May 19th: What a time to be in Sri Lanka!

Again, I just can’t get over how well this trip is going (knock on wood!). In the morning, Brendan, Greg, Albert, Angus and I walked to the fisheries harbor at 6:00am in the pouring rain (but it’s a tropical rain, not a Vancouver rain, so not too chilly!). We paid our entrance fees and then managed to buy a kilo of very fresh cuddle fish in addition to a 3 kilo and 1 kilo ‘tuna-like’ fish for dinner tonight. When the rain didn’t let off, and the celebrations were still going from the day before, we found out that work today would not be happening. Instead, we headed downtown and were again lucky enough to see a huge parade of excited soldiers, monks and citizens waving flags, dancing and singing down the streets. What a state the country is in! Those who needed to went to the bank to exchange travelers cheques and foreign currency and then we all walked to Anil’s house for a lovely tea and snack time with his family. It was great to visit, meet his family, see his house and also be able to see some of his pictures from past Developing World Connections trips since their beginning in 2004. He is such a gentle, well organized man, and his concern for the group’s well being is really appreciated.

After a nice group picture outside Anil’s house, we walked around and did a little shopping - everything from fake Channel sunglasses for Jacquie to national flags for almost everyone to newspapers outlining the events that have transpired over the last couple of days. We headed home then (all this before 2:00pm!) and went to play volleyball at a nearby court by a lagoon (quite the exotic location for a court). After a couple of games of volleyball, then some soccer on the beach with some local friends, we prepared our yummy seafood dinner. Angus was in charge and made a great Chinese sweet and sour cuddle fish dish along with some nicely steamed and fried tuna! Then, Jo-Anne, Suzi (the TRU student over here for a few weeks), Iresh and Kanishka (Iresh’s friend and another worker at the Trades Training Facility (TTF site) came over to Wavy Ocean, and we headed downtown for an evening of elaborate celebrations, with music, fireworks, singing and dancing in the streets!