A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

February is nearly over and March is right around the corner, which means that spring break is coming! England and Ireland here I come! I am meeting up with my family in London and we are taking on England and Ireland together. We have not had a family vacation in 4 years since we went to California and Arizona. I am unbelievably excited to see their faces and to share this adventure with them. Plus my inner Harry Potter nerd is absolutely excited to see iconic places like Kings Cross and the HP tour.

In the words of Sweeney Todd no there's no place like London! 

School wise things have been good. It is stressful at times but as Olivia Pope would say, it's handled. All I can do is put one foot in front of the other and keep trying different ideas. Some days lessons are awesome and then other days some lessons that you put so much thought and effort into completely flop. And while that can be frustrating, all you can do is be like Taylor Swift and shake it off and try again tomorrow.

I updated my bulletin board again! So now technically I don't have to change it again until the end of April woo hoo! I found these gumball machine templates online and with Q-tips I had them paint on 100 gumballs. Some of them got a bit overzealous and did more than 100. A lot of them were not keeping track and would ask me, "Miss Kellie I forgot how many I have. Can you count?" I got a lot of practice counting to 100!

Yesterday we celebrated our 100th day of school! I might be off by a day or two because I was talking to some of the other teachers and they were saying it was next Sunday or Monday. Honestly I am glad I got to celebrate it yesterday because it was the end of the week and it is exhausting getting everything set up for it! I just remember in elementary school how the 100th day of school was always a big deal. My kids were so excited for it. We have been counting the days with straws and all week they have been like "4 more days until we get to 100 Miss Kellie!" or "1 more day until we get to 100!" For homework I asked them to bring in a collection of 100 things.

A giant aluminum 100 with little candies on it! I forgot to hand out the candies to them which they reminded me multiple times throughout the day. So they will get the candy on Sunday. 

One of my students wrote down 100 different words. "I have been working so hard on this Miss Kellie!" I was very impressed. And his penmanship is much neater than mine.  

100 stickers! My students were like "We get to take the stickers home right Miss Kellie?" Um no. 

100 pictures! 

I was on Pinterest for days looking up ideas for the 100th day. Apparently some schools have the teachers and kids dress up as what they would look like when they are 100 years old. We did not do that but they drew pictures of what they would look like if they were 100 years old. We had our 100th day trail mix where I brought in 10 different things and they had to take 10 pieces of each item. We made 100th day crowns because we are 100 days smarter! We did different activities like writing your name as many times as you can in 100 seconds, I would eat 100 _____, I can tally up to 100, etc. They had a blast and the looks on their faces when they saw all the goodies they were getting for their trail mix was priceless.

100th day treats! Complete with marshmallows, goldfish, chips, gummy bears,
M&Ms, hershey kisses, popcorn, cheerios, cornflakes, and the least popular plate which
was shredded wheat! Popcorn and gummy bears were two of the favorites. Tip for
next year: get mini marshmallows instead of the regular sized ones! I think
one of my favorite quotes was "Miss Kellie I am not going to eat the chips because
they are not healthy." But she chowed down those marshmallows! 

Miss Kellie is 100 days smarter. 

Wednesday we had our very first field trip! It was a very fun and eventful week for my teacup humans. We saw Alice in Wonderland at the theater in the souq and the kids loved it. The movie is up on Youtube and each day during lunch I let them watch 20 minutes of it to compare to the show we saw. I had them decorate white rabbits with cotton balls and decorate teapots with patterns as little activities during the week to get them excited about it. They were even excited for the bus ride and were singing for the majority of the way there. They sang their ABCs at least 10 times, The Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and even Jingle Bells. Fortunately they started playing I Spy and took a little break from the singing. The funniest part was that they have absolutely no concept of time. We were on there for 5 minutes and the questions start. "How many more minutes until we are there Miss Kellie?!" "We have been on here for HOURS." "Are we there?"

Welcome to Souq Waqif. Where seeing a man riding a horse is common and acceptable. From far away I first thought it was a camel! 

