Out and About in Moraketiara

We were hoping to get a lot of sleep after three sleepless nights.  For me this didn’t happen but something even better happened to compensate.  We awoke at 6:00am to the beautiful sound of Monks chanting from the nearby temple where we spent last night.  I could not think of a better way to start the day.

After an uplifting wake up call I decided to go for a jog (we agreed to all go together the night before but the others were out for the count), although you couldn’t really call it jogging; plod for 2 mins, get ambushed by a pack of angry dogs, cease plodding until dogs settle, repeat.  I gave up in the end but it wasn’t a wasted journey.  I quickly discovered how incredibly friendly everybody is in the village.  Everybody I passed would stop and say hello, introduce themselves and exchange plesantries all with genuine interest and delight.  The local’s enthusiasm and courtesy show no limit.

I returned to greet the rest of the Project Sri Lanka Posse and Pramita and Jayalath (the fantastic couple that have kindly agreed to put up with us).  Pramita had spent the morning preparing us a delicious breakfast–freshly made bread with pineapple jam, fish sandwiches, fruit, hoppers (which are thin bowl-shaped doughy things with egg at the centre) and chilli onions, served with sweet tea.

After this we went to visit the Moraketiara School where we will be teaching during our stay.  We were greeted with more bubbling enthusiasm and joy on our arrival as children poured from their classroom to shake our hands and ask for our names.  We met with the headteacher Mr. Galapathi to discuss our timetable.  He was very hospitable and, coninciding with the village trend, delightful!  We were shown around the school by Ishan (the son of Pianti, friend of Pramita).  His English was brilliant and it soon became clear as to what an intelligent chap he was, even though he was very modest about how he presented (we discovered that he wakes up at 2:30am every day to revise for his upcoming exams!).  Our tour took us to the various departments (organized by their year groups) and, through meeting with Mr. Lucky Pieris of the Rotary Club, to the sports field (which was in part funded by Project Sri Lanka’s work last year).

We were then taken to Tangalle, a neighbouring city with lots of shopping, where Ishan showed us all his favourite shops.  We stocked up on various goodies and headed home on the bus. Cue stunning scenery–palm trees, long beaches, the turquoise Indian Ocean.

Our day finished with another delicious dinner of fish curry and fresh pineapple and a walk along the gorgeous beach just around the corner.  Bliss!