May 31st: Galle, surfing and turtle watching - all in a day in Sri Lanka.

What a day! Today was like a practice cultural tour day in that we were very busy traveling to a bunch of different attractions. We got up and left at 9:00am for Galle, another coastal city west of Tangalle that is the oldest ‘living city’ in Sri Lanka- that is, the oldest city in the country with people still living in it. We got to see some fantastic structures that were part of the military forts constructed by previous colonies in Sri Lanka. After a little window shopping at a small jewelry shop, we headed home, but on the way stopped to go surfing at a beach between Galle and Tangalle. Unfortunately, the shop owners had no wax and the waves were not very consistent or strong, so no one was very successful -of course, our lack of success could not have possibly been due to our inexperience!! But, everyone was glad to get a chance to try paddling around at least, and we can all say that we went surfing in Sri Lanka!

After surfing, we drove back and went straight to a restaurant that we have been to a few times. We had some deviled chicken and calamari and mixed seafood noodles with a fresh fruit salad and ice cream for dessert (mmmmmm). To finish off the day, we quickly walked back to Wavy Ocean after dinner, showered and changed, and then headed off to go turtle watching at 8:30pm. We were very very very very very lucky. When we got there, not only had a turtle already come up the beach, but she also came right in front of the car park (as opposed to 1 or 2 km down the beach). Some groups wait 4 or 5 hours and see no turtles, and we not only saw this one, but there was another just a couple hundred meters down the beach! After a bit of a wait in periodic spits of rain, we were lucky enough to be able to watch one of the turtles scoot back into the water. These are big turtles- like 1.5 m shells at the longest points!!!! One of the turtles laid eggs in a large hole that she dug! It was really quite an amazing experience, especially for those of us who had never seen giant turtles before.

May 30th: Our last day of work.

Today, we had our last regular day of work before the cultural tour. We just can’t get over how quickly this trip has been flying by- it will be so sad when it comes to an end! All together at the Trades Training Facility (TTF), we poured the final interior concrete beam to finish the bulk of the building’s foundation. We then prepared an outside entryway foundation (touching up trenches and installing rebar) to pour concrete on Monday. When we finish this, we will be able to say that we basically started and finished the entire foundation for the building at the facility complex. After work, we headed straight to a boarding school for deaf children. The school was quite nice, with a large open property and kind staff. Some of the children are amazing artists and actually keep a small gallery at the school to raise funds for their studies and materials. Their work is fantastic- holding an incredible likeness to what comes out of art schools like Emily Carr in Vancouver (seriously- we were expecting child-like scribbles and hand prints but the students’ work is unreal- you’ll see if your friend/family members picked up any pieces!). After spending some time at the school, we headed back to Wavy Ocean for a shower and then walked downtown to pick up some food from Food City and do a little clothes shopping. Most people took tuk-tuks (nice play on words no?) back to Wavy Ocean from the grocery store because it was absolutely pouring outside.

Tonight, we just took it easy at our place, listening to some music, and playing cards. We had a nice soup dinner (thanks to Hilda for being the head chef on our soups!) and are excited to head out on our tour to Galle in the morning!

May 29th: Painting the Temple wall and Police Coordinated Sports Day

Painting day! Today, all fifteen of us went to the temple to paint the wall (white). Despite the heat, we managed to get a first coat on every part of the wall that has been completed and plastered. As we all expected, spending one last day at the temple as a group was good closure on that facet of our work here; the wall looks great too!

After we completed the painting, we all said a sad goodbye to the head monk at the temple and rushed back to Wavy Ocean to quickly get ready for our police-coordinated sports day starting at 2:30 pm. When we got to the venue- a very calm swimming area and surrounding beach with a volleyball court- we were surprised to find that the celebrations were much more formal than we had expected. In fact, I had to make a short speech with almost zero time for preparation, and then we were presented with certificates of appreciation for our volunteer efforts from the senior superintendent of the police force- a very distinguished man! Throughout the afternoon, everyone was very welcome and receptive to anything that we had to say about our connection to Sri Lanka. I still can’t get over the warmth of the people in Tangalle!

After the guys and girls in the group played guys and girls local volleyball teams in refereed matches (best two out of three), we headed back to Wavy Ocean very tired. Originally, we had planned to go turtle watching this evening, but instead, we had a soup dinner and then just lazed our way to bed for a good night’s sleep!

May 28th: Hard work day and topped off with another Birthday!

Happy Birthday Greg!

First things first-
Today was another very busy day. Thankfully, the weather was in our favor again; only a couple of spits of rain mingling with sunshine and blue sky. We had a nice hard day’s work at the Trades Training Facility (TTF): we managed to pour another two of the interior foundation lines, leaving just one more to do to complete the foundation apart from some concrete work required exterior to the building. After another lunch from the bakery (FULL of carbohydrates and not much else!) and a little cricket, we finished up the work day and headed back to Wavy Ocean to shower and change for Greg’s birthday party at Lagoon Paradise. We had another beautiful cake made for this party- this time, the cake was the shape of a key, meant to symbolize the way in which a 21st birthday is a ‘turning point’ in life (from childhood to adulthood). Before the DJ party got rolling, we rented some small kayaks from the hotel and took them down a lagoon. The little voyage was beautiful- a great way to watch the magnificent sunset.