Then we got there and the show was great. It was fun and interactive and got them up and dancing every now and then. And they were familiar with some of the characters. "It's the Cheshire Cat Miss Kellie!" Actually I think they were calling it the treasure cat. We had to do about 10 minutes of walking through the souq to get to the theater and I think between that and all the dancing the kids were exhausted. It was a popular school trip and there had to be kids from at least 4 other schools. Most of my teacup humans took a little nap on the way back. And it blew their little minds that we still had school left when we got back. 2 hours left until they could go home. I think they definitely slept good Wednesday night!

Alice in Wonderland! 

Alice loved to dance. 

It was a jam packed week. We also had our school photos taken on Monday. I am curious how those are going to turn out because they had the kids take their pictures in groups of 2 or 3. I think they are planning to put all the pictures of the groups together in one big photo. At least I hope they do! We had one of the time slots in the afternoon and my kids were definitely getting restless. But I cannot wait to get a picture of my first class!

We are past the halfway point of the year which is an exciting accomplishment. Just another step closer to having my first year under my belt!

All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

If you had told me a year ago "Hey guess what? Next year you are going to visit Sri Lanka and fall in love with the country. You are going to hold a monkey, ride an elephant, see some dolphins and whales and swim in the Indian Ocean. This will be a well deserved break from your teaching job in the desert." I would have laughed in your face.

We made sure to pick a hotel that was right on the beach! 

Sri Lanka was absolutely incredible! It is such a beautiful and colorful country. I got to see so much of my favorite color- green! Sri Lanka was not even on my radar of a country to visit until one of my friends mentioned it. I said yes to being her travel buddy and the rest is history!

Things I learned in Sri Lanka:

1. Their school year starts in January. They go to school year round and have monthly breaks in April, August, and December.

2. The school uniforms are white. Girls must have their hair in braids.

3. The Queen is the oldest hotel in Kandy. Queen Elizabeth once stayed there.

4. When you see white flags hanging in the streets it means that someone died. While we were there they were mourning the loss of one of their members of Parliament.

5. Sri Lanka's Independence Day is on February 4th.

6. Egg hoppers are a breakfast cuisine that are delicious.

7. Sri Lanka recycles!

8. They went through a civil war for 30 years that recently ended in 2009.

9. First Asian country known to have a female ruler!

10. Their currency is Sri Lankan rupees. $1 = 143.54 rupees. and 1 Qatar riyal = 39.42 rupees.

The places I circled are where we visited. As you
can see there are areas that we did not get to. I guess
I will have to go back! 

Sri Lanka flag

Egg hopper! Yummy fried egg

Yay for recycling! Take note Qatar. 

Ca-ching!

We stayed in the southern part of Sri Lanka at the Royal Palms Beach Hotel in Kalutara. We arrived Friday morning. We had a driver named Mangala pick us up from the airport. He was very kind and informative. It was about an hour and a half of a drive from the airport and he told us about the rubber trees and rice paddies.

The golden brown parts are the rice paddies. 

Inside the hotel lobby 

View from our hotel balcony AKA my favorite spot. Who wouldn't like sitting on the balcony reading your kindle listening to the waves crashing? 

Made a friend on my first day. No I was not breastfeeding him! 

She may murder me for posting this. Alanna did not volunteer to have the
monkey on her. Which makes this picture hilarious. 

The first day we relaxed at the hotel. We watched Say Yes to the Dress in our ridiculously comfortable hotel beds and took a glorious nap. This was followed by lounging at the pool and adult beverages. Our hotel offered an all-inclusive package. If you ever stay anywhere that offers this- DO IT. I did this when I went to Mexico and it is well worth it and easily pays for itself. $40 each day for all the food and drinks that I want- I will take that deal!

DO IT. 

Saturday we had our first day trip to Mirissa for dolphin and whale watching. We had to be up bright and early because our driver Nishantha picked us up at 3:30 AM! Funny enough we ended up getting there an hour early. To kill some time I played with some adorable puppies! There are so many stray dogs in Sri Lanka. I just wanted to scoop one up and sneak one back to Doha with me. Dolphin and whale watching was fantastic. I am happy that I have a strong stomach because for at least half of the trip... many people got seasick. It is not my favorite thing to be out on the ocean listening to the sounds of people retching. Loudly. We were out to sea for about 5 hours... imagine 2 and a half hours of listening to people puking. Woo hoo for headphones and blaring my music to tune it out!

