pezarella

I spent most of last week mosying about at school getting used to the shock of having to teach again. I've started to get the hand of it more and can now usually plan my lessons in the free lessons I have. This is good because it means that I get to do exciting things with my afternoons and evenings. I have decided to try and do something everyday rather than just mope about at home.

I joined the gym at the rather plush hotel down the raod (the Mahaweli Reach). The gym is open to the guests, but since you'd have to be mad to want to work out during your holiday, it's empty most of the time. There is always an instructor working there, which is great because it means that you get a personal instructor! Or at least it will be great when the guy gets over the fact that I have no stomach muscles, ctops laughing and starts helping me!! Another plus is the tv there, its been so long since I heard news in English, so I spend most of my time glued to CNN (the best they can do!), which is probably another reason that I've ended up being a figure of amusement. Particularly enjoying the part where the instructor stretches you at the end of the work out!! Its ridiculously relaxing! Only bad point is when your students see you in/going to the gym which is what happened to me today. I was pottering there in my sexy CIS yellow house t-shirt when I saw 2 year 11's, and had just finished and so was looking nice and pink when my year 12's strolled by to play some table tennis. One of them actually did a double-take!

So the plan is to gym-it-up Monday, Wed and Friday, with yoga on Tuesdays that just leaves me the weekends and Thurdays to find some adventure to enjoy. I wasted last Thursday watching Captain Corellie's Mandolin. Which is a bad bad film, with a bad script and bad casting, but it did at least make me want to re-read the book!

And Friday got really exciting! I bought a scooty-pep! It is the popular Indian scooters that lots of people have here. It will arive this week, but due to registering and tax etc I have to wait until next Monday to drive off into the sunset. I cant wait to be able to scoot and pep around Kandy to my heart's content. The scooter will be purple, which is more of an unusual colour as most are red. But no one at school has a purple one and I thought the colour was pretty, plus there is less likely-hood of me trying to drive off on someone else's by mistake! So any suggestions for names is welcome. I fancy a racing horse style name, Simon's red bike is called 'red ruby' and I like the style of the name.

After the scooty pep excitement we decided to up the anti and I went to go party in Colombo with Tess and Simon, Tess's friend from England Nick and Tess's friend Chula, who is Sri Lankan and lives near me. A nice stroke of luck and Chula's fantastic connections meant that we spent the evening staying at an apartment in the Hilton! Excellent toiletries and an amazing hot shower, which is hard to find in Sri Lanka! We went to a club callled "tramps' and danced away until 6am, when we went on the search for apres-club nosh. Which in Sri Lanka means cheese and spicey onion roti, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yum. When we surfaced later we spent the afternoon in the apartment, although I did try out the swimming pool which was a little cool but just what was needed after a heavy night.

We left Colombo to head to the beach. We got a van to Hikkaduwa which I mentioned in my last journal entry. When we arrived it was night, so we couldnt really see much. Luckily Tess knows her way around so found a nice guest house, with the best shower for beach life. I think it was made from the spout of a watering can which had been attached to the cold water mains. It gave a really nice cold shower, although it did make me catch my breath every time it first hit! I met Lucy and Kate, who are friends with Nilmini (read the last entry...) and we all went to party at Mambos. The music was a bit too dance-y for my tastes but I had a good boogie anyway and it was nice to walk home along the beach as the sun rose. We spent the next day chilling out on the beach. I can see how addictive beach culture is, it would be so easy to never leave. There was some really good surfing, which made me promise myself that I must learn to surf somehow, and the atmosphere is lovely. Everyone spends the day lazing on the beach, recovering from the night before and preparing for the night ahead. The Sri Lankan's who live there are completely differnt to Kandians, I think they have a pretty good life! Except when the tourists dont come. What with the war and the recent attack in Hikkaduwa, the tourist trade is really low. Which is nice for us but not so good for all the locals who depend on tourism. But Hikkaduwa is so amazing Im sure it'll bounce back! Plus it has the only restaurant that I've found that has humous and falafel and all manner of delicious vegetarian treats! After two hardcore nights it was nice to spend last night just chilling out on the beach around a fire at a party for the birthday of a girl that Kate and Lucy had met at their guesthouse. It was really hard to leave the beach and head back to Kandy and working. Still I have the scooty pep to look forward to!

xxxxx

I left the lovelyness of the beach last week to head to Colombo. Nic (the old CIS teacher that I had gone to Unawatuna with) was going to Hikkaduwa so I got a lift as far as that with him. Hikkaduwa is a more developed resort than Unawatuna, with a proper nightlife and the beach is a long stretch rather than being a bay. It had a really nice feel to the resort and Im looking forward to going back there to check it out at some point. Although I guess now might not be the best time!!

From Hikkaduwa I got a bus to another town where I had been assured that A/C busses started (so I could get a seat) to Colombo every 15 mins. After waiting for 90mins at this new random town a bus finally arrived! Which is good because I had suddenly become the latest item of amusement in the bus station and everyone was queing up to try their English out on me!

In Colombo I was meeting a friend of Namita's (old skool friend) who I had met just the once at a James Dean Bradfield gig, but who was in Sri Lanka to celebrate the New Year, visit relatives and do some travelling. But it was a really good night! Nilmini and Kate snuck me up to their hotel room where we got ready to party the night away at the Galle Face Hotel. We arrived at the hotel about 11.30 and spent the midnight queing up for tokens to buy drinks, which is just a ridiculously Sri Lankan way to spend it!! But it was good to pace ourselves as we were planning to dance the night away until dawn. It was lovely to go crazy on the dancefloor, although it is probably the only time that Ive been on a dancefloor where there are police watching. Turned out to be very handy though, as soon as we danced in front of the police we stopped getting hasseled! The Sri Lankans at the party seemed to be the rich kids of SL (think OC style) which was a bit of a shock for me now Im so used to Kandy kids! In the morning we headed back to Nilmini and Kate's hotel and since it was along the coast from the Galle Face we got back by paddling in the sea. Which is a pretty cool was to welcome in the New Year. Back at the hotel we had breakfast but were clearly the only people at the breakfast not to have had any sleep. In Sri Lanka the actual New Year is in April so lots of people still get up for work at 7am on New Years Day, and the start of the early morning commute was a slightly disturbing view to have as I crawlled home to bed!

After the joys of New Year I headed back home to Kandy to prepare for the new term. It's weird being back at work after having such a long and lovely holiday.

