Monday 27th July
Hello folks! Today we wearily awake from our slumber at 5:00am to get ready for a trip to the fish market in Hanbantota harbour. We arrived there to find a plethora of fish, some small, some big and some even bigger. After the fish market we travelled up a hill to see the sun rising over the beautiful sea, although many of us struggled to keep our eyes open for too long! Karu then showed us an eerie sight, the remains of the gallows that remain on the sea’s edge. We then headed back to the foundation for breakfast. After filling our bellies we all stood around feeling incredibly out of place as we changed into our school uniform in preparation for going to Tzu Chi school. Before we left we had the delight of playing with the preschool children who arrived at their classroom ( we are sleeping in the other one). Using donated books and the puppets sets that we had purchased, we also went into the classroom to read with the very excited children. Then we all got on the bus and went to school
As we pulled up to Tzu Chi school on the bus we were all flabbergasted at the sight of many children in pristine white uniform lining either side of the grad entrance of the school. Our buddies presented us all with flowers and we made our way to the hall for the welcome ceremony. The smiles on our faces were irremovable. The show they put on for us was a fitting welcome both to their wonderful school and to Sri Lanka as a whole, with traditional dances and speeches on life at Tzu Chi.
We were then taken to a tea party with many foods cooked by the parents of the buddies, we tried many new foods and really liked them …. mostly. Our buddies then gave us a tour of their wonderful school ,it was really nice to get to know them more as we went round.
In the afternoon we played some games of ela with our buddies (a game similar to rounders for all you sports fans out there).
Our final activity of the day was a nip down to the beach where the baby turtles were seen running to the sea in the middle of the night by the Easter team . It was a lovely chance to have a muck about in the sea and see the breathtaking sunset over Hanbantota.
Lastly, since yesterday I have been promoted from “water and hat monitor” to Max Fulham: hydrogen oxide and sun protection headwear coordinator , well at least that is what it says on my badge ( I’m joking , I don’t have a badge).
Over and out
Au revoir
Ta ra for now
Cheerio
Adios
Love you byeeee!
From Max and the rest of team two
