January 2011

Acting
I took up the lead male role in a short play that was performed afterschool. It was Saba's IP for her drama class. We practiced for 2 weeks and on the Thursday of the 24th we performed on stage. We had a relatively big crowd that came too watch. The play was a success even though some of the others forgot their lines due to which there was a long akward pause!!! But we had fun and i enjoyed doing something creative and new. some pictures to follow....

Saisa boys football 
the year has started slowly in terms of CAS. my only real involvement this month is Saisa boys soccer. We have a really short season this year therefore we have to work our socks off. we train every tuesday, wednesday, friday and saturday. unfortunately due to bad luck, forgetfulness and the general enthusiasm about football more than the pictures, hardly any evidence is present of us TRAINING !!!
and we had a pretty rigorous course as well, Mr. Shipley and Mr Campbell made us sprint, pass, shoot jog, anything they could have possibly done to get fit. we played 4 matches against Colombo international school all of which we won by margins greater than 5 goals apart from one.
i was meanwhile nominated as team captain. It was a great honor for me and i was proud to be representing my school at an international event. This season has really helped me in developing skills i already have and pursuing one of the things that is really my passion.

WWW
this was my last week without walls at OSC.our class went to hambantoa, a city located in the south of Sri Lanka. we stayed at the peacock beach hotel. We were basically divided into 2 groups both which would visit two different schools. My school was an hours drive away from the hotel. The aims i had set myself for this WWW were:

• to take part in helping the community
• interacting closely with local children
• integrating better with my own friends
• having fun
• doing something new

I was also getting invloved in an issue of global importance since we were helping schools affected by the tsunami of 2005. The first day we were warmly greeted by the children and teachers of the school. they showed us their appreciation by giving us flowers and singing traditional songs with us. we then played a game of musical chairs with them, which apart from one (who eventually won!) noone really understood. Then we got straight down to work. we had split down into even smaller groups and my group was working on painting the equipment outside. We first scraped off the old paint so we could coat them with layers of new paint. Then we started painting with different color combinations of blue, green, red and yellow. The slick paint didn't just leave a mark on the swings, some off us even got it onto our hands and clothes, in my case hair ! for 4-5 hours we worked tirelessly and by the end of the day when we looked at the swings we could see our hard works labor had payed off. the swings were glistening with coatings off paint we had applied, only finishing touches which we would apply the next day were missing. The tiring days work probably attributed to everyone falling asleep on the way back to the hotel!

The next day we woke up again early in the morning to go to the same schools. Today we were going to apply the finishing touches to the school and also we had planned a small performance for them I had written the script for this "ultra cliched" play in which a young prince rescues a a beautiful princess from a bunch of danger men. we had translated the play in Sinhalese so that the little kids would understand. same as the previous day, we worked our socks off and had the outside playground finished within an hour, apparently noone had finished painting a school as fast as our grade did this year.

 I also worked on the main walls of the school building for a bit. Then it was time for the concert.

Our play was much appreciated by the little kids although i doubt they really paid attention ! the kids also performed for us and then our group was invited for tea by a local monk who had been really kind and helpful the past 2 days. Afterwards we received the monks blessing. I felt really happy that i had accomplished my goals. I had interacted with the kids and really worked to improve the environment in which they were to study. 

Back at the hotel we went for a jog on the beach. I was sweating by the end of this strenuous workout. That evening our class held its own little concert in which some kids performed on the guitar. Even i had set myself a goal of doing something new and i took guitar lessons from bharat. i had done a bit of guitar before at school but bharat taught me how to play the opening tune of a specific song i wished to play. 

Next morning we set off to the Yala national park 4 oclock in the morning !!! we watched out for animals throughout the day in the scorching sun, appreciating the wildlife and nature at its purest!!

we saw a leapord, elephants, jackals, various birds, bulls, deer and peackocks. it was great. i feel i have accomplished my goals for the trip, i had fun while helping others, getting invloved with the nature and enjoying with friends.