WELCOME THE SPECIAL EDITION OF OUR BLOG

I ask you to think of the epic battles fought in the sporting arenas of old. The Circus Maximus and Colosseum in ancient Rome, the Ancient Olympics in Greece come directly to mind. We now think of the tournaments of the modern days… the Modern Olympics, the World Cup football, the Ashes, the Tour de France, backyard cricket at the house of the Chappell brothers. Epic battles of men and women against each other and the elements. Body and spirit fighting at the elite level for the chance to stand on the top position of the winner’s dais. All these grand events however, pale into insignificance, mere games of chance, a game of tiddly winks amongst children, compared the grand spectacle the was……..  

 

(wait for it,.............cue rousing background music, maybe “Thus Spake Zarathustra”, the really cool music from the opening scene of 2001 a Space Odyssey perhaps)

 

You ready ????????

 

THE “GARTY FAMILY”

BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT !!!!!

Impressed, aren’t you!!!

Now read on……

I know I have used the phrase before , but it is true, you really had to see to believe it. In fact, I saw it and still don’t believe it.

The actual tournament started on the 1^st of July and concluded on Wednesday the 10^th. The drama, the agony and ecstasy, the jubilation of victory and crushing despair of defeat were played out before us. Well….. maybe I am exaggerating a little but it was really cool!

the old court in all it's glory

as you can see, sadly in need of an upgrade

Still, I digress. The action started only days before the actual tournament with the resurfacing of the school basketball court. Boy, was that fun to watch, and also a little terrifying as well! The resurfacing was sponsored by a school from Canada and was greatly appreciated.

 

It was carried out by contractors who normally work on road resurfacing. You have read my previous blog posts on Jaffna roads? .....Am I painting a picture for you? Workplace health and safety…what is that? The old court was given a brief brush down and the new surface placed directly over. Various layers of crushed road base, sand, some sort of really fine dust and boiling hot tar were placed on again and again like a Sara Lea sponge dessert (you know….layer upon layer upon layer)

spreading the "magic dust"

 

needs to be flat, doesn't it?



"bubble bubble toil and trouble" to misquote the Bard

To watch the tar being boiled in large 44 gallon drums over an open fire, then being ladled into a modified watering can and poured by hand over the courts was amazing.

 

 

 

Check out the neat footwear

These guys worked in searing heat and the smell of the tar still sticks in my memory. You could not escape it anywhere in the school. And given our home is right next to the court , we had dust and smells for days. Keeping the kids off the courts was also an interesting exercise with students trying to play at one end of the court and laying of tar at the other. Shouting at them to get off the court had little effect.

with the freshly painted walls, the official pavilion looked very sad

 

 

 

With the tournament starting on Monday, lines were being painted on the court late Sunday night by the light of a variety of trucks and cars shining on the court. Walls were painted and flags and banners hoisted high and by the end the place looked great. During the night the “official pavilion” fell down with a deafening crash and we were really glad we were not under it at the time. It was put up again and is still standing as a monument to the event even today!

 

the new court in all it's glory

I don’t know how they do it, it must be part of the Sri Lankan culture, but they seem to be in total disarray, yet, at the very end, it all comes together. They love a festival and special events and go all out to put on really special occasions.

 

Finally the official opening day arrived. More gold chains around our necks, a guard of honour as we made our way to the courts from the school gates between two lines of cheering students. After the obligatory opening speeches and ribbon cutting, "let the games begin". Over 26 matches were held in a variety of venues throughout Jaffna

Jacinta doing the official duties

Angel's U17 against St Patricks

Some of the excited crowd on finals day

 It was a great event with some fantastic games of basketball to be seen. There were lots of skinned elbows and plenty of bandages on knees, but this did not slow the kids down. The students and staff really got behind it all and the exhibition of school spirit was inspiring. For the record, Angel International "Blues" took out the under 15 division and our under 17's came in as second runner up with Jaffna Hindu College claiming first place.

U15 Champions, Angel "Blues"

U17 Champions, Jaffna Hindu College

If you click on the link below it "should" take to a youtube powerpoint presentation made by one of the staff that has gone up on the school facebook page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqjA4Ur59sw

Be sure to cancel the new tab after watching to get back to the blog post.

