The Weekend (Friday - Sunday)

**My new favorite thing: ice cream.
When we stopped to pick up food near the beach house, I decided to get a 2 liter container of ice cream to share. Of course, I considered just getting a half pint and making everyone watch me jealously as I ate it, but decided to be mine. As it turns out, "freezer" is a very loosely applied term in Sri Lanka, and by the time we opened it the net day it was mostly soup. Delicious, cold soup. For dinner on Saturday we were served crabs, which were amazing and unbelievably spicy. This was the first time I literally could not eat more than 2 bites because I was burning and tearing up too much. Jade mentioned milk, but although they put milk in their tea it's from a powder and nobody drinks it here. That's when I remembered the leftover ice cream soup. We brought out the container and a few others and I would cut the spice with a spoonful, eat crab until we cried, wash, rinse, repeat.**

The weekend begins with a "4 hour" car ride. Our driver tells us, "oh, we'll be there by half past 9." We arrive at half past 11. We didn't hit traffic or anything, this is just the way time is told in Sri Lanka.
Can we have some more tools for the garden, please?
"Sure, I'll pick some up next week."
Nope.
"4 hours."
Nope.
Can I please stop to use the bathroom?
"Sure."
45 minutes later...seriously, I'll accept a small shrub to duck behind at this point.
Nothing is hurried or urgent. It's great, except when the drivers says that the really bad patch of road (worse than the rest of the road...which is saying something) that might make me carsick is 30 minutes long. An hour of actively trying not to be sick in the van and we're still on the road.

Once we get to the beach house and get out of the van, I'm fine, and the weekend is going to be amazing. We're somewhere along the eastern shore at a house walking distance from a beautiful beach. The house is adorable and the architecture so fitting for the climate. The bottom floor has no walls on the outside. Only pillars to hold up the second floor. The heat is able to be tempered by full exposure to the breeze. The second floor has walls with huge windows, but they seal off and have air conditioning if you prefer. We just open the windows. Sara, a higher up at Millennium, shows us around the area eagerly. Our weekend is full of beach trips, temples, sunburns (none for me thanks to my gallon of SPF 50 I brought, but although I shared generously there are still some minor burns for others.)

The weekend is relaxing and wonderful. Sara takes us to "the best spot in Sri Lanka" which is a very specific part of the ocean. It flows through like a wide river and in 1 spot (about 2 meters wide) the current is strong and you can lean into the current and just relax. Sara calls it a natural spa, what he doesn't mention is that about 10 meters away from "the best spot in Sri Lanka" is the area we've dubbed "the worst spot in Sri Lanka." There are a lot of rocks around the area and 3 of us cut our feet on them. Leiah and I not so badly, but Shay's is going to need my first aid kit's gauze...eventually. She stays in the water for another half hour anyway, swimming happily. Eventually she has it doctored by Sandeth, the head of Millennium, who has driven up to join us.

We go to 2 Hindu temples and get blessed. The temples are beautiful, but I find the crowds a bit distracting. I prefer the Buddhist temple I saw in Galle, and found it much more...I can't think of the correct word, not holy, but more like God could be present there, more inclined to worship there. 

Snorkeling is available here too, for a small price. And I really mean small, like 500 rupees or something. Everything here is soo cheap! I can get a mango across the street from Millennium for 10 rupees, a sandwich for 30, or a beer for 200. A rupee, by the way, is less than 1 cent. The snorkeling equipment is pretty bad, but we have fun and stay our for hours.

Sleeping 10 people in a 2 bedroom beach house is interesting, to say the least. There are mattresses (if you can call what we sleep on here "mattresses") on the floors so that we all have one, and 2 people in each bed, but only the beds have mosquito nets. Electing not to take a bed, I get a bit bitten overnight. Not too badly, but I miss my mosquito net. The second night I figure if I don't have a net anyway, I might was well sleep in one of the hammocks outside. 30 minutes in the hammock proves me wrong, and bites drive me back into the house to sleep in the slightly less buggy bedroom.
The area where we are living at Millennium is not a malaria area and when I arrived I found that nobody is taking their malaria pills. I stopped taking mine too a few days in (how often does peer pressure work to convince someone not to take drugs?) Waking up with so many bites I have a small fright that maybe this area is malaria ridden. Naturally I begin writing my will immediately, but then Sara assuages my fears, saying that we haven't been to any malaria areas.

Altogether the weekend is quite fun, but I am in desperate need of some alone time. I love being social with everyone, but too much exhausts me and I need to recharge alone. I feel like I haven't been alone in over 2 weeks, and here it's significantly more pronounced. I take a nap and feel a little better, but I'm looking forward to getting back to Millennium where there's more space to go by myself when I need to. I also start to get a slight bit homesick. Well, not exactly homesick, because I really don't want to go home yet. Mostly I really just want to hear my parent's voices instead of just texting and emailing. I miss my friends too, but talking to my parents on the phone for a few minutes when I get back to Millennium on Sunday makes me feel much better.

