Wednesday 21st February 2024

I was sorting things out until late last night, then got up at 06:00, as Reggie was picking me up at 07:00 to take me to Bogawantalawa in his tuk-tuk - a 2-hour journey that, quite honestly, used to be horrendous, as it was the worst main road I have ever travelled on in Sri Lanka. It was, therefore, a very pleasant surprise to find that the road has been completely upgraded since my last visit a year ago, so the journey was a lot more comfortable than I had anticipated!

Reggie was almost the first person I ever met in Sri Lanka - getting on for 5 years ago soon - and I have travelled with him on numerous occasions, so we have got to know each other very well. He has the most delightful disposition, although his English is still a work in progress, so our conversations can get very confused! We were both sporting recent haircuts, and I was very amused to find out that his haircut had received the official approval of his priest at Sunday morning mass!

I am mentally, emotionally, and physically drained, so I am grateful that Bogawantalawa is my final port of call. It is lovely that this is where I have ended up this time, as I have worked more closely with Gobi - and more recently with his wife Kavi - than anyone else in Tea Leaf - and Tea Leaf Centre Bogawantalawa is just such a joyful place to be, as well as being in a stunningly beautiful location. Gobi has even created two additional classrooms since my last visit a year ago!

I observed two lessons this morning, then my afternoon and early evening was taken up with catching up with Kavi's excellent delivery of our 6-month English programme to government teachers to help them to improve their English - and their teaching of English. There are 26 in the current cohort, with 13 of them having conversation sessions with 'native' English speakers from all over the world, and I joined in with their online session this evening to see how they were doing.

Today's photos show Reggie with his tuk-tuk, the windscreen of which is cracked because Reggie somehow managed to head butt it whilst it was parked up at home (he claims that his head barely touched it, so I have no idea what happened there!). On the second photo you can see the newly created classrooms in what was just an open courtyard, and the other photos are of my two lesson observations.








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