Sri Lanka Week 1

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We started Sri Lanka with 2 flights and a short 2 hour stopover in Abu Dhabi! We finally arrived at Colombo airport at 4am where we met Dudley for the first time. We then had a couple of hours drive to Kosgoda where we were able to grab 45 minutes of sleep before starting the first day! We met the 4 other volunteers at breakfast which was fried eggs and bread with different jams and spreads. However during breakfast we experienced the first of the monsoon rains which was torrential, luckily it didn’t last for too long. We spent the first morning cleaning the turtle tanks at the project and cleaning the actual turtles. For the tanks we had to drain the water and scrub the sides with sand and coconut shells. For the turtles we rubbed sand onto their shells and then washed it off. Whilst we were transferring the baby turtles to the tanks Emily managed to drop one which was quite amusing!

At the sanctuary they also have a lot of eggs that are buried. Two nests were ready so we got to dig them up and see the baby turtles emerging from their eggs. After all the turtle work we went into the sea to cool off, however we weren’t allowed out too deep as there is a strong rip on this beach. After lunch we were meant to be teaching English however because it is a Poya day on Wednesday (like a bank holiday) none of the children turned up. In the evening we got to release 100 baby turtles into the sea which was a great experience. However one unfortunately did not make it as a seagull poached him and had him for dinner!

That evening we were taught how to make fish curry which was very spicy and probably a bit too hot for my tastes. We spent the evening trying the local brew which is called arrack and is made from coconut it is very similar to dark rum and roughly 40% alcohol.

After a fully rested evening we woke up bright and early to start the day. In the morning we helped to straighten straw for the women who were basket weaving. We’ve been told that next week we may get to make something so exciting times! Then in the afternoon we took the bus to a small town about 30 minutes away to teach English in a temple school. Emily and I took over a class, they were group 2 with 1 being the least knowledgeable. We weren’t entirely sure what the children had already learnt and how clever they were but we had a rough lesson plan and we will be teaching them for the next 5 weeks so we will hopefully get more of an idea. We taught them fruits and vegetables, some basic sentence structures such as full stops capital letters and what order words should go in and finished with classroom items and directions such as left/right and one word commands. We ended with a game where they had to do the one word commands like jump, hop etc. We managed to pack a lot into an hour and a half!

Wednesday was a Poya day, which is like a bank holiday and is a Buddhist celebration. Due to this we did not have to work as everything was closed, apart from tourist attractions. So we spent the morning on a boat safari, where unfortunately we did not get to see any crocodiles but we did see a water buffalo, lots of different birds and a water monitor. After this we went to a moonstone mine and a cinnamon oil factory. Both were a little disappointing and were mainly there to try and pressure you into buying cinnamon and different types of moonstone jewellery. We spent the afternoon relaxing and then in the evening Dudley took us to his house where we had tea and cake. His house is huge and really nice so we decided the turtle business is very lucrative! He then took us down into the town to see the festival which had a giant sign/statue that had different parts that lit up.

On Thursday we spent the morning digging up the sand from one of the hatcheries which was exhausting and seemed to take forever. We then cleaned the beach so we wouldn’t have to do it Friday. During the afternoon we went to teach English at a local temple but we only had two chidren in our class and it got a bit out of hand and very little English was learnt.

On Friday the weekend began! We left after breakfast and caught a bus to Galle. As we had to wait for the next bus an hour and a half in Galle we spent some time wandering around the old dutch fort which was really quiet and sleepy. We then had a grueling 4 hour bus ride to Tissa. However when we arrived our accommodation was really nice so we were able to relax. For dinner we went to a tradition sri lankan place which was more rice and curry!

We got up early on Saturday morning as we were going on safari in Yala national park! Unfortunately we didn’t see any leopards but we did see lots of other animals including water buffalo, crocodiles and elephants. Whilst in the park we saw the tsunami memorial as the park was badly hit.

During the afternoon we travelled back to Galle. As it is by the sea and there is a fishing port I decided to have the catch of the day for dinner which was Tuna steak with fries and vegetable amd the fish was amazing. It was really tender and tasty and definitely the best tuna steak I have ever tried!
We then had a lazy Sunday morning in Galle, we went for breakfast where we all had sri lankan pancakes filed with egg, tomato and cheese. The pancakes were actually shapped as bowls which contained the filling which was cool. We then did some sight seeing of the fort and a bit of souvenir shopping. In the afternoon we caught the bus back to the volunteer house. On the bus on the way back we passed through a parade/carnival where there were dressed up elephants, people dancing and children riding bikes with large tree’s attached to them. We came back to some sad news as Stevie one of the turtles that survived the tsunami had passed away. However we were well rested and ready to start the new week!

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Comments

[Dad]

Hi
Really good update, stay safe dadx