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Sri Lanka is hot. Consistently at 30 degrees and feeling 40. It's unbearable and makes doing anything completely unappealing. Let alone running around after children for a few hours everyday.
I've been in Sri Lanka just over a week now and I love it. I'm out here with Plan My Gap Year, volunteering in a government school in the mornings and then an orphanage in the afternoon. The kids are tiring and loud but sweet and so cute when they want to be.
The kids that are in the orphanage that I'm at are either orphans, there because their parent has had to go and work abroad, or has been affected by some sort of judicial sentencing or street kids. When we turn up they are wearing the same clothes they have been wearing since day one, they're dirty and unruly, constantly looking for a fight. But they are happy to see us and occasionally they're happy to sit and learn from us. I brought them a proper football so that we can play after they have done their lessons. Though hard, it's interesting to hear their stories of how they ended up there, and though I shouldn't. I definitely haven't favourites.
The PMGY team out here are all amazing. They make the experience so much more personal and fun. They do an incredible job and they're really becoming friends now, I'll be sad to leave them. I'm also really enjoying the house and all the girls in it.
This weekend just gone, all twenty of us, as well as both Ashika and Nalaka went to Kandy for a cultural weekend. We started with riding elephants and visiting the elephant orphanage. Saturday we went to a spice plantation, a couple of temples and then finally we climbed Sigiriya, or Lion Rock. It took us just under forty minutes and I loved it. It's something like 1200 steps, mum you'd have loved it ;), and at the top was where the king used to have his castle, over looking what seems like the entire country. This king had 500 wives and though there used to be a painting of all 500 now only 18 remain. The climb, in the Sri Lankan heat was fairly tiring but we made it to the top first in our group and it was completely worth it. The view up there is incredible, it was cooler and with a slight breeze we ended up sat there for longer than it took us to climb up. In our last day we visited a number of factories, got very excited when Ashika informed us it was KFC for lunch, though he had tough job convincing us he was being serious, and had a look round some shops before starting the long drive home. It felt like we were in that coach for the entire weekend. The hotel we stayed in was as luxurious as I'm going to experience on this trip. Two or three to a room, wifi, swimming pool, lots of food. It was a really great weekend.
So now I have just one week left before I go to Thailand. Though I'm looking forward to that I'll be sad to leave Sri Lanka, especially since Thailand is just as hot.
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Kerri McGuinness This all sounds amazing already "B" it feels like you've been gone so long already. Have fun in Thailand, u will make friends with more pet monkeys there as well. Lol! Mega is at the airport now waiting to get on her plane, I hope you two manage to meet up. Lots of love xxxx