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Published: April 9th 2009
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There were only really two problems apart from the length of the flight, the clouds preventing a view of the Maldives from the air, and the regulations preventing us getting off the plane there while it was cleaned, a torture doubled by being able to see the sea from the window of the plane as it sat on the runway. We were struck by how delicate and fragile the Islands looked, and how extraordinary the capital Island looked, every foot of which seemed covered by large buildings. Tired and confused we were extremely relieved to leave the airport and see a man in a pristine white cassock holding a sign with ‘Joe and Nicky’ written on it. It was our first missed photo opportunity! Just over 2 bumpy hours later during which we were seatbelts for sleeping boys, we arrived in Kurunegala to be met by Bishop Kumara.
We were invited to stay for dinner before being shown to our rooms for the night (part of the small conference centre in the cathedral compound). The Bishop had thought very carefully about what foods would be suitable for children. An exhausted and hungry Jake is not a combination to be taken
lightly and we sat down at the table with trepidation. We were brought bowls of many of the dishes we had read about in the guidebook (string hoppers, coconut tambale, rice hoppers). It looked much stranger than it tasted but even Jake rose to the occasion and tried a little bit of most things. He suddenly came to life though when a tub of chocolate ice cream appeared.
Tears at bedtime meant the boy ended up sharing a double with Nicky while I slept alone in a single bed they were meant to share. Elliot and I slept well, Jake confessed to not being able to sleep and keeping Nicky awake so he was not alone. The boys werestruggling with homesickness, culture shock and heat but were still easily distracted by the play park and Elliot’s first happy moment came when looking up at Elephant Rock (complete with huge seated Buddha) he spotted something moving down its surface and we all thrilled to realise it was a family of monkeys who by the time we had had breakfast were roaming the garden.
We decided a haircut might help with their temperature regulation. The Barber’s initial thoughts that the boys were girls confirmed that young boys here just do not have long hair, and when the boys’s cuts were only 80Rp (about 50p) I felt it would be rude if I did not have mine trimmed too for the wedding tomorrow! The boys were very good in the Barbers, though Jake wore a thunderous expression to complement the heavy rain. I enjoyed the cool breeze that accompanied it. As their hair got shorter the rain got heavier until eventually the inevitable lightening and thunder ensued. My hope that it would abate before we left was fulfilled, and we got back to Nicky dry.
We have had one walk in to town but the combination of the heat, traffic and bombardment of colours and sights didn’t make for the most pleasant of experiences. I think it will take us a few days to get used to it….
Our second night was in our house rather than the complex, and our initial excitement was soon gone when we saw the state of it. Thick with dirt, and with a mouldy fridge, Nicky and I set about cleaning while telling the boys not to touch anything - not really our plan for spending quality time with them. As our only interaction with them was to say no and don’t they became more urgent in their requests to go home, and cooking tea with pans without handles on stuff I had to scrub before we could use it while Nicky was making rooms habitable meant we were sympathetic. After tea the water cut out, and we went back to the Bishops to shower. After that we sorted the water issue, and moved the boys beds into our room - they were too unsettled to sleep on their own, After packing to set off to Colombo early and having set the alarm for 05:40 it was not great when I sat on one of the beds and it collapsed The poor boys had to top and tail and none of us got to sleep until well after 11. We awoke shattered, bitten and confused, but at least our taxi turned up! We set off full of hope for Kannan and Sweta's wedding.
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