As you all know I am an introvert. Generally I don't talk to people much, however, when I am in another country I am always interested to learn what life is like. I try to have conversations with people to learn their point of view and the culture of the country that I'm visiting.
Here is what I learned from speaking to people in Sri Lanka.
I met a young woman named Sumudu at the Temple of the Tooth. She is an 18-year-old student who will be taking her university entrance exams later this year.
When she gets stressed she goes to the temple and meditates to calm her mind. Smart girl. From her I learned that children go to school for grades 1 through 13.
School is competitive. If one scores well on the university entrance exam the government will pay for tuition. If one scores very well the government will pay for a university education overseas in the United States or in Europe.
Only about a third of the students who take the exam score high enough to get the free education. If you don't score high enough to have the government pay for your education there are private colleges which one can pay for themselves.
I also learned from her that parents still help their children determine an appropriate spouse. She feels that there is still a personal choice in the matter among her generation about who to marry, although the parents are very much involved.
I spoke with a kind 84-year-old woman who lives in Tennekumbra , the town just outside of Kandy where the ashram is. From her I learned that the average age at which people retire is 55; 60 is the maximum age that one can work.
She had been a schoolteacher and now lives with one of her children, her other children live close by.
She is proud of the fact that she still cooks for herself; when I met her she was sweeping in front of the house. I was surprised when I learned she was 84, I thought she was in her mid 60s.
From the 30 something woman who owns the food stall in Hikkaduwa and serves as its cook (and everything else apparently) I learned that in the beach towns along the southwest coast much of the land is destroyed in order to build hotels and houses that people are trying to rent to tourists.
From her point of view this gentrification was not good. Many coconut trees are being cut down and it is much more difficult to find this staple item in Sri Lankan everyday cuisine.
I also learned that a few years ago the government in that area told everyone to fill in their wells because they would start providing water through pipes. The water comes from rivers and is treated with chemicals. Unfortunately there's been a bad drought and water is only available after 7 PM at night and gets turned off in the morning.
During the off hours the only water available is water that has been stored in tanks. The big fancy hotels on the beach have huge numbers of water tanks and the poor local people who can't afford water tanks store their water in plastic bottles or wherever they can. She was smart and chose not to fill in her well.
She told me there is a town inland where they do not turn the water on more than twice a month. People have to store enough water for 15 days in a row.
Although she is not happy about what's happening to nature as a result of the influx of tourism she is supporting her elderly parents and husband through this restaurant which many foreigners frequent.
A quick aside... I had the best rice and curry of all my meals in Sri Lanka at her place. You order the meal four hours in advance and pay upfront, then she cooks a homemade real Sri Lankan meal for you.
From Siri, a man who is probably in his 60s in Hikkaduwa, I learned to identify coffee, cashew, almond, papaya, banana, orange, and mango trees in addition to curry leaf plants.
I learned what water lizards look like. I learned what fruit bats look like more closely than I would like to see necessarily.
He was caught in The tsunami that affected that whole part of the world in 2004. His English was not the strongest so I could not get nearly as much of the story as I wish I could have.
He told me the wave took him and he kept rolling and rolling in the water. He broke his legs and the worst injury was The result of ingesting a large amount of sand.
His point of view about on the gentrification is positive. He makes his living trying to get foreigners like me to take a lagoon boat ride with him (which I did) or surf lessons.
I learned Chevin's point of view about how this new generation of Buddhist monks is different than the older generation. Chevin is the 36-year-old man who ran the guest house where we stayed in Hikkaduwa.
Here is what I learned from speaking to people in Sri Lanka.
I met a young woman named Sumudu at the Temple of the Tooth. She is an 18-year-old student who will be taking her university entrance exams later this year.
When she gets stressed she goes to the temple and meditates to calm her mind. Smart girl. From her I learned that children go to school for grades 1 through 13.
School is competitive. If one scores well on the university entrance exam the government will pay for tuition. If one scores very well the government will pay for a university education overseas in the United States or in Europe.
Only about a third of the students who take the exam score high enough to get the free education. If you don't score high enough to have the government pay for your education there are private colleges which one can pay for themselves.
I also learned from her that parents still help their children determine an appropriate spouse. She feels that there is still a personal choice in the matter among her generation about who to marry, although the parents are very much involved.
I spoke with a kind 84-year-old woman who lives in Tennekumbra , the town just outside of Kandy where the ashram is. From her I learned that the average age at which people retire is 55; 60 is the maximum age that one can work.
She had been a schoolteacher and now lives with one of her children, her other children live close by.
She is proud of the fact that she still cooks for herself; when I met her she was sweeping in front of the house. I was surprised when I learned she was 84, I thought she was in her mid 60s.
From the 30 something woman who owns the food stall in Hikkaduwa and serves as its cook (and everything else apparently) I learned that in the beach towns along the southwest coast much of the land is destroyed in order to build hotels and houses that people are trying to rent to tourists.
From her point of view this gentrification was not good. Many coconut trees are being cut down and it is much more difficult to find this staple item in Sri Lankan everyday cuisine.
I also learned that a few years ago the government in that area told everyone to fill in their wells because they would start providing water through pipes. The water comes from rivers and is treated with chemicals. Unfortunately there's been a bad drought and water is only available after 7 PM at night and gets turned off in the morning.
During the off hours the only water available is water that has been stored in tanks. The big fancy hotels on the beach have huge numbers of water tanks and the poor local people who can't afford water tanks store their water in plastic bottles or wherever they can. She was smart and chose not to fill in her well.
She told me there is a town inland where they do not turn the water on more than twice a month. People have to store enough water for 15 days in a row.
Although she is not happy about what's happening to nature as a result of the influx of tourism she is supporting her elderly parents and husband through this restaurant which many foreigners frequent.
A quick aside... I had the best rice and curry of all my meals in Sri Lanka at her place. You order the meal four hours in advance and pay upfront, then she cooks a homemade real Sri Lankan meal for you.
From Siri, a man who is probably in his 60s in Hikkaduwa, I learned to identify coffee, cashew, almond, papaya, banana, orange, and mango trees in addition to curry leaf plants.
I learned what water lizards look like. I learned what fruit bats look like more closely than I would like to see necessarily.
He was caught in The tsunami that affected that whole part of the world in 2004. His English was not the strongest so I could not get nearly as much of the story as I wish I could have.
He told me the wave took him and he kept rolling and rolling in the water. He broke his legs and the worst injury was The result of ingesting a large amount of sand.
His point of view about on the gentrification is positive. He makes his living trying to get foreigners like me to take a lagoon boat ride with him (which I did) or surf lessons.
I learned Chevin's point of view about how this new generation of Buddhist monks is different than the older generation. Chevin is the 36-year-old man who ran the guest house where we stayed in Hikkaduwa.
According to him the Buddhist monks are changing and not for the better. He told me that things are different than monks are being educated in secular universities and not learning enough about Buddhism in the Scriptures.
His point of view is that young monks are breaking the celibacy vows much more commonly than in the past and are still staying in robes. His perspective is also this younger generation of monks improperly ask people for money to visit the temples. He is so dismayed by this trend that he has stopped going to temples completely.
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