On Thursday, Nilmini and Kate's tour of Sri Lanka landed in Kandy and they had been joined by another friend Lucy. We all met up to go watch some Kandyian dancing behind the Temple of the Tooth. Some of the dancing was really amazing and there was some fire walking which was just incredible! It also helped explain some of the dancing styles that my Sri Lankan male friends have seemed to adopt on the dance floor!

Last night I went to climb Adams Peak with Annie and her daughters, Lucy and Gemma, their friend Kate, and Jake and Thiruni from school. Adam's peak is a really high mountain in Sri Lanka with a footprint at the top which is said to be either Adam's, Mohammed's or Buddah's depending on your religious take on it. There is a season to climb it which is between the December and the June Poya days. You climb up at night and then watch the sunrise. There are stairs all the way up the mountain which you would hope might make it easier (but there are over 4000 of them) and the way is light by lights. It didnt really feel very spiritual on the way up. The atmosphere had been killed by the florescent lighting and groups of teenage boys who stopped to stare and laugh at us on their way down. We set off about midnight and got the the top about 5am. We had taken it really slow, but then the steps were pretty steep. All the way up the mountain people have set up little cafes selling tea and food which is nice, but does pose the question: how do they get all their stuff up there?? Luckily the sky was clear of clouds and the sunrise was just beautiful! Completely made the whole thing worth it! I walked down pretty fast as I found my legs hurt less that way but I still only got home at about 3pm. So I am very sleepy! So I shall leave it at that as I need to be some kind of normal tmro at school especially as I have my year 9s for a practical lesson!!

xx

So I guess last time I wrote this I was preparing for the wedding in Colombo. It was lovely to see Hashi, although slightly weird to see someone from home here, especially someone who speaks Sinhala and knows their way around Colombo. Anyway I had a lovely week as Hashi's family made me feel like a proper family member. I made my way to Moratuwa where they live on the Monday, after the most chaotic of journeys, which almost put me off the whole trip. I had to pop in to Kandy in the morning to post some last minute Christmas cards and pick up the insurance details for the scooter that I borrowed over the holidays from Tess. Scooting round Kandy is definitely the best way to get around, and nipping past the traffic is much nicer than sitting in it! After that I got ready to go whist Sandy (Ruth's dog that Im looking after) had a fight with another dog. It was only in the thrree-wheeler we went in to drop Sandy off at Anusha's, where she was to stay whilst I was in Colombo, that I noticed that Sandy had injured her leg and had a puncture wound on her leg. Hence a trip to the vet on the way. Unfortunately I hadnt got Sandy's papers with me so they almost didnt treat her because I couldnt prove she'd had her rabies jab. But luckily they took pity on us. So the vets tried to clean Sandy's wound, which was something Sandy really didnt want to happen. So I was trying to hold her steady and she was panicing! I think the vets where mildly amused until Sandy got so scared she literally shat herself on their table. So a quick anitbiotic jab later they sent us packing. As Sandy and I continued on our way, the excitment had clearly got to Sandy and she threw up...on me, my shoe (yes!!! my shoe!!! aaaarrrgggg!!!!!) and the three wheeler. So we arrived at Anusha's in a bit of a state! Anyway I persevered with my journey and caught a bus to Colombo, and from there a bus to Moratuwa.

The wedding preparation week was a bit chaotic in Colombo. But we still managed to go to a Hindu temple where I took part in a prayer service. It involved lots of coconuts and pouring their juice over statues of the gods.

The wedding took place in the morning. The times of weddings are decided by the horoscopes of the couple and occur at the auspicious times. On the morning of the wedding, we had asked a lady to come to the hotel where the wedding was to do our hair, make up and wrap us in our sari's (the groom's mother, two sisters and myself). Unfortunately she had turned up early and when we got late she had left. Which resulted in a race across town to her Salon and a mad dash to get the groom's mother ready in time for the wedding which couldnt be delayed because of the auspicious time. Sadly the grooms sister and I had to wait to be dressed, and so I actually missed the wedding service!! Still it gives me good reasons to ask for invites to other weddings! But I did make it in time for the meal, which seemed to be the main event of the wedding! After the meal people started to drift off but there was a little dancing. By this point my sari wasnt looking quite how it had started off and that made the dancing a little tricky!! As lovely as saris are I dont think I could wear one all day. By pm we were all dying to get back to our normal clothes, and have a good nap!

The home coming occured a couple of days later. This is the event where the bride's family are welcomed into the groom's family home. After the traditional part at the house we moved on to another hotel for a meal. Lots of these Sri Lankan events revolve around eating big meals! But the hotel was beautiful as it was on the beach.

On my last evening in Colombo, Hashi's family all had a meal in the Mount Lavinia Hotel. We sat out on the veranda which has a beautiful view over Colombo. It is raised up, and the coast curves round and is all lit up. It was very beautiful.

So I headed back to Kandy for Christmas. I celebrated Christmas Eve in the Citadel hotel at the end of my road with some teachers from CIS and some people who work at the British Council. It was nice but not exactly Christmassy. I spent Christmas lunch at Ruth's grandmother's. I had been expecting a bit of a do, because they're Christian. But it was very low key and I had rice and curry for my meal!!! It was hard to feel the Chrsitmas vibe! But thank you so much for all the cards and presents you sent. It was lovely to hear from you all!

On the 27th I headed off to Kurunagula with Billy (who teached in the jumior CIS school at Kandy). Kurunagula is famous for motorbikes and scooters and we went to have a look at them. Im looking to buy a scooter so I can get about Kandy easier, but we didnt see anything that I couldnt get in Kandy. We also drove up a rock which is shaped like a sleeping elephant where there is a statue of a sitting budda. I found the statue a bit scary because the buddas eyes were half-closed which looks a bit odd!

Ont he 28th I finally journeyed to the south coast which is where Im writing this. Im in unawatuna which is a really nice bay. The beach is steep so the tide is hardly noticible and means that the restaurants and shops can go right out to the sea. The sea is also lovely and warm and beautiful to swim in. However it is an absolute tourist magnet! Next time im going to venture further round the bay to quieter places.

This afternoon, Nic (a guy who used to teach geography at CIS and is back for a holiday) went to Galle, which is the nearest big town. There is a dutch fort there and we had a wander round that. We then had a cream tea at a ridiculously posh hotel as Nic knows someone who works there. Galle feels completly different to the rest of Sri Lanka. Almost like a film set. Bit it was nice to really feel like I was on holiday. The plan is to spend another day here, then head up to Colombo for a new years beach party!