The two links below will hopefully connect you to a couple of videos on youtube showing a group of kids having a hoot of a time cheering and generally having a good time. The feeling around the school was fantastic for days and the whole extravaganza was well worth it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix4hjZLHKN4&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5bTD8c0-gA&feature=youtu.be

Again, be sure to cancel the new tab after watching to get back to the blog post.

So many people were involved in the planning and execution of this tournament but special mention needs to be made of Dinesh, who planned coordinated and M C' d the whole thing and to coach Ramanan and his team who worked with the students so well. The whole point of the exercise was to give the students an opportunity to excel at something other than academic results and to promote a school identity and raise school spirit, in these respects it was a raging success.

I wonder that if in years to come when they hold the "The Garty Family" Basketball Tournament and are handing out the trophies and the perpetual shields to that years winners', someone may ask "who were the Garty Family?" It would be nice to think that some of the staff or students may remember.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better late than never

So, what has been happening since last time? LOTS!!!!  We reach another milestone tomorrow with the clocking up of 200 days in Sri Lanka. We try to think over all that has gone by; some events feature so prominently it is hard to imagine they happened on our very first days here late last year. Other events I find hard to recall even though they may have occurred only two weeks ago. It must be old age setting in…….

So to fill you in on the highlights

Last week saw the completion of the inaugural “Garty Family Basketball Tournament”. An event so large with grandeur and drama, so astounding in fact that it deserves a blog of it’s’ very own. You will just have to wait till next instalment!!

Happy birthday to our wonderful Director

The real biggie this last month was the birthday of our beloved Pastor Sam on the 13^th of June. The staff, students and congregation from his Assembly of God Church in Jaffna went all out to celebrate, and I mean all out!!! School was essentially cancelled in Manipay and a huge assembly was held where students and staff presented musical numbers, speeches and a huge cake. This assembly lasted for over two and a half hours. From there we went to our school in Jaffna, where a shorter but no less emotional outpouring of love for this wonderful man occurred. In the evening there was a special service at Pastors Sam’s church with, you guessed it, even more cake. We will take many things back home with us when we return in December this year, but none will be more important than the privilege to have spent some time quality experiences with this most wonderful yet humble of men. His wife is also a remarkable lady (as you can imagine she would need to be) who is a dynamic woman in her own right.

the choir at Pastors Sam B day

song and dance

the great man himself

at the Jaffna school



Pastors Sam A.o.G paritioners



John, Jo and Naomi at their home

On the 16^th of last month we went for lunch to the home of John and Jo, the parents of Naomi, the only other white girl in the school and Sarah’s best friend here. Naomi has had a number of “sleep overs” at our place and it is a wonderful time for Sarah, Emma and Naomi. We have not heard more giggling from the girls at any other time in our stay here in Jaffna (except perhaps during monkey watching in Kandy). Jo and John live very rough by our standards here in our school accommodation but quite well by general population. John is a very competent “jack of all trades” and they both assist at a home for girls in regional Jaffna. They do amazing things and their devotion to the people here really puts us to shame.




again, anything done here was big

outside St Anthony's

the Jaffna / Manipay road was blocked for ages

Also on several days around the middle of June were the celebrations of “St Anthony’s Feast day”. St Anthony’s is the large Catholic church at the end of our school lane. When churches or temples here celebrate, they do so with a CAPITAL C! It went on for days and to share the love around, really large PA speakers were strung up all around the neighbourhood broadcasting day and night all of the events inside. IT WAS LOUD! Also being in Tamil did not help but I could recognise some of the prayers as certain Catholic set pieces by the rhythm of the speaking if not the words themselves. Our normally quiet Jaffna / Manipay main road was turned into a shanty town with all sorts of shops and street vendors setting up their wares over the week-long celebration. It is common place that commerce and religion go hand in hand here.

 

One of the class activities we presided over was in Emma’s 5+ class. They were doing a unit on building types and we were asked (as is common practice for us here at school) to come up and have a look at the result. Not much of the work is really done by the children and we have to say there are some very talented Jaffna parents around who made very complex and detailed structures for their children. Poor Emma only has us unfortunately. There is also the communication gap, either from Emma’s teacher to Emma, or from Emma to us but we usually find out too late that we should have helped her construct an ornate and working model of some dwelling or other for HER homework.



