End of ISLE

Okay, here's a brief run-down of what's been going on w/ me for the past couple weeks.

 

The 6th and the 7th (Tuesday and Wednesday) I mostly spent reading through students' final papers and checking in library books.  The evening of the 7th we had a belated Thanksgiving celebration, with all the students, their families, and professors.  It was quite a success, with lots of good food, both American and Sri Lankan.  Of course that also meant a lot of clean-up for us and the center staff, but it was worth it.

The next two days, the 8th and 9th (TH and F), were given over to students' final oral presentations, which lasted all day.  Then I had choir practice on the 8th, and on the 9th our choir took part in a larger dance, drumming, and music concert, and I had a small solo.  It was fun, but strange, as the music we were singing was very different from most of the other stuff being performed.

 

There were a few more library books to be checked in, and we had a pleasant final tea with students and families on Saturday the 10th.  Afterwards Sarah and I went out to dinner with all the students at a "Chinese" restaurant here in Kandy (it's very different from China).

 

Then the real work began.  Except for an evening out with some close friends on Sunday, saying good-bye to students going to the airport Monday night, and an extra choir rehearsal on Wednesday, we've spent most of our time since then typing up some very long evaluations (3 from each student, 1 for homestays, 1 for Sinhala language class, and 1 general program evaluation), finishing preparing the library for next year, figuring out and sending off grades, and putting the finishing touches on our own report.  It's been very tiring.

 

We finally finished up the afternoon of the 15th, packed hurriedly, and went out to find a place to stay.  Unfortunately the place near-by was a little too expensive for us, so Sarah had to come with me to another choir rehearsal, along with all our bags.  Afterwards we were able to get a lift into town, and from there we got a three-wheeler up to a little guest house whose owner we'd met once.  He was very excited to see us again, and we moved right in.  We then went out to an art opening at a hotel nearby, where we ran into some friends.  On our way back we stopped for a light dinner, then returned to the hotel and some much-needed rest.

 

The next day was spent chilling in Kandy.  On Saturday Sarah and I said good-bye to a few people, had the final choir concert (that I'm a part of) and hopped on the choir van returning to Colombo.  We'd called ahead to a place near the center of the city and arrived there a little before midnight.  After showers and some brief, quiet celebration, we turned in.  Sunday was spent doing a little shopping in the city and then making our way out to Katunayake, where we were finally able to cook the JiffyPop I've had for several months.  It was good, but we had to get up really early this morning, about 3:30, in order to get ready and then go to the airport.  Our flight left at 8:15am, and about 45 mins. later we touched down in Trivandrum.  We made our way to a very clean budget hotel, got some money, lunch, reserved railway tickets for tomorrow, everything taken care of for a few hours.  We also tried to go to a really cool-sounding museum and art gallery, but they're closed on Mondays.  Boo.  This evening we'll go see a Kathakali dance performance though, which should be cool.  Okay, write more sometime later.