Eva Lanka Hotel Tangalla

... onto my chair last week as I was having dinner. Matters were made worse by the fact that the one that was approaching was the size of my palm. Nasty. I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong. Feeling a little paranoid i decided to take a can of "Morte-In Fast Kill Cockroach killer" spray to my room. Diligently following the instruction i sprayed all potential cockroach abodes: feeling protected by my mosquito net i ...

After a couple of days where my biggest worry was thinking up the next day's lessons, recipes for the home science class and contemplating the size of grossly overgrown lawn creatures, a half an hour meeting with some mothers at school quickly bring me back down to the reality of the situation here. A teacher-parent meeting with some of the mothers of the school kids reveal what one of the real underlying issues is here, and highlights just how ...

... it will be for us - an attitude that is totally alien to these people here. We hope that our time here at Smile Lanka will enable us to develop this kind of mindset, where giving is always a pleasure and never a chore. We are learning so much already about how great a witness our actions can be. We don't understand the prayers the staff offer in morning devotions but their passion and enthusiasm throughout the day shines through all communication barriers.

Cookery Classes I have started going to Sri Lankan cookery classes during the week. My cookery teacher Rohitha, runs an internet café in Tangalle. He is quite an interesting guy and likes to tell his stories, his dramatic roof top escape from the tsunami was particularly animated and intriguing. His café is on the way to the main beach and is quite a nice place to hang out and have a juice. He has a very Western ...

... they put out. This shall hopefully now keep better track of who they are contacting and when as well monitoring the progress of partnership opportunities easily. I am now looking at re-formatting the proposals to tie in with this and making improvements to the web site so that will be my duties for next week. There was a power cut last night in my village so last night and this morning were by candle light and was a bit concerned ...

... lagoon We checked out the hotels near the harbour first but there was little in the way of beach so we crossed the river in the middle of the village where, east of the bridge a road leads off to the right and the long stretch of white sand known as Medaketiya. There are hotels and guest houses aplenty. We were warned about Ganesh Garden; its business comes from unwary tourists trapped by touts in the village who don't mention that it is two or three kilometres away and ...

... looked extremely happy, despite their poor background. On Monday night we went up to Victors for a cup of tea. He has been really supportive of us in our time here and it was sad to say goodbye to him and his family! School over the past few days has been different. The preschool have been practising for the opening, but i think that despite being only 5, some of them have cottened onto the fact that wew are going. Afsha in particular over the past few days has ...

Today the preschoolers were practising for the opening. They went into the new classroom and practised If your happy and you know it and teh hokey pokey. the latter of whihc was done 5 times, so by the end was very tired and had that song going round and round in my head all ...

Yesterday the band was practicing, but this time only for 30mins. After that it was time to play. In the morning, a few girls come and learn to use a sewing machine as they don't go to school. This usually means now that we spend some of the morning chatting to them. Also has a game of volleyball with them yesterday - of course I was on the winning team! Afterschoolers yesterday did some questions ion what they had learnt so far. Then last night, Pastor Victor, his wife and 3 ...

Today the Preschoolers spent almost 2hours trying to prefect their band playing for the opening! They all have very good rhythm and can keep the beat, but when it comes to walking and playing, it's disastrous! They are in lines of 3, but they all can't keep together! Literally after 2 steps, they are no longer in line and it just looks like a mass of children! They have just over 3weeks to prefect it, but the question is, can we all take 3weeks of ...