Hope you all had lovely Christmasses and enjoy the new year!

laura xx

In fact not boots at all and not walking either, but then I never can be arsed with writing a proper subject for these posts. Still the footwear in question is very lovely and perfect for dancing! Hashi has arrived in Sri Lanka for her uncle's wedding and last night I went down to Colombo to do some boogieing with her. We went to a club called H2O which was really good. It was worryingly empty to start with but soon filled up and when they put on Beyonce's 'Crazy in Love' everyone jumped onto the dancefloor and didnt leave again. It was awesome to do some proper dancing in a club, I have been missing that! Plus the music was really good, although it's the first time I ever heard Tina Arena played in a club! And so onto the shoes...which were a Christmas present from Hashi, Storer and Mezza. They are really beautiful purple mary jane shoes and even after some serious dancing they were still comfortable!

Tuesday was the last day of term at school and we didnt even pretend to try and do any work. The day was spent watching the finals of the inter-house netball and cricket. unfortunately the mightly yellow house were defeated in the cricket. As you might have guessed, I myself am a member of the prestidious yellow house, although I would consider moving to the red house as yellow really isnt my colour! After school we had an inpromptu student-staff netball match: the rules lasted about 5 minutes until some of the students who understand netball had to leave and got substituted by the basketball team. By the end there were about 15 people on each side and general chaos has ensued!

On Wednesday I went along on the year 10 class trip to Ritagella which is north of here and in the dry zone. The landscape is completely different to Kandy, as it is flat and the plants are noticibly different (many less coconut trees), but there are still lots of paddy fields. Ritagella is an ancient palace which was later used by monks. The trip involved a very leisurely amble (about 1 km) up a path on a hill but the kids were really moaning and getting tired! The lazy lumps! There was a tour guide who told us all sorts of interesting things but he was speaking in Sinhala so some of the other teachers and students translated for those of us whose Sinhala isnt so good. In the afternoon we went to a hotel for lunch and to play water polo in their pool. They even had bread and butter pudding and custard which was frankly the highlight for me! I ate a 'nellie' fruit on the suggestion of another teacher present. Nellie fruits have the highest vitamin C content of all fruits apparently, which might explain why they are so damn bitter! ooouuuch! It took me the best part of an house to eat the sucker and it was the size of a gooseberry!

On Thursday I had to go on a mission to try and find Sandy, the dog that lives with Ruth and myself. She had followed Anusha and I to the bus stop on Tuesday but no one had seen her since. This is really unusual as although she is allowed to roam about she always comes home for lunch and dinner and stays in for the night. I was also worried as there is a pack of vicious dogs on the main road that she would have had to get past to return home. I started asking the local shop keepers if they had seen her, but none of them had and at this point I started to get a bit worried. But I decided to walk to the house that Sandy and Ruth lived in last year (15 mins away) incase she had gone there. And when I arrived at the house there she was! She was pretty happy to see me too, and I was very relieved to have her back. Since then she has stayed close to home. She was probably looking for Ruth who has gone back to England for Christmas.

Today I caught the 7.oo am train from Colombo to Kandy, to get back in time for a Christmas party that Ruth's granmother had organised for the families that she helps through an Australian charity called VocAid. There were party games, a lovely lunch and a visit from santa and all the children got a present parcel filled with toys, stationary, clothes and toiletries. It was really nice to see how much this meant to the children. I also got to meet the families of the people who work at Fairhavens (Ruth's Grandmother's guesthouse) and I tried my Sinhala out on them. Unfortunatly I didnt get very far with the family who spoke tamil. The problem is that I dont have time to learn Sinhala and Tamil, and most people speak Sinhala so it is more useful. But how do you explain to someone that you dont want to learn their language??

Tomorrow I am off to collect my sari jacket. I have borrowed a scooter from a teacher at school who has gone home for Christmas and I have to confess that Im loving my new found freedom. But driving in the traffic in town is still a bit intimidating. The drive to get the jacket tomorrow will be the furthest that I'll have driven so far.

Next week I am planning to go to Colombo to witness the wedding preparations for Hashi's Uncle's wedding. It was just really nice to see someone from home here. I lovel Sri Lanka so much and think it's such a wonderful place that Im so happy to share it with my friends. So if anyone wants to visit...I couldnt reccommend it more highly!

Lau xxxx

I guess it's been a while....I was trying to be good and update my journal once a week but I got a bit lazy and it got hard to find internet access. The computer I was using at Ruth's Gradmothers has some virus and the left button on the mouse is not currently working which is more annoying than you could ever imagine. The computers at school have also been down for the last couple of days because the computer doctor guy was away and we had power cuts which broke the server or something!

Anyways here I am! So what's been happening????

At school all was going well and last week the years 7 to 10 had their end of term exams. I was hoping that this would mean a nice easy teaching week but all it meant was that I had shedloads of marking to do and also had to invigilate exams. Invigilating is the most boring thing you could ever imagine, especially when its for year 9s who keep asking you how to answer the paper so you cant even settle in and read a good book!

Term ends next Tuesday so we had to write reports for all the students. This took ages as you cant really get away with writing the same crap for everyone. Seeing school from this side does make you feel a bit different about it all though!

As for the weekends....last weekend I went to Colombo with Ruth because I wanted to buy some dvds/cds/general Christmas shopping, and also because Ruth was leaving to go home to England for Christmas so she had to go there for the airport. We spent a nice relaxing weekend at her aunts and got some quality shopping in too. From January Ruth will be teaching in a school in Colombo having finally tired of the politics at CIS Kandy. The school had a carol service on the Sunday night which we went to. It was fairly bizarre to be in a church full of people singing along at top volume (I felt like I was in a Songs of Praise program) but more bizarre to be singing carols whilst dressed in a summer dress. It really doesnt feel like Christmas here, despite the face that Ruth and I have our tree up and have decorated the house with baubbles! I think its because its not cold: although having said that I did think about putting a jumper on last night!

It was also raining for most of today which I think means that we have moved away form inter-monsoonal storms into the full blown monsoon. Apparently this one lasts until January.

One other weekend Ruth and I went to stay with another teacher at school, Anusha who teaches Chemistry. She lives in a village called Kurrunagula on the way to Colombo. This is quite far from Kandy (45mins in a 3-wheeler) so sometimes she stays with Ruth and I during the week to aviod a 5am start to her commute. It was really nice to spend some time with a Sri Lankan family. On the Sunday, Ruth and I also explored the area, visiting a really old Buddhist temple and climbing a tower. Hence fulfilling the requirements for a good Sri Lankan day out....climbing something tall and then looking at the view!

I also bought my first sari! Im going to a wedding at Christmas so I bought a sari. Anusha and I went to lots of shops and got shown lots of bautiful saris. I eventually selected a royal blue one with gold embroidary on the edges and gold stripes on the head piece. It was harder than I had imagined to find a sari because the fabric colours that suit Sri Lankan skin dont really suit mine so the selection was limited.

