Sorry for not blogging...I've been nebulized!

Yah, that's what I said when the doctor told me too! Nebul-what?

Well I haven't been blogging because I've been sick. I've managed to get myself a chest infection. Nice. I went to the doctor on Friday morning...first time out of the house since Wednesday lunch...and he prescribed me some antibiotics for the infection and also that I be nebulized. I was rather curious to find out what this was.

When I left the doctor's cubicle a nurse asked me to come into this room. I went and sat where she told me to...she didn't speak English so she couldn't tell me what she was going to do. So first she's taking out this plastic mask and I thought hey maybe I just get to breath something. Then she took out this needle and put some medicine in it...then I thought maybe not just breathing into a mask. To my great relief the needle was not for me but for the mask. So once filled with medicine, I got to breathe deeply into this mask for about 5 minutes. It was painless. Yeah!

When I went out of the little room I was in Matt asked me what they had done to me. He said that it sounded like they were using a vacuum on me, it was just the sound of the breath-a-lizer-thingy. There was a side affect though, I was completely lightheaded afterwards and I had to sit down or else I would have fallen down.

So I am still really tired and coughing all the time but I am slowly on the mend and hopefully will be back to teaching this week! This has been my first outing since going to the doctor on Friday!

Come with Me

I thought that it might be fun for you all to see what I see everyday. I took pictures on my way home from school. (if you click on the picture grid it will make it larger for you to see.)

The New House

So friends I thought that I would put up some pics of the new house. Our house is the end unit of four town houses. We have a carport and two entrances into the house. From the carport there is a landing that goes to the front door but there is also a set of stairs that goes down into the courtyard. In the courtyard there is another door that goes into the basement. To get out the back of our house we have to go out the window! Upstairs there is a dining room, living room, kitchen and back porch where there are hook-ups for laundry. Downstairs there are four bedrooms and a bathroom that is not attached to a room!!! This is good because then when we have company they can use the washroom without going through a bedroom. There are two bedrooms that have an ensuite as well complete with showers. Off the courtyard there is also a servants room that Rebecca is going to convert into her craft room and there is also a tiolet off the courtyard. It's of the squat variety...you get used to them. I haven't peed on myself yet...ok I've only had to use one a couple of times.

As you can see there is no luxury tile or marble anything, no tubs but there is peace, happiness and no stress! Praise the Lord. There are red floors everywhere except the bathrooms. This is very typical of Sri Lankan homes. Unfortunately the floor in our house wasn't finished properly and the red paint is coming off. I took a picture of the bottom of my slippers. The house was ALL white when we were moving in so we did some painting. The livingroom area is a golden yellow with the feature wall being terracotta in color. It goes really well with the red floor. The dining room is green, not too dark, not too light, just right. The kitchen is painted a really nice soft butter yellow. It's a nice peaceful color. Matt and Rebecca are going to be painting their room periwinkle which will offset the white very nicely. My room however is the color of King Coconut.

So aside from what the house looks like, the important thing is that we have WATER!!!! The first morning that we were in the house I woke up to the sound of water running. At first I thought it was because Rebecca was running water in the kitchen which is right above my room but then I realized that the sound was hitting the ground. Our tank was running over! I had never heard such a wonderful sound in my life. I can take a warm shower whenever I need to (I don't have to go to the school for a shower anymore), the floor of my bathroom doesnt flood if I turn on a tap! It's amazing the things that we take for granted in North America. The things that we consider our right to have.

I thank God for our new house and I would like to thank all of you who have been praying diligently for us here in Sri Lanka. Thanks and God bless.

April Break Trip

So friends I'm sorry that it took me so long to get my pictures up from my trip this term break. Our entire trip lasted for four days. Those on the trip were Murray, Esther and Isaac, Jackie (a friend of Matt and Reb's from Abbotsford) and myself and of course Rajah, the driver. They were jam packed with fun and excitement. Our first stop on our way was in Matale. In Matale they have a Noritake china factory. We didn't take a tour of the factory because we didn't have time but we did visit the showroom where we purchased some goods at VERY reasonable prices. After finishing there we drove to Dambulla. We stopped in Dambulla to see the rock caves. The group of pictures below are from Dambulla. I didn't take any pictures inside the caves because they were too dark. It wasn't until recently that they allowed you to take pictures. They used to allow it until a French tourist sat on one of the buddhas which was in the meditating position and broke three of his fingers off. Her punishment was that she was banned from any Buddhist country for 18 years! Note to self...don't wreck buddha.

Everywhere that you go here there are fish ponds. In restaurants, at hotels and at the rock caves in Dambulla. The caves were up the mountain behind the giant buddha. When we were up there we could see Sigiriya Rock and from Sigiriya we could see the Golden Buddha...it's huge. After we were done in Dambulla we traveled on to Pollonaruwa where we were staying. It was the most centeralized location. Early the next morning we headed off for Sigiriya.

Sigiriya is this massive rock. All around and on top of it castles and gardens had been built in the 5th century AD. Monks had been using the area as a monastary since 3 BC. It was amazing to see the construction of the water system, fountains and water gardens, paintings, and the amazing lion (only the feet are left) which lead to the castle at the top of the rock.

We got a guide to take us through Sigiriya and I am really glad that we did because there is so much that we would have missed had we just gone on our own. Our guide was really good. There is a picture of him with Murray and Isaac. His name was Rajesh. When the trek was almost over we got to see a man charm a snake. That was cool. I'd never seen it in person before.

So after we were safely tucked back into the van (we had to fight off a barrage of eager vendors) we headed off back to Pollonaruwa. But then Rajah (our driver) had an awesome idea...why not go on a jeep safari to see elephants in the wild! Great idea. We had a blast. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip we got to stand in the jeep when we were travelling. Our guide was really good. He could spot elephants from far away. You'd think that spotting an elephant wouldn't be too hard but it is actually quite difficult. Elephants totally blend in to their environment. One thing I should tell you is that our guide was mute...that's right friends he couldn't talk! He was an excellent guide though.

So the first elephant that we saw was a young male. He was all alone. We sat there in the jeep and watched him for some time then all of the sudden he charged the jeep!! I didn't know that I could move so fast. We were all down inside the jeep in seconds except for our guide who was standing up grunting and waving his arms at the elephant. The elephant stopped and we all had a chance to regain our composure before we moved on. Near the end of our trip there were huge thunderclouds rolling in and it was beginning to rain. By the time we got back where we started it was pouring down pretty good. On our way back we saw three jeeps just heading out for their safaries. That's gotta suck.

So the next day we checked out of our hotel in Polonnaruwa...we wanted to leave bad. The rooms were ok but the service was lacking. We thought that it would be better to go to Kandy and stay there then we would have a full day in Kandy. After we checked out of our hotel we set out to see the sights of Pollonaruwa. Polonnaruwa was once the capital city of Sri Lanka. The first ancient capital was Anuradhapura then, Polonnaruwa then Kandy. Now it's Columbo. We saw a lot of ruins which had once been castles and temples. We saw many buddhas in many positions (there's seven). At one of the temples we visited there were some kittens running around. Most of them looked really sick and malnurished but the one in the pictures looked like it might make it.

Polonnaruwa is where the infamous "Cheese Button Theft" occurred. If you are not sure what that is then you should check out my blog "Monkeying Around". When we were done in Polonnaruwa we stopped for popsicles and then headed on out for Kandy. We stayed at a newer hotel in Kandy and it was very nice. The next day we headed out for the Temple of the Tooth. It is an important Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka because it holds a tooth relic that belonged to Buddha. They have an area in there that tells you the history of the relic and how it came to be in Kandy...that part I found interesting...the rest I wasn't so sure about. Not that it was anything bad it's just that you can only look at so many statues of buddha in a trip. After the temple we went to Pizza Hut for lunch. That was fun. There's a picture of their delivery bikes in the collage. After lunch had settled we went to the Peradeniya Gardens. If you've ever been to Vancouver Island to the Butchard Gardens you have an idea of what the gardens were like except that it was full of flowers and plants that I'd never seen before. We were part way through the park and these two workers asked us if we wanted to see the bats. I said sure so they went over to some huge trees and started beating some sticks together. At first I thought that they were crazy but suddenly there were bats flying out of the trees. These were no ordinary bats like we see in Canada these were huge bats. In the collage following there is a picture of a tree that looks dead. It's not it's just that there are tons of bats hanging in the tree. When we were done in the gardens we left for home.

So we did a few other things along the way. The day that we went to Sigiriya we also went to a batik factory. They showed us how they make the batiks and then took us into the showroom. It was amazing how many procedures are needed to make one batik. It was also amazing how many colorful batiks filled the showroom! We stopped at a wood carving place when we were finished our tour of Polonnaruwa. They showed us the different kinds of woods that they used for carving. They also told us hints for making sure that wood carvings were really made out of the wood that people said they were. There was one type of wood that was really cool. It was called Rainbow Wood. They outside of the tree was the color of pine but the inside was bright orange. Okay I know what you're all thinking..."Of course you like it if it's orange in the middle!" That's not why! The guy showed us that if you file the wood, collect the shavings and put them in hot water the color of the water turned bright yellow. Then he added some lime juice and the water turned bright pink. Then he added some alkaline powder and the water turned purple. They use this wood to color their carvings. That way they keep their carvings all natural. They showed us all the stages that the wood goes through before it's a finished product.

Another thing that we did was we went to a Spice and Herb garden. It was very interesting. We took a tour with an herbalist and he told us what all of the spices and herbs medicinal uses were. I didn't know that pepper grows on a creeping vine. I also learned that black, green, red, and white pepper all comes from the same plant. It changes color depending on the stage of preparation it is at. Pepper starts green. If it ripens long enough it will turn red (like bell peppers). If you remove the outer shell, which is red then you get white pepper. If you dry the pepper you get black pepper. Who knew? The funny picture of the tree with green things growing out of it is a fruit tree. The fruit is called Jack fruit. When the fruit is little people curry it as a vegetable. When they are really big (10-20 lbs.) they become sweet and you eat it as fruit. The cool thing is that the fruit grows out of the trunk instead of the branches. We also saw squirrels at the spice garden that were the size of cats! craziness.

So friends, that's pretty much everything that I did on my trip. Hope it wasn't too long for you.

The New Sari

So here's the new sari. I've been trying out some different features on Picasa and it cut off my head but really the picture is about the sari not me. The picture behind shows the back of the sari and you can kind of see the beading that is on it. So far this is my favorite sari.

Imagine Your Life Without ...

A BBQ!!!!! Well that's what we've come to in Sri Lanka. They don't really have BBQs here. You can probably get imported ones that cost a fortune but it is definitely not like Canada where everyone and their dog has a BBQ in their backyard or on there balcony. So Murray decided to do something about it. He's a very proactive kind of guy. He built one. As you can see we'd be laughed out of our neighborhood if we had one like this back home but it works really well here. It's made out of chair legs, huge cooking pots, propane burners and various other odds and ends.

Murray actually made the BBQ as a gift for Kyle who is a teacher here at BHA. Kyle is from the States but now lives here and he misses BBQing. Now thanks to Murray he can BBQ to his hearts content.

Back to School

It usually happens in August but not here. We started back to school after our term break on Monday May 9th. Here in Sri Lanka their school year is all year around with three month breaks. It's kind of nice. There are some benefits...

1. You don't get really bored with school
2. You have holidays in different seasons
3. You don't get bored of having holidays

There is one thing that I can think of that is a big drawback...no summer to earn lots o'cash to pay for school...Sri Lanka has a free education system...Yes folks even university! Although to be accepted is very difficult, there is a lot of competition. There are private schools that require tuition. There is no tuition at Beacon Hill Academy, the program is a free. They are an NGO which is a Non-Government Organization. If you would like to consider making a donation click to check it out.

So I'm teaching all four of the groups of students in the regular course this term. I'm glad because then I get to know all of the students. The students are divided by their level of english. My afterschool english classes will be done at the beginning of June. I'm amazed at how much my public speaking has improved since I've been teaching. I'm really enjoying it a lot.

The picture on my blog is from the first day back to school.

the Name Game

So I had mentioned in a past blog that I had changed my first name to Kendara so that it would be easier for people to pronounce and it just sounds more Sri Lankan. Well they've (the other teachers) given me a Sri Lankan last name. So my new name is officially...
Kendara Kempinarachchi
That is pronounced Ken-dah-rah Kem-peen-ah-rahch-chee. Unfortunately it is harder for the North American crowd to say. You guys can still call me by my usual name.

Mo's First Day of School

This is a picture of Moses on his first day of school. He is wearing his uniform which is dark purple...it's kind of hard to tell in this light. He is starting preschool, he's three. I think that he looks adorable in his uniform especially when he's got his backpack on. Matt will pick him up at noon. His class goes from 8:30am to 12:00 pm, Mon-Fri.

Micah is growing like crazy. He's already climbing up on the furniture and getting into everything. I'm sure that he'll be walking soon. Here's another picture for you all.

Just some fun

Hey friends, I know that this one is a little long and a little silly but I was amazed at how many things I could cross off. Some of them I happy about some of them not. Oh well the good things usually come with some bad.

(x) smoked a cigarette
(x) smoked a cigar
(x) smoked a joint
( ) crashed a friend's ...car
( ) stolen a ...car
( ) been in love
( ) been dumped
(x) been used
(x) failed someone
(x) shoplifted
(x) been fired
(x) been in a fist fight
(x) snuck out of my parent's house
(x) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
( ) been arrested
( ) made out with a stranger
(x) gone on a ...blind date
(x) lied to a ...friend
(x) had a crush on a teacher
( ) been to Europe
(x) skipped school
( ) seen someone die
( ) had a crush on one of your myspace ...friends
(x)been to The U.S.
(x) been to Mexico
(x) been on a plane
(x) seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) thrown up in a bar
( ) purposely set a part of myself on fire
(x) eaten Sushi
( )been snowboarding
(x) met someone in person from the internet
(x)been moshing at a concert
( )been in an abusive relationship
(x) taken painkillers
(x) love someone or miss someone right now
(x) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
(x) made a snow angel
(x) had a tea party
(x) flown a kite
(x) built a sand castle
(x) gone puddle jumping
(x) played dress up
(x) jumped into a pile of leaves
(x) gone sledding
(x) cheated while playing a game
(x) been ...lonely
(x) fallen asleep at work/school
(x) used a fake id
(x) watched the sunset
(x) felt an earthquake
(x) touched a snake
(x) slept beneath the stars
(x) been tickled
(x) been robbed
(x) been misunderstood
(x) petted a reindeer/goat
(x) won a contest
(x) run a red light
( ) been suspended from school
(x) been in a car accident
( ) had braces
(x) felt like an outcast
(x) eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(x) had deja vu
(x) danced in the moonlight
(x) hated the way you look
(x) witnessed a crime
( ) pole danced
(x) been obsessed with Post-it notes
(x) squished barefoot through the mud
(x) been lost
( ) been to the opposite side of the country
(x) swam in the ocean
(x) felt like dying
(x) cried yourself to sleep
(x) played cops and robbers
(x) recently colored with crayons/colored pencils/markers
( ) sung karaoke
(x) paid for a meal with only coins
(x) done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) made prank phone calls when you were younger
(x) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x) danced in the rain
( ) written a letter to Santa Clause
( ) been kissed under the mistletoe
( ) watched the sun rise with someone you care about
(x) blown bubbles
(x) made a bonfire on the beach
(x) crashed a party
(x) gone rollerskating
(x) had a wish come true
( ) humped a monkey
(x) worn pearls
( ) jumped off a bridge
( ) screamed penis in public
(x) ate dog/cat food
(x) told a complete stranger you loved them
(x) kissed a mirror
(x) sang in the shower
( ) had a little black dress
(x) had a dream that you married someone
(x) glued your hand to something
(x) got your tongue stuck to a flag pole
( ) kissed a fish
(x) worn the opposite sex's clothes
( ) been a cheerleader
(x) sat on a roof top
(x) screamed at the top of your lungs
(x) done a one-handed cartwheel
(x) talked on the phone for more than 6 hours
(x) stayed up all night
(x) didn't take a shower for a week
(x) picked and ate an apple right off the tree
(x) climbed a tree
( ) had a tree house
(x) are scared to watch scary movies
( ) believe in ghosts
( ) have more than 30 pairs of shoes
(x) worn a really ugly outfit to school just to see what others say
( ) gone streaking
(x) played ding-dong-ditch
(x) played chicken
(x) been pushed into a pool/lake with all your clothes on
(x) been told you're beautiful by a complete stranger
(x) broken a bone
(x) been easily amused
( ) caught a fish
(x) caught a butterfly
(x) laughed so hard you cried
(x) cried so hard you laughed
(x) mooned/flashed someone
(x) had someone moon/flash you
(x) cheated on a test
( ) have a Britney Spears CD
(x) forgotten someone's name
(x) slept naked
(x) French-braided someone's hair
( ) Caught a Duck
(x) Stolen A Road Sign
( ) Snuck A Goldfish Into A Grocery Store and placed it in a 4L Water Jug
( ) Broken into someone's house

A True Servant's Heart

So just to continue my thoughts on the selfishness in my life...

I don't think that I'm always selfish...at least not in totally obvious ways...but the ways that I serve are usually doing things that I enjoy. When I enjoy it I give it my all and then some. God's been showing me lately that to have a servant's heart is not always getting to do the things that you like. Being a true servant is more about attitude.

I really enjoyed being president of the student body at CPC this year. It was an act of service but it wasn't really like service to me because it was easy...I enjoyed it. Now helping Matt and Rebecca around the house or with the kids is not always something that I enjoy and often I do it begrudgingly. One day God showed me how much my attitude sucked. I was resenting the fact that I was "having" to do this things. God told me that I wasn't doing it for them but for Him. When I realized that I began to enjoy my task much more. God is much more pleased I think when something is done with a willing, cheerful heart then if you are doing it because you feel obligated or because you know that it is the right thing to do.

I still do things I don't like to...like dishes...but that's ok because I am doing it with the right attitude. I still have times when my attitude sucks but I'm working on it. I think the hardest part for me is not doing what I want to do when I want to do it. Sometimes what I want to do has to wait. Getting rid of the "self"...arrrgh it is so hard. In Phil 2:1-4 it says...

"Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose. Don't be selfish; dont' live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing." (NLT)

It's so easy to get wrapped up in ourselves; to do what we want and not even consider those around us. Here in Sri Lanka they are very community oriented, others opinions, needs and desires are important to them. Families are huge and span many generations. Anyone older than you is an auntie or an uncle and close friends and cousins are considered like sisters and brothers. I've learned a lot from the people here, especially about giving of yourself.

Moving Day

So folks today is the day. Matt and Rebecca found a house last week and we are moving today. By the time you all get up and read this we'll be done!

The new house is really nice and we have it to ourselves. There is a little courtyard for the boys to play in and a really nice porch off the back of the house. We are closer to the jungle now which could be interesting. I'll probably be able to see more animals. There are frogs that make sounds like wooden wind chimes. I love listening to them.

Rebecca let me paint my room orange! There's a coconut here called King Coconut and it is orange...it's the name of my paint. It would be similar to the color of cantelope.

For all who were wondering...
Yes our addy and phone number have changed. Don't worry about mail that has already been sent because I will still be able to get it from our old landlord. Our new address is...
Kendara Kempin (Kendara is my new Sri Lankan name. It's hard for them to say Kendra)
No. 97 Lady Macallums Drive
Nuwara Eliya
Sri Lanka
I'll email those who have requested my phone number when I know it.

Well I'd better get to the house and get helping! Oh by the way my new bathroom drains!!! Praise the Lord!