Open Writing

During the Christmas-New year holiday I had a four-week break and went on two trips. The first was to the southern coastal towns of Unnawatuna, Galle and Marissa. Unnawatuna was rather crowded but the buzz was pleasant after the insipid lifeless streets in Colombo and it was nice to swim in the peaceful sea and walk along the beach. I met nine of my colleagues there, four arranged encounters and five unexpected. This didn't give me the urkky feeling of not being able to escape school which I might have expected. It was actually the first chance I had to really get to know their personalities and histories. This is not possible during stressful working days when we are all intent on just getting work done efficiently.

The second phase of the holiday, after a relaxing three days recovering from the hot, bumpy bus ride back home, was in the Hill country. I took a bus straight to my Japanese friend Haruna's university in the small village of Pambahinna, near Bellihuloya. This felt like a secret, special place where no tourist would ever go.

Haruna lives on the university campus at the end of the small country village. Although it's a small university, it is one of only two in which Japanese is taught. Haruna works as a Japanese teacher.

WE went to Horton plains to do a famous walk to World's End. The views are supposed to be the best in Sri Lanka, but as usual the rain followed me and the whole walk was ruined by mist and pouring rain. Our photo at the summit was of what looked like an oil tank with the words 'World's End' scruffily painted on it. We posed next to it dressed in raincoats, clutching umbrellas.

Following the walk, our hired driver took us to Ella. When I'd asked people before I left on my travels, what the nicest place they'd been to in Sri Lanka was, Ella had come out on top. It lived up to its reputation. There were lots of beautiful walking opportunities, green mountains, tea plantations, flowers, rivers-well, of course, everything you might expect to find in the countryside! There were also several tea factories nearby to visit. I did a 4 km walk every morning and another again in the afternoon.

Haruna left early to go back to teach at University and I went and joined her once I'd exhausted all the possible hikes. The rain actually continued to pour for the entire time I was there and all my pictures are murky. However, just seeing mountains again and smelling fresh crisp air more than compensated for the rain. At least it was refreshing and the raindrops weren't filled with pollutants, unlike those in Colombo and my eyes stopped itching at last. I have had various allergic reactions affecting my skin and eyes since I came here.

I also really enjoyed practicing using Sinhala while there alone. Haruna and her Sri Lankan friend, who'd accompanied us, had done all the talking while we were together. My guest house owner spoke little English and I was the only guest there apart from a German who never came into the communal area to eat. The owner also grew organic vegetables in the garden of the guest house and invited me to cook with them - a great chance to eat nourishing meals which didn't give me indigestion. My stomach is not very good at digesting very hot Sri Lankan curry. The owner also grew organic coffee beans which made a delicious, though rather strong, cup of coffee.

Social life

Apart from Sinhala classes and examining I have continued to develop my culinary repertoire and can now make Sri Lankan pumpkin curry, Sri-Lankan style lentils and aubergine curry. I have also invented my own recipe for a lentil/rice flour flat bread stuffed with onions and cumin seeds. This goes well with curry or pumpkin soup - another favourite. Dessert-wise, ginger and kithul syrup slices are now my forte, one of the few recipes which works with rice flour. Cakes and bread made with rice flour tend to crumble easily but I think the syrup really sticks them together. Cooking is generally a solitary pastime. I am quite prepared to cook interesting things just for myself. However, I have invited friends for dinner every Tuesday night last term or was invited over, and took something I'd made with me. One Tuesday night I tried a popular Japanese restaurant, Sakura, which is just 10 mins walk from my flat and ate a lot of delicious sushi.

I am still a regular swimmer and really love the pool I go to here. The Holiday Inn pool is set in a lovely garden. Although my favourite stroke is still breaststroke I have now started doing a length of back crawl every 5 lengths, so that I can look at the lush green leaves and see the sun shining through them, that is, when it's not pouring with rain. On those days, I am still quite happy to swim outside as the water still feels warm and you don't notice the rain while you are swimming.

The worst days are those when there's a thunderstorm, every day at the moment so you have to make sure you finish swimming before 5pm, as they usually start around then. The lightning flashes always seem to start just as I get in the pool, and of course, as it's too dangerous I have to go home.

Sometimes we just have sheet lightning but on some days you can see enormous forks of fire - quite beautiful in the dark sky. I had lunch with one of my neighbours yesterday and she told me a horrible story about when a flash of lightning whizzed through her flat and through her body, but without damaging it, then burnt a tree when it reached the garden. I think most Sri Lankan people probably have a similar tale to tell.

Anyway, back to the pool. The swimming instructor there is a very interesting lady. I had noticed that she was incredibly strict and to the point with her students and that her dress sense seemed un -Sri Lankan. I once made a joke in the changing rooms about her strictness with one of her adult students (adults in the morning and children in the afternoon) and discovered that her son actually swam for the Olympic team, and is now a swimming coach himself. Apparently his mother had coached him.

Also, I discovered her to be a kind lady who is only strict because she's honest and wants to help her students as directly as possible to improve. I am thinking of taking classes myself, in order to relearn a few other strokes and to start using a board to train with. I believe it will lead to a more invigorating swim. Next term won't be possible because I'll mainly be working from 8 am again but I'll try and request a timetable with afternoon shifts the following term so it should be ok then.