Week Three!

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Another week has gone by and there are just two weeks left! only 6 more days working at the centre which seems crazy.

Last week passed extremely quickly and on Friday afternoon we (me, kerrianne, and sophie) left the centre a little early and caught the train to Colombo. On the train tehre was a group of people from the UN and they sang for the 2 1/2 hour journey which was quite an interesting experience. we also got a sweet cup of tea which was a lovely treat. Upon arrival we barginned for a tuktuk to take us to Sophie's friends house. A rather interesting experience b/c as we soon found out hte drivers are prone to saying they know where they're going but actually don't! Kerri and I found a hotel in teh guidebook and went to drop our stuff off and then we went for an amazingy filling and delicious INDIAN curry! Indian curry is very different to sri lankan curry - something that was made very clear from teh start! so we got nan and popadoms and all the classics! the only glitch was their idea of mango chutney (which is widely available here) which they interpreted as curry sauce which was extremely spicy. the other funny realization is that if a restaurant doesn't have something that they should (tea/beer) they'll just nip out and buy it for you! so kerri and sophie asked for beer which the waiter went out and bought adn then announced that he couldn't give them teh bottles so gave it to them in metal cups! The lady who owns the flat (and the house below it) grand son came to meet us and we went to investigate a 'popular' local club - mojo. it was closed b/c it wasn't quite 11 however because all the clubs are connected to the major hotels in colombo we went to the Taj hotels pub/bar and chattered for awhile. I got an iced coffee with ice cream which was incredibly delicious! MOJO finally opened so we went in and it was rahter empty for awhile. We befriended two girls sititng near us and asked about shopping and Sophie and Kerri asked about their tattoo translations. At around 12.30 the dancing started and of course all the music was incredibly western and it felt just like home!

On Saturday we woke up early to avoid the heat and start shopping early. We went to the major department store odels which is incredibly fancy and just like somewhere in britain or the usa. For breakfast Sophie bought two doughnuts - one of which was filled with chicken!! Odels had a french bakery inside and even sold jelly beans and praleine sea shells! Next stop (reached by the bus) was House of Fashions which sold all teh rejects by the factories here (i saw quite a few things that looked rather familiar from H&M). After that we went to a mall which was rather gloomy. the only amusing thing was the foodcourt which although had KFC it also had sooo many fast foods of asian countries - thai, malasian, chinese, Mongolian, and then randomly Mexican (if i remember correctnly). After some other shops (and some sweet popcorn) we headed back to the flat to get ready for dinner. We went to a placed called urban kitchen which did a variety of foods from differnet countries - asian/european/american. After that I went home (in a tuktuk where the driver claimed he knew the way but we had to kind of investigate haha) while Kerri and Sophie went to watch the england/usa match which they said was very amusing!

Sunday was a very relaxed day - we talked with Sophie's friends who have lived in Sri Lanka for 5 years and then went to The Gallery Cafe which used to be the office of a very famous sri lankan architect. it was an incredible meal - olive and fetta cheese raviolli and then double choc cheese cake. After another of shopping we got to the train station only to discover there were only 3rd class tickets left! so we bought those and waited for the train to appear. We all needed the toilet so paid 5 ruppies each for a hole in teh floor!! we didn't time our boarding of the train well and ended up w/o seats so sat in the buffet car on teh floor. it was a fun experience and every one was very nice to us. most people love to practice speaking english.

Now there's another week in teh centre with the hectic but lovely children! Tomorrow, after work, we're going to one of teh big hotels to use their pool and just relax for the evening. and then on Thurs Kerri and Sophie are getting tattoos in Singalese which should be very interesting! the man comes to our house and will do it all there for them which is pretty cool. then on friday we're taking osme of the children to the elephant orphanage on a school trip! Definitely an exciting week ahead. After that i just have one more week left!

Interesting toilet fact - toilet paper isn't widely used here. most sri lankan toilets have a little shower that you wash yourself off with. if you do a number two you use your left hand to clean hence why people here only eat and handle goods with their right hand!

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Comments

[chloe]

wow,emily - what adventures you are having and it all sounds such fun love from you admiring grandmother chloe

[Sarah]

Remind me never to shake your left hand. Hope Sri Lanka appreciates your company lovely - missing you muchly but love reading all your adventures : ) xxxx p.s. so jealous about the elephant orphanage - please take lots of photos!