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)
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
