A Family Affair

Back in Kandy after 5 days with Dhanushka and his family in the village. Hard to believe that this is the end of my trip and that this time next week I'll be back in Sydney. Have mixed feelings about leaving. Am looking forward to being back in Sydney and seeing all my friends, but sad to be leaving people here.

Yesterday Dhanushka and I went on an afternoon-trip to a nearby temple and devale (shrine would be the best word in English) with his extended family - the perfect way to end my stay in the village. It reminded me of the day-trip we went on at Sri Lakan New Year - completely mad, but lots of fun. At the devale, devoted to King Mahasena, who was responsible for the construction of large parts of the irrigation system that still exist to this day, we made fruit offerings. Everyone is busy planting the rice at the moment, so it was an appropriate time to go really - to pray for a good harvest.

It was sad saying goodbye to everyone this morning. Dhanushka's Grandmother is insisting that I come back in January and go to the Buddhist holy sites in India with her and Dhanushka! Dhanushka told everyone that I'd applied for a job with the British Council and I think they all seem to think that I already have the job. I haven't actually heard anything yet, but then the closing date for applications was yesterday and I haven't checked my e-mail (that's on tomorrow's schedule). Dhanushka's Grandmother is hilarious and quite an amazing woman. She was born into a well-off family here in Kandy and is obviously well-educated, but somehow her family fell on hard times and she ended up in a small village. When I was showing everyone my photos on my computer she was the only one who knew anything about some of the places I'd been to.

Apart from going on afternoon-trips to temples the rest of the four days was pretty much spent eating, chatting and resting - in that order! Each meal was a real feast and of course as the guest I was always encouraged to eat more! Dhanushka's Mum taught me her version of mango curry and also showed me how to make indi-appa, otherwise known as string hoppers! They weren't as difficult to make as I thought, but because only so many can fit in the steamer at a time I guess they're time-consuming, which is why most people buy them rather than make them themselves.

My Sinhala is still pretty rudimentary, but a lot of what I learned when I was here earlier in the year started to come back. If I do get a job here I definitely need to sit down and learn more than the basics. I've noticed that I'm finding it easier to distinguish between words now, but often when people speak it's so fast that I can't follow what they're saying - something my students always complain about!!!

Over the past few nights I've also managed to catch up with the latest goings on in Maha-Gedera (the Main House) and Pravina. I can't say that I'm a big fan of bad Hindi dramas dubbed in Sinhala, but everyone here seems to love them and from 8-10pm everyone seems to be glued to the TV. Dhanushka is TV addict and trying to get anything out of him when Pravina is on is a waste of time! I actually have no idea what's going on most of the time, but I can follow the basic plot - sometimes. What I don't understand though is why Pravina is no longer with Anuradha! When I left they were head over heels in love...

I'm being told that I have to eat. Dhanushka has gone out briefly to see one of his friends about something and he told me to wait, but aunty is being very insistant!!! Knowing Dhanushka will be probably be back later than he said he would anyway I should probably eat.