Judy 31.10.2013

31 10 2013 Spending time with the D & D parents and kids was pretty special. Mainly because it reminded me of this community in whatever country and how complicated not having a sense of hearing can be. It was added to here by the fact that the government don't pay for hearing aids so if you need one and have no money you remain deaf. I talked to one of the children who was very bright and very articulate with great English and a clear career plan – to study medicine in Australia, she already has a brother who is a doctor, a sister economist and a little sister who wants to be an engineer. Her father is a carpenter. Great she has all these plans but I hope Sri Lanka doesn't run out of carpenters either. The next day: a really brilliant day at Kurumavelli nursery (me and Andy, Kriti and Thula) 55 kids and 52 turned up so nearly a full house The room was large, newly built by John Bunter's school in the UK in the grounds of the methodist preacher's house. The kids all had little plastic chairs that ringed practically three walls of this big room. We started off with their teacher giving them prayers and exercises – all very healthy, and then rolled into the usual routine although to my delight they threw themselves into every game – they wriggled on the floor as snakes and all leapt up to be frogs and foxes nd deafened us as frogs. The games I tried elsewhere that did not always work, all worked here and then some. I even felt brave enough to launch into zip boing although we did it as a chant zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zzzzzzip zzzzzzip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip zip BOING BOING A great energy arouser although this is perhaps the one nursery group that doesnt really need energising. They had excelled in Keepie Uppie, keeping the ball up in the air pretty well, although adding a new twist to the game in that every time it fell to the floor they turned it into a mad rugby scramble – momentarily forgetting my instruction that this was a game in which we have to work together. At the end although there was only time to make and decorate the masks so we were finishing with no follow-up gruffalo game they didnt need one as they marched around the room, masks on faces, doing gruffalo growls and gestures off their own bats completely – credit here to Andy's manful reading of the Gruffalo, actually getting all the way through the book with them We've arrived at cinnamon lakeside hotel, which has given me a chance to catch up on some sleep and think about the week we have just spent together.