Anyway must go because the server is about to be turned off for the day!

love

laura xx

I didnt make it to the bamboo gardens last sunday because of all the rain. It gets really miserable to go out in it because there is just no way to keep dry. Still I have plenty more poya days here, or I could invest in my own tea cup and tea pot!

School was fairly hectic this week because on Tuesday I went for an Edexcel conference and I never quite caught up with planning the rest of the week! The conference was held in a swanky hotel in Kandy and all the other teachers were jealous because the food at these days is usually really good. However there was only one other teacher at the event and only 6 guests staying at the hotel so they didnt have the usual buffet lunch, still it was delicious and there was plenty of tea and cake!

I have been having some back pain which was sounding suspiciously like a broken tailbone to me so on Thursday I sought help from Janaka who has been leading the yoga sessions I've been to. Apparently I have wonky shoulders and one of my shoulder bones is much stronger than the other, so I now have all sorts of strange yoga shapes to bend myself into to fix it! And it all seems to be working! Hurrah!

On Friday, Ruth and I finally had our house warming party. We asked her grandmother to sort out a bbq and had invited all the teachers at school. Around 40 people turned up and it was really nice to get the house full. It feels so much friendlier now and like we have finally properly moved in. The food was really nice and there was the most amazing potato salad! Some of the teachers brought guitars and tablas and were playing whilst everyone was eating, it was really nice to hear some Sri Lankan folk songs. Then we but on some music to dance to and suddenly a dance floor had been created in our living room and it was packed! It was really cool to have a proper dance at a house party and there was lots of crazy dancing.

Six of the teachers stayed at our house because there are no late night taxis in Kandy. But it was really nice that after the loudness of the party, it didnt suddenly become just Ruth and I all alone too sone. I was taught how to make roti and we had a lovely breakfast together of roti with jam and butter. Plus we made plans to go to yala (a reserve) next Easter, which should be really good fun!

The rest of the weekend has been spent recovering from the party! Oh and I watched Natcho Libre which was clearly written by one too many stupid americans so I wouldnt recommend anyone to waste their time with it!

I guess I should pick up where I left off...the Halloween Party. I went to the party with Kathy (who Ruth used to live with back in the day), her boyfrind Sam and the ever present Garmini. They picked me up on the way since I live near the Citadel (hotel where the party was). I had yet to don my ears or tail since I feared that no-one would have dressed up. But Sam was dressed as a skeleton (in a Tesco costume that Kathy had brought back) and Kathy was dressed as a wizard so I decided to add a black nose and whiskers. Its strangely hard to draw whiskers evenly on both cheeks! The party was strangely like being at a wedding of your parents; lots of middle aged white people doing dad dancing! But the food and decorations where amazing! They even had dried leaves on the floor just waiting to be kicked about, and the deserts ranged from a merangue cemetary to cakes in the shapes of ware-wolfs heads. My only small grumble was that when I had the first taste of the 'cheesecake', I was saddenned to find it was not cheesecake at all, but rather a moose on a sponge base.

After the party, Sam, Garmini and I headed off in search of a nightclub. Or probably THE nightclub in Kandy, which was miles off in a hotel and had a dress code of 'no flip-flops'. I had to be chaperponed the whole time by Garmini and Sam mostly because there were only 5 girls in the club and in addition to my femininity Im white and was dressed at the time like a cat! The music was a mix of rnb, hiphop and dance and I had a wicked time! Everyone was going completely mental, although at times the dancing from some of the men was more of something I would expect in a prison disco!

Plus Sam and I got crowned Halloween King and Queen, which was probably a for-gone conclusion since he knew the club owner! Sam was presented with s polystyrene bone chain and some of those things you attach to the insides of car windows to get shade. Whilst I got a sash, crown (promtly stolen by Sam), some beer and a tiger beer t-shirt and visor! I think I got the better deal!

I'll try and get the photos online as soon as my computer starts working. It has currently taken early retirement and taken all my music with it!

On Monday, we went to see Tess and Simon (teachers at school) in Twelth Night. It was really good and funny but it took a while to get into the Shakspearean language and its not a play that Im familiar with. I think a lot of the locals got a bit lost in the old English. It was also strange to see Shakespear with American and Sri Lankan accents, plus the actors wore sarongs or sari! But it was a nice bit of culture!

Other than that the week was tumbling along well, until break time on Friday when the headmaster told us that the school had been called with a bomb threat and we had to evacuate. So we took all the kids to the sports ground. Then we noticed that there was an abandoned bus next to the grounds that had been there for about a month. Fearing it might be a bomb we moved the kids on to the next green space. Needless to say, school did not resume. But I had left all my stuff in the staff room and Ruth had taken her car to school, so we went to see if we could get the car at least. To our surprise we were also allowed into the staffroom, which I didnt think was really the best safety precaution, but I needed my keys!! A bomb warning had been called into the school once before, in the last summer term, but the staff didnt seem to concerned. The school is a bit of a weird target because it has a total mix of Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and Christians so it is not really an obvious target. Still it makes me more thoughtful about the whole situation.

Yesterday we went to a concert of some random French music group in Trnity school in town. The school is one of the oldest ones in Kandy and it was a little like being back in England if you ignored the fans hanging from the ceiling or attached to the walls! Still it was really nice to hear some live music as I really miss that!

Today is a Poya Day. Later we're going to try and get some beer served at the Bamboo Gardens Restaurant. Since its a Poya Day they're not supposed to sell alcohol so they tend to serve it in a tea pot and you can drink it from tea cups, which sounds like fun to me!

xxxxx

The kids in school are so damn american that if I dared to mention that we had a half term break coming up they all got confused, so officially Im on my mid-term break which is coming to an end rather more rapidly than I would have liked!

The half-term finished with the school swimming meet, in which the 4 houses of the school competed in billions of races. It was really nice to see the school supporting each other and getting some house spirit going. Im in the yellow house, which is 'sportingly challanged' as in we lose most of the house competitions but I am assured that we usually do well in the school quiz! Since Sri Lankans usually dress modestly (everything between the shoulders and knees covered) swimming costumes can pose a problem. They get around this by adding frilly skirts or cycling shorts which are pretty amusing! I participated in the teachers race but crashed into the lane rope after having dived into a pool for the first time ever and then had to try and take my googles off mid-race which I think participated in my performance which echoed the other results of the yellow house!

