Today I felt as if I made a difference in the 3 classes I taught in the morning, first 2 were “these are, they are” the3rd lesson was more advanced and looking at plurals of harder new vocabulary. Not sure of the theory as most just added s but we also had paintbrushes and scissors…not to mention coloured pencils!
The children made me lots of parting gifts from paper, very sweet, but the paper must have been donated from a previous group.
After lunch at Fat Pandas, the Bamboo cafe in town where you give what you feel the meal was worth, we were so excited to go and visit the house that our team had constructed in 3 and a half days. 
This was such a special moment as we were honoured to witness the blessing of the house by monks and village elders. We had bought lots of new things for the family, a fan, rice maker, bedding, rice etc and had to walk round the house 3 times while the elders chanted. I must point out that this all happened in a horrific thunderstorm!!!
The discussion with the elders was about claiming the land and saying there were no evil spirits present. We sheltered under the house initially as the red mud squelched around us. The elders then the family, then the workers went in first taking the new goods in. Nothing old (we had clothes to give them) was allowed in until the blessing had taken place. We could then follow up and sat down waiting for the monks. Just before the monks arrived the little boy I the family decided to have a wee right where one if the monks was due to sit! The ceremony took about 20 mins, fascinating to watch. A couple of rules when in the company of monks: you must never show the bottom of your feet as they are the dirtiest part of the body, also a woman must be lower than a monk, never touch them or speak. SO the lovely Maggie started by sitting with her feet facing the monks and got tutted at by an elderly lady. Having corrected her sitting position it all ran smoothly until the ceremony finished, Maggie started to get up just as the monks got up, so she squealed and sat back down. She must have done this 3 or 4 times, hilarious as she was bobbing up and down like a yoyo not sure what to do for the best!
After a few photos, we returned to the school 
to find all the children lined up for a presentation. The little ones sang “head, shoulders, knees and toes”, the slightly older ones sang “if you’rehappy” a few girls did some beautiful dancing and a boy sang a solo. We were then presented with a certificate each and lots of hugs!
Sadly we said goodbye and headed back to the hotel for a quick swim before heading over to the hospital to see Corinne and take her bag as she was being flown to the hospital in Bangkok for further tests and possible surgery. Met up with the rest of the group for a farewell meal in a Mexican restaurant. 
Heading back to the hotel to find the pool was open and music playing, so cossie back on and into the pool for very adventurous water aerobics for what seemed like hours! Had a ball. 
Rambling With Ruthie 