19 Days..

Train to no where . . .

Today I'm freestylin'

This week I have been terrible about keeping track of daily journal. I wrote up until Wednesday and then the week got a little hectic and I haven’t made the time to write sense.

Days left: 19

I’m currently.. at this very moment soaking up the sun, beach side in Mirissa, Sri Lanka. I am sitting in a white beach/tanning chair with a navy green (sandy) cushion on top, under a very bright green umbrella cemented to the sand. As I stare out into the ocean and watch the biggest waves I’ve ever seen.. crashing second after second, never resting, I pray. Giving thanks to the Lord for every oppotunity I’ve had in this life.. in America, in Sri Lanka… EVERYTHING. Every cloud is so perfectly placed and each wave so different from the last.. makes me sad I didn’t set out the time to journal the end of my week. Like the waves each day is so different from the last, though I go to the same projects each week no day resembles the last. It is in fact at the same places, same country, sometimes even possibly the same service users.. but no project, no day, no moment like the last. For this reason is why I began to journal my experiences here, so I wouldn’t forget the moments that mean the most.

No worries, today, Sunday is a day for catching up. Catching up on good vibes, rest, and readying myself for the upcoming week. Romans 15:13.

This past week was one I’ll never forget..

Savi Homestay received 3 new volunteers, making our house a bit more interesting. It’s nice having more people around quiet honestly.

Monday flew by, it started off with our weekly session planning getting ready for the week. That afternoon I taught english to students and made it home just in time for dinner.

Tuesday was a day that will warm my heart forever, after our morning projects & lunch SLVs (Sri Lanka Volunteers) afternoon sessions were cancelled and the facility we work with told us we’d get to go with the service users on a field trip. When finding out this news I can honestly say I couldn’t tell if I was more nervous or excited. The afternoon came and we loaded the busses, riding with the service users to our destination. The driver played music the staff danced around the aisle & the service users clapped to the beat to each song. After arriving to our destination the service users got to enjoy dancing, songs, and snacks… not knowing how long it had been since they’ve been able to go out was heart breaking but seeing the smile on each & every one of their faces brought tears to my eyes.

Wednesday came & went so fast I can barely remember what I did..  since arriving in Sri Lanka my projects for Wednesdays have re-assigned. This is the first Wednesday I was able to attend my actual projects, which was so nice. I planned a sports like session for the AM & for the afternoon taught english to students. For my morning sessions my group & I had planned mulitple active games. To start off we stretched and played a game of tag called, sharks & minos. For our transition activity we played duck, duck goose and then a nice competitive game of egg & spoon. Each service user got a turn to carry a hackey sack (eggs were to dangerous, haha), walk it on the spoon to the opposite side of the room, and around a chair. From here the service users had tea time which worked out perfectly because we needed time to set up our main activity, balance & mobility stations. I was concerned that the service users may not understand each station or if they did they wouldn’t be pleased with them. To my surprise everyone engaged and wanted to do each station more then once. Watching each of them challenge themselves and complete each task AND MORE THEN ONCE made my heart just GLOW! Main activity Stations: Station 1- we laid 10 sheets of paper set a good lunge (if you’re short) or step apart. Each sheet had two feet drawn inside and the task was to be able to stretch your body to each sheet & place your feet inside the feet drawn. Station 2- I made 5 pairs of colored circle cut outs placed them a good width apart from each other & gave each dot a different task, walk backwards, side ways, opposite side, turn arounds, and bear crawls. Last station, Station 3- I cut out hands and feet and tapped each one to the ground, the task was to move your body with each cut out. I will always remember this day.. watching each service user struggle YET achieve each station. I watched them cheer each other on and their faculty teachers smiles glowed watching how happy they all were. At the end of the session a teacher met me outside the doors & thanked me for giving such fun, & challenging games instead of just tossing a ball around. Time to research what to do for this coming week, I can’t wait!

Thursday, my package came in from America and I quickly learned here that packages are not actually delivered to you, you must go pick it up at the post. What’s the harm in that, nothing I thought. Although I was not to pleased to find out the closest post was a 50 minute drive away, but staying positive I was just thankful for the fact that it made it to Sri Lanka. Thursday’s are my only day where I get a good amount of “free time” after my morning project which begins around 9AM and ends around 11:30AM. Thursday afternoons we (SLVs) are assigned different workshops. This Thursday my workshop didn’t start until 3:30 PM so I made the time to go pick up my package. I arrived in Colombo around 12:45 and waited for the.. WAIT FOR IT new word, PARCEL office to re-open for the afternoon. Once the pick up process started it was fairly easy, (remember & keep in mind that everything in Sri Lanka is still done via paper filling) I filled out a packet with my information and was given a number & waited in a new line. My number was called up and staff showed me to the glass window where they confirm your number and then go grab your package from the back. Here in this line I learned some new things about Sri Lanka. As the man came back to the desk with my package & on the opposite side of the glass he began to cut open my package. I quickly urged him to stop and questioned what the heck he was doing. Well kind of like air port security (KIND OF) they go through each and every item making sure it’s legal. I was absolutely appalled, I stood and watched them abruptly empty out my package in front of everyone there. Because I have been struggling with allergies here my mother sent me loads of medication and they opened each bottle, each package, each wrapper. I was stripped of the happiness that comes with opening a care package, disgusted of the invasion of privacy.. I bucked up, slapped a smile on, watched them re-wrap my belongings back into the box and moved on to the cashier line. Here I filled out another paper and got the prices confirmed, paid for my package & went about my day. This process took around an hour and half plus the time it took to travel there and back to Maharagama; I made it back literally 2-3 minutes before my 3PM workshop.

Friday I woke up to the monkeys as usual and made my way up and out of bed to get ready for the day. My project went well and then I was home and packing for another adventurous weekend. The days here go by slow but the weeks pass like the speed of lighting. It’s insane to think I only have 19 days left, I truly feel like I live here and that’ve been in Sri Lanka for years. My life in America seems like it was in a past life.. Since it’s Sunday here my weekend is almost up, so I’ll quickly wrap this up. My plans for the rest of the day include checking out of my hostel, eating lunch & FaceTiming my family while I still have the luxury of WiFi.

Good day, Namastay, God Bless. From Sri Lanka, 19 days to go.

Xoxo, Sarah Mckenzie.