So I haven't quite kept up with the journal format...nor the journal itself infact. I've been too busy...well, when I say busy I mean that in Sri Lankan terms. It is incredibly hot in this country and yesterday I travelled into the dry zone so it ain't getting any colder though the rain should be starting anytime now.
The hot climate demands that one seeks shade when in the sun, and most time during the day is spent inside, by a fan if you're lucky. However, having observed several outdoor labourers, I am astounded by their resiliance to the heat. Sweating, i've decided, is perfectly normal and one just has to accept that its going to happen. My natural reaction to sweat is to feel discomforted by it but out here it is utterly unavoidable so I am accepting and embracing it, after all, its supposed to cool one down.
While I was in Negombo, I made several visits to a local school with a friend who is an English teacher there. On the first day, I was presented with approximately 40 Sri Lankan students between school and university age. Yes, 40! I was given a vague instruction to just...talk. About anything and everything. So for the next hour, I was looked at in bemusement as I talked about whatever came to mind. Despite their generally high level of English ability, my accent and pronunciation provided a challenge for them, but this was the point. Indika, their teacher constantly stressed the importance of being able to understand crazy foreigners such as myself because despite their high level of intelligence and in some cases, qualifications, they oftened complained about the difficulty of understanding english speaking foreign nationals. I explained to them that this difficulty is universal in the learning of any language and demonstrated my very limited sinhala skills, much to their hysterical amusement. Laughing at people in sri lanka is not considered rude and my simplest mannerisms would sometimes instigate a great deal of laughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment