We arrived at Rassandeniya School with high hopes that today would match yesterday’s exploits. We were greeted by the children and heavy rain at 9am, followed by daily prayers and ‘circle songs’; these included old time favourites such as ‘four little ducks’ to the slightly ‘purer’ ‘make a circle’. This was followed by an invitation by Felicita (teacher) to sing our own song, and a resounding rendition of ‘baa baa black sheep’ ensued.Subsequently, our stage was set to initiate the day’s first activity, with the children enjoying the construction of their very own butterflies: many pretty patterned butterflies were soon to be seen flying around the classroom. Now was the time to ‘go to snack’, so the self explanatory song told us, and at which time we were greeted by the exquisite roti, much to the majority of the group’s delight, and much to Rach’s evident disgust. We then thoroughly enjoyed (probably just as much as the children) playing a colours game, whereby we placed coloured cones on the floor then shouted the colour that the children were to run and collect for us; thus, much merriment was had, amalgamated with an educational purpose.
Lunchtime in the temple was as delightful and delicious as ever with a distinct (positive) lack of fish, with salad, rice and dahl aplenty, and curd and honey providing the perfect equilibrium between sweet and sour. It was also noticeable that the gooseberries did not appear today. With stomachs pleasantly appeased we tottered back to the school for an afternoon of Sri Lankan style dancing, with help from dancing teacher Krashinthi, and at the expense of our dignity. If anything, our dance moves could have been misconstrued as resembling Baloo the Bear, rather than their desired appearances. This said, it was an excellent and FUNNY experience which I look forward to replicating on my next visit to this fantastic school.
All in all, a wonderful day, with a passionate and enthusiastic teacher, beautiful children and tireless volunteers. As I have run out of superlatives, I apologise for the formality of this blog entry (I need to retire my essay writing technique sharply).