Sri Lanka day 2 Polonnaruva and Sigiriya

Savi came to pick me up at 8am and we drove about 1 hour and 10 minutes to Polonnaruva.  It is a World Heritage Site of old ruins, it reminded me a lot of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  I went to the museum then Savi drove me around to the sites.  It was HOT and I forgot my sunglasses so I got a hat for $3.50.   I will have to get a picture of me looking super cute in it :)

He drove me back to the hotel and said he’d pick me up at 3:45 to go to Sigiriya rock when it was cooler. 

I took a nap, read my book then we headed of to the rock.  It was about a 25 minute drive away.  I counted exactly 900 stairs up to the top!!  Not counting the parts where I had to walk down then up again.  I can’t believe they had a palace up there!!  It must have been very difficult to get the materials up there and build it. 

sigiriya rock

where the palace was at the top of the rock

this is why it is called the lion rock

elephants getting a bath!

There were signs everywhere about the punishments for defacing the rock, harming plants etc.  Like how in the airport, there were signs everywhere that said if you have illegal drugs, the punishment is DEATH.  There were also signs about staying quiets so as not to disturb the wasp and hornets nests!  I took some Benedryll (hoping it would buy me some time if I was stung) and prayed they would stay away. 

The walk down was much more pleasant and more stretched out and cooler!!  I went back to the hotel and skipped dinner I was so tired!  

Sri Lanka Day 1 I am in love already!

Sri Lanka Day 1 I am in love already!

I wanted to go to Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives while I was living in India because I figure I won’t be close to these countries again.  I went to the Maldives  a few years ago and I will be going to Nepal for Math Counts next year.  Everyone I have ever talked to LOVED going to Sri Lanka.  They call it “India Lite”  Some of the good things about India with less of the bad things. So far, I agree. The roads and roadside stores are similar, but no animals blocking the roads.  You can drive a lot faster when there aren’t cows, goats, water buffalo etc swarming the roads.

I left Mumbai on a 2:30am flight straight to Colombo and got there at 5am.  Same time zone as Mumbai so that is a plus! I booked a tour with Beyond Escapes tour company.My driver, Savi was waiting for me at the airport to take me on a 4 hour drive to Sigiriya.  He has the nicest tour car I have ever been in - a deep purple Prius Hybrid - he was very proud of it. I asked him if the drive was pretty or not and he kind of shrugged so I thought it was ok to take a nap for a bit.  I curled up in the backseat for an hour or so and when I woke up, we were driving through gorgeous green jungle areas.  His idea of a pretty drive and mine are different!  I stayed awake for the rest of it. He stopped about halfway at a roadside hotel so I could get breakfast. 

I really enjoyed the ride and Savi knows a decent amount of English so I could ask him questions.  As we got closer to Sigiriya there were signs with Elephants on it and he said that at night the elephants roam the roads and there are electric fences protecting villages.  He said there were lots of  monkeys too.  My hotel is about 10Km away from town and is lovely.  Kassapa Lion Rock – it has a pool and spa and little bungalows.  It isn’t as open air as other places I’ve been due to the monkeys and elephants J they welcomed me with watermelon/pineapple juice and let me go to my room around 10:45 so  I could take a nap.  Savi said I could go walking, but once it got dark, I can’t leave the hotel area. 

I started walking and the town was farther than I thought.  I was hot even though I had an umbrella and I was out of water.  There were no empty tuk-tuks so I just kept walking.  I heard a rustle in the weeds next to me and thought it was a monkey.  I am very mindful of those things after my rabies shot experience!!  I looked over and it was an ELEPHANT!!  Right next to me!!  I was trying to get a picture but he was so close and I didn’t want to be on the news like “ a tourist was killed when jumping in a lion cage to get a selfie”  I waited until he backed up a bit and tried to get some shots.  I was a little unnerved as I kept walking.  I decided it wasn’t super safe.  I had turned down a guy in a truck offering me a ride, but I accepted a ride on the back of a guy’s motorcycle – figured he couldn’t go too far rogue with me on the back!  Turned out I was really close to town and the elephant signs!  He dropped me off,  I got some water and found a tuk tuk to take me back. 

There he is - wild elephant on the side of the road!

I went and hung out at the pool for a bit then had the buffet dinner at the hotel.  I slept well - the hotel is in a nice secluded, quiet area. 

Math Counts in Dubai

This is my 5th year coaching Math counts and it is always fun to take them to the competition.  This year we took two 6th graders (a Japanese Girl, and a Korean Boy), three 7th graders (all Korean Girls), and three 8th graders (two Indian boys and an Indian Girl).  We always joke about how all the Math Counts kids have dark hair.  This year there were 55 kids at the competition and 24 were girls!!!  My first year at the competition, there were 44 kids and 3 girls. Girl power!

There were 7 Schools - American schools in India in Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi.  2 American Schools from the UAE - Dubai and Abu Dhabi, 1 American school from Katmandu Nepal,  and 1 from Cairo Egypt.  I have worked with several of these coaches for years and it is a little sad that several of them are moving on this year.

We attended our first class on Thursday, then got on a plane bound for Dubai.  We ran into the Chennai team who had a layover in Mumbai.  I got to chat with Miss Kala - the coach from Chennai whom I adore.  The kids all stay with host family - the boys stayed with one and the girls were split up among two houses.  The coaches all stayed at a Holiday Inn - the nicest one I have ever seen.  I got upgraded to a suite that was as big as my apartment.  No kidding.  Both of my bathrooms would fit into big hotel bathroom - with room left over.  AND there was a half bath in there too.  That extra space would make up my kitchen.  The bedroom was as big as mine and the living room was the size of my living room and spare bedroom.  HUGE.

