Day 1: Everyone is feeling drained from the long haul flight and the 8hour car journey, but the team spirit is still high and people are settling in well to the Janoda Foundation Centre.
Today we arrived at the airport hot and tired, we exchanged our pounds for Sri Lankan Rupees and hopped on the minibus to our first stop- breakfast.
Breakfast was at a roadside cafe and was some what different to what we are use to. Next we had a 40minute drive to the Moon-Stone mine where we watched 4 men haul gravel out of 45 metre deep well to retrieve the semi-precious stone. We then continued on to watch them use the moon-stones and various metals (e.g.silver and gold) to make jewellery for the shop. We then had the opportunity to buy their merchandise which many students did.
After getting stuck in a torrential and tropical downpour we carried on our adventure to a cinnamon farm , where we watched a cinnamon sticks,oil, power and tea made by a married couple. It was fascinating to see how the things we use at home take so much effort and talent to create, I personally will remember and appreciate the amount of time put into such a small contributor to my everyday life.
One of the highlights of my day was looking out the window to see Sri Lankan wildlife on our journey , during the 8hours we were fortunate enough to see such exotic, extraordinary and unfamiliar animals. Just a few of them being: A Monitor Lizard, kingfisher, monkeys, buffalo and a lonely elephant as well as this we saw stray dogs, cat and cows roaming the streets. This came as a shock but yet a pleasant surprise.
The final stop was the wood carving workshop where we watched them carve traditional masks and had the opportunity yet again to purchase some as souvenirs for ourselves and family at home.
After this we arrived at what was going to be our home for the next 2 weeks: The Janoda Foundation centre.
Exhausted, drenched in sweat and agitated we worked together as a team to set up for the night: we assembled our camp-beds and tents; ate a dinner of curried tuna, bread fruit (potatoes) and rice; made a shower rota and reflected on the day. Eventually we were ready for a well deserved sleep to try and catch up on any we had missed during the 36 hours of travelling we had experienced the previous day.
Just to let everyone at home know that all three teachers made it here alive, as did the students. Everyone is really enjoying themselves and are excited for the weeks ahead.
Love Izzy Cahill.