BLOG 7:

for some reason i am having major memory failure today...cant really remember what has gone on the last 2 weeks... so here goes:

emmmm this week in Galle there has been cricket on (for what may be the last time for professional cricket there), Sri Lanka vs West Indies, in a five day test match. So we went along Monday - to see my first ever professional cricket match, learnt lots from Alan sitting next to me and watch Gayle (west indies) get his first 200 runs which then turned into 300+ which made him have one of the best test cricket scores ever apparently...well anyway it was good to see and then rained at times throughout the week so was rained off and was a draw...i think!

aswell as cricket we have been to our next door neighbour, Govindas wedding party last Saturday night. He has just built a new house in for his wife and so we had a look around his amazing massive house and then sat in the garden to have a meal. The garden looked so pretty it was all lit up and there was a band. The food was amazing! we didnt stay quite long enough to get involed in some sri lankan dancing...We had however bought new saris so dressed up for the occation which was good fun!

govindas his wife at the right end (ment to put the one with govinda too but got wrong one oops...)

at the meal in the garden

emer and i have made 2 visits to one of our favourite cafes in the last 2 weeks, called sahana - we thought it was called richlands tea but thats just a promotion sign that seems bigger than there name sign...its on the water front heading towards Galle. Both times we walked which was very nice. The first time was at the weekend and we ended up "helping" push a fishing boat into the water and went in to a scappy (my dad would be proud..) where the man ended up showing us his goats and chickens (unfortunately we had no camera with us as it was a spur of the moment kind of thing so no photos). The second time we went was last wedesday as it was a poya day, we went to just chill out and drinking banana milk shakes..mmm! the weather went crazy when we got there though saw the rain coming for us and then boom thunder/lighning/rain and we had to sit inside..place was shaking. we also felt cold...

its actualy been crazy weather a lot here recently...yesterday it rained soooo much when we were trying to get home from Jo and Alans friends house. The playground is now covered in giant puddles. yesterday Emer and i went along to Mhiripenna with Jo and Alan to visit there friends for tea and biscuits, they live in this amazing 100 year old house built in the colonial times.

teaching the last 2 weeks has flown by. 2 of my favourite things i remember these last 2 weeks were taking both grade 1 classes out to the playground with there chairs to sing songs etc - they were slightly wild but think they enojyed it which is what counts i guess. the other thing was when we were teaching grade 2, we were reading them a story and pretended to lick some cake on the page, one boy laughed so much he fell of his chair which then ment the whole class laughed even more - it was just really sweet!
we have tried to enforce the naughty chair with grade 3s in Mhiripenna as they are easily the most wildclass we teach - emer resorted to taking the naughty kids books which they love as they started to find the naughty chair entertaining...ahhh!

well im sure theres loads more to the last 2 weeks but i really cant think...should write it down...
but anyway we have practically finished teaching for this term as term end tests start which we are not involved in and classes get all messed up...so we are off TRAVELLING!!! Emer and i are finished a bit earlier than the boys so we are just going to head of and meet the boys later. The plan is to go East along the south coast some more then up the East coast a bit ended up in a surfing place called Arugam bay. Emer and i are going to make our way up there slowly and have lots of stops - hopefully go to Yala national park and see some elepants! From Arugam we are going to head inland towards the hill country and travel around there for a bit - see some nice places, waterfalls, walks, bridges, white water rafting etc... before we head off to Adams peak (sri pada - famous relgious moutain, 5200 steps, 7km walk, temple on top) for christmas day. we are hoping to walk up Adams peak super early so we can watch the sun rise at the top - fingers crossed its a clear day...so lots of travel plans and so excited! will be away for a month so no internet and no blogs for travelling time but will do a round up of it all (if i remember) when im back!

hope everyone is doing great at home and your all looking forward to christmas! xxx

blog 6:

so this morning we woke up to a giant roller behind our house flattening the railway - ment to be up and running again by Janurary which means no need for alarms then as trains go by at 5 anyway... (may feel like home next to the railway...). then this morning i had a very sri lankan breakfast of my favourite sambol (slightly too spicy) and bread, mmmmm. heres an old picture of me attempting to make it on a proper grinder:

the last 2 weeks have flown again...freaking us out a little how fast it is!

teaching:
Mhiripenna is going great, really getting in to the swing of things there, even if it ment having to create a naughty chair. kids in grade 3 learning vocab and alphabet:

emer and i took 2 private lessons with "the rottie families" (rottie is a food that they sell not some kind of nasty name we have created) kids, both of different ages and abilities so was kind of tricky but we will see how that goes...working progress...

i really enjoyed helping out in one of the sri lankan english teachers classes this week at SGV, sat at the front with grade 4 boys who seemed to be picked up everything with a little encouragment. I also really enjoyed being in one of Alans 9B lessons where there is a girl who doesn't say a world, i sat next to her to try and help her along, still didnt say much but you could tell she understood and was laughing about things which was really nice!

at SGV assembly this week it was so sweet 4 grade 2 boys went up to "stage" and were all passing the microphone back and forth between them and gigglying majorly, until one just decided to keep it and they sang the sweetest song - so cute! wish i had had my camera...

