Keith in Sri Lanka

There was a scratching at my door last night, as Ranger has been relocated from upstairs to downstairs at night, and he is clearly missing Yad, so he came into my room and sat by my bed for a long time. I stroked him, and talked to him about separation anxiety, reassuring him that Yad would return, but he still whimpered and gave me a pleading look, and went to the main door, clearly wanting to be let out, and this happened 3 times before I drifted off to sleep. Meena is struggling to feed Ranger, who is refusing to eat, and Yad's brother told us this always happens when she is away. She has gone away with Jana for a well-earned break, but she will be back in a day or two, and I'm sure Ranger will be delighted to see normal order restored. He is a lovely dog, and Yad adores him, which is probably why he misses her so much. I am very fond of him, as he will often come and sit next to me when Yad isn't around, wanting a bit of attention. I went into school with Hadeeqa today,...

I have found that I often have a dip during my times in Sri Lanka, where I feel a bit down, and a bit homesick, and yesterday was one of those, as it was my son Ben's 35th birthday, and although I had a lovely chat with him in the afternoon, I later saw photos of my wife, Val, and my daughter, Hannah, celebrating his birthday at his flat, and I missed being there, although I was also pleased that Val was able to be with them both, and it was lovely to see them having a good time together. I did have a lovely chat with James from Tea Leaf later on last night, which my phone told me was 47 minutes long, as he 'interviewed' me for his newsletter after he had chatted with me, and the interview helped me to reaffirm why I am out here! For the most part I love being out here, but there are inevitably moments where I feel a bit lonely, and I miss the comfort of being with family. James is great to chat to though, as he is always so positive, and so affirming and encouraging. Today...

I was up early today to go into school, and Anushan came to pick up the school tuk-tuk, so I travelled in with him. It was good to see everyone, including Isabelle, who is doing a great job, particularly with the Advanced Diploma group of students. I was delighted to hear that she is enjoying herself so much that she is already thinking of coming back next year, probably in January and February again, which is great for Tea Leaf, as she has so much to offer. I caught up a bit with sorting out the timetable of offers from my volunteers who provide weekly conversation sessions for the government teachers on the 6-month English Programme Kavi runs. I think I have enough volunteers to provide conversation sessions for 16 teachers, so it just depends how many of the cohort are wanting to have them. I think there are currently 25 or 26 teachers in this new cohort, so I might have enough volunteers now. Tharika phoned me whilst I was at school to see if I could stay on a couple more days in K...

I had a lovely lie in this morning and then had a long shower and lazed around until 12:00 when I went into Nuwara Eliya on a mission to create a business card, as I am always chatting to people about Tea Leaf Trust, but I never have a business card to give them to pass on basic details about Tea Leaf. I mentioned this to James, and he challenged me to create a business card, so I took him up on the challenge today, as I was keen to get something printed off. There is a very good graphic designer who works upstairs in the Nuwara Eliya bus station, but he wasn't there when I got there, and I had to wait for an hour until he turned up. When he did turn up, I had to wait a while for him to sort some things out (it is his business, so he had quite a bit to do). Even when we did start designing the business card, we were constantly interrupted by other customers, so the whole process took well over 2 hours. I think it was worth it in the end, as at least I know have a decent looking bus...

Although it was Saturday, I was still up very early, as I needed to be in Hatton before 10:00 because I was on a mission to deliver some gifts to one of the Sri Lankan teachers from the last 6-month English Programme that Kavi runs from Bogawantalawa. My friend Mima, who teaches English in the school in Cres, was the volunteer who chatted to this Sri Lankan teacher, and she had given me some gifts for him, which I brought home to Bath, then out to Sri Lanka. I met Dharma, his wife Dhana, and their little girl Shana, at Hatton bus station, and we went for a cup of tea together. Daya was free today, and so he joined us. Dharma is a primary teacher, and he was on the 6th cohort of training. His wife, Dhana, who is a secondary teacher of Physical Education, is now part of the 7th cohort, which is great for Mima, as she will be able to continue to have conversations with Dhana now, but still say hello to Dharma as well. Jeevan, a friend I made at The Grand Hotel in 2019, had invited me for ...

The rumours of Tim Pare's imminent arrival were sort of true, in that he has arrived in Sri Lanka, but what I didn't know was that he is staying in Colombo for a couple of days before arriving in Nuwara Eliya at some point on Sunday afternoon, so I shall look forward to meeting him then. I went off to school this morning thinking that he had already arrived late last night, as there was a car parked outside the front of the house that I had never seen before! I watched a couple of lessons at school this morning, but around 10:30 I went out with Anushan doing some promotion work with two of the alumnae from last year. We went to Mahagastota and Meepilimana, two fairly remote places. Mahagastota is one of the poorest villages that I have encountered in my four trips to Sri Lanka, and I was delighted to support them in trying to encourage young people from there onto the Main Diploma Programme. When I go to a village like Mahagastota, it really helps me to understand what I am doi...

As explained yesterday, today was a Poya Day, where Buddhists celebrate the full moon, so there is a Poya Day each month, and a double Poya Day for some reason half way through the year, which I was here for on my second trip to Sri Lanka in 2022. It is basically like having a Bank Holiday, as everyone is given a day off, although it also involves abstinence from alcohol, as no alcohol is served to anyone on Poya Days, which is no great hardship for me. I did take advantage of the Poya Day to sleep in a little longer, but I was still up just after 9. I didn't leave the house today, as Tim Pare and his family were due to arrive. I had thought that would happen late afternoon, but there was still no sign of him by 20:00, so maybe he will arrive much later tonight or even tomorrow. I could have gone into town this afternoon after all, but it didn't matter that much to me, as I had plenty to do here. I caught up on business emails for Rotary, and I also started to prepare a present...

It looks like I am writing my blog for such a tiny group of people at the moment, but I will press on with it, as I promised to keep it going during this current trip to Sri Lanka. I suspect people are all 'blogged out', and it is factual, so I cannot make things up to make it a bit more entertaining for people! I slept from 21:00 last night until 09:00 this morning, which is an indication I think of how ill and exhausted I was from the past couple of days. I was going to go into school at 10:00, but Jesmin encouraged me to rest, and for once I took someone's advice and took the day off to recover, only to discover that tomorrow is a Poya Day, so I have an extra day off then too! You can imagine my jubilation when I got that news from our French volunteer Isabelle! I have quite a lot of paperwork that I can do at my leisure at home tomorrow, so I will be able to pace myself back into things, which will be lovely! I went into town instead of going to school - initially to Vi...

Having intended to get a very early night last night, I ended up celebrating Meena's birthday upstairs, and had a great time, particularly enjoying lots of games of carom - a board game a bit like pool, but played with discs that you flick into the pockets with your fingers (I'll take a picture at some point). We were up until midnight, and it was fun being with everyone and socialising, even if it meant that I got to bed extremely late for me in Sri Lanka. I had not been in bed long before I was more ill with a stomach upset than I have ever been in Sri Lanka in my four visits, and it continued through the night. I think it must have been from something I picked up on my extremely long journey today. I am pretty sure it wasn't from the food I ate this evening, as we all ate the same things, and I don't think anyone was ill. I have no medicine with me for such occasions, so I am thinking of purchasing some pretty quickly. Despite the lack of sleep, I still woke early, f...