To my regret, it is already my last week here in Matara, where I spend most of my time around the temple and city centre, as is habitual by now. My mother will come for a visit next week during which we`ll going on a trip for the last two weeks of my stay.
Until then we still have a lot to do. The parents were recently given the opportunity to register their children and soon there will be 25 new students added to the program. Unfortunately, the program is now quite over-subscribed. We now must evaluate each case, so the living conditions of each family will have to be examined and photographed. To do so we have spent the last 4 days driving in and around Matara in TukTuks. It almost felt like I was sitting on the rear seats in my mum´s convertible. Driving the TukTuk with four or even five people was quite cosy, especially considering the condition of the streets. More than once they remembered me more of a trail than an actual street as I know it and I also feared that the TukTuk would not be able to make it. Next to experiencing thunderstorms and hiding from attacking dogs, the tour gave me the possibility to experience the living conditions and the home environment of the families. Leaving my fears aside, this experience was probably the reason that made this bumpy ride so special.
The focus of the next two days will be on the last classes. I had not expected the students, especially the beginners, to achieve so much in such a short time, even though it will still take some time for them to be able to speak or understand German properly.
Small addition: You can learn to dance even in the heaviest rain. After a flash flood built up next to the “Waiting Room”, we decided to use it as a test basins for the crafted paper boats. Some of them even reached the finish line, even though they proofed to be not be completely watertight. The day also ended with a not completely voluntarily cleaning action of the office.
Yours Felix