Today I write this blog post from a coffee shop I found on accident in Colombo Sri Lanka, & they have an AC unit.
Not sure what the better morning pick me up is, the REAL coffee or the AC.
Today’s the first day of Week 4, but today I’ll be sharing my Week 1 !!
Sri Lanka has been one heck of a Roller Coaster! Since coming to Sri Lanka I’ve decided to track my every day experiences in a daily Journal. This has come in very handy as I am not able to Blog everyday. It helps me keep track of everything so I can share it with all of you. 📷
Week one’s thoughts, via my daily journal “I can honestly say I’m ready to go home.”
Boy did I struggle that first week. I can’t believe that it’s already been 3!!! Being out of my country, and for this being my first time it is a bit of a culture shock. Here’s just a little bit about Sri Lanka, there is no AC.. like anywhere, only fans & not to mention the moisture is about 95% humidity with a heat index of about 100 degrees & WITH NO air con… this is NOT easy. It’s honestly so sad knowing that my own culture & most people in the U.S.A are so spoiled without even knowing. The island seems to be very poor and it’s hard for them to build up the towns & cities, much less have room to expand or grow. Because of this many buildings are only half way built, half torn down or look like they were built in the 50’s.
I am living in a town called Maharagama in a homestay near the railway & markets. Savi is our Homestay name and I live here with 3 other girls, 2 volunteers who arrived the same day as me & 1 Peer Mentor (she’s also a volunteer) who’s lived here 6+weeks. All the girls are very sweet and we all get along really well. In our Homestay we have 2girls to a room, 1 per twin bed each room with 2 to a bathroom. After meeting and having conversation with other girls from other homestays it seems as though we’re even a bit spoiled here at Savi. Other Homestays have about 6 girls and 6 boys to one bathroom. This being said I am very thankful for what I have here. Our rooms are connected upstairs and towards the end of the families house and we have an outside dining area where we eat all of our meals. Ammaa (homestay mom) sets out breakfast & dinner there each day.
The only thing I’m not necessarily bummed about but was taken by surprise was that every weekend the volunteers must leave the homestay, and travel each weekend giving the families a nice weekend break from keeping a full house. It’s nice that we get the freedom to travel each weekend but it deff wasn’t apart of my budget planning.
Week one was full of Orientation, Lectures & Training to get ready for conducting projects with our own teams. We were told our culturally appropriate dress code, everything loose fitting, all tattoos covered, sandals or tom like shoes. Totally attractive, I know. haha. We then each individually got the chance to shadow a project conducted by other teams to see what type of environment we would be working in. My shadowed session was with a younger group of service users who were very enthusiastic and outgoing. It was a great session to shadow and the team really seem to hit all the key points they intended to with the service users.
Weekend One was full of first times for me! SLV took us on our first weekend trip, Jungle Weekend. We traveled 3 hours to a town I’ve already completely forgot the name of, how sad. Though we didn’t have the most luxurious hotel, the fan in our room barely worked, and it smelt extremely funny.. It was actually one of the most incredible weekends. Filled with amazing views, new friends, & new adventures!! We started the weekend off with a relaxing night & a curry dinner buffet. That Saturday we all woke up and had group white water rafting after breakfast. This is 100% a possible new hobby I’ve found, I don’t know why I’ve never tried it before! Moving as one with the water was just incredible & magical. Sunday we all went hiking, swimming and cliff jumping. Though I’ve done activities like this before it was still a great experience. During this activity is when I did however gain my first experience with LEECHES.. Yes I said it! After cliff jumping and hearing the others mention how there were leeches, I though I’d be perfectly fine. Little did I know once I climbed out and made it back to my bags I noticed bleeding around my ankles… I had gotten leeches too, GROSS! Thankfully they had fallen off on their own. YUCK. Our weekend adventures were sadly over and everyone returned back to their towns & Homestay by Sunday night.
Monday was a Poya Day, which means it was a local Holiday. So all volunteers had the day off & had to leave the Homestays (after returning Sunday night) to let the family celebrate as they wish. A new friend I met that weekend, Qutoof and I decided to explore the City of Colombo, in Colombo we found . . . A SHOPPING MALL!! Words could not describe the feeling I had after finding this sweet gem, after a long week of heat, sweat & culture shock my soul felt so close to home I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. It’s funny because back home the Mall is like a main place I try to avoid unless completely necessary for my shopping desires. Never in a million years did I think it would make me feel at home, even though this Sri Lankan mall had its own quirks and was deff not Americanized… it helped. Later that day Qutoof and continued walking through the city only to find a … wait for it… my favorite thing in the world… (white girl style) A COFFEE CAFÉ!!! I KNOW! Shut up, right?! I couldn’t believe it either. We made our way inside, now it was nothing fancy the building looked as all the others did but there was a small treasure inside (other then coffee) AIR CON! I couldnt believe it, my skin felt the cool air and this time I really teared up & let a few drop. Embarrassing, yet thankful. Here we spent the rest of the day, I was able to connect to probably the only wifi I’ll ever find (other then a hotel) in Sri Lanka. During our coffee relaxtion time I got my first long distance Facetimes in with my Mother, Grandparents & Tyler… I was the happiest girl in the world. Around 5pm we decided to head back to our homestays (curfews 9pm) by TukTuk (a small classic 4wheeler concept with a roof, doors, and only 3 wheels 📷 haha). I arrived home around 6pm and Qutoof probably 15 mins after, she lives about a block away from my Homestay in Janaka.
Week one was over, I showered, laid down and readied my mind for week number 2’s adventures.
Stay Tuned.
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