Photos!

The monk on the right with the microphone is the abbot of the Forest temple in Uttaradit. This is the driveway. Yours truely is over his left shoulder. The monk on the left is the head of the international center at one of the oldest temples in Bangkok.

Part of the opening ceremony was chanting "Iti pi so..." 108 times to bless the center and welcome the devas (angels) for protection. It took us about 5 hours over the course of 3 days to complete the chanting. The string is a blessing string tied to the main Buddha image and linked to everyone chanting, including all the monks in front (not visible). It was sooooo beautiful and moving to be a part of this ceremony. Especially as the only nun, I got to sit front and center out of the lay people (outside and 2' below the enclosed platform where the monks were seated, of course!).

The forest center we opened (the pink tile behind us is where we were seated for the chanting above). Improvised Thai countryside brooms. :) Note the height difference. This is pretty characteristic of my experience in this country...The woman to my right is Wassana, the lay practitioner from Wat Phrathat Sri Chomtong I became friends with on this journey.

Opening the center--A highly ranked monk from Bangkok is painting Buddhist blessing symbols on the sign. Then he put three dots of sparkley glue and stuck three squares of gold foil in a triangle to finish the blessing. Repeat on the other side of the sign...

The shrine building housing the three iron statues of the warrior devas we helped install (of course, more sweeping!).