Rainman
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.
Teaching went very well this morning. The kids are so grateful for the lessons--I think that there aren't as many variations of teaching styles in Sri Lanka as there are in the U.S. and our flashcards and humor are welcomed warmly. Their sense of hospitality is overwhelming and I get asked to lunch every day, and have to politely refuse. I just can't imagine teaching in such a poverty stricken part of the U.S. and being so well-received. The kids are all polite and well-behaved, and stand when they speak or when a teacher enters the room. They aren't perfect--they're still kids after all, but it really is a pleasure to teach them.
The orphans here at the farm hosted a bonfire for us last night, which I really enjoyed. We took turns singing songs---their's were a lot more harmonious than our's, but we did a pretty good job. It actually was a little depressing to realize that there aren't very many songs that we as an American culture all know. We could sing some patriotic songs, but we don't have a very rich folk song repetoire. Many of us sing at church or camp, but even those aren't all the same. We're recommending the second group bring the words to some of the more common songs too, because when we did find a song we knew, we usually could only sing one verse. It was still fun though. The fire itself was made of mostly dry palm branches which are the equivalant of birchbark soaked in gasoline. They really really go up and when we first lit the fire it was at least 40 feet high--we all quickly backed away from it until it burned down a little. I could see why they didn't usually have bonfires here too--it was almost ridiculous to be sitting next to a fire in the heat of the night. We saw no vipers and only a couple of enormous fruit bats--so all in all, it was a success.
I haven't been writing too much about my nursing patients, mostly because I think I'm still sort of thinking along the lines of American confidentiality protocol, but I have to talk about one little girl we saw today. A mother brought her year old daughter in because she wasn't eating or walking yet, and the mother was concerned about that. We took one look at the little girl and while she was beautiful and joyful, it was clear that she had Down's Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It was very difficult to have to convey to the mother through an interpreter what was wrong with her daughter and what the expectations were for her development. It was also heartbreaking knowing that in all likelihood, she would end up on the street, the Sri Lankan culture not being very kind to its mentally impaired or ill. It's situations like these that make me frustrated that there aren't the social welfare setups that exist in the U.S. We're not perfect as a nation, but we have at least the information and some of the resources to help people such as this. I felt very helpless leaving this afternoon.
Teaching went very well this morning. The kids are so grateful for the lessons--I think that there aren't as many variations of teaching styles in Sri Lanka as there are in the U.S. and our flashcards and humor are welcomed warmly. Their sense of hospitality is overwhelming and I get asked to lunch every day, and have to politely refuse. I just can't imagine teaching in such a poverty stricken part of the U.S. and being so well-received. The kids are all polite and well-behaved, and stand when they speak or when a teacher enters the room. They aren't perfect--they're still kids after all, but it really is a pleasure to teach them.
The orphans here at the farm hosted a bonfire for us last night, which I really enjoyed. We took turns singing songs---their's were a lot more harmonious than our's, but we did a pretty good job. It actually was a little depressing to realize that there aren't very many songs that we as an American culture all know. We could sing some patriotic songs, but we don't have a very rich folk song repetoire. Many of us sing at church or camp, but even those aren't all the same. We're recommending the second group bring the words to some of the more common songs too, because when we did find a song we knew, we usually could only sing one verse. It was still fun though. The fire itself was made of mostly dry palm branches which are the equivalant of birchbark soaked in gasoline. They really really go up and when we first lit the fire it was at least 40 feet high--we all quickly backed away from it until it burned down a little. I could see why they didn't usually have bonfires here too--it was almost ridiculous to be sitting next to a fire in the heat of the night. We saw no vipers and only a couple of enormous fruit bats--so all in all, it was a success.
I haven't been writing too much about my nursing patients, mostly because I think I'm still sort of thinking along the lines of American confidentiality protocol, but I have to talk about one little girl we saw today. A mother brought her year old daughter in because she wasn't eating or walking yet, and the mother was concerned about that. We took one look at the little girl and while she was beautiful and joyful, it was clear that she had Down's Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It was very difficult to have to convey to the mother through an interpreter what was wrong with her daughter and what the expectations were for her development. It was also heartbreaking knowing that in all likelihood, she would end up on the street, the Sri Lankan culture not being very kind to its mentally impaired or ill. It's situations like these that make me frustrated that there aren't the social welfare setups that exist in the U.S. We're not perfect as a nation, but we have at least the information and some of the resources to help people such as this. I felt very helpless leaving this afternoon.