Rani trying to find some shade

Birthday!

Today is my birthday!!
What a wonderful place to be for my 24th birthday. A little sad to be away from everyone I love, but I am going to get to spend it with so many people here who I've grown so close to as well.

I think today I will buy some chocolate. And tonight we're all going to see Battleship in the theater nearby. It's going to be so cheesy and amazing, I'm so excited!

Days 2-4 (Tuesday - Thursday)

Day 2 (Tuesday)
**My new favorite thing: Gardening.
Leaving a job where I didn't have to move any muscles except my fingers, I am really enjoying work that engages my whole body. Today I weeded, watered, and helped dig a foundation for a hut. "Dig" may not seem overly tiring, but the ground is so hard we need to break it up with an extremely heavy metal bar before we can shovel it away. I wielded the iron bar, (I think there's a name for the tool, but I don't know it. It's taller than I am and the end is like a flathead screwdriver,) lifting it above my head, bringing it down as hard as I can and then pulling down to lever the dirt apart. It's so exhausting, but so satisfying. I love being outside all day and surrounding myself with nature. I lovingly watered the okra that I planted yesterday and talked to it so that it would feel encouraged to grow. I was disappointed that my time was cut short by being sent to teach English at a nearby school.**

After cleaning Rani and her bed, Annebob and I do the "vet check" which involves brushing off the bottoms of her feet, checking for any abrasions, and feeding her a vitamin ball. Today is my turn. I am a little nervous as I am approaching a raised elephant foot, yup, definitely big enough to squash me like an ant. But I really enjoyed it. I give the vitamin ball and Annebob gives her some reward fruit. She was telling me yesterday about elephant body language. Ears out, cheeks red, and eyes wide is aggression, or as we call it "RUN!" Curling the trunk under and resting it in your hand is trust. As Annebob feeds the fruit she leaves her hand out. Rani reaches back to sniff for more papaya. Not finding any, she begins to pull her trunk back, but first curls it under and rests it in Annebob's hand. Nobody here has had their elephant do that, and this is the first time for Annebob. I am watching--as are about 6 others--as Annebob's face lights up and she is nearly overcome with emotion. As Rani ambles away, Annebob is turning toward us, completely speechless. Everyone here just witnessed such a touching moment, it's very difficult to describe. I can only hope that this will happen for me before I leave.

I do a little gardening today, but my time is cut short because Shala and I are on the schedule to go teach English at a nearby school. It's actually less teaching and more playing with the kids while incorporating English. It is an after school daycare of sorts, with children of all ages from 5-11. There are 8 kids of varying English proficiency. I start out by asking them their names and ages and then having them all tell me what color shirt they are wearing. Then we move on to me saying a color and they have to point to something that color. For an hour Shay and I come up with various activities and have so much fun with the kids. I enjoy playing with them and seeing how each of them start to come out of their shell over time. My favorite game was probably a Simon says-esque game where someone would say a word or command and everyone would act it out. This way they get to associate the words with actions, not letters on a page. We also had fun throwing a ball around a circle, and when you got the ball you said something about yourself.
"My favorite subject is English."
"My name is Deshena."
"I have one sister."
"My favorite color is orange."
The time was quite enjoyable, but an hour of it was mentally and physically wearing. So much running around with them and attempting to entertain/teach them all in a way that incorporated a wide range of ages and English fluency. Shay and I are pleased with the hour and look forward to seeing them again, but happy to get back to the bungalow, which I now call home.

Day 3 (Wednesday)
**My new favorite thing: emotional release.
As I was painting the office today I started to feel very strange, and I didn't know what was wrong with me. I ate a couple of biscuits (yes, I call cookies biscuits now because I'm so surrounded by people from the UK) because I thought maybe I was low on calories in the 7 hour break between lunch and dinner (watch out, soon I'll be saying dinner and supper). I didn't feel any better, and continued to decline. My painting got slower and slower and I started to feel light headed. I tried sitting outside in the fresh air for a bit, but nothing worked and my head started to spin. When I went outside to wash a brush off in the sink, Jade asked me if I was feeling any better and as I started to say "no" I got a lump in my throat. I told her that nothing was making me upset, but that I had just gotten a surge of emotion. Then, for no reason--and taking me completely by surprise--I just leaned down and cried. She spoke soothingly to me as I stood there emptying my emotional stores. After a 3 minute cry, I immediately began to feel better. My head cleared and I was able to work again. As it turns out, this is not an uncommon phenomenon here, and multiple other volunteers have experienced similar unprompted emotions.**

Today is a quiet day because most of the volunteers are in Colombo extending their 30 day visas and buying supplies (supplies!) We decide to power through painting the office while they're gone and surprise them when they come home. I also do a stint in the fruit shop selling fruit to tourists so they can feed the elephant who gave them a ride. As I am watching a guy get splashed by his elephant in the river, making bets with myself if he will buy a plate when he's done, I sketch out an idea for a t-shirt design. We are trying to come up with more fund raising ideas and designing and selling t-shirts is the newest one. I will attempt to upload a sketch of my idea for you all to critique. I showed my rough sketch to the tourist and not only did he like it, but he bought a plate of fruit (totally knew he would.)

