Sri Lanka

 Meeting people on the road in Sri Lanka has been fun, straight away I found myself in the company of a fellow traveller on my plane when arriving in Colombo. My first few days were spent in Negombo unfortunately so far i only have the photo above as my digital memory card got corrupted and lost all the photos from my first day exploring, could have been worse as it could have happened at the end of my holiday and therefore no snaps. This happened to a friend of mine on there hols in OZ now i know how gutted they must of felt. Fredrick and Patrizia a couple i met who live in Brussels have kindly said they will email a copy of their photos to me as we had a great day exploring the fish market with a local fisherman. Also took in a few local beers and a great crab supper.

Next we were off to Kandy, got ourselves on a busy local bus for the 3 1/2 hours journey inland, thankfully we all got seats. I found Kandy very peaceful and enjoyed strolling round the lake checking out the odd kingfisher, monitor lizard and monkeys up to mischief. The views were spectacular as you can see in the photos. My negotiations for cheap room rates were also going quiet smoothly.

 

I also managed to take in a Sinhalese Cultural show of dancing and drumming, not to mention the fire eating and walking on hot coals.

Next unawares of the enduring day I had planned i took a local bus to Sigiria 3 hours later i find myself climbing this rock in midday sun using metal steps overhanging the rock face. Had a couple of bouts of Nausea but made my way up and it was worth the views on top as well as the rock carvings on the way up.

Back onto a bus on the same day travelling now with a English girl from London, Sarah we decide to go to Dambulla to see some Buddah's. Another tremendous climb up some never ending stairs was not in my mind when we decided this. However you cant have Buddah's without them. So off we went our second trek for the day.

After this i was definitely up for the rest of my holiday to go at a more sedate pace, so I headed back down the coast to a place called Galle via Colombo which to me looked a bit chaotic and like any Asian city so didn't stick around. I found myself a quaint Dutch villa to stay in very cheap and took myself on a tour around the old town and fort.

The last four days of my holiday i spent by the beach not far from Galle I got myself a Tuk Tuk and headed to Unawatuna crescent shaped bay for a well earned break. This place was beautiful, many of the guesthouse's and restaurants are right on the beach. The swimming is safe no currents and turtles join you in the water. I spent a lot of time reading, swimming, relaxing, eating and drinking.

 My cabin was surrounded by palm trees and gardens where fire flies came out at night. I spent my evenings down on the beach supping beer and reading my book.

It was really weird flying home as I wasn't flying back to the UK, I was off to my own home in India now. I had to endure 3 plane transfers to get back home. Indian airports are crazy, it made me laugh watching Indian women take there valuables out their bags or keep their purses when going through security, many of course were sent back to put all these things through the x-ray, so it took awhile at each place. When I actually arrived back in Ranchi the plane and airport were so small that I almost went to the back of the plane to collect my bag myself. It was a great trip and im at home now thinking what's the next one, so keep an eye out.

A bit of Normality

Had a really good week and weekend the lead up to my holiday so a great start. I've begun my lessons with the Special Education Diploma Trainees, aimed it a bit high, OT jargon went a bit over their heads but have revised my plan for this coming week to make things a bit clearer and easier to follow in translation. Also shortened it as things taking a bit longer than expected to explain and clarify understanding as well as the enthusiasm for group work, taking double the time planned. But I'm glad i can review and make things better. Check out the normality of class segregation here. They actually chose to sit like this, women on one side men on the other. What's funny is they all rise when I enter and say 'Namaste Mam' then i tell them to sit down. It makes things a bit formal for me but i know its all about showing respect.

 Well to get onto my amazing weekend, another volunteer Joel from Uganda has come to live in Ranchi, so i got Fred who lives about 50km away to join us as well to show Joel around the town. Spent Saturday shopping bought some new goggles for swimming and new trainers (which have already given me blisters). I have been craving a simple pizza for 5 months so we had dinner at Domino's pizza, chicken fiesta still makes my mouth water thinking about it. All three of us headed off to see my first English movie at the cinema The Dark Night Rising which we thoroughly enjoyed, almost felt like a day at home in England with some normality. I braved driving home at night with Fred on the back of motorbike, avoiding the drink drivers, cows asleep in middle of road, bumps, pot holes all remember with no street lighting. Pat on the back for Rose.

 Next day everyone met up at mine for a delicious breakfast of boiled eggs and toast, thanks Fred for cooking. Then we were off for a look around and stroll through Ranchi's biggest tourist attraction The Rock Garden. Actually exceeded my expectations for Jharkhand so was pleasantly surprised even in the rain.

 Seemed to be the place where couples met to hold hands and families enjoyed a stroll. It had some weird exhibits or art structures including a UFO, pyramid and a strange monster protruding out a pool. But it was also the only place in Ranchi that was quiet and peaceful. I feel there will be many more visits here in the future.

                             

 People boating and swimming.

Handwriting Workshop

The days crept up all the planning was done and I found myself quite nervous at the prospect of teaching a class of teachers and parents how to implement occupational therapy techniques when developing handwriting skills with children. Lets say didn't sleep well the night before. However on the day it all paid off. Actually found myself enjoying the teaching and both myself and the learners seemed to get a lot out of it. I had scheduled a whole day of activities and the learners seemed to relish any chance to get creative and make things. I had to point out a few times we needed to move on to keep the time schedule. I will take that as a sign of how they enjoyed the activity.





Even had an icebreaker to start the session although made the mistake of giving every one pencils to use at the beginning, when one of the tasks was to chose their own pen colour, it was too late when I realised but was saved by Alka a colleague who suggested using the colour we wrote on our name badges. It was nice having a group who wanted to participate and join in as much as me. I had all the ingredients for a good workshop, presentation, flip chart and post lets.

Teachers getting creative

Word spacers decorated by learners

Getting more creative with own ideas

Train word spacer - very creative

It was interesting having someone translate for you as only half the group spoke good English, had to be really clear in what I was trying to get across. I did find it frustrating when my translator answered questions for me before it was translated back, but I suppose that's part an parcel.

Teacher Rosie

Sharing Ideas

Now hopefully these 20 people will go off assess some of the children, devise a plan and implement some of my ideas to improve a child's handwriting. That's my theory anyway! With this success I am now waiting on VSO to print the workbook I made so Deepshikha can train others in India with the same skills.