DAY 155 CRICKET AND KANDY

Played our first game of cricket with Yohan and now I can see why Sri Lankans have good fielding talent and sure hands. Usually children are playing cricket in the street or a small driveway with no room for error – or else the ball goes rolling down the hill or into the run-off drain or worse yet into the razor sharp snake infested tall grasses. I say snake infested, but I have only seen one snake in Sri Lanka. I did however chase a ball into the tall grass and heard something slither away as I reached my hand down to retrieve the cricket ball … and then I had to retrieve another ball. We have seen cricket being practiced near railroad tracks. on the side of mountains, on steep streets and driveways, in crowded neighborhood housing … we have seen cricket played everywhere except the cricket field in Kandy. I bought a $1.50 Sri Lankan Cricket ballcap for Ezra to give him some shade. We had lots of fun playing with Yohan who was immediately excited when we started playing Cricket instead of just Catch. Cricket – Sri Lankan National Sport – I think. We went on a small walk to a clothing store in the afternoon to supplement our wardrobe. I have been trying to find some <$5 clothes along the way. – the difficulty is finding a large enough size. The weather has been especially hot today. Our place has a washing machine so Dwana washed all of our clothes and then hung them out to dry. We had to remember to bring the clothes in before the afternoon rains. Viena and Ezra were so excited in the clothing store. The have not been in a real retail store in months. We were able to Skype with Mylon in the morning and wish him a Happy Birthday at his 18th Birthday Party in the evening in Alaska. That was nice. I made plans once again to visit the Rocks and the Ruins of the north. I arranged an early morning driver and an overnight stay in Polonnaruwa. We have not had an overnight driver, but having an overnight driver is a very popular way for foreigners to see Sri Lanka. Costly though. We plan to leave in a couple days when I am feeling better. My headache is finally gone. Our host families continue to improve in their hospitality with every guest house. So wonderful to be greeted with smiles and a pleasant conversation about rippening avocados and coconuts and tea.