Emer, alan and i also helped out at Sunils (a english teacher at SGV) english tution school this friday. We went on a really gorgeous (although wild) bus journey to get to his house/tuition school where we spend 3 hours teaching 53 grade 5 kids who were so willing and keening to learn - really enjoyed it! after the teaching sunils wife had made a feast for us with a european twist, so yummy!

meal in sunils house after teaching - sunil and his family in the back ground

alan reading piggy wiggy

　other things that have been going on these last 2 weeks:

we were invited by a family (whose son goes to school at UMV and we met when we danced in the parade...) to there house for lunch last weekend. so we turned up where we said we would meet them, then hopped in the dads "sri lankan tractor" (also want to point out we were wearing our sairs in the tractor haha) which took us to there house in the middle of no where but was so beautiful to get there and when we were there! the drive there was halarious it was like some sort of wacky race! i actually got a stitch in my side (or what i thought was a stitch - shows how unfit i am..) because the tractor was so shakey...haha!
the dad and his tractor (we sat in the traylor like bit at the back):

when we got to the house we ment the family, had a drink then they took us for a walk around there area - so so beautiful, walked through a rubber tea plantation and watching as shane (the son who is at school here) smacked jack fruit off the top of trees.
rubber trees:

me and the family off on our walk:

lunch being cooked on the brick fire

oh i forgot to mention last weekend i got up ealry (for the weekend) and cycled along to see the stilt fisherman - unfortunately i didnt see the guy i had met before (or he was on his stilt and i couldnt tell) but was really nice to watch it, although wasnt the best day and started raining. had a nice cycle afterwards too:

i also had another cycle this week where i thought i woudl be brave and try out my lack of exercise here and cycle up this massive hill (well felt like it was massive), made it to the top but did feel the most out of breathe i have been yet, then started to head back down...then realised i had no breaks....dun dun dun! not good, emergancy feet down stop, luckily realised before i got too fast...haha.

some other amazing moments i can think of the top of my head (should actually start writing things down or i forget everything...): emer and i had a movie night as she got sent a usb of films over (watched fantastic mr fox), so we moved our bed side table and squashed our beds together to watch this film...it created so much space in our room and for anyone who has seen the film "step brothers" it was seriously like the activity space they make when we make there bunk beds... so funny (or at least was for us...). another funny thing happened yesterday on our way back from the beach (which was so nice to chill out although it rained a bit...), we bumped in to our local entertainer...chooti/sampat, almost every time we walk around the village we bump in to him and he either hides under his umbrella, puts his thumps up and always has the same conversation - about where he lives on rumassala hill with the bats (emer loves te bring up the bats...). anyway yesterday we saw him first for once, so emer screams "hello" and he jumps a mile then bursts out laughing (forgot to say he has a voice like he has been sucking helium), then he just randomly bursts into song and makes us film him singing, was pretty funny and sure he just loves to entertain!

so dancing, volleyball, arts and crafts, singing, badminton etc all still going on aswell.
All going great! hope everyone is great at home and all having fun! love kirstin xxx

blog 5

Hello!!! Or should I say Ayubowan...

Hope everything is great with everyone at home and you’re all having fun.

everything here is going amazing, have had some moments the past two weeks where we have been completely shattered and just wasn't as fun but we are loving it and you have those moments at home so no different really.  Not really sure where to start so much has been going on...

schools: so we have now been doing 3 days (Monday to Wednesday) at SGV and then 2 days (Thursday/Friday) at Mhiripenna, both schools lovely but actually really different.

at SGV Emer and I have been taking 1's and 2's a lot and lots of conversation groups out of classes...originally we were taking the best 4 out of classes so that they could improve and the rest of the class could continue better without them but recently we have taken out the weaker kids and I personal loved that - I think they realised there getting an opportunity to get better and have really taken the chance. especially with two 7B boys I took out this week, both fairly poor at English, so we stuck to basics (alphabet and colours) and then went on to some opposites and they both tried so so hard, they were great - was so cute they were holding on to each others knees the whole time as if to look after each other - don’t think im that scary really...

teaching 7B boys.

We have done 3 days at Mhiripenna as yesterday (Friday) was a poya day so no school. but the 3 days we have done we have really enjoyed and learnt lots from what we have done - I personal feel I need to prepare a lot more...oops, all went down well though! we are also hoping to paint the English classroom there at some point which would be fun, maybe get the kids to help... as we left grade 2 on Thursday and went to grade 1 we heard all the grade 2's singing "Tommy thumb" to them selfs/there teacher just for the fun...so if all else fails at least they now can sing "Tommy thumb".

In SGV last week the grade 4s had a veggie/fruit/plants sale in there classroom...it was amazing! It’s a bit like a British coffee morning but really not. the kids all brought in plants and things they had grown I the garden into the class and covered there tables in them, teachers came round and bought whatever they fancied...gives the kids a taste of shop keeping etc. I bought a Belly fruit (tried to cook it and failed badly so it was binned...Emer still has one we could try...) and an orange (although they are more like lemons here) and Emer got some curry leaves also.