Bet you can't pick Emma!

As an aside, the powers that be here in their folly have seen fit to make me Vice Principal of the School. I question their reasons at time and also their sanity, but given that I am getting paid nothing as it is, they were quite happy to triple my salary when I requested it to be only doubled. So in the long run, I do not know who the silly one is?

We are entering the final two weeks of the school year this week. A strange system to us where the new academic year here starts in August. Exams are the order of the day and new timetables are being put together. Jacinta, the ultimate organiser is doing the hard yards on this. She is really good with puzzles and to be honest the current timetable is an absolute mess. On the 26^th of this month we travel down to Kandy for 6 days of R and R and monkey watching from one of our favourite places in Sri Lanka. Jacinta is really looking forward to having someone else worry about what to cook for a while.  I will be a big help to her during this time. I am really good at ordering cocktails from the pool bar in the evenings.  We will relax at the pool and wander through the city and then come home early August to get ready here for the new term.

 

Take care everyone and stay in touch.

12513167

Hi everyone.

It has been a while since the last posting but we felt we would reduce the frequency of posts a little, once every 2 or 3 weeks perhaps, unless events occurred that we wanted to fill you all in on sooner.

So what has been happening? We have added to our resident collection of animals with a really cute lizard. He seems to spend most of his time on the tree trunk and does not mind too much if we come up for a visit and a look. The frogs are taking up residence in our bathroom and luckily Emma has not noticed their regular visits but Sarah and I tend to have animated chats with them when we have our showers. They don’t seem to mind our presence too much.  It’s fine as long as they don’t jump on us.

 

 

 

Poya day training lead by Alex

On the 24^th of May we had another Poya training day for the staff.  Poya days are Buddhist festivals based on the lunar calendar and occur every full moon. Even though this area is predominantly Hindu. While students are not at school staff meet for professional development activities. This one was significant as it was the first run by Principal Alex. The main focus was school direction. Jacinta and I also presented a session.

The next day we went to a wedding of 2 of our staff. Again Jacinta looked beautiful in a new Sari obtained for the occasion. It was a Christian wedding (we still have not been to a Hindu one yet, hope we get the chance). Weddings here are very different to home. They are very formal affairs and it gives the appearance that people are not really there to have fun but to be witnesses to the occasion. Having photos taken is the big feature of the after wedding events.

 

Jacinta in her new Sari.

The bride and groom rarely smile in these formal photos but that is easy to understand as they would be really hot and after the 300^th photo even this special day would tend to pale for them I think. Attached are photos of the school staff, as you can see the Saris’ are lovely and the ladies seem to go all out when dressing for weddings.

Our handsome male staff

Our beautiful ladies on staff

 

 

 

 

 

One of the Poya displays

Later that day we went into Jaffna to see displays and processions for the Poya day. This particular full moon in May had special significance for Buddhists as it is representative of the time that the Buddha obtained enlightenment. The army put this particular display on in Jaffna.

 

 

 

Lots of people came out to see the spectacle

Traditional dancing

 Several thousands of people turned out and it was a shoulder to shoulder crush with hands firmly on wallet and camera and trying not to have the kids and Jacinta swept away in the human river.



On the 31^st of May I pulled ranks and invited myself to go on a school excursion with the 5+ classes (this is Emma’s year group). We went to the real Jaffna markets which was an experience to be sure. We thought the markets in Hospital road were the main markets and always felt a little disappointed when we went there. There were not as big as I would have expected for a major centre and there was not a really big variety and prices were high. These markets were on a whole different level. They were HUGE!!!! I hope Emma got the same sensation as I did. It was a riot of colours and sounds and smells that I have never come across and was a fantastic experience.

All excited kids getting ready for excursion

Outside the Pallay markets

The markets were huge!. Emma in centre of student group inspecting the goods

 We then visited the Nullar temple, a pit stop at the Rio ice-cream parlour (the 50 or so 5 year olds loved that!), the Jaffna library and Post office. A good day was had by all.