After everyone had some cake, the party got rolling and kept rolling until we left at about 1:30 am. Everyone had a great time and I’m glad that we were able to celebrate Greg’s birthday with so much gusto! Next up is Smrita on this upcoming Tuesday (June 2), the day we leave for the cultural tour!

May 27th: Unexpected day off!

Ah, we said goodbye again for now to the recently nice weather. After driving all the way to the Trades Training Facility (TTF) as a group (all 15 of us), we found that the rain was too strong and likely to continue; a full work day, paying the local workers and spending our time at the site, wasn’t really in the cards for us today. As such, we turned around and headed back to Wavy Ocean by about 8:30 in the morning, having already stopped at a bakery on the way to work to pick up a lunch! After I had a meeting with Anil and Ruwan regarding budgeting for the balance of our stay here in Sri Lanka and the rest of the group partook in some lazy coffee drinking and napping, everyone headed downtown to go do some errands. Everyone was very happy to hear today that our budget is working out nicely, such that we will be able to continue paying for almost everything with the money that the group already put toward the trip right through to the end of our travels, and then even probably have a little money left over!

After people picked up some cash from the bank for shopping during the cultural trip, some headed home for more lazing and napping while others did a little clothes shopping. We all met up again at around 3pm, when most of us went to the beach to play some volleyball and cricket (bowling with a mango seed- very basic cricket indeed!). We did a little inventory on the food that we have stockpiled over the last few weeks so that we could plan the rest of our meals in Tangalle. We only have 5 full days left, and we will all be together at the work sites for the remainder of our days here. It will be nice to have the entire group together for a few days at the sites too- we have some good team work pouring concrete at the TTF and carrying it in buckets in a line (we call it the ‘assembly line’) and we will be able to paint the temple wall on Friday which should be fun!

May 26th: The Foundation is almost complete!

An awesome work day! Today, Amanda, Greg and Patricia worked on plastering the temple wall and basically finished it. Now, we just have to wait one day for the local workers to plaster the corners of some columns that sit in the wall (it’s a tricky job) and then we can paint on Thursday! At the Trades Training Facility (TTF), the remaining 12 of us worked on leveling soil just in the front of the building for a small slab of concrete exterior to the facility (an entryway/porch for the building). We also poured concrete for another internal foundation line. We only have a few left to go before the entire foundation is complete! I hope we can finish this before we go, but even if we come up a little short, it will be basically completed upon our departure for the fast-approaching cultural tour.

After work, most of us quickly came back to Wavy Ocean for a shower while a few went to the internet to get some emails out of the way. We caught tuk-tuks to Ranjith’s (Anil’s brother) house for a cup of tea. His house was beautiful and it was very nice to be able to meet his family just as we did at Anil’s house last week. Everyone is so welcoming, and we were all very grateful to have been invited over to his home. On a side note, it was also nice timing to have gone to Ranjith’s house today, as I have had some strange blistering sores on my face for the last week, and we found out quickly that Ranjith’s wife is a doctor! She wrote me a prescription for some antibiotics (i think it’s some serious razor burn plus a secondary bacterial infection-yum).

For dinner, the group has really been enjoying eating out, so we went back to a restaurant that we ate at last week (Samagi, just down the road) and had some nice seafood fried rice, deviled chicken and fruit salad and ice cream for dessert. After the meal, we walked back to Wavy Ocean and most of us watched a movie - I couldn’t believe that there was a movie that no-one in the group (but me) had seen, especially considering how many avid movie-watchers we have amongst us! It was a nice way to take it easy in a little thunder storm, and everyone enjoyed the movie too (The Fall).

SRI LANKA: The second week.

The second week involved each team completing more work on the homes of Vijay, Predeep and Nilantha. Cement floors were poured, roofs were constructed and the group's ' interior designers' painted and plastered.

A number of cultural excursions took place. A small group of volunteers spent the day visiting two local schools with Bandulla and Joanne. The first school welcomed us in joining them with their New Year’s celebration. The students provided a beetle leaf welcoming for each of the volunteers. We experienced the tradition of boiling milk in honour of New Year’s prosperity. We then lit ceremonial oil lamps and enjoyed traditional New Year’s foods which consisted of milk rice, cookies, and onion sambal.

Our visit to the second school which was located in a remote rural area, was highlighted by the children’s vegetable garden. Beautiful vegetables and plants were the main focus of our interaction with the students. Some time was spent dispersing gifts brought by the volunteers.

Our last visit of the day was to Navajivina a rehabilitation clinic where we met with the director of the facility, Kumi. We spent a short time touring the facility, stopping at the gift store, where patients exhibited their creative wares. We dropped off sheets, towels, and various medical supplies (splints, tensors, etc) donated by friends and families of the volunteers.

The last work day on each site. A number of bitter sweet moments shared. The team spent an hour this morning visiting each site to experience the accomplishments of the past two weeks. Photos were taken with each team and the families receiving their homes. A collection of gifts were sorted and prepared to present to members of each family.

Our adventures are coming to a close. The last of the team are enjoying celebration of Poya tonight.

The last of the group will be departing at 4 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. tomorrow, respectively, and yes...I will leave with my entourage, a little reluctantly however.

It has been an extremely rewarding and gratifying trip. I look forward to sharing my experiences in person upon my return.