So now on to the bikes...I am loving having bikes they are sooooo fun! Even on these wild roads! Im being careful all don’t worry! Been using them quite a bit actually - sometimes to the shop, although I get pretty unbalanced with loads of food and stuff, been to galle and been to the beach..

So will start with my beach cycle: last Sunday Emer and I went our own ways and both had such a good time, not because we weren't together but because we met so many amazing people. so anyway I cycled along to this beach...turned up and it was completely empty (forgot to mention bought a big bunch of bananas on the way to take for my breakfast...), sat down on the sand, took it all in, its gorgeous, got out some paper to write a few letters ad ate my bananas - chilled out! then this really sweet elderly man appeared next to me, at first he just stared and smiled really sweetly, so I tired with my little Sinhala to have a small conversation, got his name and where he lived etc, he had no English at all and I think was maybe actually kind of shy. He went of and collected lots of shells, not sure what for or why. then this other man appeared whose English was really good and I found out that his daughter goes to this school and they live just there next to the beach, also found he gets called "coconut man", as I found out when he asked if I wanted a king coconut which of course I did, there so yummy, so he ran off along the beach and up a coconut tree, then back along, pulled out this massive knife from his pocket and hacked the top of this coconut - made a hole so I could drink the water..mmmm!! while I was talking to him, the old man came back and I found out that he was a stilt fisherman just along from here and asked if I could come back this weekend and see him fishing (take some cool photos hopefully too), so might go first thing tomorrow to see my fisherman friend. Coconut man thought I must be burning in this sun so then ran off again but this time on his bike home...while he was away me and the fisherman talked some more (well tried), he was so lovely, I asked if I could take a photo of him and gave him a banana and a shell I had found to add to his collection. while coconut man was away, this other man appeared to ask if I would come meet his sister who I could see in there house at the side of the beach, so I said I had to wait for coconut man to get back but then I would come say hi. coconut man came back with 3 big sticks of alovera he had grown in his garden and  said I should put this on sun burn when I get home (it was really needed, nasty burn, thanks to coconut man I was fine). After saying bye to fisherman and coconut man I went to see the other man and his sister, they were building a coconut wood hut on the beach to rent out as a room to tourists - it was beautiful and all hand made. They sat me down gave me some tea, biscuits and bananas, met there 2 sons and just had a wee chat. The best thing though was when I was leaving this kind families home the mother gave me the biggest hug ever and kissed me on both cheeks and then handed me a papaya she had grown. Its crazy how kind people are in this country and how much they want to welcome you to everything...all 3 of those sets of people I met that day were amazing and made my day!

fisherman on beautiful quiet beach

Other things these last two weeks:

Alan, Emer and I went to a show in a temple next to SGV, as out dance teacher (still going good - uses the weirdest muscles though) had put on some dance performances. The temple was beautiful and great to see, it was an outdoor show - not good for the beach sun burn. Anyway we didn’t stay for long as we had only really come to see dancing and as we had expected (but hoped otherwise) there were hundreds of extremely long speeches, all of which we didn’t understand a word.

Emer and I also had another moment of kind Sri Lankans when we went to look around a hand made clothing etc shop. The people there have always been so kind but this time they insisted we stayed for lunch with them, so in the back of the shop we had a massive curry feast with these 2 lovely ladies.

new sari and kind shop ladies!

We have also been invited to Jo and Alan’s both Fridays the last 2 weeks for dinner and cards. Amazing food, seem to eat so much I feel like I will explode though. Really kind of them both great evening to relax at the end of the week.

Emer and I have this week made 2 Sri Lankan dishes..Both involving the COCONUT (I love)!! So the first being coconut (pol) sambol, my favorite thing here so felt I needed to make it. Its easy...crack the coconut, scrap it, mix with chilies, pepper, salt, garlic, onion and lemon...mmmm!! And we made coconut rotties - like flat coconut bread basically! Emer burnt her finger....

although crazy thing that has happened this week was Emer and I were just buying some fruit from our normal shop and this parade came past, one women grabbed Emer and I thought "its ok she ll be back in a minute" but then some other women grabbed me and before we knew it Emer and I were dancing down the main street with these bunch of strangers towards a temple. We found that this was a Hindu celebration and it was called a devil dance. To be honest I had no idea what we going on most of the time it was all so different. so we danced along to the temple, took out shoes of, stood around a shrine, then ate bananas and cake, then off we went again back down the street dancing with the band at the back and all the little girls holding on to our arms. we then went into the side of the road to where there was a jack tree and they lit fire, throw around smelly stuff and danced like crazy in the smelly (good smell) stuff, then climbed the tree a bit, covered it in marking with a knife and cut down some branch...at this point I really had no clue what was going on and how/why we were involved - all the same it was amazing to see and we jumped at the chance to have another new experience. We then danced along the road some more to one of the families house, where more dancing/singing/praying and tea drinking went on. We have now been invited back to one of the families for lunch this week coming. Think I will have a lot of questions to ask, was in complete shock at the time... (Also no photos of this as it sprung on us - no camera).

