer robe to the meal because it will be required for the Dhamma talk. But before that the alms round was brutal. I thought Tan M. was being compassionate yesterday for his gentle pace. I take it all back. He was much much faster today and it took a lot of effort to keep up. At the end we also went through the car park as well which was excruciatingly painful. My robes were falling to pieces and half fell off at the very end. I think I will go back to the one layer tomorrow if I am to have any chance of keeping up with Tan M. again.

My chores have also been changed so now I am responsible for cleaning the bowl drying shed. It is the point of congregation for monks and used for all sorts of purposes so it’s a big job. He gave me a massive list of things to do which I had to jot down to remember, but all in all it didn’t seem so bad. The more involved tasks only need to be done every few days otherwise it’s mostly sweeping, mopping and filling up kettles.

Tan Ajahn Kevali came back from Burma today and gave a Dhamma talk in the evening about his experiences there. I admire his ability to talk like that for that long because it’s all ad lib. It feels like he’s just having a casual yet profound chat with you with the dhamma peppered throughout. I stayed until the end but still not ready for the all nighter yet.

I finally managed to get rid of the last baby tukkae from my kuti. Hopefully that will be the end of them inside. The house geckos scurry away much more readily.