A day of cultural experiences

This Morning we woke up to music blaring from the room next to us. I only managed to get to sleep around 2am after I stopped sweating. We music started at 5am and I went outside to see who had the tele on so loud and the great grandmother was sitting there chewing on her tobacco and bitter obviously def because the volume was blaring. I got up and felt yuck from being sweaty all night so I went to have another wash in the well. Lots of the Guys were around so I washed my self in my clothes but they still stared. I cannot even begin to explain how much people stare here. Like they don't even try to be slightly subtle. I had a wash and got ready for school. We got woken up so early we were ready an hour before the bus comes. The lady wasn't here today who usually looks after us so the boys made us coffee and gave us a plain sweet bun. We got the bus to the primary school and when we arrived no one was there. We thought there was no way pre school was on, surely someone from the house would have told us. With in a couple of minutes one of the ladies came and opened the door and 2 of the boys arrived. We thought maybe today it just started late but after a while one of the teachers came and said there is no pre school today because we are going to a funeral. Her brothers son had died this morning in the river, he was only 6. It took us a while to understand what was happening whether we were going to the funeral with them or what. We finally understood that we would go to the funeral  with them but we must go home first and change into something white. We had an hour to be back at pre school and it takes us half an hour to walk home so we went fast. We got home quickly changed and left again. On our way a tuk tuk driver pulled over and asked where we were going. We told him we had no money and he said it's okay he'll take us so we got dropped Striaght at pre school saving us the Long hot back to the school. We had lunch with all the kids at school and then we all left together to walk to the funeral. We had no idea where it was, we thought maybe at temple or down by the river where he died. We walked for a good half an hour through a small dirt pathway holding all the kids hands. We finally arrived to a house right by a small stream that leads to the lake. There were so many people there sitting under a sort of home made pagola. Of coarse everyone stared, more than usual though as I guess it's kind of weird white people at a funeral. We followed everyone into room where we had to take our shoes off and there was the little boy lying on a big white

Bed dressed in a traditional Sri Lankan outfit. Both me and Fay were shocked. We were not expecting that his body wouldn't be lying there for people to see. The mother was standing by his side distraught talking in Sri Lankan. I was still holding the little kids hands and they just stared the bodies body with such confusion. I felt more than uncomfortable standing there with a whole of family members mourning a child I had never met. The pre school teacher who's nephew it was who died had told me to bring my camera and I thought there would be some praying service or something that she wanted to me to take photos for. She never came into the room where he lay, i don't think she wanted to look. She caught my eye from outside te room and she was hand signalling me to take photos of the boy lying there. I looked at her twice making sure that's what she said but there was no way I could do it. I felt uncomfortable enough  and for some random white girl to take out her camera and take photos of the dead boy would just be.. I don't even know. I couldn't do it but later me and fay thought she just wanted some photos that she could look at when she was ready because clearly she wasn't ready to look at his body today. Me and fay went outside and sat with the teacher and had tea. We forgot how much sugar they put in there tea so we tried to down as much as we could. We sat for the next hour watching more people arrive and go inside. Everyone brought gifts for the family which was place in this massive room. Before we were about to go the teachers brother took us back over to the body where we thought we would have to go in again but instead he introduced us to the boys father. He took our hands and said some words in Sinhalese and then told us how his son died. I thought it  was so strange how open the people were to inviting some random tourists to there sons funeral. We finally said out thankyous for letting us be here and we left. We were ages from our house and had no idea how to get home but instead the teacher took us back to her house by tuk tuk. We went with her and her son who we teach in pre school called gihan who's 5. She first took us to a museum where we learnt about there tribes and te abiriginal people who are now called the vaddahs. It was really interesting actually, the austrilian aboriginal people look exactly like the vaddahs do here. We found out the teachers grandfather is the chief of the tribes here which makes him a pretty important person. She took us back to her house which is in the proper jungle. The house is so lovely and so traditional. We sat under her balcony in the cool shade and there were huge massive trees and banana trees everywhere. Compared to where we stay the Greenery is very lush compared. Er had bananas and tea and we had milk in our tea for the first time since we've been in Sri Lanka. There's cows roaming around and she said that they use the cows for milk and nothing else because they pretty much have no meat on them. Her house and kids are so lovely we wish this was the home stay that we stay at for tribal week. And the house and location is proper jungle. We stayed the whole day asking her questions that we haven't been able to ask because she knows a little bit more English than the other woman we live with back at the house. Me and fay finally tried the mix of leaves and paste that they have with tobacco which basically what all vaddahs entire day revolves around. We first were given the bittle which is this big nut thing along with some sort of leave and then finally the small bit of white paste. I ate all the things together like your surposed to and honestly it's the worst taste and texture I've ever had in my mouth.. I cannot even begin to describe the taste let alone to texture. The lady told that one person has at least 50 bittle a day at 5tupees each. She told us the cost of the leaf, tobacco and white paste and we calculated that they would spend 3,500 rupees every 10 days on this stuff. That's around $35 which considering no one has jobs here that's a lot of money! We've come to the conclusion that instead of smoking this is there same thing that has made them addicted. The bittle, that I realised once I started chewing it is the thing that produces the red dye that has caused the blood looking stains in everyone's mouths and all over there teeth. I was so fascinated in the stuff just because eating this stuff is what everyone does all day. They all have these little pouches or bags that they carry everywhere that holds all the ingredients. Now that I've tried it I can't imagine the textures of there mouths on a regular basis. When we entered yhe property there was the highest coolest little tree house I've ever seen and I asked the daughter if I could climb up. She signalled that it might sway and be dangerous but I didn't care. Climbing up I started to regret it big time with the small ladder steps made from branches making small cracking noise was not comforting but once I got to the top it was amazing! You had a 360 of the pan of the jungle. At night the elephants come out here and just by there house is a dam that the daughter said there are crocodiles. I could have stayed up there forever but we got called for lunch which was this potatoe curry thing made with coconut milk. The meal was amazing and we had to eat with our fingers. They all laughed at me and fay because there's a correct way to eat with your fingers with out spilling half of it and clearly we hadn't mastered it. After lunch at 6:00 a man on a motor bike arrived to pick us up to take us home. The 3 of us managed to fit and he took us home. I haven't been on a motorbike on roads like this since Cambodia and it's such a thrilling experience. It was such a busy day for us we went to the well to have a wash then Striaght for bed .