The latest adventure Emer and I have had was cycling to Galle on the main road...so fun and safe enough! You see so much more on the bike rather than a bus. we stopped to take some photos of boats near Galle, we went and got not 1 but 2 amazing apple cakes (then felt sick...), sat at the water and ate them, then on the way home we found a little cafe so went in had amazing banana milk shakes - took our time here and ended up staying for lunch so ate PIZZA not curry for once! Awesome! We also met a lovely family from Holland who have started a charity over here and have build 300 houses and on to there 3rd school in the last 5 years, they are also opened some playground around here next week so said they would let us know and we hope to go along and see it being open.

All and all the last 2 weeks have been great again and are still flying past (even though we have got in to a routine now). Sorry if my spelling is really bad and none of this made sense - don’t bother reading over it -all from the heart ha-ha.

Hope everyone is great. Thanks for all the letters/parcels this week - gran we loved the Scottish shortbread and jam it had gone already!

Will be in touch! Lots of love Kirstin xxx

p.s not all photo would upload - sorry. really annoying but oh well got some up - hope you enjoy! x

blog 4 - october

the last two weeks have been fairly busy but all great, do like being busy! ok so last time i left you that we were going to a friends house for lunch...it was sooo good, sri lankans just love to keep feeding you up no stopping unless you make them, it was delicious and finshed with ice cream and jelly..mmmmm! we got shown around there house, amazing outdoors kitchen, garden, water well and the husbands wood work area..he made the most amazing elephants out of coconut wood.

that sunday emer and i went to galle...long story involing a lost purse and our first visit to a Sri Lankan police station but wont go into that (although emer might further down...), all worked out good due to some very kind strangers! we got a great bus ride out of it all at night to galle, the sky was so so gorgeous:

Galle at night is a totally different place... loved it!

galle in the day:

next to old bus stand

galle veggie market

back to school on the monday till thursday that week and definietly had 2 of my best teaching days yet on wednesday and thursday! we took class 2B who begun of not saying anything, we tried and tried to get them to learn the colours but nothing...then slowly they eased in to it and it was amazing they were all chanting the colours at us by the end of the lesson, felt like they may have learnt a little bit...we also read a book called "dont you laugh at me" that day which went down so well..actually was laughing loads without even trying!

the last 2 weeks Emer and I have been taking groups of 4 out of some classes to have smaller groups of conversational english to try get the most out of there time, it seems to be working out really well and has really given me an idea of how good some of the kids are. We have also had 2 thursday sessions of volleyball with about 35 boys...ahhhhh it is mentaaal!! one net, 2 balls (well 1 the second session) and 35 10-13 year old boys!! they love competition and if you mention FINAL it is a ig deal! i to be honest have no idea about volleyball really but it seems fairly easy to pick up the rules and the kids just want to muck around really!!

Friday the 1st was NATIONAL CHILDRENS DAY: we had no idea what to expect from this and as we dont go to SGV on fridays we stayed here and watched the UMV school concert, which was full of songs (english and sinhala), dancing, speeches and some starnge ball game on stage which if you lost you had to do a forfeit on stage infont of the whole crowd...e.g act like a baby or dance. that afternoon we learnt from the boys host mum how to make coconut rotties!! they are like think coconut pancakes...all you need is about 50/50 coconut and wheat flour and some water to make a dough then roll flat into a circle and cook till fairly solid..so yummy! i cracked a coconut like a sri lankan!!! with a big knife and coconut in my hand...pretty proud...Emer has also managed now too!!

coconuts and papayas are now in my favourite foods list...definietly bringing a coconut scrapper home!
that weekend we were so busy and felt like locals! we watched some of the southern provience dance competition that was held here, went to galle - ate in a local curry place, had the amazing fruit salad we always get in galle, then that evening we went to the temple across from our house (as one of the teachers here lives there and invited us all) - we laernt so much about buddhism, it is facinating, an amazing religion (from what i know), after the temple we came back to our house and couldnt sleep so went for a wonder into the village and found that the local bread shop has a wee cafe and makes this amazing dough/chicken/veggie curry/stir fry ...seriously good!! met the local family who work and live there and talk to them loads ever since. that sunday we went back to jungle beach and chilled out although there were some problems with emer and a very slippery rock...been playing some beach cricket - they just love that sport here.

oh and forgot to mention we (emer, jo, alan and myself -although finn and tris are joining this week) have had 2 dance lessons, getting them every monday, its kandian dancing (tradtional) - i am fairly pants and Emer is awesome! its a lot of squating and funny positions, looks a lot easier than it is...might get there at some point...

we also got bikes this week!! 2 between the 6 of us to share!! Emer and I already went on an awesome bike ride round the back roads then back along the coast to here..i absolutly loved it you see so much more on a bike than the crazy buses...