Icecream...yum!!!!

Miss Arani, Emma's 5+ teacher, directing traffic outside Jaffna Library. Emma just loves Miss Arani!

Students outside Library, a beautiful building lovingly being restored after  damage

Emma posting letter at the Post office, it arrived at school the next day. Emma was thrilled

 

 The family drove into Jaffna today at the markets visited on Emma’s excursion to do our weekly vege shop and we got great value and good quality food. We picked up a huge supply of fruit and veges’ for about $8 Australian. As foreigners we will always pay more than locals, (I have heard it referred to as the “white” tax) but still a lot better than we normally pay.



The procession down the street to the YMCA

Yesterday we went to the Navaly YMCA again for a special event. A group of high school students from Singapore were on a Sri Lankan tour and were visiting Jaffna. There was a big parade down the local street to the YMCA centre where they were then treated to a concert by the local children and Jacinta and I ran a few activities with songs and games. I was a great event and we always enjoy our visits to this group of wonderful locals.

They go all out when the have events to host

Some of the most beautiful children who took part in the procession

Singapore students mixing with the kids from Navaly

The other big event since last we wrote. I went down to Colombo with Principal Alex by bus on Tuesday evening to see if we could get our visas sorted as they were due to expire in a couple of weeks. Again, and I do not use the phrase lightly, WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! Even though it is only 350 km it is a 9 hour plus bus ride. The seat was a surplus Spanish Inquisition torture device and the driver quite possibly a frustrated formula one racing driver but almost certainly harbours suicidal tendencies. All topped off with loud, extremely violent Indian movies and Indian music blaring through the bus speakers (possibly used to keep the driver awake). Getting out at midnight to go through the army checkpoint is also a highlight not to be missed! We have certainly found out that God moves in mysterious way and the outcome was better than we hoped for. We are now the proud holders of Resident Guest Visas (replacing our Tourist Visas) which are now valid till the 25^th of December this year, well after our scheduled departure date of 26^th of November. This is a big load off our minds and we can now focus on the work ahead.

Another wonderful surprise. You may remember in a previous blog that I mentioned our contact with the Springvale Uniting Church who donated Hymn books to a local Methodist Church? We recently received an email from their Minister that money from a regular church stall has been kindly donated by the parishioners. This was incredibly generous of them and with their permission we will be using the funds to purchase resources for the students and staff at A.I.S.

Finally, for those wondering at the title of this blog “12513167”?  As much as it annoys Jacinta, I like to mark off significant points for our time here. This Wednesday, the 12/5/13 is the 167^th day we have been in Sri Lanka. This day marks the halfway point in this amazing experience for all of us. We look back on the changes in all our lives and what we have achieved to date, and we also look forward to the things we can still accomplish with these wonderful people. We are excited about what the future still holds for us.  

 

Emma and her new best friend, Asha, Principal Alex's daughter

Take care everyone and please keep in touch

A busy time these past two weeks

So what has the start of term 3 brought?



The new lab and the senior chem students

Lots of change (but not the weather, it’s always hot) The first week of term was busy for Jacinta and myself.  We were involved with setting up the Cambridge  practical laboratory exams for the senior students at the school. This was the first time the school was used as an examination centre for the Cambridge papers and was a steep learning curve for all involved. Normally the students sitting for these 3 to 4 weeks of exams would have to travel down to Colombo and live in hostel accommodation for the exam period. We were given the task of preparing for the Chemistry and Biology Prac exams (with some support for the teacher looking after Physics). The man (and woman) hours that went into the Chemistry exam were amazing.

I have to say I could not have done it without Jacinta’s unique brand of organizing ability. The sheer number of individual pieces of lab equipment and the individual chemical solutions that had to be prepared was staggering. We had to scrounge materials and equipment from schools all around Manipay and Jaffna and purchase goods from Colombo. The Chemistry exam occurred last Tuesday and apart from the inevitable glass breakages from the students, it went off very well. The Biology Prac exam will be this coming Tuesday and is almost set up.  I have increased my already high level of respect for the Science Operations Officer (the Lab technician) at our school in Australia. I always knew Chris worked hard but this has given me a better insight into part of his role in the school. I’ll have to talk to the boss when we get home and see if we can organise a raise!!!!