At the tail end of dinner all the Colombo volunteers return, exhausted from a long day. (Leaving at 6AM) Ilsa is distressed that the pocket of her new pants has torn, so I offer to sew them for her after dinner. Armed with my sewing kit and a headlamp, I bring her pants back to life. Everyone is joking about how I am so prepared for everything. After the pants are sewed up and I offer to patch up a cut on Bert's leg (open wounds get infected quickly here because the bugs aggravate them) they start calling me Dr. Liz.


Day 4 (Thursday)
**My new favorite thing: pasta.
Today for lunch we were given pasta and it was glorious! There is a restaurant just across the street from Millennium that is associated with us and serves us all our meals. In fact, I think we're the only people they serve. I guess restaurant is a bad name for it then, but it's the best I've got. Meals are served buffet style, lunch and dinner are almost always white rice with 2 types of curry/Dahl on the side. I didn't realize how much rice I was eating until they changed it up. Of course, now this has set off a whole slew of cravings from home (what I wouldn't give for some pancakes with maple syrup), so perhaps I should have stuck with the white rice twice a day for 10 weeks.**

Today our project work continues, and I am able to work a little bit on the garden, which I love so much. I'm going to be an expert gardener when I get home. The yard will be unrecognizable, and I might even learn to love bees and other terrifying pollinating bugs (I'm clearly not there yet). I also work the fruit shop today and decide to make a phrase book to keep there "Would you like to make a donation to the Foundation of 200 rupees and get a plate of fruit to feed the elephant?" in a bunch of languages. I'm already not a salesman--my complete absence of sales skill is actually a running joke with one of my coworkers--so put me in the fruit shop with tourists who don't even speak my language and just see how much fruit I'll sell. I'm actually surprisingly successful when they can understand me, but miming the process of feeding fruit to an elephant, while fun and rather amusing, is not a patented sales technique. Perhaps asking where they're from and butchering their home language is the key.

Today is a very sad day, tonight we say goodbye to Kevin and Judy. All day we are so sad and keep giving them hugs and well wishes. Everyone is sad to see them go, but the day is given a brighter note by the fact that midnight marks Shay's 22nd birthday. (Shay makes everything brighter). After dinner, throughout the partying for Kevin and Judy, the night is punctured by Shay's voice, "guys, guys...2 hours and 15 minutes until my birthday!"
Shay's birthday struck, as expected, at midnight, and although we were all waking up at 5am the next morning, we couldn't let her birthday start in bed, so we stayed up for it to celebrate. Her birthday will continue upon waking--in 4.5 hours--with piling into a van and driving to the beach. The weekend starts early this week.

Day 1 with Rani!!!

The day count is reset now that I'm at MEF and have an Elephant :)

**My new favorite thing: (obviously) Elephants!!
This morning I meet up with the other volunteers at 7:30 and we each go with our elephant handlers known as Mahouts (pronounced mah-HOOT) to our elephants' sleeping areas. We clean them out and do a poop count as the Mahouts lead the elephants down to the river and their day areas. Annabob and I go down to the river after cleaning and help our mahout, Chandana, wash Rani. She really is the most beautiful one here. Also let's take a moment to absorb the fact that I got to WASH an ELEPHANT!
Rani lay down on her side in the river and we scrubbed her with coconut shells. Nope, still need more of a moment to abosrb the fact that I got to WASH an ELEPHANT! Today I just scrubbed her back, but
Annabob tells me that soon Rani will trust me more and I'll be allowed to scrub her head and sides.**

After she is clean, Annabob brushes off the bottoms of her feat and feeds her a dough ball with medicine in in. Just before lunch Annabob tells me that there are only 2 elephants here who paint and Rani is one of them! We get the paints and set up the eaisel. I take pictures as Rani paints and Annabob gives her the paintbrushes. Annabob wants me to chronicle the process because she is planning to buy the painting that Rani makes. I promise to give her the pictures of the creation of her newly acquired art.

At lunch I discover that in taking Fran's place with Rani I am considered quite lucky. Bert and Kevin cannot wash Raja becaue he attacked his Mahout a few days ago. Leiah's elephant Seetha, has been loaned away from the foundation for 4 months, and everyone agrees that Rani has the best Mahout who Annabob and I get to work with.

In addition to working directly with the elephants, we all have duties around the foundation. I pick gardening to be my project. I work with our gardener Cherith (a Sri Lankan man), Bert, Kevin, Judy, and Annabob. We are trying to grow as many things here that we can to feed the elephants and sell in order to make MEF more self sufficient.

