We came to Sri Lanka just after finishing our final school exams in Ireland. We wanted to do something else (as opposed to just sunning ourselves in Spain), and that is exactly what we found.

Our first day in Kanishta Vidyalaya School in Mawala is unforgettable! As has just had 14 years as a student at home, because “the Teacher Miss” took some time getting used to. We started our day at 8 this morning and ended on the 1st 30pm with a 20 minute break in the middle. We learned from Category 1 up to grade 11 (which was odd because most of the students were at the same age as us!).

The older students liked to talk and write a lot with the occasional highly competitive game of Hangman. The younger students used us as human beings climbing frames as they sang (or screamed) songs for us. Needless to say, everyday left us exhausted. Within our first week we were bombarded with little notes from the girls say “my friends are Ali and Katie.” Three students even knelt down to our feet to say thank you after a lesson!

As they began their degrees in Mawala we moved to Welapitiya Montessori in Panadura to decorate the walls. The three teachers who were so friendly and it was their mission to feed us as much as possible. One day we actually ate a whole bread and a bunch of bananas every … I kid you not! We decorated the outside walls (no pressure on us at all!) And Katie grew quite attached to her penguin “Pengui”!

For our last week we taught English in Panadura Buddhist temple. There were six boys aged between 12 and 14 Of course, apart from the head monks always end our class who giggled in the corner and was disappointed if he did not get gold star too! Their English was excellent and they were so eager to learn. We could not believe it when we tried to play a game, and they preferred to write and read. They were the sweetest and friendliest people we ever met, and leaving them is difficult.

We came here thinking one month would be very long, but now we would love another two months