Today is the new year, or tomorrow is, depending who we listen to… Friday the 13th too.
The-yogi-formerly-known-as-Jens arrived this week, and has taken up the role of groundskeeper; he and Manju have begun work on one of the more slippery forest paths and took measurements for the new kuti windows. He’s shaved his head and taken on a new name for ordination purposes, Yasa.
Some busyness with the visas; big people offering to help, others threatening to not help, and neither of our monks-to-be have the proper visas to convert to a residence visa. Monday we try to go to sort it out.
Either way, the plan is to ordain both Sumedha and Yasa on May 5th, which is Visakha Puja by (most) Sri Lankan reckoning. Anyone in the area is welcome to attend and rejoice in the dual occasion. The ordination may only be an anagarika ordination, depending on the results of our visa efforts. If they are able to get residence visas, we will ordain them as novices, otherwise they will have to return to their home countries first to apply for entry visas. Anyone with connections in the government of Sri Lanka wanting to help out would be most appreciated.
The rain is back, bringing with it fierce lightning storms but a welcome cooling of the daily temperature as well. It has also brought water, of course, which our thirsty well appreciates. The new well digging seems still far off, though promises of coming to dig are still plentiful. In the meantime, I took the time to figure out how an automatic cut-off mechanism works and hot-wire our main water tank. Much benefit to that – no more turning on the pump to fill the tanks, no more waiting for the tanks to overflow before turning it off, no more running out of water, no more overheating the pump.
days and nights go by
taking us closer to death
where are you going?