one last ditch attempt
Friday has become my sanctuary day. A day for me and for doing as I please. I like it. I felt sorry for the girls who had kind of looked at me pleading last night to come with them today. But they understood that wasting the day in the hot stinking city was no fun for anyone.
So today I was on my mission to save Horizon Lanka. Wanni and I came up with the idea of a CD mailshot. A little gimmicky but enough to maybe grab peoples attention. So what are we gonna but on the CD. A couple of our websites and my dog's bollox presetnation. I spent my morning desiging 8 powerpoint slides to capture the essence of Horizon and then I did the voice over. I'm gonna get the girls to do the actual talking eventually and get little pictures of them animated so they look like they are doing all the chat. It's pretty cool. I'm getting to use some of the new technology I've been introduced to here. So with presentation done and script done, time to do some lessons for school tomorrow. I've just realised the key to lessons. Typical that it hit me so late. Variety. A bit of writing, a bit of listening and a bit of reading. Tomorrow, my little darlings have a conversation to prepare! Not sure how it's going to go down but I can only try. I look back on the weeks that I was teaching and feel a bit of a failure. I wish I'd prepared more and given myself a bit more of a plan. I could have, had I known what I know now, given these kids so much more than I have. I could have organised after school reading lessons and spoken english lessons. Thing is, I know that if I'd given them the option they would have shown up every day. What's that famous saying about hindsight and foresight! With only 2 weeks to go exactly, (this time in two weeks I'll be checking in) I am determined to get some results. Not sure what results. I know my time here hasn't been wasted. The children are proof of that. They want to speak English and they want to speak to me. I wish I could leave them with a plan. Trouble is there is no one here to carry out that plan. Wanni isn't interested in that side of things any more which is a shame because he'd be good at it. And the kids will respond to him. So they are left with no one.
My afternoon shut down at 3:00 for my siesta which wasn't very siesta because I got woken up by 2 students wanting to know their ementors email addresses. It was funny becuase I was in bed in tshirt and knickers and I heard them calling. "Ende Co" I shouted. That means come here. So they waltzed into my room probably not expecting to see Marissa teacher lying prostrate on her bed in her pants. They kept their poker faces though and pretended like I was fully clothed. haven't really worked out the culture here when it comes to being undressed. I noticed the girls don't have nightclothes - they kinda of just sleep in what they put on after their evening bath. And I noticed that they all get changed in the bathroom. They don't think that time saving could be gained by leaving the bathroom whilst still in towel and changing in the room. So I'm convinced they are all a little uncomfortable with the whole naked thing. Not sure what they made of me waltzing around the Colombo house in my bra and skirt. So anyways, after being rudley awakened, I was greeted by Archie with a cup of steaming sperm. No really, it may as well have been. I told her this morning that I have another urine infection and asked if she could get some king coconut for me. however, I think king cocnuts were a little scarce today so she boiled up some semolina, which is apparently a cure for my ailment. It really does look like heated sperm. I grudingly took the cup and teaspoon by tespoon forced it down. Don't feel any good effects of it...except I'm prepared now for when I see Craig!!!
The girls in the city were obviously terribley bored waiting for all the teachers to arrive so they co uld come back to the village. So I found myself having long yahoo messenger chats with them all afternoon. They wanted me to tell them a story to take the edge off the boredom. So I told them the story of a beautiful Sri Lankan girl from London and her gorgeous boyfriend Craig and how she left him to come to Sri Lanka.....and so on and so forth. They were lapping it up. I wasn't sure if I should go into too much detail - you know kissing and stuff - so kept it chaste and loving. They were very sweet. At the end I said I didn't know what was going to happen between Craig and the girl because even though she loved him terribley, she didn't know if he loved her. I got a little message back from them saying "I think Craig will have a nice message for you!" Romantic fools they are! nice thought though!
It's jumping frog season. i seem to have that Prefab Sprout song in my head..."hot dog, jumping frog, Alberqueque" They is a new breed of gimba on the scene. These little suckers stick to the walls and can jump like Mr Edwards....trouble is they seem to like the bathroom. Yesterday I had to ask Wanni to remove one who frigthened the life out of me as it fell from the ceiling. And today, I had to ask Dilum to remove one from behind the mirror knowing that when I did my 2am abultions, the little bugger would get me!