Today we clear weeds, harvest sweet potatoes, water the beds (with watering cans that have to be filled and lugged back and forth), plant okra, and clear a spot of land in the garden for a massage hut. I have never been more exhausted in my life! As we are harvesting sweet potatoes, Annabob decides to eat one raw so she borrows my Leatherman to peel it. I clip it to my belt as I work and everyone has been admiring it, but this is the first time it's needed to be used. 10 minutes later we are eating a delicious sweet potato as I take her to my medicine cabinet for the first time my cut ointment and bandaids need to be used.

I absolutely adore working with Cherith (we all call him Cherry) and have requested to Helena that this be my permanent project. Cherry is very good at speaking English, and is going to help me with my Sinhalese while I'm here. Today I was asking him what he calls all the tools we are using, some of which I don't even know the english name.
I think I will like it here.

Week 2/ Day 8

**My new favorite thing: Overpacking.
When I get here and start to unpack, I put all the medicines and first aid supplies on a shelf in my room, letting everyone know that they are welcome to any of it. I brought so much medicine for multiple ailments and have not needed any of it yet. As some of the volunteers admire my stash, I start to feel like that guy from The Shawshank Redemption, "so I hear you're a guy who can get things." As much as we are all laughing about how many extra first aid supplies I brought, I think we all feel a little bit of security with the shelf there.**

After a 3-4 hour drive I arrive at Millennium Elephant Foundation (MEF or Millennium). I actually thought that I was going to be at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, but Michael was telling me that at the Elephant Orphanage his volunteers were much less happy than they are here. They would go weeks of working without ever touching an elephant, and with 80 just a stone's throw away that got very frustrating. At Millennium there are only 8 elephants but they get more individual care from volunteers. I am SO EXCITED.

When I arrive I get to meet the other volunteers. Helena, Wade, and Tamsin (British) are the volunteer coordinators. Isla, Annebob, and Bert (Dutch) are here for 6 more weeks. Neave (Welsh) is here for 2 more weeks. Kevin, Judy (British), Jade, Leiah, and Shala (American) are all leaving in 1 week. Fran leaves in the morning but we cross paths long enough for me to give her the couple of things she forgot at Michael's house and bond over our mutual love of Harriet and Michele.

I am also surprised by my accommodations. I am not with a host family, but in a bungalo with the other volunteers. My roommates are Jade and Leiah, who seem very cool. Of course, everyone seems very cool.

Tomorrow I will take over Fran's slot with Annebob working with Rani, the most beautiful female here, according to Annebob. (She is understandably biased.)

Week 1 -- Days 2-7

Day 2 (Monday)

**My new favorite thing: Mango Lassi
Lassi is a yogurt drink that is mixed with pureed fruit in a variety of flavors. We think that the drinks here are made with curd, not yogurt, because curd is so much less expensive here. Either way, they're delicious. Cold and creamy with a fruity flavor. Michele, Harriet, and I stopped in a little cafe in the Dutch fort today and got some. The cafe was empty except for us, and we sat around drinking our Lassi and reading the books they had lying around the cafe. Mostly books (in English) about Sri Lanka.**

I wake up at 5AM this morning, and though I know I don't need to be up for hours, I don't fall back asleep. I feel rested, so instead I read, daydream, and just relax. At 7:30 I meet Harriet and Michele for breakfast and we plan to go to the beach when they come home for lunch. They just work mornings, I guess. After breakfast are my language and culture classes. Michael talks to me about the culture here and then his adult daughter begins to teach me Sinhalese.

After lunch Michael's son-in-law, Indika, takes us to the beach, a little known spot a 5 minute walk from the road. As it is a holiday here, there is more of a crowd than usual, approximately 40 people, all local. We swim and play in the water, never without being closely watched by at least 15 pairs of eyes. After a while Harriet and I retire to the sand to lay down on our towels for a while, but are quickly driven back into the water by a group of men offering us beer, smoke, and incessantly asking us the same questions over and over in broken English. All of these things so adorable when the interaction is with the children that approach us often, but when accompanied by a leering look and an apparent inability to now when to stop, we quickly remove ourselves. Even the security that Indika's company provides is fading as the other swimmers become more bold. A group of them take our ball (ok, it was a floating fruit that we were playing with) and would not give it to Michele unless she told them her name. She (very wisely) refuses. I had just that morning learned the Sinhalese word for "please," so I reached out my hand for the ball and said it. I must have mispronounced it because they mistook part of it for my name, and spent the rest of the time we were there shouting it, "Karala, come over here!" "Karala, we love you, baby." "Karala!" "Karala, what is your age? 16?" By the way, a lesson to all the men reading this, there is a limit to the flattery of underestimating a woman's age, and I do NOT look 16!

