BUT I did! I'm home from Sri Lanka! And to celebrate, here's a list of things I missed while I was gone ( Read more... )

Today has gone well. Much more so than I thought it would, because I knew we'd have a lot of downtime in the village, and the people would be all keyed up because we were giving out ice cream and flip flops, which we haven't done since the first couple of days, and generally creates instant mob mentality. It was controlled chaos today though, ( Read more... )

Tomorrow is our last work day. It never fails to amaze me how quickly time goes by. I think about a month and consider it a long time, but when I realize I've been gone that long, I really wonder where it went. I guess that's true of any trip or journey. It drags on daily, but rushes by when you put it all together. Nothing new under the sun, ( Read more... )

It was *gasp* cloudy today and rainy. It's our first fully overcast day, which is fine with most of us. The odd thing is that the day seemed to make up for it by being particularly humid and hot, so despite no sun, we were still sweating. It will be a great feeling to go for more than 10 minutes without sweating ( Read more... )

Life continues on in typical Sri Lankan fashion--slow and steady, with too much sun and a lot of laughs. I worked Friday with the teachers, which was a wonderful change of pace. We taught English in a Muslim school close to the village in which we're currently building 4 homes, a playground, and a community center. I liked teaching so much that ( Read more... )

Happy Birthday to my wonderful brother Dan! I thought I'd be cute and write out the Happy Birthday song in Singhalese, however, disappointingly they use the American version. Not being a very big independent culture, they apparantly didn't have a song until the English one came over. However, I hope you have a great day today--you've have a ( Read more... )

Thanks to all who responded to my plea for attention. It's funny how moody we all get here. I think it comes from working in such an emotional environment. We work all day in situations that none of us would even think of living in or having to deal with, and then come home to the (relative) comfort of the Farm and we feel a mass of guilt for ( Read more... )

Alright family and friends, I love you all to death, and I know I don't usually get homesick, but I'm feeling a little neglected lately...I am in a developing nation with a major leg infection, little sleep, lots of hard work in the oppressive sun with no major support system...and very few emails. AND it's Valentine's Day and I don't have a ( Read more... )

I'm back from Hikkaduwa, which was a good, but tame experience. We worked at two different Buddhist temples/camps, and enjoyed warm showers at night and food that did not involve curry of any kind. The only ironic thing is that while I was there I got sick and I got EATEN ALIVE by something. Not a mosquito I don't think, but maybe a sand chigger ( Read more... )

I'm heading out tomorrow am to move down to Hikkaduwa, so I probably won't get back online until Sat. Today was a really good day of work---we spent it in the village of Moratawa, and dealt with a lot of different conditions. It was nice to see people who hadn't already been treated---not for them of course, but we felt more useful. Down south, ( Read more... )