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