I am so disheartened at the complete failure of my first attempt to communicate in Sinhalese. Indika cheers me up saying that these are clearly not gentlemen and so perhaps they have never heard the word "please." We all laugh and I feel better.

On the way home Indika drops us off at the Dutch fort where we walk to a cafe for the mango lassi and reading. I was supposed to have Indika take me to the turtle conservation project as part of my culture class, but I elected to go with the girls to the cafe instead. I'm sure Michael won't mind.

Day 3 (Tuesday)

**My new favorite thing: Local shopping.
In the local town center there are very few tourists, so the things we see there are authentic and fixed price. This is music to my ears because I hate haggling. I remember stopping in Mexico on a cruise a couple years ago I was introduced to it. I would browse the beach vendors' items and then report back to my friend Jesus what I wanted and he would take my money and haggle for me. Since I don't have Jesus with me here (and his fluency in Spanish wouldn't be as much of an asset anyway) I am glad for some shopping that I can do on my own. It's also a different attitude than tourist traps. People greet us and gesture toward their shop, but do not pressure us or try to keep us from walking away: these are the items/prices and if you don't want them, they let you move on. I bought a couple things for myself here today. It's mothers day and also my mom's birthday while I'm over here, so maybe I thought about that while I was shopping, but maybe not... Don't get your hopes up, Mommy!**

After I wake up I wow Deneshi, Michael's daughter who is teaching me Sinhalese, with my memory of yesterday's lessons, and my quick grasp of today's first lesson, but lose my edge with today's second lesson. I fall apart trying to name the days of the week or tell someone that I am thirsty.

Harriet and Michele come home at lunch and today we go shopping in Galle. I text Michael that I will be at the bus station to meet him for my culture trip (don't want to miss it again today!) at 3, and go shopping with the girls. Today my trip is to the turtle conservation project. Endangered turtles lay eggs on the beaches in Sri Lanka, but people here dig them up and sell them as delicacies for people to eat. The conservation project tries to stop this and also will buy the eggs to save them. They rebury them inside the project's facilities, and release them a few days after they hatch. I get to see some turtles that have hatched just last night. They are so adorable. The trip is interesting, but I wouldn't recommend it. 

After dinner Michele, Harriet and I break out some chocolate and stay up for hours talking in the living room. We are still there long after the house is asleep, comparing our views on Sri Lankan culture and religion and segueing into talking about the political climates in our own countries. Michele is from Switzerland and Harriet from Australia. We compare, contrast, complain, and covet. We all 3 seem to agree that we would like to see a combination of the culture we see here and the culture we have each left behind. The busy, bustling lives we have left contrast sharply with the laid back attitude here. I find it so refreshing to get away from it all, but I think I would go insane if I spent all my days with nothing to do but lounge lethargically in the heat.

Day 4 (Wednesday)

**My new favorite thing: Spiders.
Well favorite might be a bit strong of a word, but considering how far down on the totem pole they were, they definitely get an award for most improved. I have entered into an alliance with any spiders I see. They have free reign of the house and in return for catching the mosquitoes, I do not kill them. I make no promises about the strength of the treaty if one of them crosses over the territory line and begins to crawl on me.**

I am "skipping" my classes today to go on a day trip with Harriet and Michele. We are going surfing at a beach about an hour away and then shopping on the way home. I hope I can stay awake, I've been up since 5 and found it impossible to get back to sleep.

Well, surfing didn't go quite as well as planned. Actually, I had no false hope that I would be any good. Harriet, who surfs every day in Australia, was told by her fellow surfers that there is very good surfing in Sri Lanka, and they made her promise to go. I'm sure that somewhere there is, but we were clearly in the wrong place. Oh well, floating on a board out past the break-line for an hour was well worth the 300 rupee board rental.

Day 5 (Thursday)

**My new favorite thing: hot tea in the heat.
Not only is Sri Lankan tea world renowned, but it is the perfect drink in the heat of the day. Drinking the hot tea makes me sweat more, which ends up cooling me off. It is very refreshing.**

I have double classes today to make up for spending the day out yesterday. One great thing about the immersion program being done by Michael and his daughter is that it's very informal and since I am the only student it can really cater to me. After my morning classes I decide to walk to town to pass the time. I think I remember the way to the local shopping area, but today I am walking alone because Michele and Harriet are still working. Anyone who knows me will not be shocked to hear that I got very lost. It is a straight shot home from the bus station, which I never wandered too far from, so I know if I could make my way back there I could get home. After circling the area around the station twice I finally found the shops (hiding in plain sight) and still made it home for lunch and afternoon lessons.

Today's trip, the beach. I am currently engaged in a staring contest with a crab which has taken a particular liking to me. I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye while sitting on my towel at the beach. He was walking along toward me, so I flicked some sand at him to scare him away. It did not work as planned. He scuttled away a couple steps and he's just staring at me. Now he's inching toward me. I flick some more sand and that seems to turn him away a bit. Nope. He just made a mad dash to my towel and started clambering around my water bottle and flipflops. I am very proud of myself because I did not make a scene or jump up. I picked up one of my flipflops and shooed him away. Now he's staring and inching again. We are at a standoff.
Creep. Stop. Creep.
Flick sand.
Back off, lay down to look like a rock. Sloooowly rise back onto feet. Creep. Stop. Creep.
Flick sand.
I wish my tuk-tuk driver would get here to pick me up. Michele and Harriet were busy this afternoon, so I am here alone. Well, I guess I have the company of little Sebastian here, and all the locals who are standing around looking at me even though I did not go swimming and am not wearing a bathing suit. In my culture classes Michael warned me about the clothing and the men here. He said that when tourists go to and from the beach they should take care to cover themselves if they do not wish for every man to stare. These men who do not often see this much of a woman walking down the street will all stare, and it irritates the tourists. I agree with his sentiment and abide by the rules of modesty here, but it does little good. Walking around either alone or with Harriet and Michele, we are young white women and we attract attention wherever we go, whatever we wear.

It is a sad night tonight because Harriet is going back to Australia. Michele is especially sad to see her go, they shared a room for 3 weeks. And after Sunday even I will be gone and Michele will be all alone.

Day 6 (Friday)

**My new favorite thing: Sinhalese.
Perhaps by the time my 10 weeks is up I'll actually be able to have a conversation in it. I am certainly not there now, but I know enough to let people know that I am not merely a loud American passing through. The shopkeepers give me approving looks as I tell them what I am looking to buy, and local men tend to leave me alone after I answer their English questions in Sinhalese. What makes me a target--to men, shopkeepers, beggars--is not the color of my skin, but what it indicates: a lack of cultural knowledge. Not knowing that I shouldn't trust the men here, not knowing what things should cost, not knowing that begging is mostly a scam...Michael told me to beware of men asking me to buy milk powder for their children, they prey primarily on white people (probably women) and insist "not money, please just buy me this milk powder," to gain trust, but will return the powder once you're gone and, throwing the shopkeeper a tip, pocket the cash. Using Sinhalese keeps some of this at bay. Not all (I've still felt the need to learn how to say "my name is not 'baby'") but enough that I feel more comfortable. And I like the happy looks I get with the comments of "you are learning Sinhalese!" This is clearly not a trend among visitors.**

This morning for my last culture trip I go with Michele to the orphanage. Michael has arranged for me to go as a volunteer, like Michele, for 3 hours. My last language/culture classes will be this afternoon.

The babies are so cute and some of them are so so small. I spend the morning changing diapers and holding babies. If the environment were slightly less depressing, this would be a job I could do every day. As it is, however, I think that it would overwhelm me. These babies don't have enough diapers, and not nearly enough love. A little girl, much too small for her age, falls asleep in my arms. Another little boy, who I think might have a bit of a fever lays don't on my legs while I fan him to keep him cool. When I go to the section with the older children (probably 1.5-3 years) I am bombarded by tiny hands brandishing toys for me to admire. One boy has a doll, another boy has the shoes that belong on the doll. I show them that the shoes go on the doll. They are very impressed. Then, for the next 5 minutes I am the center of a trading port for doll shoes. The orphanage must have gotten a bulk shipment of these dolls because suddenly I have about 11 shoes (all the exact same) being brought to me. A little girl will thrust 3 into my hand, a couple boys will take them away, but them come back with more. The shoes are running around the collective of children, changing hands, moving around me, but all through me. It's very sweet.

I'm am so glad that I got to see the orphanage, but I think that I'm also glad that I won't be going back after lunch.

My last language class is bittersweet. Daneshi praises my swift memory (if not accent) of the language, and I am happy to please her. I am sad to be leaving, certainly, but I will be on my way to what I really came here to do, work with the Elephants!!

Day 7 (Saturday)

**My new favorite thing: Walks on the beach.
I never used to be a huge fan of walking on the beach. The sand gets everywhere and if I go in the water then the sand sticks to my capris, it's a mess. Here, however, it's not like I'm clean anyway so what does it matter?
My feet actually feel cleaner than before. I'll find grains on sand on me for hours, but I don't feel any grittier than normal, really. There is a stretch of beach just outside Michael's house, so today I went out and walked along it. Coated in sunscreen and with my water bottle slung over my shoulder, I took an hour to myself for a relaxing walk through the waves. Michael's wife, Pushpa, laughed at me when I got home because my capris were so soaked. There was hardly anyone there and I was able to just be there watching as the waves crashed and rolled. Far enough down the beach, the beige sand turns jet black, and my legs had a thin residue of black linger on them. But mixed in with the sand I would swear was crushed up diamonds. All along the beach the sand was twinkling at me in the sunlight. Against the pitch black ground it looked so much like stars, it was really beautiful.**

Today there is very little going on. Harriet is gone home and Michele has left for a trip. I spend the way walking and relaxing with the family. I also finish The Picture of Dorian Gray. I have been reading so much more than usual while I've been here, it's wonderful. I think this makes 4 books/short stories that I've read.

