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Published: June 22nd 2009
21 June
Headed back down to the pool on Friday afternoon to see more classes and the way the coaches are teaching. The young guys that are the coaches here are really keen to learn new techniques and between the language barrier we are slowly sorting things out. I just need to be more insistent that Dharmadasa helps translates, otherwise I will need to pay for a translator!
I have women’s classes on Monday and one of the project officers for Adopt Sri Lanka, the charity I am volunteering with, has a young girl eager to learn to swim so she is coming to the classes and will help me translate as well!
I have been waking up to screaming monkeys lately, they are all in the trees and jump on the roof to wake me! The little beggars!
I also have a resident squirrel running along the power lines staring at me when I am home, and Baba’s dog, Tashi, is here to protect! He doesn’t like strangers or other dogs walking past the house and lets everyone know that he is in charge.
Apparently Baba, my landlord, is highly respected in the village, so
Lighthouse Pool Project
Sumit teaching a class.that is good for me as the house and my apartment is in a safe area. My neighbours are used to me being around now and instead of just staring they wave and say hello!
I went to a school fete for the Thomas Gall International School yesterday. They had the usual stuff, 2nd hand clothes, face painting, curd pots painted by the students and tiles painted as well. Bought a few things as you do to help these charitable schools along! I had my hand painted in a ‘Mehindi’ style, which is Indian henna paint, like the Hindu girls when they are getting married. Looks pretty cool and should last about a week, however being in the pool, it may not last that long.
A lot of Sri Lankans are not familiar with the henna body art, I was in a department store (of sorts) yesterday and one of the assistants thought it was a tattoo until I showed her the henna beginning to peel off!
Just because Sri Lanka is close to India doesn’t mean they understand each others culture!
The school is in the old Dutch fort which dates back to the 1600’s
and there are some groovy shops and cafes there. Quite a lot of expats live in the fort as it is a little more up market with cleaner streets than the villages and suburbs. My village is a smallish village with only some houses on town water, a lot are still on well water. Many locals still wash themselves by the well, and very few have washing machines, so it is all done by hand, or beaten against a rock!
After all the excitement of the school fete and going to the department store, Bec and I came back to Unawatuna. The weather was great yesterday, sunny and no rain, so I went to the beach for a swim, but was being hassled by a guy wanting to ‘talk to me’, however it was one of those days where I just didn’t want to, he kept asking for my phone number and trying to touch my skin! So I got up and went to leave, he said that “I must have misunderstood him”, which is apparently a common thing for the guys to say, however I told him I didn’t misunderstand, he wasn’t getting my phone number and I
Maya's Ceremony
Bec, Maya and her mother at the ceremony. had to go!! I was not going to be his meal ticket!
Cocktails again at the Kingfisher last night, and we decided stay for dinner as well, I had some beautiful calamari, which is called cuttlefish over here, or if they are trying to be more western, Kalamary was written on a sign at one of the restaurants last week!. Christina, who owns the Kingfisher restaurant and bar works in Colombo during the week and comes back to Una on the weekends. She seems really nice and genuine. She has been in Unawatuna a long time now and has been with her Sri Lankan partner for a number of years as well. There are a lot of successful mixed marriages here, but also a lot that are not so successful from what I hear! But you get that wherever you go.
I have been hearing a few Tsunami stories, it is fascinating to hear how people survived and how they have rebuilt their homes and lives. I didn’t realize that there were two waves that hit Sri Lanka, and they were 2 hours apart! One at 9.20am and one at 11.30am, and it was the latter that did
Mehindi
My hand! the majority of damage to Unawatuna and Galle. Sudu, Bec’s partner was saying he knew the 2nd one was coming because the water was sucked out of the bay again, like the first, so they knew something bad was about to happen. He said he didn’t understand what was happening when the first one hit, he was working on beach and the water receded about 1km, then the wave came! He ended up a tree not far from my house. I have a vacant block of land in front of the house and apparently many people ‘landed’ there after they were swept up with the wave.
I received an email from Sal the other day saying she is coming over with Bertie and Trin for the last two weeks of August, which will be great. I will be able to do some traveling around with them and see more of the country too! I may not get much a chance to do a lot of traveling before that, as the distance can be an issue. When I say distance, I really mean the amount of time it takes to get places. A 100km journey can take 3 hours as the roads are limited to about 60km/h and there is always loads of traffic everywhere you go!
22 June
OK, so I woke up this morning to people jogging along the road outside my house, this is a rare occurrence as it is so hot and humid most people walk, ride or have a scooter, and I live in a small village, however the sound kept going, so I jumped up to see who it was and there were groups of soldiers with AK47’s wrapped over the chests doing training drills with their sergeant yelling ‘hondai’ (OK OK) and counting to 7 in English behind them! Just hope they weren’t tigers….
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