All the coaches stayed in the hotel and they picked us up in a bus every morning to take us to the school.  The school was huge too.  Huge gyms, huge fields, huge classrooms.  Mumbai is very short on space and I am always reminded of that when I see other schools.  Driving through the city was surreal - big shiny skyscrapers.  We saw the Burj Al Arab (most of you would know it as the sail boat shaped hotel) from a distance.  We got to see the Burj Khalifa up close though.

On Friday we had the Sprint round.  It is an individual test - 4o minutes for 30 questions no calculator.  Then we do the Target round.  6 minutes for 2 questions and you get to use a calculator.  there are 8 questions and they are hard!  The kids get double the points for those questions.  After lunch we do a field trip.  This year we went to the Dubai mall.  H  U   G  E  does not even dent the extent of this place.  Biggest mall in the world.  There is an amusement part in there and ice skating.  (the indoor ski slope is in a different mall - Emirates mall) EVERY SINGLE WESTERN RESTAURANT AND STORE EVER MADE IS IN THIS MALL.  I am not kidding.  We spent 4 hours there.  I only covered a small percentage of it.  Jordan, the coach from Dubai, took us to the big fountain where we could get a great view of the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world) so we could take pictures.

Every mall should have a dinosaur in the middle

BEEF

multi story aquarium in the mall

Then we let the kids loose in groups of 4.  The other coach and I took 4 of the girls to 5 guys burgers to have beef and shakes :)  the other 4 apparently had amazing sushi.  They talked about it a lot :) The kids that live in Egypt, Nepal, and India all bought things they can't get - chocolate for their families, coffee beans and other things their families asked them to get.

After the mall, we took them back to the school where they played basketball, soccer, table tennis, and watch a movie.  One of our girls had not been feeling well but really wanted to go to the mall :)  by the evening she had a fever and I told her host mom that I had talked to her father and got permission to give her meds and that she should go straight to sleep.  The woman just said  "Insha'Allah"  Love host parents - they just take it in stride.  Apparently this woman takes in kids all the time.

On Saturday we do the Team Round - groups of 4 students have 20 minutes to answer 10 questions.  Then we have the Countdown Round with the buzzers.  Kids get placed in the top 10 by their scores on the Sprint and Target rounds. We had a student get in the top ten but she was super nervous and got out in the first two questions so she came in 10th place.  One of our teams took 2nd place overall.

We were back by Saturday night at midnight.  We sent the kids off to be home with their parents and we got Sunday to recover and get ready for school.

Christmas 2015 Puerto Rico

I have gone home the last 2 Christmases and it has been really cold!  So this year I decided to go on a Caribbean Cruise and spend some time in Puerto Rico.

On the Sunday that the cruise left I explored San Juan on foot a bit.  I saw both forts - Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristobal.  I wandered around in the shops and found a great store that only sells items made in Puerto Rico.  I got some great art and some Christmas ornaments.  Puerto Rico Celebrate January 6th, the Epiphany, as much as Christmas.  I got a beautiful carving of the three kings and there were displays of the kings and the nativity everywhere.

The sunday I got back from the cruise, I went on an old San Juan walking food tour which was awesome.

mofongo!

I went to Fajardo and went Kayaking at night in bioluminescent bay .  It was still kinda light when we kayaked through the canal surrounded by mangroves.  We were in tandem kayaks and since I was alone, I got to kayak with one of the guides, Omar.  He looked a lot like Shemar Moore only younger.  He gave me a lot of info on the mangroves and the bay.  On the way back it was PITCH BLACK.  I got clotheslined by a few branches.  It was a little scary kayaking on the open bay at night and I would have been freaked if a guide wasn't with me.  It was New Year's Eve and we were worried the traffic would be a nightmare going back to San Juan, but it was surprisingly quiet.

I went to the El Yunque Forest one day and to Luquillo beach.   The forest was great.  I got to go on a 1.5 mile hike and saw some great plants.  Some friends came later in the week and I got to go to El Yunque Forest again and see a different part of it.

A lady asked if I wanted her to take my picture.  I told her it was the first picture with me in it on this whole trip and that I rarely get photos of myself.  She took the picture then said "you should take more picture with you in them, you have a beautiful smile"  so sweet!

These leaves were huge and they were white underneath.  They turn over when it is going to rain so the trees look white.

I stayed in the Hotel Plaza de Armas.  It was right in the middle of Old San Juan and there was always music playing or something going on in the Plaza de Armas.  It was in a good location and the people were helpful getting me tours.  but the place was really damp.  When you are in a tropical place, it is best to have central AC to keep the dampness out.  If you don't have central AC then fans are a must.  This place had neither.  There was a wall AC that did not work well and was SUPER loud so I rarely ran it.  All my clothes smelled.  On the second to last night, the ceiling in my bathroom started leaking so they moved me to a new room on the last night.  The AC was a bit quieter and it was a little less damp, but the damage was done.  I had a nasty cough and mucus in my lungs.  With my lupus it is going to take a month to get rid of it!  On January 1st, I moved to the Courtyard Marriott on Isla Verde.  It is a lovely beach resort on the nicest beach I saw Puerto Rico.  It is far from Old San Juan (a $25 cab ride) so I think it is nice to stay in the two different places like I did.  Stay in Old San Juan and do all your exploring, then stay at the beach and just relax.  My room was great, there was central AC and the view was beautiful.

I missed my girls!

For Christmas 2011, I went with my friend Gretchen to Israel.  There was a family from Indiana on the trip with us and I have kept in touch with them.  We have tried to catch up with each other on other trips, but it hasn't worked out.  for this Christmas, I was trying to figure out whether to go to Puerto Rico or Costa Rica.  Joyce messaged me one day and said they were going to Puerto Rico the first part of January.  That helped me make my decision!  It was fun to catch up with them.

Aaron, Joyce, me, Bill