Building the Wat

This week I went into my afternoon class and my co-teacher told me that it was cancelled because the students have been asked to help with some construction project. For some reason my first thought was, "In their uniforms?..they might get dirty", instead of "what about class" or "child labour". So curious as to what this might entail, I followed the kids to the construction project, which turned out to be helping the local wat build a school for monks. The kids worked really hard for the most part, and the monks had on monk construction robes which looked like the aprons from Home Depot. My coteacher and I also got to work in the cement passing line. It was really fun and my host parents showed up midway through (if there is something going on at the wat they are there). Everyone was really happy to see me helping with the wat and it made me feel more like a member of the community. I even got hit by some yeeys (old ladies)!! It is a great honor to be hit by a yeey. I believe it's their way of showing affection.