We also met the funders of SENAHASA TRUST (who have put so much great work into the schools we work at and more in sri lanka for the last 5 years) , Mrs Ratnatunga and her daughter Kumu, it was wonderful to meet them. We had a great meal at Jo and Alans house with them, finshed with possibly thee best brownies i have eaten (or maybe its just because i haven't eaten much chocolate here so far..also had some more chicken..woohoo meat!).

this past wednesday was INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS DAY: once again we didnt know what to expect... we turned up at SGV as usual, had assembly which this time all the teachers sat up on the stage like area then the prefects came up and gave us all a poster each with a drawing and poem/speech on it about thanking teachers for what they do ( was very sweet). That day we only had 1 lesson as it was basically a day full of eating cakes/bananas/biscuits that the kids had put out in there classrooms for us...over load of sugar! we were also given some amazing flowers which have now made our kitchen look so much more lived in!

Today we went to visit Mihiripenna M.V school - this is the school Emer and I will be teaching at every thursday and friday from now on! it was great we met the principle and 4 english staff, went to watch a class and get the feel for the school, we also organsied what out teaching timetable would be..almost seemed a little too simple to organise mmm...cant wait to start there though, felt like it was a really lovely school, it is smaller than SGV and the classes have only about 18 maximum. they are also champions at volleyball...so maybe emer and i can get some of those 35 boys we coach and get a proper game on...

the language is being picked up slowly in parts..everyone wants to help. the saris are still amazing and getting better at putting them on...think i may slash out this weekend and buy this amazing blue one i found in Galle...the food is amazing, love it more and more s we go (get alot of left overs from the school kitchen which are always great!).

thanks to everyone who i got letters/parcels from, will reply to you soon! busy weekend ahead...
hope your all great! having a great time here, learning/settling/finding out more and more as we go!
love to everyone. kirstin xxx

EMER HERE!! :) okay so this place just keeps getting better. Im fully settled now ( i hope) and I'm having a great time with Kirst. Although i must admit the past week has been one involving many accidents- a missing purse with everything of value inside it (yes yes i know...i shouldnt be so stupid) it all worked out though!! I whacked my tailbone off some rocks on the beach (ouch...) and my sun burn is something of a disaster but you know what? Just being here makes up for ALL of that and more, plus i have Kirst to make me laugh at how much of an idiot i am. I'm getting ridiculously into photography now too and whilst talking to my mum on the phone was able to capture some really cool bats at dusk (check it out below and yes mum....i was listening to you too dont worry!)

We loved teachers day and were absolutely astonished by the generousity of the students and the genuine gratitude they showed towards their teachers with Alan receiving a particularly nice card! One thing we still can't get used to is the sound of a violent monkey! its like a broken car horn!! soo strange. Although what i think we find most strange is the fact we DONT find a lot of things strange....a giant mokey crossing our path on the walk to school is now something that is about a common as a cup of tea (and yes i WILL make Kirst like tea...sooner or later she will be an addict like myself) *evil laugh*
Love to all! Suba davasak!! xx

addresses

if anyone would like to get in touch while i am here...i may have internet every weekend or at least every second...so email address is kirstin_lamotte@hotmail.co.uk

and house address is:
c/o govinda welitiya
parana watta
maharamba road
unawatuna
galle
sri lanka

our  house on school grounds....railway behind, school where i am taking photo from (playground) and jo and alan live next door!

me in my red sari at the water well...

just a cool pictures of the boats next to the beach....trying to give idea of what it looks like where we live....or near to in this case

view from rumassala hill...not the nicest day but honestly everything is so green!!

UMV school at sun set

hope this all helps a it more about where i am (parents happy??)

hope all is well with everyone. xx

blog 3 - sorry its so long hope its not too boring....

This week has gone so so fast again...I think it may be something to do with having Fridays off school to make resources! Although by the end of this month I think the plan is to be working Monday to Wednesday at SGV and Thursday and Friday at Mahiripenna (not sure how to spell this...its closer to where we live and from what i know hasn’t had much English involvement from Senahasa trust as of yet.)

The start of this week Emer was feeling pretty horrible (all great now), she missed school on Monday. Normal day at school, although left earlier on my own on the way home thinking I was going to come back and help Emer with her singing/dance club (hoping she was feeling better) however she was not...so sweet though, the girls from the club had already arranged it to be changed to Monday as they didn’t want to miss it this week (usually on Wednesdays but was a poya day this week), then they had found out Emer was ill and came round to our house to say hello, get well soon, etc and give Emer some of her favourite lemon puff biscuits! It was really sweet of them! Anyway so i hopped on the “crazy” bus home from SGV that day on my own...actually really enjoyed it, walked the little country lane on my own then ventured on to the bus (guessing which one to get on...slightly confusing right now) the bus was packed and had about 8 monks in it (all buses reserve the first 2 rows for monks and if you are in them when i monk gets in you must give him your seat), i met some people from the English teachers training school next to us in Unawatuna and chatted to them while trying not to fall on to the monks when we turned the corner in the “crazy” bus! I don’t think you will ever understand a Sri Lankan bus unless you actually get on it...they are also filled with flashing lights, Buddha’s, flowers and music at the front, with a string along the roof attached to a bell at the front for when you want the bus to stop! Can find a lot of good local chat on the bus also...Emer met a lovely old woman the other day that lived in Galle and invited Emer to her house for dinner one night..the friendliness of Sri Lankans!