After all the grand plans that were floating about for this break it ended up being rather more orderly than I had expected. On the Saturday a group of the teachers headed to the knuckles which is a mountain range somewhere to the north of Kandy. One of the French teachers has a friend who lives there and the plan was to spend a couple of nights at his house and do some hiking around the hills, Unfortunately with all the rain we have been having recently there were lots of leeches about! There are various strategies to deal with leeches. Firstly smothering your legs and feet and shoes in soap so the leeches cant get a grip. Walking at the front of the group, since the leeches get woken up by passing traffic and then try and latch onto people there are more about if you walk at the back of a group. I decided to wear trainers so that most of my feet were covered and leeches were less likely to attach themselves, this worked well although it left me vunerable to leeches which sneaked in the top of my trainers. The Sri Lankans in the group decided to wear flip flops as they could then see when leeches attached themselves, flicking the leeches off then becomes much easier. Although you can only flick them off at the opportune moments when they have neither end attached, although I found that this only added to the sense of achievement gained on outsmarting the leechs! I tried this for a little while on the last day but found it was all too easy for the leeches to hide behind/in-between my toes! Anyway I managed ok and only got leeched a few times and Im no longer scared cos I know it doesnt hurt!

The walk to the house we were staying in ended up taking much longer than we had expected because a couple of the teachers got injured (twisted knees etc) and were going slowly but it was still a little scary walking in the dark in unknown tropical forests. The sun sets so fast here, especially when I'm still thinking in terms of English summer evenings. By the time we arrived it was dark so we couldnt see much. I was very tired and suddenly the rug on the cow manure and soil floor looked very comfortable!

On waking the next day I could see the surroundings. It was beautiful! We were very high up in the mountains but it was still warm and there were no other houses within view (the nearest neighbour was about 45mins walk away). We set off up a mountain to see a cave. The surroundings were amazing although I was distracted by looking at the floor and trying to avoid the leeches! The forests only had a few paths, made by the family we were staying with so it was hard to get lost unless you strayed from them. The view from outside the cave was cool but there were many bats living in the cave so the smell was slightly less inviting!

Outside the house the family had cultivated paddy fields where they grew rice for themselves. At the bottom of the paddy fields there was a river which flowed over some rocks and then formed a really deep pool! It was really clean and cool and big enough to dive in and do some lenghts of swimming. Plus you could climb into the rapids leading to the pool and let them pull you along which was fun!

The whole trip was really nice. It was good to see some of the countryside here in its natural state and to see how locals live and survive. It was also cool to spend time with the teachers outside of school. The good thing about going on the trip with teachers is that we all had different backgroungs (geog, biol, economics, english etc) plus most people like explaning things (hence being teachers) so conversation I could ask about the animals, plants and mountains and get interesting answers!

I also finally made it to Colombo this week. Having heard that it was marginally cooler there because it has been raining I decided that I could take it and got myself on a train to the capital city. Plus Ruth and Anusha were there and it was nice to spend some time all together. One of the (only?) plus points of Colombo are the shops, so as soon as I landed Ruth whisked me off to some of them! We found some very good dvd shops (all pirated) which have really good selections, although a disappointing range of cds. Therefore if you see a good film and think I would enjoy it please let me know!

I also got to paddle in the Indian Ocean which was nice. The coast was very exposed though with no coves and so the waves were very strong. It was weird that the horizon was so final, the next stop would be Africa!

Anyway must head off, I have to create a fancy dress costume!

lots of half tem love

xx

Was thinking that perhaps I should let you all know that Im still alive. Recently the situation in Sri Lanka seems to have intensified and the reason for this is probably because of the impending peace talks between the governement and the tigers. A couple of days ago a bus convoy of government soldiers was targeted whilst they were having a lunch break on their journey back north by a suicide bomber. This was the worst attack in Sri Lanka's history. Earlier today (or possibly yesterday) the southernmost town of Galle was attacked. The post was attacked by suicide bombers posing as local fishermen. There are a couple of reasons why the Galle attack is so worrying. Firstly it is the first attack in Galle. Previously the action has only gone as south as Colombo and Kandy. Also Galle is a big tourist area and lots of the teachers were thinking of heading that way next week on our half term holiday. The staff room is full of talk about it and everyone is wondering what it will mean for the south coast next week. So I am catching up fast on my knowledge of the situation. As for half term plans, they are all up in the air anyway. I was toying with the idea of learning to scuba dive in Unawatuna but that is the town next to Galle so that is now less appealing. I will keep you posted, just wanted to assure you that I am currently fine!

Last Saturday we had a staff trip. We were going to head to Horton Plains but changed the destination to Nuwera Ellia (the same place I went the weekend before but this time I was hoping to pick up some rhubarb) because it was closer and Horton Plains is supposed to be best seen early in the morning so is more suitable for an overnight trip. This was my first experience of a Sri Lankan idea of a day out, which basically involved a lot of food related activities. We only left the bus (it was a 12 hour long trip) to eat breakfast, tour a tea factory and have a cup of tea and slice of cake, have lunch, have afternoon tea and an additional toilet break! There was lots of driving!!

We stopped in a really amazing spot for breakfast, just on the way up one of the hills to Nuwera Ellia overlooking a vally with a reservoir. It was beautiful. Everyone contributed a dish and we had a feast! I am starting to get into this curry for breakfast idea! The visit to the tea factory was also interesting. I didnt realise that it only takes 12hours to get the tea from the field to the final product. I had imagined that tea is somewhat like wine and is best left to mature. However this is completely wrong as we had the most delicious cup of tea in the canteen attached to the factory. They have different grades of tea and one of them is not supposed to be drunk with milk. I tried that one, it was honestly the best cup of tea that I have ever tasted! I think it helped that it was accompanied by the most delicious, airy and still warm-from-the-oven chocolate cake!!

We next continued on our way to Nuwera Ellia, which is called little England and was very much behaving that way as it rained all the time we were there. The plan was to visit the botanical gardens and then have lunch. However Sri Lankans seem to be of the opinion that things cant be done in the rain. Which is weird because it rains an aweful lto here! So we ended up skipping the gardens and just having the lunch!

In the afternoon we drove to see some waterfalls: St Clairs and Devon. I think that they soon won't be falling all the time because of some damn projects that are being built so it was nice to see them. We had our afternoon tea overlooking the Devon falls which were beautiful and would have been even nicer if the locals didnt insist on dumping their rubbish next to the falls! There was a mini 'waterfall' of rubbish next to the proper thing!!

After that we headed home! I can't believe that we spent so much of the day on a coach but that seems to be how day trips are done here!

On the Sunday I went into town to do some shopping. The shoe shops here are very confusing! They are full of terrifically dainty shoes which look amazing on Sri Lankans but really arent my thing! Plus my size 6 feet are considered almost a scientific abnormality here it would seem! Its usually the biggest size shoe in the shop!

This week it has been raining a lot! Apparently it is the inter-monsoonal rains. Which means that there are lots of thunderstorms and much rain in the afternoons. I got caught in one yesterday whilst in town with garmini enjoying some tea and vegetable roti. Ive never seen so much rain! We had to accost a passing elderly gentleman and get him to shelter us with his umbrella to garmini's tok-tok! Im now going to carry my waterproof everywhere with me and invest in an umbrella!

Earlier today a lizard climbed into my classroom during a lesson with my year 12s. They were very chilled out about it but I got a little excited!! I think the lizard lives near the school as Ruth said she often sees him doing press-ups on the fence outside the science labs!

Damn it! Have to go teach the dreeded year 10's :(

laura xxxx

Last Friday I headed off for a town called Ella, since we had a three day weekend with the additional Poya Day off. It took ages to get there, mostly because we took the long route to go through Newera Ellia which is a town really high up in the hills in the centre of Sri Lanka. It's so high up that it gets really cold and I had to wear the only hoodie that I brought to the island with me. Its also of the correct temperature that they can grow rhubarb and strawberries, ie cold!! I was going to buy some rhubarb on the way back to crumble but we returned a different way so that plan was scuppered!

The countryside that we passed was really interesting because despite the fact that everything was on really steep hills the locals were growing vegetables on every available patch of land. They had built the land up so it looks like a series of wide steps so that it was possible to farm it. They are very industrious people!!

Just after Newera Ellia we got the car washed by a group of orphaned teenagers who were collecting money for an unspecified good cause, Ive never seen such an enthusiastic and thorough car wash! About 20 teenage guys swarmed the car scrubbing away with soap and clothes and getting buckets of water from the river to wash it all off. They had even found a pump from somewhere and were pumping water from the river to help! The car was left absolutely gleaming, and the guys were all very happy to do the work despite the fact it was pretty cold and they were using cold water.

We arrived in Ella after the Sun had set (which is pretty early here anyway...). The countryside looked magical because it is all in mountains and there are no street lights so all you can see are the lights from people cosy in their homes. I thought it looked like a hobit village.

On the Saturday we explored Ella. We climbed a hill in a tea estate called 'little adam's peak' (the real adams peak is the tallest mountain in Sri Lanka) from where we could see how the countryside around Ella gets suddenly flat at the end of the hill country and on a good day you can see the sea. We then went on a search for some waterfalls. We found them but it was hard to enjoy their natural beauty with all the Sri Lankans jumping in the pools and having baths! They had bars of soap and everything, and as is usual here there was a group of lads with some drums singing and dancing, getting the party started. I think they were serenading the girls who were bathing in the pool below. Unfortunately I didnt join them because I had no where to change into my swimming costume. I also had the misfortune to try a local dish-Sri Lankans will cut unripe mangos into chip-like shapes and pour chili salt onto them and eat it like a snack! This is disgusting and a masascekar of what could have become delicious mangos! In the afternoon we went to the local train station where we met a group of locals who showed us a place to bathe in the river under the railway line. We walked along the railway line to get there (ignoring all the advice I've every received in England about not walking on the lines), although I can see why people do it-much nicer and less dusty than walking along the roads here. The pool in the river was deep enough to swim in and after we had got out a train went over the bridge over the pool and everyone leaning out of the train waved at us! It was a really good day.

On the Sunday we left Ella pretty early, but the journey back to Kandy was much shorter because we went by the new road. This went past the Victoria Dam which is the first dam Ive ever seen properly. The road went round the reservoir behind the damn which is truly massive!! It was really impressive and once again my inner physics-geek was popping her head out to gawp!

So yeah, sorry about being a bit rubbish keeping this updated. I did write an entry in school but they turned off the server before I posted it so that was a bit stoopid!! Anyway..I havent been up tp much since I last wrote because I got ill and spent the whole of last weekend in bed. Last week on Friday after school we had a staff basketball match. It was really good fun but it as some of the players (ie me) first time playing it was a little embarasing that all the students stayed to watch and cheer on their favourite teachers.

About 30 mins after the game ended I started to feel really flu-ey and this feeling remainded all weekend. I think it only hit Ruth how ill i was when she saw me wrapped in a jumper and wolly hat...Kandy just doesnt really get that cold! Monday morning at school was less fun, I was still slightly shakey on m feet and had trouble writing in a straight line. Still I havefully recovered and I have the day off school because its a full moon today! So Im off with Annie and Mufi and her kids to a town called Ela for the weekend. Its supposed to be very beautiful, I will try and post some photos when I get back.

oooh and I met Kandys answer to 50 cent this week! Unfortunately I was unable to attend his hip-hop gig at the venue of the YMCA no less because Im not here tonight. Sad times xx

This entry kinda adds onto the last one cos I had to get off the internet before i finished!

I forgot to mention that I've become a Sri Lankan celebrity...well I've been on TV! At the Singer Sevens Rugby, Ruth and I had seats near the place where the players came to get awarded the medals and what-not. The event was being televised and every time the cameras panned to that area we were on TV! Unfortunately I was wearing a pink top so I kinda looked naked....oops! Still made skool on the Monday more fun! After the match we bumped into an old friend of Ruth's who said he could get us tickets for the big Rugby match this coming Saturday. In Sri Lanka school sports are really big news and get covered in all the papers. All the sports have a 'big match' when two schools that are traditional rivals play. This Saturday Trinity (Kandian boys school) are playing a Colombo school. They already played one match this year in Colombo and Trinity won. The whole of Kandy is going to go mad about this match! It should be a really good atmosphere, and I expect that as with everything else it'll be a carnival!

Last Saturday it was the skools 8th anniversary and we had a celebration at the school on the Saturday which basically involved all the classes having stalls selling food to make money for charity. The duty of the staff was to spend money at the stalls...honestly I've never eaten so much in my life! But it was really nice to see the students outside lessons having fun! The year 13's were running the junk stall and Hasith (one of my physics students) emotionally blackmailed me into buying a dvd.

This week I had my first lunch packet. At school we can get them from the Ceylon Shipping Lines next door. For 45 rupees (25p) you get a selection of curries and rice wrapped in newspaper. I have yet to make the jump into eating it with my fingers as is the Sri Lankan way...it takes a bit of practice and I though I would perfect my skills at home first!

