Preschool HappinessThis morning I went to the preschool where I have been spending time a couple of mornings a week. The teachers seem happy to have me, I think because they enjoy the chance to practice speaking English too. We spend our time together singing songs, some in English and some in Sinhala. The songs we have been practicing are Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Six Little Ducks and the Hokey Pokey. I try to join in with their songs though I can only reason from the actions to the song what they are about: flowers, rain and the sun, I think. Today we realized that we have another song in common. The children sang a song that had similar actions to I’m a Little Teapot so I showed them the version of that song that I know.  The preschool teacher has also said that some of the kids would like to sing in our multicultural show at the end of our time in Sri Lanka which is great.
After we sing for a bit we practice saying English words from pictures on flashcards. The children are catching on and starting to remember a few words from week to week, like apple, fish, flower. We spent some time today sitting on the floor drawing our own pictures with pastels. I’m never free to go until I’ve been offered and have eaten a snack. Today the snack was, well, a little different to say the least. It was a crumbly, warm, thick paste baked into a leaf. Hrm, what to do with this I thought. To be honest I panicked a little about how I was going to eat it all because I wanted to appear gracious. I managed half and was free to go.
We met with Joy, the project coordinator and her husband, David for dinner. They are staying in Weligama which takes about an hour and a half to get to by bus. We had to switch busses in Matara, a little confusing, but we managed to find our way. The dishes that we had for dinner were similar to the dishes that we have everyday: rice, curried sweet potatoes, fish curry, bean curry. Dessert was a real treat: pineapple and ice cream. Yum! We updated Joy on the work we have been doing in Moraketiara and shared our brainstorming about how we wish to donate the money we have raised. In the next couple weeks we need to make our final decisions about our donation money. We are not short on ideas.