Tuesday morning Emer was better again! YAAAH! or at least better than she was...so we both went to school with Alan! We took 3 of our own classes that day...6A were great, made us realise “Simon says” is a big hit! We also took 1A, we entered the class and they had no classroom teacher all day...the place was a mess full of crayons and chairs all over the shop, slight bit of rearranging and we were set to go, lovely but a little naughty at times that class, all so adorable though, no way of getting angry! Then we took 2A, we waited in there classroom for them and no show... so we went next door to 2B and found them mixed in there...then took them for half the lesson...feeling a little tired at this point! To be quite honest i was not in the best of moods that day but teaching was still great fun! Got a tuk tuk back from the school to the bus stop to save Emers energy and back to UMV where we took our second arts and crafts club...making bracelets and boxes! All the boys would come and up say “Bob Marley colours, Bob Marley colours”...i think there is a slight obsession around here about him! After a fairly tired day, had an amazing evening! Emer and i went for a walk/adventure out of the village and found so much we didn’t know about so close...rugby/playing field, shops, shrines, and amazing houses, so green! We walked back on the railway (it is not in use right now as it is being fixed..so loads of people walk along it...safer than the roads i would say...back in use in December/January)...felt kind of “slumdog millionaire-ish”, loved it! Met lots of the locals on the railway and a bunch of kids asking every question the possible knew in English!

Wednesday: Poya day – the Buddha urged his disciples to undertake special spiritual practices every full moon. This means every full moon in Sri Lanka, Buddhist (although it seems like most people celebrate all religions here) take a day off work to meditate and worship at their local temples. There are different Poya days each month and some more important than others. Sri Lankans like to claim that they have the most festivals than any other country in the world – including these Poya days, where big celebrations take place all over the country. This particular Poya day (as we are not Buddhist) was spent at the beach! We were planning on going to the less-touristy beach away from here but when we turned up we found the place we wanted to go there was being re-done so this was not possible. We came back wand went to the VERY touristy Unawatuna beach..it is amazing how different our side of the main road can be from the beach side of the main road! Emer and i didn’t really move from our seats on the beach, we wrote letters and drank amazing banana milk shakes!

Thursday – back to teaching for the day. I think its possible to say this is one of the best days i have had of teaching so far! Just had the most enjoyable day ever! Emer and I were so AWAKE...may have had a good breakfast that day! School took place like normal, went in to the class, turned on the fan, opened the windows, went to assembly (we are slowly picking up some of the words for the national anthem – will definitely have it down to awesomeness by the end of the year), then back up to teach/help Alan. That day we took 6A again and 2B on our own! Loved them both, went down so well! 2B we sung lots of songs, read 2 books (“i can climb” and “the cat in the hat”) and played with the “in” fans. 6A are an amazing class, they are all so loud but do try and learn, and there English is pretty good... there were 2 boys at the back of the class who we thought were just mucking around but actually turned out to be probably 2 of the best in the class! Simon says with that class was another amazing hit, even had some dancing and a broom involved...haven’t laughed so much as i did in that class in ages! Simon says “sit down” and we left! We bumped in to a really nice tuk tuk driver on the walk back to the bus, who was heading for Galle anyway and gave us a lift all the way home free! So kind! That day it was raining like crazy, in Sri Lankan terms that means everyone stops what they are doing and nothing happens, no one goes outside. Although emer and i made a run for it from the staff room that day while all the other teachers laughed thinking we were mad...this was after Emer and I brought in our Scottish shortbread and “Irish” tea ( probably grown in Sri Lankan haha...loved though) for the teachers to eat/drink. That night we had been invited over to Tris and Finns hosts house in the village, we walked over and though there amazing garden, filled with fire flies at that time of night...so many of them was amazing, little fairy lights! When you are invited over to a Sri Lankan house it is normal to take a present (lemon and chocolate puff biscuits from us), when you arrive the host has a glass of water on a tray and holds it in front of you, you touch the tray (wasn’t sure what to do here – don’t drink it I was told) and it is a way of excepting there invitation to there house for a meal! It is also normal for the guests to eat before and without the hosts, so we sat down and ate string hoppers (amazing), paripo (dal) and a chicken curry (first meat since I have been here)! We had wood apple to drink after! Amazing meal! The boys are so lucky to live with that amazing food for a year! So sweet in one of the classes on Thursday I was helping a girl with one of the dialogues and she was struggling, so her friend grabbed her hand as if to say I’m here to help!! Sweetest thing ever!

Friday was our usual resources day – made “the fat cat sat” books and lots of numbers for bingo etc! We also had the boys host mum come over and give us a paripo (dal) lesson – easy! We can do this! Emer has already made some – yummy! We did loads of washing...hand washing is working my forearms majorly – a lot of twist and pull! Bit of cards that evening! Then local bread, salad, veggie ball thingy, and dal for dinner!! Mmmmm!! Then ice cream to follow!!! So glad ice cream is easy to get hold of...powdered milk not so cool!

