If there’s one thing you do a substantial amount of while traveling, it’s meet people. I mean, in my opinion, it’s the biggest perk. And so far in Sri Lanka, I’ve met a large variety of people, and a few I want to dedicate this post to.
I said a premature goodbye to Soleil today, one of the volunteers that’s been with us for the past five weeks. She’ll be in Colombo (the capital) for a week in addition to a week that her and I will spend traveling around Sri Lanka, but today she left our host family house, and I already miss her. She’s one of those goofy, quirky people that knows how to laugh at herself as much as with others. She does her name justice, as Soleil means sun in French, with the way she brightens every situation and room she walks into. She’s one of those people I’m grateful to have had the chance to meet and connect with on my gap year. I’m so excited to be traveling around with her in a week and I can’t wait to party it up in NYC with her.
Looking cute while co-teaching at the monastery the past week (blog post about that will be uploaded soon as well!)
Entertaining Dion, our little mascot– I mean, our little host family brother 😉
Next, I want to give a shoutout to Pushpa, my host family mother. She barely speaks any English, but who needs English when you cook and prepare tea like a goddess? How she takes care of her entire family and us volunteers, I don’t know, but I greatly admire her for it– she always has a smile on her face or a laugh on her lips. She’s also fearless and always has her handy dandy broomstick ready to beat away any cockroaches, spiders, scorpions, snakes, or rats we encounter. If I could clone her and bring her with me everywhere I went, I would.
Pushpa, on the right, with her mother, on the left, after getting blessed by a random parade procession in the street. Both so adorable, I can’t stand it.
I also can’t mention Pushpa without mentioning her daughter, Dineshi. She’s my sister’s age, 28, but already has one of the cutest kids in existence (aka Dion). She knows English the best out of everyone in the family, except maybe Michael, her father, but she’s been a great asset to the volunteers here. Not only is she infinitely interesting and hilarious, she also got me hooked on curd and treacle, a Sri Lankan dessert that consists of fresh buffalo curd covered in honey, which I now have religiously after dinner every night (it’s so, soooo good).
Dineshi and Dion! Yay! (I spy Pushpa in the baacckkk)
Lastly, I want to mention a few other people who I don’t have pictures of, but still brighten/have brightened my day:
Pijanta, our tuk-tuk driver that takes us to the orphanage every morning and brings us back in the afternoon. Not only did he lasso a scorpion on our front porch at ten at night, but he always greets us energetically and with a laugh. We tease him when he wears his black snap-back with the pink superman logo on it, but he loves it, and we do too. He also let us drive his tuk-tuk on a deserted road which was quite an experience.
The ladies that work/live next door that say hi to us every time we walk by. They always wave and have a smile on their face and I don’t know why, but they’re awesome.
The doctor who tended to me when I was sick and covered in rashes and itchy things. You’re the bomb.
All the kids at the orphanage every day and the ladies that work there. We have a blast laughing at all the crazy things the kids do.
The dude that was chasing his loose goat through the street that Soleil and I helped catch. Rock on, man.
Hopefully, and I’m making it one of my goals to do so, I want to have several blog posts similar to this one. Meeting and connecting with people is not only a joy of traveling, but a joy of life, and one of the things I’ve most looked forward to on my gap year. Here’s to sharing many more stories and laughs with new and exciting people!
Mi Andanza Persuadida 