Some of our excitement for the week came on Monday morning  last week when we were hit by a fairly violent rain squall at the school. At one point part of the roof of our apartment left company with the rest of the building. Luckily the worst of the rain had stopped and there was very little water damage. In typical style here at the school, workers were on the roof as soon as it was safe and repairs were made very quickly. The other excitement came in the form of a large electrical surge in the school system on Tuesday evening. While doing work on the main school generator, the wrong switch must have been pushed and the was a huge increase in the light output followed by a series of loud bangs as any light that had been switched on blew up in quick succession! Luckily we did not have the aircons switched on, but effectively any electrical device that was switched on was fried. We lost a computer charger pack, our microwave oven (no great loss really as we did not use it often), 3 light globes, and a 3 socket power board. The fridge gave us a brief period of worry as the compressor did not seem to switch on for quite some time, but it appeared the surge protector we had in place did its job well.

Our new Limo, thanks to Pastor Sam......... really cool to drive!

Our other excitement this week was when Pastor Sam arranged another vehicle for us. We had really been missing the freedom the little Honda CRV had given us, having been without the car for 6 weeks now. Our new limo is a Mitsubishi Crew Cab, 2 ½ tonne truck! You bounce around on the bad roads and it is old and loud and looks like it has had a really tough life, but it is GREAT!  It runs well, has aircon that Pastor Sam had fitted before he passed it onto us and best of all……….has a flashing red light on top of the roof!!!!!

We also welcomed back to the school, the principal, Professor Alex . Alex was with us for a brief time in January before returning to his other occupation as a lecturer at a University in the States. Alex is a dynamic and powerful personality and he intends to get a lot of work done in developing the school while here. This time he is with us for 100 days.  Accompanying Alex is his equally dynamic 19 year old daughter Asha.  Asha has made a really big hit with our girls and is now Emma’s new best friend. Poor Asha gets little break from Emma, as Emma will take any opportunity to go down and “play with Asha” that she can. Soon to join Alex and Asha will be Alex’s wife, Anna and we are very much looking forward to meeting her.

We have also been joined by the King family, friends of Alex and they return home with Alex at the end of the 100 days. It has been a new experience for the King’s, not having travelled out of the USA before. They have a very strong faith and we are sure this will help them get through the large changes that are occurring in the lives at the moment.

Move over Bob the Builder, Pastor Sam gets things done much more quickly

In typical Pastor Sam style, there was seen a need to improve the facilities for the Kings accommodation as they have limited cooking facilities. The solution, build them a kitchen. It could only happen here and only Pastor Sam could see it started so quickly. Decide one day, start the next and probably finished and usable within a week.  We are not talking just outfitting an established room, but building an extension on the second story first. 



Sarah and Emma having a ball dressing up as "mum and dad"

The third Saturday of the month saw us at the YMCA again in Navaly, a small village about 5 km from Manipay. We enjoy these visits where we play games and sing songs with the wonderful Sri Lankan children. Vijay from the school is one of the directors of the group and puts a huge effort into caring for these children who have suffered so much.

Finally, there seems to be a real interest in a game of dress up over the past few days. The girls had a great time on the week end with Emma dressing up as daddy and Sarah dressing up as mummy (not A Mummy!!).

The construction process



Jacinta looked absolutely gorgeous

But the biggest smash hit of the season was Jacinta. As a surprise that was a week in the making, Mrs Pathman and some other staff ladies got Jacinta a formal sari and dressed her up in it on Monday. She was STUNNING! The photo in this post does not do her justice. The skill in folding and dressing in a sari is huge and Mrs Pathman did a wonderful job. I knew nothing about it till Jacinta turned up fully decked out. Where ever Jacinta went it was followed by lots of “Wow” comments from the female students, I don’t think the boys were game. It is interesting to note that just in the short time Jacinta had the sari on she probably had more conversations with the female staff than in the previous months combined.  The next day Jacinta got dressed up in the staff uniform.

Jacinta in her staff uniform

 

Take care one and all and please keep in touch

Andrew, Jacinta, Sarah and Emma