(emer here) Yessss!! I must agree NO GOOD CUPS OF TEA!!! I miss my tea!!!! Need some real milk!! But other than that? PURE LOVING THIS PLACE. Sri lanka is amazing. J all my love! Suba davask (happy days)  

This weekend we have been invited to a friend’s (the women who gave us the original cooking lesson) for lunch! More food!! No rice belly as of yet...think it may be a fairly chilled weekend.

Hope everyone is great at home!

Love from Mr ema and Mr Irstin (what the kids like to call us...)....at least is not mrs pin or mrs fish like finn gets called!

(sorry the photos wont go up this time...will try again some other time)

blog 2: 18/9/10

over 2 week gone and soooo fast...

All great here, basically had an amazing week. Feeling more settled in now with the school, our house and the where abouts of the village...although finding new things all the time.

This week Emer and I spent from Sunday till Thursday in saris...commitment to this community I think! In fact i really love them and everyone looks awesome in them...at the start of the week we pretty much needed to be dressed in them, getting up at half 4 to put them on..effort! By Thursday we had it down to perfection, having them on before Jo  (one of our hosts, married to Alan brown - both English teachers from Bristol who live next door to us. Emer and i work with Alan in SGV and Finn and Tris work with Jo at UMV) appeared to help us dress! Mission! Still seem to be taken in by the other teachers at school to be fixed as our saris are MESSY...lovely of them to help though, all so sweet!         

          

Emer and I in one of our saris in the Englishactivities classroom in SGV! Saris are the hardest things to walk in and very hot...I thought they were meant to keep you cool...noooo! Funny tan lines may appear also. Everyone is so nice here though now we have been wearing saris they all stop and say "beautiful, you are Sri Lankan now".

so other than saris we have been working at the school Monday to Thursday, catching the usual 6am bus... 6 feels like a lie in when you've been getting up at half 4 for saris. This week we have been doing more helping out/learning with Alan, but been getting more involved now. Been starting off lessons, reading books and singing songs. Jo put it as we are now "teacher comedians" as you basically stand up and prance around singing songs and acting books, role plays etc...None of which I thought I would be very good at but we will see how it goes... been singing at LOT of Bob Marley "don’t worry be happy", actually an amazing song now makes me smile every time, the kids love it so much! And Yellow submarine, Beatles also a good one, now in the process of writing the words for we are the champions, Queen (all the easy classics really). heads, shoulders, knees and toes, Tommy thumb, wheels on the bus.......Emer and I also took our very own grade 2 lesson(6 year olds)...amazing! they are just so cute and love you writing in red pen on their books...major pile up at the end of classes to get their work marked in red biro (never knew so much excitementcould come from that...).

Emer and some grade 5 boys in class.

Alan and one of his classes.

SGC assembly!

This week we have also started some after school clubs (all at UMV), Tris and Finn have been super busy with cricket, football and rugby and Emer and I have arts and crafts on Tuesdays - going to make papiermache balloons, singing/dance (emer really - i am learning from her too, who got a guitar this week which is sooo cool!) - sung and danced footloose and the girls wanted to sing the titianic song too, then we are doing volleyball on thursdays but not started yet (this week). Also i may be helping out in a school in galle on friday mornings from this week onwards with there girls hockey which i cannot wait about so exciting!!

Right so forgot to mention (don’t think i did in the last blog) then last weekend we went to Galle fort on Saturday morning then the beach that afternoon = so beautiful...turtles heads kept popping out the sea!! Then Sundayemer andi made our first lone trip to Galle on the mental buses! Veryvery squashed but good fun! haha on that note...we had to get a bus back from SGV without alan the other day and  got on the wrong but that would take us to Colombo (3 hours away)...dun dundun...ha the bus driver was lovely and said he would let us off anyway...wooo!

The other adventure we had this week was into the countryside with Jo, Alan, Emer, Tris and Finn to what is known as "a big girls" party, to do with becoming a women and celebrated hugely in Buddhism. Was at the wee girls house (who is one of Jos pupils at school) out of Unawatuna and to this ridiculously green area!!There were loads of people and loads of amazing food! the music was hilarious. Seemed so out of place...not Buddhist/Sri Lankan songs at all (the dad was a DJ...). The walk back home was so amazing...everything here is soooogreen or "green and blue" (sky, sea and trees) as Alan put it! We met another of Jos school pupils who took us for a walk to this natural water well..So beautiful after the walk along this skinny wall in our saris..you can literally do anything in a sari if you try!

giant rice cooking pot at the big girls party

at the water well!

thisFriday we also had a very productive resources making day - fans, books, posters etc

we have had a curry lesson - well watched and wrote down every move very fast to learn (eating with the hands is still not perfected...)

