The first impression for me in SL is vague. I didn’t feel any strange when I stepped into the airport hall. That was what I expected from my former impression. However, the ladies wearing colorful sari changed my opinions. I thought Sri Lanka was a conservative country. Actually, what I felt is different. It was indeed developing country but their English level is beyond my imagination. Almost everyone can speak simple English and they welcome foreign tourists. For Sri Lanka experience, I concentrated on some specific images: crowded bus, spicy food, natural scenery and religious believe. The transportation in SL was not in good condition. There are only 2 highways around the countries. Our daily activities were taking bus. For around 20 KM, it took us more than one and half or even 2 hours there. The seats were usually full and the bus packed so many people that we even can’t turn our body freely. The driving skills of bus drivers are so wild. They braked suddenly and didn’t give us the time to react. Crazing bus experiences are countless! Another thing is spicy food. Although I was a spicy fan but I can’t still bear the spicy food in SL because it was beyond my spicy limitation. I still remembered that I had only fried rice and noodles for 20 days, which made me accustomed to having fried rice when I came back China. It was a complicated emotion, when u were used to something u didn’t like before, you will fall in love with it later.
What I love most is the nature of SL. It hasn’t been developed much so it keeps the original beauty. There were green trees and colorful flowers everywhere. For example, the day we went water rafting, the water was so clean and the scenery there was so natural that I addicted myself into it and swam! Besides, what attracted me in SL was their religious belief. Nowadays, we all purchased rights or money, we struggled for those things without ends. However, we didn’t even know whether we were happier. Sometime we should abandon something irrelevant with you mental satisfaction. Return to your conscience; find out what is the essence of life. That’s what religion teaches us. No matter whether we have religious believes or not, we still need some spiritual enlightens. I learned from devout Sri Lankan.
I like this experience, bitterness and sweetness combined. What a fabulous journey! I will come back Sri Lanka in the future!
For my 23 days with project, generally I am pretty satisfied. It was my first time to be an participant exchange but I didn’t feel strange because I have taken part in several domestic Aiesec camps before. I even felt a sense of familiarity. However, it was still a brand new experience. We shared one house with different EPs day and night. We were from 5 regions: Sri Lanka, Mainland China, Taiwan and Egypt. They were friendly and talented. They empowered something unique and common interest with me. I was glad that we didn’t get any conflict for the whole project. I learned so much precious personalities from them: bravery, creativity, persistence, humbleness, positive attitudes and so on. I will cherish our memory and friendship. In terms of our LC, Chamithri is so responsible and caring. She gave us so much concern and offered us numerous help. The activities are rich, interesting and impressive and awesome. It is the same with other CC Aiesecer, sincere thanks for them. The only thing I want to complain about is time-management. Sometimes we planned to go somewhere. On arrival, we found out it was closed. Actually this kind of situation can be avoided if we checked in advance. Also, we need to keep our word. On time is a good and respectful behavior.
For 23 days, I have been many places of Sri Lanka. In Colombo, we visited Dutch Museums, National Museums, the Pakistan Exhibition, Traditional Opera, Galle Face, the temple in the water, Independence Square, University of Colombo and some shopping malls. We visited places of interests, took videos, learned dancing lessons and took part in Global Village, Local Committee Meeting and Intern Fest Meeting. In Kandy, we visited Kandy Lake, brass workshop, wood carving temple, The Temple of Tooth and tea leaves factory. In Galle, we took the boat trip on the lake, swam in the sea, and took a surfing lesson.In our spare time, we went to the Foster House, Adam Peak, Yala National Park and prepared a feast for Chinese New Year. Counting like that, A sense of pride flows into my heart. We have done so much for our journey, especially the culture and arts part. Briefly I learned about the history and culture of Sri Lanka, what impressed most was the dancing and masks. The dancing focuses on the movements of hips and bottoms. It combines mythical legends and religious belief. It is quite special and differs from Chinese dances. Besides, the music in Sri Lanka is quite attractive and the melody is wonderful and easy to remember. They all gave me joyful appreciation and I loved them.
In a word, I love our project and it broadens my horizons, gave me another version to think and develop a deep understanding towards culture and arts. Thanks our projects to give me such large harvest. I will keep my ambitions and pass down the spirit of voluntary work!