Choo-Choo!

Riding the rails in Sri Lanka can be quite an experience...but not necessarily a bad one.

I wanted to take the train so Rebecca and I took it from Kandy to Nanu Oya (closest stop to Nuwara Eliya). We left at 8:24am and arrived there at about 1:30pm. When we first got on the train it was standing room only. Oh joy. Not too bad though because there are handles for you to hold onto and it doesn't stop and start like the bus does.

We were also in the car that was down wind from the toilets:( Yuck!

A gentleman that was sitting with his daughter was kind and held her on his lap so that one of us could have a seat. We really appreciated that. Rebecca insisted that I sit, I think that she was having too much fun standing. She said it was the closest to surfing that she would ever get!

A few minutes later another guy got up and wedged a piece of cardboard into the washroom door so that it wouldn't keep swinging open and that solved that problem!

A little way down the track the man and his daughter got off and we were able to have both seats.

The reason that I wanted to take the train was because I wanted to see the view. It was so amazing. You can see so far and the view is very different from the view from the road. Along the road it's all about the shops. When you are riding the train you get to see the unadulterated view where life is simple and beautiful. Where the only sign of man is the tiered fields that look older than time itself. It makes you praise God for his wonderful and vast creation.

Kandy Revisited - mission accomplished

I had just been to Kandy for the Perahera. I wasn't so sure that I wanted to go there again. We had originally planned to go to Badulla but there were some things that came up. The awesome part is that Rebecca and I got to go sans children thanks to Matt who kept the kids for two days by himself! woohoo! Way to go Matt:)
We had planned the trip for two reasons...

1. I gave Rebecca some money for her birthday to buy a saree for graduation. She also had b-day money from her mom so we figured she would be able to find a really amazing one there.
2. I wanted to take the train before I left...the train goes to Kandy so everything worked out.

Our trip changed from Badulla to Kandy because Rebecca has been helping a student in our school to find the appropriate medical care for their condition. The student was able to go to see a doctor at the Perediniya Hospital in Kandy and Rebecca needed to help by explaining the symptoms that she has observed.

We had to be at the hospital at 8am so we left Nuwara Eliya at 5:30am. Friends that was an early morning:( We got a friend to drive us in his van (thanks Lew). I tried to sleep but the roads were just too bumpy for that. We arrived on time, found the clinic that we were to go to and then the waiting began.

I waited for them to be done for 4 1/2 hours!! I am really glad that I brought some needle work to do. I've been helping the school by doing up some samples for the cross-stitch kits that they have to sell. The kits are for tourist places like the Grand Hotel and the Tea Factory Hotel. Little momentos for the foreigners to take home.

Anyway I was working on this and apparently that is of great interest to many bored women waiting to see the doctors. I had so many people come and talk to me, or try to anyway. There weren't many people who spoke English and I don't speak enough Sinhala to communicate very well. There was a little girl who stood behind me for about an hour watching me stitch.

Finally they were done and we could leave. Yahoo! (that's for you Amanda)

Reb and I left and headed right for Pizza Hut. It was going to be my last time to have devilled chicken pizza. The pizza is not the same as back home but I really like the devilled chicken one.

After lunch we headed out to blaze a trail to the shops. We came across a place where they were having an Indian Fair. There were tons of sarees and shalwars. Rebecca and I nearly lost our heads in there. She was having great difficulty picking one out for graduation because there were so many very lovely ones. She ended up buying two, a black and a white one. I bought myself a black shalwar. It's really nice.

We did some more shopping and then went to the train station to get the information that we needed to plan for the next day. We thought that there was a train early in the afternoon but when we got there they told us that there was only one train and it left at 8:24am. So much for hanging out tomorrow. We had really wanted to do some exploring. Oh well.

From the station we decided to walk a bit. I had no idea where we were going. I was so lost and was depending on Reb totally. I was scared. It wasn't so bad though because we could always stop a three wheeler and ask them to take us to somewhere that we knew.

We walked on for quite a while. We found a really cool Hindu temple. We stopped to take pictures and then kept walking. We decided that it was time for tea so we started looking for guest house signs. We saw one for the Swiss Residence Hotel and thought that would be a nice place to have tea but the sign said "1km" so we ixnayed that one. There were other signs so we kept going. We walked for a really long time. I was so hot and sweaty. It wouldn't have been that bad except we were carrying our luggage, which were very full, heavy backpacks!

We finially gave up and stopped a wheeler. We asked him to take us to the Swiss Residence. We rode for almost ten minutes. I'm so glad that we didn't try to walk there.

When we got out the road up to the hotel was incredibly steep. Rebecca thought that maybe if we fell they would come and carry us up!

We finally made it and they were very helpful and nice to us. We had tea and they even called us a wheeler so that we could go to the place where we were staying. We were staying with some friends of Matt and Reb's. They were really nice and very hospitible. I felt very at home with them.

The whole trip was short but fruitful and fun. I got to ride the train, Rebecca got her saree for graduation and Rebecca was able to help her student.

The One That Got Away

No I'm not talking about a guy! Although there are many people here who would be happy for me to marry a Sri Lankan so that I would stay!

It's about a saree. When I first came Reb told me that saree shopping was very personal. It is so much better when you can pick one out that you really love. When we went shopping for one the first time I was so overwhelmed. There are soooooo many choices. I began to understand what she meant though. There were lots of sarees in the colors that I like but that didn't necessarily mean that I would like the saree.

She always told me about this saree that she saw at a silk shop at the Grand Hotel. It was black and very beautiful. The saree was too expensive but she always remembers it, it was the one that got away.

Well friends, I had an experience like that when I was in Kandy. When we went to the Indian Fair (the Bombay Bizarre) I fell in love with a saree that was so beautiful. It was a coral color that wasn't too pink or too orange. The fabric was a sheer organza with a gold shimmer on it. It had gold and crystal beading for the border and the head piece (the part that goes over your shoulder and down the back) was absolutely beautiful. I won't be able to do it justice with words. The blouse piece had beading for the arms and for the neckline! That's rare.

Unfortunately the problem was the same as Rebecca...it was too rich for my very depleted funds. It was 5250Rs (that's about $65 CDN).

So if you see me in a sad and melancholy mood I'm probably thinking about the one that got away.

The trip I didn't want to take

It's a parade. I hate parades. I avoid them at all costs (except for the Corn and Apple Festival Parade in Morden, MB! That parade rocked). So I didn't really want to go and sit for hours to watch a parade.

The parade was to take place in Kandy as it always does. The parade is called the Perahera. It is a parade that you will not see anywhere else in the world. Even that didn't peak my interest. So I had decided that I wasn't going to go. I had decided that I would spend the last of my money on a trip with Reb to spend some quality time and help her find a saree for graduation instead of going to see the parade.

The Vetschs and there landlady, Rosie were going to see the Perahera. Rosie asked me if I was coming and I told her that I didn't have money to go (because I was saving it for my trip with Reb). That day I got a call from Murray saying that they were already going so not to worry about paying for the van. I took a moment to think and realized that I was going to pass up to see something that is very unique to Sri Lanka just because I hate parades at home. That was really stupid so I said I'd go.

So the Perahera is a parade that includes 5 temples. Each temple has elephants, dancers and musicians who are dressed to the nines - even the elephants!! Each temple assembles their parade at their temple and then they travel to the other 4 temples and then ends again back at their temple.

The whole purpose of this is to celebrate the tooth relic (of buddha) which is in the Temple of the Tooth. It is the most revered and celebrated relic in all of Sri Lanka. Each temple in the Perahera has some sort of special thing in it and they have theirs in the parade as well. These special items are carried by an elephant that is dressed very elaborately.

The elephants are dressed in a costume that covers their body. They have a very decorated cloth that covers their bodies, a head piece that covers the top of their head and their trunk and also decorated covers for their ears. The cool part is that they are lit up with lights as well. Each elephant carries a battery on his back which powers the lights. It is definitely something worth seeing. So you can probably guess that the parade takes place at night. The Perahera starts at about 8:30pm.

There are also Kandian dancers and musicians. There were all kinds of dances performed by men and women, adults and children. The costumes were very cool but very hard to describe. You'll have to wait to see my pictures when I get home. There were also fire dancers! Some of them were on stilts. It was crazy.

We were very blessed on this trip. Rosie had a friend that gave us passage to watch the Perahera from the temple grounds at the Temple of the Tooth. We got to watch the elephants being dressed and the dancers getting ready. We met some important people in the Buddhist Association. Most people don't have that opportunity, they are squished together along the sidewalks with thousands of other people.

We didn't make it home until 3:30am. I'm really tired today but it was well worth it. This definitely won't be on my list of regrets.

13 More Days!!!

Mo's Birthday

This is the new bike that Moses got for his birthday. He rides it constantly but is still enjoying moving it with his feet like Fred Flinstone more than peddling! (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa - he loves the bike very much)

This is the Thomas the Train cake that Rebecca made for Mo. He loves Thomas. His whole birthday was all about Thomas. They even played a game called "Pin the face on Thomas"!

These are the train sugar cookies that Moses and Reb made. The blue is for Thomas, the red is for James and the green is for Percy. They all have the number four (even though that is Gordon's number) because it was Moses' 4th birthday.

These are Mo's friends who came to the party. Starting at the top row: Micah, Thomas, Yvonne. Middle row: Jayantha(w/Aunty Nishanthi), Roshanya, Isaac. Bottom row: Joanna, Aunty Kendra(w/Micah) and Aunty Esther. Not shown: Leon. There were many other adults there to celebrate with Moses. It was lots of fun. Moses handed out the cake to everyone and he also gave all of the kids a special treat bag full of toys and candies. He received lots of presents besides his bike; puzzles, books, games(snakes and ladders or chutes and adders whichever you prefer!), toy cars, a play clock, stickers, activity books and a badminton set!

All in all it was a wonderful day.

In the dining room Reb and I finally finished the trees. They look really cool and now people will stop making comments about the water stain on the wall!! (there were only the leaves before).

Random thoughts

Hey friends,
I only have 19 more days until I am leaving.

We've had company the last couple of days. They were a couple of ladies that came to do some seminars for the students. They are from a Canadian, Jewish organization called Ve'ahavta. They are here in Sri Lanka doing some work with the Tsunami aftermath.

One of the ladies, Rachel, is from Israel and the other, Alison, is from Toronto. Alison met Matt and Rebecca a few years ago here in Sri Lanka and was very interested in Beacon Hill. Rachel had been here in March and met up with Matt and Rebecca to see the school. They decided that the next time they were here that they would like to help the school in anyway that they could. The seminars that they did for the kids were very helpful and I think the kids really enjoyed them. They did two seminars, one on Peer Pressure and the other on Budgeting Money. They also did a seminar for the teachers on Conflict Resolution. It was really good and I think will benefit all the teachers here.

Did I mention that it's only 19 more days.

I think that I am finally able to get excited about coming home now that it is coming so close.

I'm preaching on Sunday. My last time in Sri Lanka.

Rebecca and I are planning a trip to Badulla. We're going to take the train. The ride there is apparently very beautiful so I'm looking forward to it! And to taking the train.

It's Mo's birthday tomorrow. He's going to be 4. He's having a Thomas the Train birthday. How exciting. It's really sad that I can actually name quite a few of the trains...and I know the names of Bob the Builder's machines. Micah hit me in the foot with Dizzy the other day. He's taken to tossing things and pointing at everything and saying, "What's that?" Of course it doesn't sound exactly as it should but I don't know how to spell it like he says it.

Wow I'm feeling rather brain dead right now so I think I'm going to stop.
Over and out.

24 more days

Sorry Friends

I would like to apologize to all those who were frustrated by my extremely vague picture and question. I would like to thank my sister for the very thorough examination! Like Vicki commented it wasn't fair that I was wearing a hat. I should have had someone else take the picture because then it would have been noticable. I had a difficult time getting the right angle. Honestly I didn't think that it would have caused so much angst. I hadn't planned putting up another pic of me until Reb called home and her mom was worried that I was really sad or something was wrong. So Evar you were right I cut my hair off. Dudes it was sooooooo long and incredibly frustrating. I was leaving it until my sister's wedding but then I thought WHY? I look horrible in long hair so why would I let it grow anymore? so I decided to cut it. Reb did the back and I did the front. I should have taken a picture of all the hair that we cut off. It looked like there was a wig in the garbage! So again I am sorry for the trouble that this caused.

You got it Evar.

notice anything?