And that's my day really. Two weeks to go and I'll be back in the arms of the one I love! Can't wait.
mx
So today I was on my mission to save Horizon Lanka. Wanni and I came up with the idea of a CD mailshot. A little gimmicky but enough to maybe grab peoples attention. So what are we gonna but on the CD. A couple of our websites and my dog's bollox presetnation. I spent my morning desiging 8 powerpoint slides to capture the essence of Horizon and then I did the voice over. I'm gonna get the girls to do the actual talking eventually and get little pictures of them animated so they look like they are doing all the chat. It's pretty cool. I'm getting to use some of the new technology I've been introduced to here. So with presentation done and script done, time to do some lessons for school tomorrow. I've just realised the key to lessons. Typical that it hit me so late. Variety. A bit of writing, a bit of listening and a bit of reading. Tomorrow, my little darlings have a conversation to prepare! Not sure how it's going to go down but I can only try. I look back on the weeks that I was teaching and feel a bit of a failure. I wish I'd prepared more and given myself a bit more of a plan. I could have, had I known what I know now, given these kids so much more than I have. I could have organised after school reading lessons and spoken english lessons. Thing is, I know that if I'd given them the option they would have shown up every day. What's that famous saying about hindsight and foresight! With only 2 weeks to go exactly, (this time in two weeks I'll be checking in) I am determined to get some results. Not sure what results. I know my time here hasn't been wasted. The children are proof of that. They want to speak English and they want to speak to me. I wish I could leave them with a plan. Trouble is there is no one here to carry out that plan. Wanni isn't interested in that side of things any more which is a shame because he'd be good at it. And the kids will respond to him. So they are left with no one.
My afternoon shut down at 3:00 for my siesta which wasn't very siesta because I got woken up by 2 students wanting to know their ementors email addresses. It was funny becuase I was in bed in tshirt and knickers and I heard them calling. "Ende Co" I shouted. That means come here. So they waltzed into my room probably not expecting to see Marissa teacher lying prostrate on her bed in her pants. They kept their poker faces though and pretended like I was fully clothed. haven't really worked out the culture here when it comes to being undressed. I noticed the girls don't have nightclothes - they kinda of just sleep in what they put on after their evening bath. And I noticed that they all get changed in the bathroom. They don't think that time saving could be gained by leaving the bathroom whilst still in towel and changing in the room. So I'm convinced they are all a little uncomfortable with the whole naked thing. Not sure what they made of me waltzing around the Colombo house in my bra and skirt. So anyways, after being rudley awakened, I was greeted by Archie with a cup of steaming sperm. No really, it may as well have been. I told her this morning that I have another urine infection and asked if she could get some king coconut for me. however, I think king cocnuts were a little scarce today so she boiled up some semolina, which is apparently a cure for my ailment. It really does look like heated sperm. I grudingly took the cup and teaspoon by tespoon forced it down. Don't feel any good effects of it...except I'm prepared now for when I see Craig!!!
The girls in the city were obviously terribley bored waiting for all the teachers to arrive so they co uld come back to the village. So I found myself having long yahoo messenger chats with them all afternoon. They wanted me to tell them a story to take the edge off the boredom. So I told them the story of a beautiful Sri Lankan girl from London and her gorgeous boyfriend Craig and how she left him to come to Sri Lanka.....and so on and so forth. They were lapping it up. I wasn't sure if I should go into too much detail - you know kissing and stuff - so kept it chaste and loving. They were very sweet. At the end I said I didn't know what was going to happen between Craig and the girl because even though she loved him terribley, she didn't know if he loved her. I got a little message back from them saying "I think Craig will have a nice message for you!" Romantic fools they are! nice thought though!
It's jumping frog season. i seem to have that Prefab Sprout song in my head..."hot dog, jumping frog, Alberqueque" They is a new breed of gimba on the scene. These little suckers stick to the walls and can jump like Mr Edwards....trouble is they seem to like the bathroom. Yesterday I had to ask Wanni to remove one who frigthened the life out of me as it fell from the ceiling. And today, I had to ask Dilum to remove one from behind the mirror knowing that when I did my 2am abultions, the little bugger would get me!
And that's my day really. Two weeks to go and I'll be back in the arms of the one I love! Can't wait.
mx