Last night I had my second Sinhala lesson. Im learing with the other 2 new teachers and had actually learnt most of the vocab which is a good start, but I've yet to absorb and recognise the letters. The trouble is that we learn to draw them in one way, but when they are printed they look completely different. All very curvy and beautiful though. After that Tess (English teacher at school), Alexia (her friend from England) and I went to dinner at a Sri Lankans house. It was really nice, although most of the conversation was in Sinhala, but it improved my ear and I could vaguely follow the conversation even if I couldn't contribute! Also got my taste buds working to the tune of Arrack which is the local liquor (drunk with coke mostly). And after enough arrack I felt brave enough to try eating with my hands. The idea is to use the right hand to make parcels of food which you load onto the tips of your fingers. Then, as if your hand if an elephant trunk you curve it up to your mouth and push the parcel into your gob with the thumb. If done right only the tips of your fingers should get covered in food...needless-to-say our hosts thought it helpful to provide me with a fork after they saw my progress!! Still it was a beatiful night. The sky was the clearest its been since Ive been here and the stars were really clear. Infact I think I saw a nebulae (gas cloud where stars are born), there should be some visible from Earth, so that awakened the inner astro geek in me!!

Today I got on a local buss for the first time. I was feeling a bit sleepy and too lazy to walk home, so I thought I'd try it out! I managed to establish that a bus was about to arrive and was heading the right direction. It arrived and I hopped on, and managed to find a seat (no mean feat when they buses are sometimes literally crammed full). I had taken the precaution of waiting at a bus stop which seemed unnecessary as the bus picked up people from the road continuously. Then suddenly I realised I didnt know how to get the bus to stop where I wanted...after trying unsuccessfully to ask the woman next to me (who was probably thinking "of course the bus stops along the way to kandy you stoopid foreigner"). Luckily I wanted to get off at a major stop so I just followed all the other passengers! All for the bargain price of 6 Rs (3p!!).

Gotta go get some dinner....also if you want to leave a comment about an journal entry that would be lovely, but can you say who it's form!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey!

Another thrilling week at school passes with very little incident so I wont bother you with the gory details!

On Thurday we went to a party of one of the students which was held in honour of her becoming a 'big girl'! In Sl it seems that when you start your periods you should throw a party so all your family, neighbours, friends and teachers know why you'll be moody every month! It was really nice though. We all sat outside and had rice and curry. There was a Kandian band who played Sl folk music (as in everyone knows it and the words and just requests songs). We also tried some local dancing, which involves basically going a bit mental! Good fun! There were also fire works which were a bit crazy. Some of them you hold by a long bedy stick, which you hold onto and the fire work jst goes off! Also they had ones you light on the floor which are like horizontal catherine wheels. The idea seems to be to try and get as close as you dare to the sparks. Any english health and safety expert would have kittens!

On Friday it was the first day of the Singer Sevens Rugby tournament in Kandy. This was an international meeting of mostly middle eastern and asian teams. One of the students at school's father helped organise the event so she got some of the teachers and the year 12 students these really good passes into the sponsors seats. This meant we had a really good view and also got given snacks and drinks. We went on Friday after school and saw the schools matches (teams from the big Colombo and Kandian schools). Today we went and it was the finals day. From our seats we were right next to the rugby teams who seemed to think it was a good idea to get changed in their seats and to sit topless...I think it was only the presence of my year 12 physics class in the rows behind me and ruth that stopped me gawping completely at the amount of toned male flesh!! Honestly! Wow!! And after we met one of the Sri Lankan players in the bar, which by the way had been completely emptied...there were only a couple of bottles of spirits left on the shelves, which is probably the reason there was such a carnival atmosphere!

Still I best go do some marking. Will try and write soon as I didnt mention the school anniversary which happened on Saturday....yes, we had school on a saturday!!

love

laura xx

hey! Sorry its been a while since I've had the time and internet availability to write in this journal...but then I'm not entirely sure who is reading it!!! It would be lovely to get some news from all of you back in Blighty, and also those who have ventured further afield!!

So over a weeks news to catch up on then...prob best to skip the boring bits about school, apart from the fact that I'm now the inters (yrs 7,8,9) netball coach. Unfortunately I didnt even have trainers or any sports kit for the first practise, but since the court has no lines, and the students have no bibs or even the faintest idea of the rules, it all seemed pretty much to be in the same spirit!!

Also last week I bought a mosquito net!! Haha!!! I've finally beaten the buggers!!! I can now sleep safely in the knowledge that when I wake up I won't find my face was used as the sight of a midnight feast! Although it does feel like im sleeping in a tent and after years of training I'm terrified I might roll over and touch the sides of the net, thus letting all the rain in!

The weekend at the start of last week, I went to see the Temple of the Tooth in the town centre. This is where the tooth of the Buddah is kept. It was very atmospheric with lots of drumming, inscence and rain. The outer builing of the temple surrounds an inner building but the roof does not cover the whole building, so some of the torrential rain fell inside. That was quite cool, but in general I felt a bit strange to be a tourist in a place of religious worship/meditation.

On the Sunday I went shopping for the first time in town myself. I had a really good time and it was nice to explore the town centre a bit. Only thing is that I get charged tourist prices...at least until I learn enough Sinhala to argue that I'm not a tourist!! I got scared at one point when 4 men were trying to sell me a bag, but I just ran away and bought a bag in a shop which had price tags!! In the afternoon Simon, Garmini and I went for a trip to a tea plantation. Stupidly enough I had been thinking that the air might smell of tea...sadly it did not but we saw a whole bush covered in brilliant yellow and red crickets!

Last Thursday was a Poya Day, which means that it was a bank holiday because it was a full moon day. Lots of the many shops along the roads were shut, which is unusual because they are usually open all day, every day. I went to the Pinniwella Elephant Orphanage which is about 1 hr from here with Annie (the other new teacher in the senior school) and Moufi (a teacher in the junior school) and her children. We arrived for feeding time and saw the baby elephants (with their mothers), one of whom was only 2 hours old...the baby not the mother!!! It seemed a bit unnatural to have these amazing creatures cooped up but then they all went for a bathe in the river. They seemed to be having so much fun and clearly the elephants had their own social groups (there were about 40 of them). My favourite group were the explorers who tried to escape down stream and then play fought with each other. We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the river and it was very restful to watch the elephants chilling out. On our way back we stopped at another elephant place because the children wanted to ridde an elephant. I found this uncomfortable because I dont think a magestic creature like an elephant should be viewed as a fairground ride. Much like horse riding, it seems different to build up a relationship with a horse and ride it, rather than go for a short ride on a beach. If I was an elephant/horse I know which I would prefer!

