Tales from Sri Lanka

Another cloudy overcast day for my last day of ‘working’, as tomorrow is a ‘Poya day’, - a Buddhist holiday, everyone gets a day off, yay!

So, today instead of working at Titus’ house we must clean the turtle tanks, which we would usually do tomorrow. More scrubbing with brushes and coconuts, but this time we are much faster.

I get Rosie (my room mate) and Anthony, who both volunteer at the hatchery to show me around a bit more. Poor old Kevin the baby turtle is not eating anything and hasn’t for a few days now, so Rosie and Anthony don’t think he will last much longer. The other turtles seem to be in fine form. Dudley, who runs the hatchery and the community centre apparently started his turtle conservation work by taking in a sick turtle and keeping it in his bathtub when he was 17. The hatchery has obviously grown since then.

After cleaning out the tanks we clean the turtles shells with sand and then head down to the beach for a bit of a swim.

After lunch I have my last class of teaching. Lazantha and Sandu are there, and also Sandu’s older brother, Asoon. No Dimadoo today, which is a bit of a pity, as I won’t get to say goodbye, but many are away today as tomorrow is a holiday.

We do revision today, so we cover a few things like clothes, body parts and transport ect and numerous stickers are handed out. Then after much demand out comes ‘barrel of monkey’s’. They are all so competitive! I try and get them to count and add all the monkey’s they have collected in a bid to teach them something, anything, even if it is basic math. However they are onto me today and counting isn’t their primary concern. They are more interested in who will be ‘champion’. Lazantha wins the day again and gets the big sticker.

After class I get out my radio recording equipment and get them to have a go recording and listening to themselves in English. Not so much English was recorded, but I now have a good 20 minutes of tape dedicated to Singhalese and Bollywood songs sung about a third of the school.

The rain hasn’t stopped all afternoon and when it’s time for the kids to leave, they are all stuck under the timber roofing of the dining area waiting for the rain to subside. This doesn’t seem to bother Lazantha who decides that it is perfect weather to fly his kite. Finally the rain lets up and they all disappear. The place goes quiet again. Can’t believe that was my class!

That evening over a few arracks, all us volunteers decide to play a few rounds of ‘barrel of monkey’s’, we’re still rubbish, even more so after a few arracks.