Wesak

The past few days we've been having problems with the telephone line, which has meant that we've often been without Internet access as well. Sri Lanka Telecom have promised that someone will come out and have a look at the connection, but so far no-one has been - despite numerous phone calls to find out what's going on.

Today is Wesak, which remembers the birth, enlightenment and death of the Lord Buddha. Dhanushka has been making a paper lantern to hang outside and we have oil lamps throughout the house to light once it gets dark. We're also planning on heading into town later to go to the Temple and see the Wesak lights. Last year I spent Wesak in Dhanushka's village, so I'm looking forward to seeing all the lights this year.

Yesterday I had my last days of training to be an IELTS examiner. I got my certification for the writing module last week, something of a surprise as I didn't feel that I'd done that well when I was marking the writing scripts, and am now waiting to see how I did in the speaking module.

Congratulations to Anina and Mario. Little Gemma was born on Thursday afternoon and both her and Anina are doing well according to the e-mail I got.

Ok - better send this before I lose the connection!!!

Wishing everyone a peaceful Wesak.