Today the slab went up on the two new rooms – it looked like it would never be finished when on alms round we had to crawl under a massive coconut tree that had taken out the power lines last night. But, we have a great group of workers who worked tirelessly today mixing and hoisting cement until it was finally finished around 4 PM.
The head monk came to help with the Kathina ceremony, and we all agreed on a previously half-formed idea to build two more rooms on top of these, a bridge leading to the top rooms, a slab roof on top of them, and a connection between the bodhi tree and said second-storey slab roof. You really have to see it to understand; maybe a video is in order…
Still three meditators, two being possible monk-candidates, and many people interested in coming; if you haven’t heard back from us yet, it’s probably because we’re not really sure we can handle more people yet. Ayya Phalanyani is confirmed as coming on the 23rd, a Sri Lankan meditator on the 18th, and a few more people looking to come in December. The rooms above me are still in limbo, though tomorrow we should advance the prospect, getting some vents for the attic. Also, plan to get more water storage tanks; we were without water for most of the day today, as we have only a single 500 litre tank for the whole place.
So, much ado. All is well, onward and upward. Oh, and some pictures of the slab should appear on Google+ soon:
https://plus.google.com/118014954414967440482/posts