The Joy of Professional Development

Teaching is one of my favorite things in life.  Another favorite is talking with teachers about teaching.  Here in Sri Lanka, I have the privilege of traveling every month or so to different parts of the country to conduct workshops with English teachers.  This professional development program focuses on reflective teaching, interactive learning, and increasing student interest and motivation.  

The teachers and I have a good time sharing ideas about what works and doesn’t work in the classroom.  I’m still in touch with a fair number of teachers with whom I worked in Romania on a similar project.  I hope that my interactions with teachers here will have a long-lasting impact as well.      

The Critters Underfoot

Two aspects of living in rural Sri Lanka have been especially challenging—the heat and the bugs.  Putting an air conditioner in the bedroom a few weeks ago has changed my life!  Knowing that there will be some relief from the heat and humidity at night helps me get through the sweaty, sweltering days.  Now it’s the bugs that are the focus of my attention.

For the past four months, we have been camping 24-7!  I like camping, but I also like returning from a camping trip to a cozy clean house where I don’t have to wonder what is scurrying around underfoot.  In our home in Sri Lanka, however, there is always something darting here and there—underfoot, overhead, and along the walls as well--frogs, tree frogs, rats, roaches, geckos, scorpions, silverfish, spiders, and ants.  That’s in addition to the mosquitoes, moths, and all manner of tiny black bugs that fall into our water glasses and onto our plates of food.  As I write this, I’m having a cup of tea, not with milk and sugar, but with one black bug.  I no longer flinch when I see a bug in my beverage.  I hardly care anymore.

 I’m more cautious, however, with most of the other critters.  Every morning I clean up gecko droppings from my dresser, the dining table, the kitchen counter and floors.  When a dead gecko or roach mysteriously appears on the floor, I discard of it immediately, knowing that hundreds of ants will descend if I don’t.  Before using a skillet or pan, I first wipe the cobwebs or spiders out—they’re always there.  When I get up at night to use the bathroom, I first shine my flashlight on my flip flops to ensure the coast is clear of scorpions.  We’ve killed three so far, and I will always be watchful. 

The mosquito net gives the allusion that nothing can get in—and that allusion is actually comforting.  But an occasional mosquito gets in, and when the buzzing snatches one of us out of REM sleep, it is not a pretty picture.  Nor is it pleasant to lie in bed and listen to the rats scampering around above the drop ceiling.  If the drop ceiling somehow dropped out of its frame and a rat landed on me, would the mosquito net help in that situation?

Frogs and geckos keep the bug population down, and they are kind of cute, but there are limits!  Once I found a frog inside my book bag!  I must admit I am weary of seeing frogs on top of pots and pans, on bathroom walls, beside faucets, and inside the toilet.  Bob has become quite skilled at catching the frogs jumping around on the floors, but how do you get rid of a frog in the toilet?

The critter population is definitely down from the time we moved in.  We’ve covered the “open-air” windows (meaning no glass at all) with jungle green mesh.  We’ve filled window cracks with cardboard and tissues.  We’ve made rice bags to cover the gaping spaces between the floors and the doors.  This vigilance must go on.  We must remain alert.  But I am really sick of camping! 

Full Moon and an Almsgiving Tradition

Poya days, or “full moon” days, are holidays in Sri Lanka.  Today—Monday in Sri Lanka—there’s no work because it’s Poya day.  Needless to say, I like this monthly tradition!

On Poya days, devout Buddhists go to the temple—to meditate, listen to a monk’s teachings, or make an offering.  We joined our neighbors in May as they carried out their almsgiving tradition on Vesak Poya day, which commemorates the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha.  They had cooked lunch for 200 people the day before and had arranged with the senior monk of a small rural temple, where attendees are mainly poor, to distribute their meal on the full moon day. 

Everybody helped—Ama—the matriarch of the family (on the right)—her sister, her three grown children, their spouses and children, and relatives of Ama’s sons-in-law.  There were 20 of us in all.  After the monk's teaching, the attendees got their dishes, and we began serving the meal.

This typical Sri Lankan lunch consisted of rice and several vegetarian dishes, including jack fruit (which tastes very much like chicken), yellow dahl, chutney, and a salad made of dark bitter greens and onions.  For desert we served yoghurt and bananas from our neighbors’ trees.

When we got home, we had lunch together at Ama’s house.  Sharing with Ama’s family in their almsgiving tradition is a day to be remembered.