I pack as well because tomorrow I AM GOING TO THE ELEPHANTS!

What I Miss

What I miss about home is, I think, going to change as time goes by. For instance, I don't miss any foods yet; I am so busy trying new foods I love here. Eventually, however, I'm sure that I will start to crave certain foods and miss more things from home.

What I expect to miss the most is people. I'm going to miss seeing all my friends and my parents as often. I'm meeting new people here, and so far that's been going well for me. Harriet and Michele are good company to have here in Galle this first week, as is Michael and his family with whom I am staying. They are much more accommodating and social than I was expecting in a host family. I'm sure that the volunteers in Pinnawala will be wonderful too, but I miss the easy communication of familiarity. I think I have taken for granted the ability to have at least a few people around me with whom I can speak freely, to make a comment without wondering if I'm going to be misunderstood, judged, or offensive. I also expect to miss cheese.

Right now, though, what I miss the most is the feeling of being clean. This is not so much a surprise, but it's different than I imagined. My shower here is actually pretty good. It's after I leave the shower, I feel great for about 10 minutes, but then I am covered in a thin layer of sweat. 10 minutes later there has been a layer of dust and dirt that has settled on me and mingles with the sweat, sticking to me.

I expected to miss being clean because for 10 weeks I would not have a decent shower, but it turns out that I can. No temperature control, but the water always comes out with decent pressure and lukewarm. It's much cooler than I usually like, but that's when the air around me isn't as hot and humid. I don't know what the shower will be like in Pinnawala. We'll see.

Day 1 (Sunday)

**My new favorite thing:

June Coconut: an orange fruit with coconut water inside. A street vendor will chop one off his bushel, cut a small hole in the top and give you a straw. You drink the water and then give it back, he chops it in half and takes a small piece off the hard outer shell to use as a spoon. You then spoon out the soft coconut inside and eat it. There is a lot of coconut left, but too hard to get out with the spoon.**

My flight has landed and I make my way to immigration. As I am standing in line I get anxious. I am noticing a lot of people get turned away, being told to go to an office behind us. One couple vainly tries to explain that that office sent them to this line. I really do not want to get bounced back and forth like that. After going through without a hitch, I assume those people did not have activated visas.

I get my bags with some help from a nice gentleman standing next to me. He can tell both my bags are right next to each other because of their distinctive purple flower pattern which matches my carry-on. He shows me that his children taped a square of red construction paper to his bag (standard blue) to make it stand out.

I am met at the airport and from here I go to Galle (pronoucned Gaul) to stay with my country coordinator Michael for 1 week. This week is the culteral and language immersion program.

I arrive at 2:30 and am told to relax until dinner at 7:30. I start to unpack and I realize there has been a sunscreen *catastrophe.* One of my gallon containers' tops has broken off and there is sunscreen everywhere! I am literally taking handfulls of it from the bottom of my suitcase and feeding it back into the bottle. Thankfully this was not the suitcase with my clothing.

After cleaning everything I promptly fall asleep for 3 hours, waking up shortly before dinner. At dinner I meet Hariet and Michele, 2 volunteers already living here. They are working at the orphanage here in Galle--the human kind, not elephants. They are very nice, after dinner (very spicy) they invite me to walk with them to the nearby Dutch Fort. Inside we go to the Buddhist Temple and sit on a hill overlooking the ocean.

We are a novelty and Sri Lankans will come over and show off their minimal English for us.

"Hello," "I'm fine, thanks," and "what country are you from?" They may just stand near us, looking, talking among themselves, and laughing. The small children are the most excitable, they see us and immediately turn to us, waving and shouting "hello! hello!" or "goodbye!" When we wave back and say "hello" they have huge smiles on their faces.

Curfew is at 10:30, and we take a bus home to avoid walking too much in the dark. We don't feel unsafe, but it's a long walk and slower in the dark. We are each overcharged by 10 rupees on the bus, but we make it home before the door is locked.

Traveling

Friday, May 4th, 12:40 pm
I arrive at Dulles Airport, make it through security and to my gate without a hitch and with 2 hours until boarding to Toronto. I fall asleep at the gate for approximately an hour, and wake up to find that while I was sleeping the gate for my flight had moved. Slight freak out, but a quick glance at a clock tells me I'm not late and I am able to find the correct gate and settle down again. We leave about an hour late, but knowing I have a 5 hour layover in Toronto, I am not worried.