On Friday evening, Jake (geog teacher in the senior school) had a house warming party. He lives in the house that Ruth lived in last year so I think it was strange for her to go back. Just in front of the house there is an electricity cable which doubles as a monkey highway! I saw about 6 monkeys (about the size of a large British cat) waltze along the line!! On the Saturday, Ruth, Garmini and a couple of others went to the pub in town....literally the only pub in Kandy! Which is great because it can use such lines as..."the best pub in Kandy" on leaflets and such! Since I only had mango juice Garmini let me drive his 3-wheeler home. It was a bit like a motor bike, but I didnt quite progress to changing gear and have yet to hone my skills at avoiding the pot-holes! The next day I went swimming with a couple of the other teachers at school (Tess and Billie) at a hotel called the Citadel. The pool was blue and white checked, so felt very ska!!! The Citadel isn't far from where I'm staying so very handy if I want a swim! Which will be lovely and refreshing when it gets really hot here!

Last night Ruth and I sat at home trying to avoid doing any school work and planning schemes to enable us to avoid having to go to school! Very little changes from when I was going to school as a student!! Sunday night is always the most depressing time, being so far away from another day off!! Plus this week is a 6-day week!!!! We have to go into school on the Saturday because its the school's anniversary, still at least I dont have any lessons to plan!

Must get going and have some dinner! Noeleane, who is helping Ruth and I look after our house cooked me dinner, and it looks like I'm getting a proper Sri Lankan meal of (lots of) rice and curry, although she did cut down on the chilli for me!!

Well done if you made it to the end!! I'll try an write more often to make it both shorter and sweeter!!

xx

...well not really! Where I wait for the bus to go to skool lots of the students drive past and Ruth and I got offered a lift this morning, being all British I waited for the children in the back to make room before clambering into the car. Having placed one foot in the car, the driver decided this was quite enough and drove off. Hence, I have much less skin on my leg than I should and am in a little bit of pain! Still we live and learn!! Waiting in the sick room at skool was fun; the nurse had yet to arrive so I just sat on the bed whilst all the curious teachers popped their heads to have a good gawp, they clearly wanted to help and one even went as far as to wipe some dubious looking brown liquid on what had previously been my knee...

in other news I got my hair cut which is much better in the heat...or at least it will be when I get a plug adapter and take my ghd's to it! And we (the hairdresser and myself) were discussing dying the red streaks in again for the bargain price of 2.50 pounds...which is even better than bullying nasra and sophos to do it!

on the way to the hairdressers, i had my first king coconut with Garmini (my favourite three-wheeler driver). You stop at a local shop with a pile or orange coconuts outside, pick one. The shop keeper takes a massive machete to it, chops the top off, pops in a straw and away you go! It almost tasted a bit fizzy...in fact Garmini keeps stopping mid journey to try and buy me food....if he carries on like this i'll never fit in his three-wheeler!!

also we finally moved into our new house, it all happened very suddenly when a couple arrived to book into their room, in which I happened to be staying at the guesthoues! The house is lovely, just have to get some bright fabric up to liven up the walls and it'll feel perfect!

oh and the teaching...not quite so easy as I'd hoped. Still I cant expect to be ok at the start! I like all my classes except for the evil year 10s who can go jump off a cliff.

best go, cos its a friday and the staff room is emptying...and I want to go home!!!

Yesterday I went to see the house that Ruth and I will be sharing for the next few months. Handily it's just behind her grandmother's guest house that we're staying in at the moment. The house is all on one level and we have a large bedroon, bathroom and study each, plus a kitchen and sitting room etc. Out the front of the house the roof extends over the patio and I can already imagine lounging on a deckchair there. There are also lemon, coconut and pepper trees which is pretty cool-although we need to find someone who can climb coconut trees before we can enjoy the fruit! Hopefully I'll be moving some of my things in later today but Ruth is a little unwell and the cooker is still in its box so we're going to stay here were we have lovely meals cooked for us for a little while longer!

I also went to see the school which is next to a tobacco factory so outside it smells like the inside of a cigarrette packet! There are 3 science labs which are really dinky and prob meant for about 20 students. I was also assigned my desk in the staffroom, and given my textbooks and timetable. I get to teach yr 9, 10, 12 physics and yr 13 for Mechanics. School starts on Wed but the lucky little blighters have been set tests for the first lessons so I get a day or so to settle in!

In the afternoon we went into Kandy town to open a bank account and get a Sri Lankan sim card. This took ages...the Sri Lankans really really like paperwork, in many different pretty colours so they can send you to lots of different desks at which they make stacks of the coloured sheets and then send you on to another desk! If you want to txt please use the number I emailed but I'll reply using the new one, cos it's cheaper all around :)

I also enjoyed my first three-wheeler ride yesterday with our local friendly driver Garmedy, they're pretty nifty which is useful as the drivers try and avoid the pot holes in the roads! In the evening most of the expat teachers meet in a Chinese Restaurant/Pub which is at the top of one of the hills round Kandy so has a lovely view of the town. On the journey back we crammed four of us plus Garmedy onto his three-wheeler but luckily we all held on and even got to see a porcupine which we chased a little way before it hid in the bushes.

hey...so it looks like i made it :)

my first view of sri lanka after a 10 hr flight, was of the beaches which seem to run endlessly around the cost north of Colombo...literally no cliffs, no harbours, no boats just golden sand as far as I could see. SL actually looks a bit like England because it's covered in lush greenery but there are more trees than farm land (which exists as paddy fields between the forests in the sort of patterns you expect from rivers) and the trees are all palm trees...oooh and the soil is red which is a bit unexpected!

after a yummy lunch of curry (they literally eat it for every single meal) we started the 4 hr drive to Kandy (a dist of 72 miles btw...think aboutt that average speed!!)...the driving here is a bit alarming; its all about trying to take the biggest risks when overtaking on bends with on-coming traffic and we were even over-taken whilst trying to over-take a lorry! All along the road there were little shops selling fruit and other bits and bobs, but the best bits were the villages that had decided to all open shops selling the same thing which makes some sense when they sell pineapples, advocados, pots or wicker crafts but why do they need a village selling inflatable toys(nothing naughty!!)??? They were even selling inflatable boats...miles from any water! But the houses were really cool because they were all different and interesting. Colombo was a bit too hot for me but Kandy seems much nicer although that could have been due to the rain...just like being back at home!

Im now settled in a guest house owned by the grandmother of physics teacher called Ruth who I'll be living with once our house becomes inhabitable...whatever that means! But am a bit sleepy so I hope this makes some sense! Hopefully going to see Kandy properly tmro and check out the school!

Love

Laura xx