Last two
weeks I had the chance to see how a maternity ward works. As you all
expected: I love it! Counting little toes, discovering whether it’s a boy or a
girl and seeing those newborns crying for their mothers who just gave birth to
them. As lovely as this is, big part of my wonderful experience at this ward, I
have to thank my dear colleagues, midwives and nurses: ‘You’re like ‘nangi’ to
us!’. Which means as much as ‘You are like a little sister to us!’
 |
'Hi babygirl,
your mother gave birth to you about 2 hours ago.
She will protect you with all she has.
She will protect you with all she has.
One day you'll see this picture; even though you will not remember this moment, your mother will. She'll tell you about a Belgian nursing student, who held you in her arms like a very precious wonder.'
As I was
honest in all my previous messages, I’d like to keep this up. So, my
dear readers, here’s another story. Being a witness of the moment when a new,
little life becomes part of this big world; supporting the mother-to-be;
hearing the first cry of a little wonder and looking for after-care for the
both of them. I did it. And then this wonderful moment was disturbed by some
black dots… Even though I was prepared - thanks to Stephanie and doctor Ravi -,
my first real life delivery and I fainted! Hahah! Let’s say, it happens to the
best of us.
Great times with my roommate
Up to this
moment, I had the honor to taste the very best ‘roti’, made by Chathureeka and
Nadeeka , two of the ‘lamay’ (girls) who work for doctor Ravi. Trying to reach
this excellent level - which is wishful thinking, I know -, we celebrated Eva’s birthday by making
this typical Sri Lankan food ourselves, on a wooden fire - thank you, my
dearest brother who learned me this on several family trips when we were younger,
and thank you, awesome Scouting Group of Kieldrecht, to have so many wonderful memories to wooden fires!
Making 'roti' for Eva's birthday. Congrats to you girl!
Last week,
the children of the plantation school invited us for a ‘kovil’ in the evening. That
is where Tamil people come together to let the God saves and protects them from
bad things. The saving part is kind of a scary thing: at that particular moment
God was in the body of a human being - who had gone "crazy" -, and all the bystanders were shouting
‘arogara’ very loudly. They ask the God to come, to save the person from bad
things and to keep him/her safe. Once this was all over, everyone had four colored dots
in the middle of their foreheads. We are blessed!
After the 'kovil'
As cricket
is the national sport of this country, we could not escape from learning this.
With a stunning view at the Mahendra Bungalow in another tea estate in
Morawaka, we were taught by doctor Ravi and his fourteen year old son Sahan. I
love the game! So... what is the best way of taking a cricket bat to
Belgium…
Playing (French) cricket
At the Mahendra bungalow
Meanwhile
I’m still learning how to live with snakes as big as myself… It is, still, - and
will always be, I guess -, scary when I see one appearing at only 50 cm
distance. But what do you do? Yes, you take your camera. I admit, I stopped
doing this when I saw my second, third and fourth one; and just enjoyed the
view of this wild reptile living so close to me. And why is this? It is because
of the fact that people started to cut trees and green areas, their natural
habitat. So in a way, they don’t have any place left to go…
Just caught you on camera!
As all this
Sri Lankan beauty cheers up our days, I have some problems with my working
permission and I could not go to work. As most of you know, I hate doing nothing. So in the meantime, I
work on my thesis and other school projects, clean the place and asked my
friends to wear more clothes so I can do the washing!
Then relief came: the next Joepie arrived! I thank you, my friends, that was exactly
what I needed!
Thanks friends, 
for the awesome December edition of the Joepie!
Being
working people on weekdays, makes us tourists during the weekend: we visited the
Dutch Fort in Galle. That was the first place we could read some Dutch words
like ‘Lijnbaanstraat’ and ‘Weltevreden’, which were remnants from the Dutch
colonial times in the beginning of the 16th century. While strolling
on the walls of the fort, some social skills popped up and we ended up in Il
Gelato; trying out every taste of ice cream, heavenly moment!
Secret picture of the Christmas tree in the Food City!
On the walls of Galle Fort
So many directions left to discover!