6:25 PM
Sitting at a juice bar in the Toronto airport drinking a delicious strawberry smoothie. I am very glad for my long layover here because I have taken pretty much every wrong turn since I've been here.
I was not supposed to go through customs, but I did. In my defense, I didn't think that I was supposed to, but the employee I asked at the entrance to the customs line told me that I was.
So then I find myself turned around at baggage claim trying to explain to a french speaking employee that I don't need to get my bags because they're automatically going to my next flight.
I am now relaxing at this juice bar after going to the domestic security line instead of international. Next step: international security and wait for my flight to Frankfurt.
     Sleep in the last 33 hours: 2.5 hours.

1:30 PM (Frankfurt Time)
I am now sitting at a bar in Frankfurt airport. A real bar this time, not juice. I went through customs again, but this time I was supposed to. I don't have a boarding pass for my flight to Colombo because I'm switching from Air Canada to Sri Lankan Airlines. So I needed to exit and then go check in with Sri Lankan to go back through secuirty. I think I confused the customs guy a bit:
"So where are you headed?"
"Colombo, Sri Lanka"
"You do know you're in Germany customs right now?"
I explained my situation and he was understanding, if slightly gruff.

The goal was to sleep on the plane to Toronto and in the Toronto airport once I got to my gate, but that didn't really work out too well. I wasn't able to get any sleep in the airport, but I revised my plan slightly and allowed myself to sleep on the plane to Frankfurt. In addition to watching Captain America, talking to my cell mate, and reading, I think I was able to swing 3-4 hours.
The most important is to sleep for the full duration of this next flight: 10 hours long arriving at 10AM.
If I can do that I should arrive fully rested and ready for the full day. It's what we in the biz call beating jetlag like a boss.

Wandering around Frankfurt airport I notice a "Last Minute Tickets" booth. There are 2 signs on the counter, "Tickets to anywhere, last minute" and "Sri Lanka Visa." Random, but fortuitous. I show the woman my electronic travel authorization and she activates it for me. (This will end up making Day 1 easier)

I thought having 9 hours in Frankfurt was going to stress me out or be incredibly boring, but it's actually pretty relaxing. To be able to have a glass of wine and not worry about the fact that my phone has no service here or that I'd like to savor this glass very slowly while reading my kindle and writing in my journal. I am made of time.

7:30 PM (Frankfurt Time)
I am getting very nervous. My flight to Colombo leaves in about an hour. I am sitting in the gate waiting to board. As soon as they start boarding I will take a sleeping pill, then ear plugs and eye shades when we take off. The 10 hour flight will possibly only seem like a few minutes if I can sleep as I hope.
I don't know what to expect, so that's exciting and scary.
I don't know how well I'm going to handle being away from everyone I know for 10 weeks.

8:30 AM (Sri Lanka time)
I am still on the plane. We land in 1.5 hours.
I fell asleep as the plane was taking off. I'm pretty sure my last thought was "it doesn't feel like we're going fast enough to lift off...oh, I guess we were." I put an altoid in my mouth to help my ears pop during take-off. I woke up who knows how much later with it still in my mouth. I woke up a few times, changing positions and falling back to sleep. I am sitting in a window seat with nobody sitting next to me, and only these 2 seats on my side of the aisle. So 2 seats completely to myself. It's a much nicer arrangement with extra space and not worrying about leaning over while I'm sleeping and drolling on some stranger's shoulder. Also I took the pillow and blanket from that seat too and slept like a king!
I slept for about 8 hours, not the soundest of sleep, but a full night's.

9:55 AM
We are approaching the island and I can see thin white beaches and then green. Everything is green. I can see houses now, but they are just a red roof nestled into all the green. They don't raze a whole area, build, and then replant. They just clear enough for the house. Now I can see the airport, and the wheels touch down.

Questions

I am completely packed and headed out to the airport in half an hour. Been keeping myself busy and awake to try to get the jump on this whole jetlag business.
Went to a midnight showing of The Avengers last night (awesome!) which helped to keep me up all night. My goal was to not sleep at all so that I would crash when I get on the plane in a couple hours, late at night by Sri Lankan time. I managed to stay awake almost all night, fell asleep for an hour around 6AM, but my mom and I were going on a walk at 7:30, so I didn't sleep for very long. I think I'm sufficiently tired to fall asleep on my flight and in the Toronto airport.

 Anyway, I want to give everyone a chance to ask any questions here in the comments section. The next time I update I'll answer them in my next post.
Example: "Are you excited to be using the rupee as your monetary unit because it is totally the best sounding currency on the planet"
Answer: Yes, absolutely. And I challenge you to find a currency that sounds cooler than 'rupee.' Except perhaps 'doubloon' but I'm pretty sure nobody uses those anymore.

 So comment with any questions you have and I'll do my best to answer all of them.

 ~E

Packing

I am finishing up packing now. Off to Dulles tomorrow afternoon for my flight to Toronto -> Frankfurt -> Columbo!!! So getting to Dulles and then 35 hours later I will be surrounded by Elephants!