Summer greetings from Sri Lanka aka Hambantota!
What a day – it all started with a fairly early awakening. The chefs: Hannah; Poppy; Lily and Archie made the bomb breakfast (omelettes).
Swiftly after we met the preschool children and their exquisite culture. They presented us with a ceremony with flower bouquets asnd someone (Elodie) got a tad teary. After that we played games out in the open. Once indoors we read to the small ones; the books were so intense a frog hopped in for a listen.
After home time we had a fresh lunch, and in dismay: put back on our school uniform. Then we all piled onto a bus and – after a quick snack pit stop – we made our way to Tzu Chi (the local school).
We finally met our buddies and tried to make as much small talk as possible. This was easy for the more talkative people but several people had some awkward silences – especially Sam after telling his Buddy what his favourite food was, chicken, only to find she was a strong vegetarian.
We had an assembly where everyone said something in front of the students and parents. There were some performances from Easter buddies and Matt sang and played very well on his guitar. Then we tried some Sri Lankan food and chatted more with our buddies.
As it started to get dark, a game of cricket commenced…
England vs Sri Lanka
Weydon vs Tzu Chi
After some poor fielding and throwing from us, it wasn’t looking too good sadly. We put our best players to bat: Sammy C, Jonny W, and Archie W. Some cracking shots lead to a surprise win to Weydon – a rare occurrence!
After a long and busy day, we all went back to dinner and Lily won star of the day! It sure has been a different day to all the others and it is one we surely won’t forget!
Anyway, night/morning/afternoon y’all!
Elodie F and Tom DH
Remember: if you want to see more photos of our trips check out Partner Schools Worldwide (PSW) on Facebook.
Great to see you are all looking happy at your new destination.
Really enjoying the photos and reading the blogs.
Missing you!
It must be great to finally meet your buddies – although a little awkward to start with – I am sure you will all find something to chat about.
Sounds so interesting to find out much more about Sri Lankan culture and hospitality . Very pleased to hear Hannah cooked a good breakfast – i reckon she can keep that up when she gets home…!
Well done on winning the cricket . Sounds like a good team effort.
The weather here is awful – cold and windy and rubbish for August – so enjoy the heat while you can.
Its wonderfully to read your daily updates – so keep them coming, the more info the better!
Hi Emily and everyone, hope you’re having a good time. We have been looking at all the pictures every day, it’s exciting when there are new ones. We’re down in Devon, we have just had a Chinese and I went crabbing yesterday and got three crabs! We miss you!
Glad you are all having a fantastic time and that you have met your buddies – you are missing nothing here – rain, wind and just like Winter! Feel like jumping on a plane to join you!
It’s very quiet here without Matt singing/ guitar – hope the school children enjoy it instead! Very envious and I want to be Mrs Warnock’s support teacher next year! Enjoy!
Loving reading your blogs, sounds like you’re all having fun and working hard. Very suprised to hear that Samuel’s favourite food is chicken…..he complains every time I cook it. I wonder if his buddy might have been more impressed if he’d told her that his favourite food was (pot) noodles!! Xx
Lots of love
This is for Lily from her Godmother Cath. …so pleased to see the wonderful photos and amazing experience you are having. Washing an elephant is on my bucket list so I want to hear all about it (smiley face). Not so sure abut the cricket though!! I hope you all have the greatest time…weather here very changeable and I think your Mum is missing you a lot!!! Lots of love x x
Evening/afternoon/morning Y’all!
Loving reading your updates, thanks to all the writers and photographers. We’re impressed you are managing to actually do things as well as writing all these blogs.
Sounds like there is plenty of Nutella to go round – hope it will last!
Farnham hasn’t changed at all since you left. You aren’t missing anything here.
Hi to everyone, from the Deeson/Hyland/Hyland Deesons
Sounds like u tall having fabby time, putting ur all into it and getting that and more back! Exciting to meet buddies and also have a chance to do bit of ‘teaching’ with littler ones! Missing u loads and bit damp on canal boat….. looking forward to seeing more pics of u lily!!!! Keep us posted – so good to hear all news!!! Til later…. xxxxxxx
Archie W playing cricket I can’t believe it . Sounds amazing enjoy every moment- The warners