Saying goodbyes!

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I can't quite get over it that i am coming home and that i am now having to say goodbye to people and to Sri Lanka (at least for the time being!) Yesterday I went to visit my old host family in Negombo which was very exciting! I realised just how much I had missed them when they were all hugging and kissing me and showing me all the new work they had done on the house and their new puppies etc. I also spent the morning at the old pre school where I worked while i was there and all the children were shouting my name and hugging my legs, it was so lovely I had forgotten what a family feel the whole school had. I then had to say goodbye to the boys at the orphanage again which was really hard as despite our best efforts, there English is not great and so I really confused them by coming back after two months and then going away again not to mention seeing them again in February!
Anyway before all of that last weekend we all headed to Yala national park to go on Safari. This ended up being an adventure from the very start! We arrived in Tissa next to Yala on the Saturday night after a very long drive. We then of course when on a search for some booze for the evening game of poker which I had been promised. At the shop this white 4x4 Porche pulled up which you notice in Sri Lanka as this is the first Porche I have seen in months! Anyway we got talking to them (and there police escorts!) and it turns out they are the labour ministers son cousins etc, (probably not the best idea to get in the car with them with the present situation and all!) They then joined us for the game of poker and I am pleased to say i beat them all!
The safari itself was good but typically of my luck out here everyone saw a leopard and I was looking the wrong way and so missed it! The biggest excitement of the day though was getting stuck in the mud for over an hour and eventually having to get helped out by 30 army guys with their guns etc. Very amusing, but Heather and me did get very stuck into getting the jeep out before the army guys turned up and ended up being covered in mud from head to bottom!
Heather is a new girl from England who has just arrived from a 2 month placement in Ghana. I am very annoyed she didn’t come here first as we get on very well, but hopefully I will meet with her later in the year in some other exotic place!
Last night Heather and I went for a night out with the Porche guys in Colombo and had a fanatic night being treated like royalty and not having to pay for a thing! We went out to the most exclusive club in Colombo with is invite only and then got taken out for breakfast at the Hilton at 5 in the morning then they got another of there cars and drivers to drive us back home as I was going to work with Heather in the Temple. We then had to have a photo shot for the next 2 hours for the TPA website after having no sleep and probably still being a little drunk!
I am now back at Unawatuna again! My flight leaves tonight which I am really sad about now, but I still definitely think it is time to go home.
See you all in a day or 2 hopefully. Looking forward to seeing you all again but try and I might I really can’t remember what England looks like or even what feeling properly cool feels like and so I think I will be in for a shock!
xxxxx

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Comments

[Lily]

Excited!
Wow its so wierd that by the time u read this, u'll probably be sitting at home in england!!!! woohoo cant wait 2 c u lil! its been too long and ive still got 2 wait an extra 2wks... i shud b back around the 14th (hav a maths tutorial which i hav 2 attend on thurs 14th... if i didnt hav that, i'd be able 2 leave manchester on monday 11! I think u may well b in 4 a shock coming back, everything will seem pretty much unfamiliar! its so gd 2 hear ur really enjoying your last couple of days... sounds like alot of fun! spk 2 u when ur back darling. love u lots n lots, linda xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx