Today I finally bathed an elephant in the river! It wasnt too special, because Im pretty sure the mahouts would let anyone do it as long as they got paid for it. But it was still pretty cool!
I also got to play around with a baby elephant for a bit. Again, nothing too special (as long as you have money) but it was SO cute. I have pictures which I will try to put up sometime this week or next week.
Something that is a little bit special: the mahouts are definitely more comfortable with us being around the elephants now. We have been getting right up next to them when we are working, and Im sure they wouldnt object if we touched them but Im a bit too scared (for my life) to try that.
A lot of the tourists have been coming up and asking us questions about the elephants and about the orphanage, so we must look like we know what we are doing. Either that or we look really, really dirty and smell like elephant poo. Probably a little bit of both.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Return from Galle
Just by damned luck: on the train back from Galle, I ended up next to none other than my friend Ravi, once again. But thanks to my well developed anti-socializing skills I was able to avoid eye contact with him. And he had found another British tourist to bother anyways.
When we arrived back home, we had a surprise guest waiting for us in our room: a tarantula the size of my hand.
When we arrived back home, we had a surprise guest waiting for us in our room: a tarantula the size of my hand.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
I Fly Like Paper, Get High Like Planes
This morning I got up extra early (5:00) to catch the train to Galle. No joke, the train was exactly like Slumdog Millionaire, minus the MIA soundtrack.
It was packed with people and there were kids hanging out windows and doors all over the place. People sitting on laps and on the floor and squeezing 3 to a seat. I had to stand for the first 4 HOURS of the ride...I was so caught up with the experience that I didnt even mind.
After 4 hours, a group of women asked (well, "mimed" since they didnt speak english) me to join them on their seat so they let me squeeze in by the window. Again I must say, I love the people here. They are just so nice!
A few stops before Galle the group of women got off and Ravi took their place. Unfortunately, Ravi could speak pretty decent english and he kept making small talk. I hate small talk. I only just realized how much I enjoy the language barrier here; usually a foreigner only has to smile and wave. But Ravi wouldn't shut up and kept asking me for my email..."I dont have an email." "How do you stay in touch with people?" "I dont."... For those of you hoping I would find a Sri Lankan boyfriend, Ravi was NOT the one, I assure you. But anyways:
Spent the afternoon at the beach, which was FANTASTIC. Possibly the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, and totally worth the 6 hour, unairconditioned train ride. I had no idea Sri Lanka had such nice resorts! I lounged on a chair under a shade hut for hours while people walked by trying to sell bananas and saris and clothes-wearing-monkies and such.
I even found a delicious type of dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free coconut cookie in the grocery store. SUCCESS.
Im spending the night in Galle at Michael's house. And I am working on putting up pictures as I type! Hopefully it will work and I will publish the link soon.
It was packed with people and there were kids hanging out windows and doors all over the place. People sitting on laps and on the floor and squeezing 3 to a seat. I had to stand for the first 4 HOURS of the ride...I was so caught up with the experience that I didnt even mind.
After 4 hours, a group of women asked (well, "mimed" since they didnt speak english) me to join them on their seat so they let me squeeze in by the window. Again I must say, I love the people here. They are just so nice!
A few stops before Galle the group of women got off and Ravi took their place. Unfortunately, Ravi could speak pretty decent english and he kept making small talk. I hate small talk. I only just realized how much I enjoy the language barrier here; usually a foreigner only has to smile and wave. But Ravi wouldn't shut up and kept asking me for my email..."I dont have an email." "How do you stay in touch with people?" "I dont."... For those of you hoping I would find a Sri Lankan boyfriend, Ravi was NOT the one, I assure you. But anyways:
Spent the afternoon at the beach, which was FANTASTIC. Possibly the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, and totally worth the 6 hour, unairconditioned train ride. I had no idea Sri Lanka had such nice resorts! I lounged on a chair under a shade hut for hours while people walked by trying to sell bananas and saris and clothes-wearing-monkies and such.
I even found a delicious type of dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free coconut cookie in the grocery store. SUCCESS.
Im spending the night in Galle at Michael's house. And I am working on putting up pictures as I type! Hopefully it will work and I will publish the link soon.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Baby Elephants
just a note on baby elephants:
they are the cutest things you will ever see.
unfortunately it is not advised to squeeze wild animals, especially when they weigh 100x more than you. but oh my goodness it is really hard to hold myself back.
thank you to everyone who has been emailing/messaging me. I love hearing from you! and a special shout-out to Katie Weaver and Mary Morgan : )
they are the cutest things you will ever see.
unfortunately it is not advised to squeeze wild animals, especially when they weigh 100x more than you. but oh my goodness it is really hard to hold myself back.
thank you to everyone who has been emailing/messaging me. I love hearing from you! and a special shout-out to Katie Weaver and Mary Morgan : )
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Only in Sri Lanka...
Here are a few things I like about this place:
-giant bulls roam the sides of the streets
-monks, wearing bright orange robes, riding on the back of a motorcycle
-baby reptiles in the bathroom at night
-elephant poo on the road
-15 people crammed into the back of a 3-wheeled tuk-tuk
-traffic 5 cars wide on a one lane road
-my host: last night she brought a tray of tea into my room for me to drink, and for a snack she brought in a tray of watermellon!
-the people: they are the nicest people. they try so hard to speak english but they usually only know a few phrases, so they ask the same questions over and over even though they have no idea what they are asking and they cannot understand your response! usually I just smile and wave and nod : )
-curried lentils and rice, three meals a day
-buddha posters with flashing colored lights on them
*Im not sure when I will get the chance to upload pictures: the computer I am using was possible made BEFORE digital cameras existed, so I cant figure out how to upload the files.
-giant bulls roam the sides of the streets
-monks, wearing bright orange robes, riding on the back of a motorcycle
-baby reptiles in the bathroom at night
-elephant poo on the road
-15 people crammed into the back of a 3-wheeled tuk-tuk
-traffic 5 cars wide on a one lane road
-my host: last night she brought a tray of tea into my room for me to drink, and for a snack she brought in a tray of watermellon!
-the people: they are the nicest people. they try so hard to speak english but they usually only know a few phrases, so they ask the same questions over and over even though they have no idea what they are asking and they cannot understand your response! usually I just smile and wave and nod : )
-curried lentils and rice, three meals a day
-buddha posters with flashing colored lights on them
*Im not sure when I will get the chance to upload pictures: the computer I am using was possible made BEFORE digital cameras existed, so I cant figure out how to upload the files.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
the elephants send there love
I just walked 2 km to the nearest town, where the "internet cafe" has only ONE working computer. It is probably older than I am.
My new home in Pinnawala is adorable and I have the nicest host family. The woman hardly speaks english but she is SO sweet and is always smiling and patting me on the back.
the elephant orphanage is unreal: SO many elephants! and they just wander around everywhere. there is almost no security so guests can get so close to the animals. When they walk the elephants down to the river to bathe, they walk them right down the street and you have to be careful not to get stepped on! This would never be legal in the U.S.
so far, I havent done to much at the orphanage. Yesterday morning I hung out with the mahouts and helped them scoop food debris into a truck. I had NO idea what I was supposed to do, and it was a little uncomfortable not being able to understand anything the mahouts said...Im pretty sure they were talking about me the whole time...but it was prety cool. A few of them could speak some english and they were really friendly; they kept making jokes and asking questions and teaching me words in sinhala.
but there is not much work for us to do, and we havent done anything cool like feed baby elephants or even help bathe them yet. Hopefully once the mahouts know us better, we will have more to do!
last night we went to BIG festival in Kandy. I left the house at 3:00pm and we didnt get back until 3:00am! I took a tuk-tuk (3-wheeled car) for the hour and a half ride up the hillside of sri Lanka to arrive in Kandy. It was QUITE and experience! and the festival was incredible! there were SO SO SO many people crowding the streets. after dark the parade started: over 100 elephants all dressed in colors and bright lights, sri lankan dancers, and fire throwers. the whole parade is in honor of the Lord Buddha's teeth, which are housed in Kandy. It was such a cool experience. I have lots of pictures (which I will try to put up sometime in the next week). they arent that great because it was night time and it was rainy, but at least is is something!
I would love to hear from everyone at home! Please send me emails and keep me updated on your lives. I will try to respond to them but there is no telling how long that could take. but I would love to at least hear how you are doing!
My new home in Pinnawala is adorable and I have the nicest host family. The woman hardly speaks english but she is SO sweet and is always smiling and patting me on the back.
the elephant orphanage is unreal: SO many elephants! and they just wander around everywhere. there is almost no security so guests can get so close to the animals. When they walk the elephants down to the river to bathe, they walk them right down the street and you have to be careful not to get stepped on! This would never be legal in the U.S.
so far, I havent done to much at the orphanage. Yesterday morning I hung out with the mahouts and helped them scoop food debris into a truck. I had NO idea what I was supposed to do, and it was a little uncomfortable not being able to understand anything the mahouts said...Im pretty sure they were talking about me the whole time...but it was prety cool. A few of them could speak some english and they were really friendly; they kept making jokes and asking questions and teaching me words in sinhala.
but there is not much work for us to do, and we havent done anything cool like feed baby elephants or even help bathe them yet. Hopefully once the mahouts know us better, we will have more to do!
last night we went to BIG festival in Kandy. I left the house at 3:00pm and we didnt get back until 3:00am! I took a tuk-tuk (3-wheeled car) for the hour and a half ride up the hillside of sri Lanka to arrive in Kandy. It was QUITE and experience! and the festival was incredible! there were SO SO SO many people crowding the streets. after dark the parade started: over 100 elephants all dressed in colors and bright lights, sri lankan dancers, and fire throwers. the whole parade is in honor of the Lord Buddha's teeth, which are housed in Kandy. It was such a cool experience. I have lots of pictures (which I will try to put up sometime in the next week). they arent that great because it was night time and it was rainy, but at least is is something!
I would love to hear from everyone at home! Please send me emails and keep me updated on your lives. I will try to respond to them but there is no telling how long that could take. but I would love to at least hear how you are doing!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
First Impressions of Sri Lanka
The flight attendants for Sri Lankan Airways all wear legitimate saris (bare-tummy and all!)
I arrived at 3:00 this morning. Waited around for 6 hours until 9:00 when I was supposed to be pick up BUT... my coordinator wasnt there. Ultimate fear realized: I was alone in Sri Lanka and there wasnt even a phone I could use to call and straighten things out. After another hour and a half (and several near-melt-downs) I finally met Michael. It was probably the scariest things in my life to that point.
But that is only because the 4 hour ride from Colombo to Galle had not yet occured.
The streets here are suicidal. I thought I would feel nervous riding on the left side of the road, but I actually think we spend more time (illegally) on the right side. And no seatbelts. Belizian drivers look like grandmas compared to this.
General Impression of the Area: Sri Lanka looks EXACTLY like Belize, except:
-there are cows all over the street
-men wear long skirts
-there is a different alphabet
-statues of Buddhas are everywhere (and many of Vishnu and Madonna as well)
We picked up two girls this morning, in addition to myself.
Monica, from Spain, is 32.
Julia, from Austria, is 18. (IRONY: Julia (aka JUELZ) just spent the past few days in a town called Kandy (aka KANDII)...if you get this, then you GET this!)
At lunch today, I ate with my hands for the first time! It is more challenging than one might think, but it is rewarding and quite fun once you get over how messy you get.
Tomorrow I drive the 4 hours back to Colombo to pick up another volunteer who will be at the elephant orphanage with me! I am super excited that I wont be staying by myself with my host family in Pinnawala.
Tomorrow could be my first day at the orphanage, or maybe the next day. Internet in Pinnawala may be difficult to find, probably requiring a bus ride into the nearest town, Kegalle. I will try update as much as I can, but Im not promising much!
I arrived at 3:00 this morning. Waited around for 6 hours until 9:00 when I was supposed to be pick up BUT... my coordinator wasnt there. Ultimate fear realized: I was alone in Sri Lanka and there wasnt even a phone I could use to call and straighten things out. After another hour and a half (and several near-melt-downs) I finally met Michael. It was probably the scariest things in my life to that point.
But that is only because the 4 hour ride from Colombo to Galle had not yet occured.
The streets here are suicidal. I thought I would feel nervous riding on the left side of the road, but I actually think we spend more time (illegally) on the right side. And no seatbelts. Belizian drivers look like grandmas compared to this.
General Impression of the Area: Sri Lanka looks EXACTLY like Belize, except:
-there are cows all over the street
-men wear long skirts
-there is a different alphabet
-statues of Buddhas are everywhere (and many of Vishnu and Madonna as well)
We picked up two girls this morning, in addition to myself.
Monica, from Spain, is 32.
Julia, from Austria, is 18. (IRONY: Julia (aka JUELZ) just spent the past few days in a town called Kandy (aka KANDII)...if you get this, then you GET this!)
At lunch today, I ate with my hands for the first time! It is more challenging than one might think, but it is rewarding and quite fun once you get over how messy you get.
Tomorrow I drive the 4 hours back to Colombo to pick up another volunteer who will be at the elephant orphanage with me! I am super excited that I wont be staying by myself with my host family in Pinnawala.
Tomorrow could be my first day at the orphanage, or maybe the next day. Internet in Pinnawala may be difficult to find, probably requiring a bus ride into the nearest town, Kegalle. I will try update as much as I can, but Im not promising much!
Qatar Airlines
-Im the only white person on the plane
-It is the biggest plane I have ever seen
-It smells like curry and there is sitar music playing overhead when I board
-The Exit signs are in English and Arabic
-The flight attendants wear funny hats
-They gave us candy before we took off, served 2 gourmet meals, and drinks just about every 5 minutes. Champagne was poured before we even hit the runway.
-Flew over Baghdad, which made me realize how far away from home I really am
View of Qatar from the airplane window: everything is BROWN
And it is a million degrees in Qatar (even at midnight, as it was when we arrived). When I stepped off the plane, I thought I was feeling exhaust from the engine, but it was actually the air!
-It is the biggest plane I have ever seen
-It smells like curry and there is sitar music playing overhead when I board
-The Exit signs are in English and Arabic
-The flight attendants wear funny hats
-They gave us candy before we took off, served 2 gourmet meals, and drinks just about every 5 minutes. Champagne was poured before we even hit the runway.
-Flew over Baghdad, which made me realize how far away from home I really am
View of Qatar from the airplane window: everything is BROWN
And it is a million degrees in Qatar (even at midnight, as it was when we arrived). When I stepped off the plane, I thought I was feeling exhaust from the engine, but it was actually the air!
Friday, August 20, 2010
This is what 4 months looks like:
Im bringing less clothes for 4 months than I normally wear in a week...its a little scary but also pretty liberating.
All packed; I leave in less than 6 hours.
I havent eaten anything in a day, but I've had gallons of "tension tamer" herbal tea. Not sure how much good it is doing! But mostly I am very excited.
Today I FINALLY heard from a RCDP coordinator about who I will be living with when I arrive. It feels good to have that squared away. I also heard that we will be picking up another volunteer on monday, so I wont be all alone! They will probably be some 65 year old retired man that only speaks German, but oh well...
This will be my last post until I am abroad. I hope I will have internent access when I arrive, but there is a good chance that I wont. It could be days before I can get to an internet cafe (Im staying 5 miles from the nearest town). It could even be weeks! Dont worry if you dont hear from me for a while.
I'd like to say something clever to end this, like "goodbye" in Sinhala or Tamil (both languages they speak in Sri Lanka), but I honestly have no idea how. [I hope they have English signs in the airport!]
What I Will Miss the Most...
So, I promised I would put up a picture from my going away party. Here you go!
Thanks to everyone who came; it meant a lot to me.
I leave in almost 12 hours, and it still hasn't quite hit me that I wont be back for 4 months. Here are a few things I think I will miss while I am away:
-wearing shorts
-raw vegetables
-eating indian food with Margie
-going on runs with Mary Morgan
-soymilk in my coffee
-reliable internet access
-St. Michaels
-Dawsons Creek with Katie
-people that speak english
On a positive note, I also have some things to look forward to: rainbow-sparkly money, curry ALL the time, mountains, no homework, and elephants.
Moving On
Today I went to visit Mike and see his new classroom at Panther Creek High School, where he just got a teaching job. Its only been 3 months since graduation, but entering a high school felt so strange. Not because I felt like I DIDN'T belong, but because I felt like I DID. How can I be finished (done. complete. not returning.) with high school when I still feel so young? I am stuck in a very weird place. Or maybe its normal?
Maybe the upcoming year will be exactly what I need: a chance to change things up while avoiding the concrete "moving on" that a new grade in school brings. Maybe I'm in denial that time will move forward no matter where I am on the globe. Well, I cant stop the clock. (But I do gain half a day when I return in December...that has to count for something!)
Maybe the upcoming year will be exactly what I need: a chance to change things up while avoiding the concrete "moving on" that a new grade in school brings. Maybe I'm in denial that time will move forward no matter where I am on the globe. Well, I cant stop the clock. (But I do gain half a day when I return in December...that has to count for something!)
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Locked-Up Abroad
I haven't even left yet and Ive already learned something from my gap year: Patience. I'm only just realizing how TRULY dependent we are on instant gratification.
I sent an email to my Sri Lankan host on Sunday, and I didn't hear back from him. *Stress* Suddenly I am convinced that no one will be waiting when I get to the airport. I will be stranded in a foreign country all by my self; I don't know the language; I don't know what to do. The whole organization is a scam. They've taken my money and now I'll end up locked-up abroad and my friends will never see me again, except on some Discovery Channel TV special about foreign prisons.
Maybe it is subconscious nervousness that makes me stress so much about an unanswered email. Chill out, Ellen. Sri Lanka is 10 hours ahead of Eastern Time anyways. They don't always have power, and certainly not always internet access.
I got an email (two of them, actually) from my host this morning. Instantly, I am confident and excited about my arrival once again. I can already tell that the upcoming months are going to force me to sit back and experience. I cant wait!
I sent an email to my Sri Lankan host on Sunday, and I didn't hear back from him. *Stress* Suddenly I am convinced that no one will be waiting when I get to the airport. I will be stranded in a foreign country all by my self; I don't know the language; I don't know what to do. The whole organization is a scam. They've taken my money and now I'll end up locked-up abroad and my friends will never see me again, except on some Discovery Channel TV special about foreign prisons.
Maybe it is subconscious nervousness that makes me stress so much about an unanswered email. Chill out, Ellen. Sri Lanka is 10 hours ahead of Eastern Time anyways. They don't always have power, and certainly not always internet access.
I got an email (two of them, actually) from my host this morning. Instantly, I am confident and excited about my arrival once again. I can already tell that the upcoming months are going to force me to sit back and experience. I cant wait!
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