half way through the final product...best curries ever! still got loads left...may be a dodge photo

so today has been amazing!!! such a great day! we climbed up rumassala hill next to us at 6.30 this morning to what felt like that top...to Jo and Alan’s friends house for breakfast...coconut sambol and bread!! soooo good! we watched her make it on her grinding stone, with fresh coconut!!! after that we walked to jungle beach at the other side of the hill and loved it!! we also went to see the sleeping fruit bats at the top of rumassala hilll!! So tris, finn, emer and i headed home and then grabbed our swimming stuff and straight back to jungle beach which was not so quiet when we got back but just as beautiful and have spent today there....the waves were big! and now very burnt but all fun funfun...will learn!

fairly posed photo on jungle beach

beautiful jungle beach!

best go...not bore you too much...hope all is great at home

emer says hello!!!!

hello all!!



second of all so sorry i have not blogged anything yet...


anyway now i have it sorted i am here in Sri Lanka and woo its amazing! so weird and different and scary to say the least but all amazing, everything is new and learning so much. We (4 volunteers including myself) arrived in to Colombo on saturday the 4th where we spent 2 nights in a guest house to relax and sleep so we were refreshed when we went to our porjects. First impressions...they drive like crazy people all over the place but know exactly where they are all going (i know i would crash if i drove here for sure...), smells like curry...so so so hot and humid (already sun burnt, going to have some funny tan lines though as shoulders must be covered and knees must be covered...kind of a farmer tan going on), people are so friendly and all want to know about you and where you are from and where you are going (lovely to meet people but something s little daunting and not sure whether to trust or not...we will learn!), curry is eaten for all 3 meals which means major rice belly....



so after dropping off our passports to get a residents visa on the monday morning we got a lift south towards Galle to Unawatuna (our new home for the next year ahhhh....). the drive took about 3 hours, so much to see! first impressions then was that there is no distinct break between any towns, villages or cities all of them blend together all the way from Colombo to Galle...we drove all the way down the coast trying to stay awake even after hours of sleeping in colombo.



When we arrived to our house in unawatuna, it is beautiful, we are set about 2km from the coast in a village surrounded by what feels like the jungle (monkeys, palm trees, coconut trees...etc). our house is very yellow, loads of space, almost always running water (not the day we arrived), fairly basic but absolutely perfect! I am sharing a house with another volenteers from project trust called Emer a lovely little ginger irish girl, we are no doubt going to become very close and know every single detail about one another. we have made our room so homely by covering the walls in photos from home...it looks great!



we have been here for a week now and have spent 2 days in SGV school and 1 day in UMV school.



SGV: 500 kids,more rural, 20 minute bus ride then 20 minute walk from here. emer and i will be mainly working here with one of our hosts.

UMV: around 1000 kids, based in the middle of unawatuna, our house is on this school grounds. the 2 other boy volunteers with be mainly working here with our other host. although emer and i will be doing after school activities here after we have been to SGV, such as arts and crafts, volleyball, netball, drama/music(emer..)



both schools have been amazing and so welcoming. they have a school assembly each morning where prayers, songs, speeches are said and they are amazing! the first one at SGV the headmaster mentioned emer and i and everyone started clapping but we had no idea what was going on it was very sweet! they also do whole school exercise routines twice a week which are fairly funny as the kids look very uninterested! another thing the childern do as a sign of respect is give you a pile of leaves then bend down touch your feet/floor and then stand up, you turn the leaves round and hand them back with a huge smile and big thank you, pretty strange but amazing! the classes are great, all the kids seem like they do want to learn but some find it so hard and are not gettting very fair which is such a shame as they need english to get to university and that is thought of how you do well in making money etc here. the youngest kids classes are amazing as you just sing songs and do lots of acting with them so they learn by watching really and it is great fun but tiring! for the next month emer and i will be helping and learning from all the other english teachers and then we will start to team teach together and see how it goes from there... well i hope!



we had a day off on friday as it was a festival day so we spent then morning preparing resources and then played some crazt card games with all the volunteers and our hosts. saturday we went to galle and looked around galle fort which was beautiful then, the beach during the day and evening which was also amazing as we had not been right on the beach until this point, no curry that night...pizza. emer and i are fairly poor cooks also so we are trying to learn local dishes and think we may have a lesson soon!!



we bought saris so have been wearing them all day today and we really do fit in so much better, everyone stops and says "you look beautful, like a sri lankan women".



I have also found out thar the school do wood work (sort of like my design and technology at school) so i may try get involved with that. also another school in galle fort play hockey so i was trying to see if i could help out./play on friday mornings (would need to leave here about 5am...ahhh), which would be amazing though as i would miss hockey otherwise.



anyway have to go for now but hope that gives you all a rough round up of what is going on over here. all is amazing, taking so getting used to, do have some freak out moments but always going to happen, will learn to love it! hope everything is great back home! love kirstin xxx

Leaving Friday!!

Hi everyone,
started up this blog so i can fill it in every so often while i am in Sri Lanka.
Leaving this Friday, the 3rd for the year (back next August).
Will try my best to keep this up to date but can't promise it will be hugely often...we will see.
Hope you enjoy!
kirstin xxx