14th - 15th January 2007

Sunday 14th January

This afternoon I sat and spoke to Mrs. Mendis for a while. We don’t share many common words, but we got by. I showed her, on the atlas I brought from Bradford Library (thanks, Chris!), where myself and various members of my immediate family live. Mrs. Mendis taught me a few Sinhala phrases I asked her about. Everyone seems really touched by my desire to learn a bit of basic Sinhala.

Monday 15th January

Today was a public holiday due to the Tamil Hindu festival of Thaipongal. There aren’t many Tamils in Rathgama, but it’s a national holiday. So, with no schooling commitments, Nalinda and I decided to spend the morning on our “This is Rathgama” mapping project. This is intended to aid future volunteers here. With Manju as our tuk-tuk driver and companion we covered most of the ground between Rathgama and Hikaduwa. Nalinda sketched a map, and I took photos. Places we covered included the hospital, police station, railway stations, markets, temples, and recreation areas.

The gender roles are different here from what I’m used to in England. For instance, last night at the beach, there were 7 of us, all men, and there was no question of a woman being with us as well. From what I gather, men and women just don’t mix socially, before or after marriage (I mean to include teenagers within those collective nouns as well, by the way). Men will often go out with their friends, while women stay at home with their family. I’m not entirely sure what happens when a couple fall in love. I think they have clandestine meetings in the street at the start, and then meet at the family house of the woman once they feel confident about declaring their love for one another. I may have got some of my facts wrong, but I think most of the above is accurate.