Monday 2nd December 2019

I was in Nuwara Eliya Tea Leaf Vision School for the first time this morning in quite a long time and it was lovely to be back! I stayed until break time and I will spend longer in school tomorrow, but today I needed to get back to the house for the final time to sort out the last of my packing. I am leaving a suitcase of stuff here, as there doesn’t seem to be much point in lugging it all back to the UK, because I won’t need some of my stuff there, but I will need it when I return for my next 3-month stint later next year or early in 2021. It is just as well I am leaving a whole suitcase of stuff here, as I still seem to have a very full rucksack and suitcase to take home!

I finished tidying up the house, cleaning my room and throwing the rubbish out. I also completed my final ‘Welcome Home Josie’ banner, as I am very grateful to her for the use of her lovely apartment whilst she has been away in New Zealand. When everything was finally sorted, I sat down and read the end of ‘And the Mountains Echoed’, which has been another extraordinary read from Khaled Hosseini, having also read ‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ previously.

No sooner had I finished my book, when Daya called me to tell me he was in Nuwara Eliya and wanted to see me to say goodbye. He arrived by tuk-tuk for a cup of tea and a final chat. He is an extraordinary young man, who has had more of an impact on me than most people here, because I spent such a long time travelling round Sri Lanka with him. He is certainly someone I will miss very much as I leave here and someone I will look back on with great affection when I recall my time spent in this amazing country.

The only photos I took today were of the 'Tea Leaf Vision' banner that I am going to present to the Management Team tomorrow, so that they can use it for publicity and the 'Welcome Home Josie' banner.





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