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Karen MacCann

RCDP' one of the staffs from the organization in Sri Lanka was at the airport upon my arrival to pick me up. It was nice to see someone at the airport and I didn't have any problem to start my program there. The people and staffs are so nice and very cooperative here. If you join this program you will always find a homely environment here.

The journey down to the Galle took us through a numbers of small towns with shops at the front of the houses. The roads are fairly bumpy but we were too busy looking at all the new sights to notice too much. After a long drive we came to the top of the hill from where we can see whole view around the houses- it was so impressive looking over the lake and seeing the mountains in distance. After a short time we became very accustomed to the house and enjoyed the different surroundings. All of the people were very glad to see us there and always smiled and waved. It was great chance to see a herd of about hundred elephants that was pretty close to our vehicle in the National Park there. We saw lots of safety fences and tree houses that the conservation unit uses.

As per my interest I joined teaching in school. The teaching can be hard work but was very rewarding to me. I found the level of English is different in different classes. The higher grades students were more competent in English than the lower grade people. But we had a mate who would attend in our classes with us to help and explain the task that we need to teach to students there.

Hettipola is a very cheapest place to do some shopping which is located in distance of 40 minutes drive on local buses from the project. I would suggest you to go there to buy something if you need.

After your project work, you will have chance to read some books, playing cards with the host family members and listen some beautiful music. Sometimes, it was nice to see cooking in the family. They also have given me chance to learn how to cook food there. It was totally different and very interesting to do all these activities in the family.

Overall, I had an excellent time here that I will always remember in my life. The amazing nature of the children impressed me every time. Making fun, speaking and seeing to the locals was an important part of the whole experience. Sometimes we used sing language to communicate with the local people as they do not know English properly. Some phrases that I learned during my orientation period became very helpful to pick some of the simple phrases of the locals. To experience all these things this nation would be a right choice to everyone.