Today was the first proper alms round as a monk. To start off with I had to put on the robes for the first time myself. It was a win given the simple fact that it didn’t fall off on the alms round. However there were many times when it would start to slide off and I would have to try and push it back on. Juggling that with keeping lid of the alms bowl from slipping off was a challenge. I almost made a misstep on the narrow stairs getting onto the path on the dam. Falling into the river at 5am wouldn’t be the best way to kick off monk life.

I did the alms round with the twins and they seemed slightly anxious having me with them. They stopped at every person who offered food and gave the whole blessing but their route is relatively short. At the end of the route I got to meet my grandmother’s sister and she seemed very happy to see me. I was told by the twins that I should eat with the abbot and the other monk who I’ve walked with previously. I’ll do both routes tomorrow since they are at different times.

After the morning meal I went to the nearby monastery where my preceptor monk resided to get my monk certificate fixed. The monk himself wasn’t available so one of his disciples just gave us a new form to fill in ourselves. On return the deputy abbot helped to rewrite the certificate again and this time I made sure and to give him my Thai ID as reference. I then got told off for the first time because I did not wear my top walking around as I had seen another monk do it.

Mae texted and asked if anyone was bringing food and I said no, so she went and got some pizza and some bao for the monks. Tomorrow P will be coming and I wonder what he will be bringing. Pa also gave me my boarding pass for the flight on Thursday so it all looks good to go. He also gave me some socks and a monk sweater that covered only one side of the body and warned that it will be cold in Chiang Mai. I have no idea how I’m going to carry everything on the flight.

The rest of the afternoon was the same as before. I did some laundry again to have a new supply of clothes. I sweat a lot and don’t have that many pieces of clothing so I need to do them while I can. I’ve found a nice spot to do laundry in the kitchen and even though it looks like I shouldn’t be doing it there, the buckets there are big and fit my robes nicely.