Whale watching. Hello Indian Ocean! 

Waiting in the marina/dock area ready to go!

Out to sea. That is one of the other whale watching boats. 

I love this country. 

Getting ready to start moving. 

That view though!

Hard to tell but that black blob is a whale! 

Sunday was a chill day at the hotel. We had to be all rested up for our next day trip to Kandy! 

Ahh that balcony. My favorite spot.

The dining area where I consumed at least 5 pounds of bacon. 

Monday was Kandy day. It was quite the eventful day that began with our pickup at 4:30 AM. Elephant day! I got to ride an elephant named Pooja. Unfortunately it had chains on it. A little disheartening while you are riding it and with each step you hear the clang clang of the chains. We had our awesome driver Nishantha again- no tuk tuks for us. Driving around with him was a bit what I imagine the knight bus to be like. We were constantly weaving around cars and motorbikes and tuk tuks. We were speeding around and then sometimes suddenly coming to a full stop- definitely an adventure! We got to see elephants and learned a lot about them. For instance, they make paper from their dung. I did not buy any but was definitely intrigued by that fact. Other elephacts: they can comfortably carry 25% of their body weight which is equivalent to 45 fully grown men. Male elephants can go through a period called musth. This is when the elephants have increased testosterone levels and can be very aggressive. Do not approach them! Only 5% of male elephants in Sri Lanka have tusks. There are 40,000 muscles in an elephant's trunk. Compared to the human body which has 639 muscles, that is a lot! We also visited a tea factory, a spice garden, botanical garden, and the Temple of the Tooth. Nishantha was driving us to our next stops which apparently was a Kandy dance and then a gems museum. I looked at him with a blank stare and said "...do we have to?" I was completely and utterly exhausted. I wanted nothing more than a big dinner at our hotel and then to crash immediately in my comfy bed. So we did. 

This is a tuk tuk. They are everywhere. The good thing is that when you go on highways they are not allowed on there! 

No I did not buy any! It was tempting though. 

The streets of Sri Lanka 

They drive on the other side of the rode. So weird to get used to! 

Pooja <3

Just a herd of elephants walking down the road. No biggie. 

They want to get in the refreshing water!

They love to lay in the water and it is the cutest thing ever. 

We visited the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and got to see them feed baby elephants milk. Tourists used to be able to, but
I guess it got very popular. As you can see from the crowd. 

Taking a selfie with the elephants at Pinnawala

The tea factory Kadugannawa. We got to sample some at the end!

All the tea leaves. They get weighed here.

I love that the tea leaves get their own elevator. 

The woman operated this crazy contraption to grind up the tea leaves.

Temple of the Tooth

They're a big fan of gold

Temple of the Tooth

Temple of the Tooth

One of the stupas. A stupa is a place utilized for meditation. 

I saw a boy climbing up and posing in the tree so of course I had to
copy him. 

Look at all those bats! I cannot wait to tell my kids about this because
we talked about bats for a week and they love the book Stellaluna.

The monkeys from Jumanji made a guest appearance at the botanical garden. 

                                     

Palm tree lane

There were pretty flowers too!

The next 2 days we had relaxing pool and beach days. I got some color and caught up on some reading! Then on Thursday our last day I devoured the last bits of bacon I could get my hands on and then Nishantha gave us a little city tour of Colombo before dropping us off at the airport. It was exciting because it was Sri Lanka's independence day! They had a little ceremony at the hotel where there were drummers and dancers. They also gave the hotel guests white balloons and we released them followed by the people in the ceremony releasing doves. 

So cool to watch!

Their costumes were fantastic

I loved their costumes and dances

Getting ready to release the doves. 

Some sight seeing in Colombo

Fountain in Colombo. The statue is the president who helped them achieve their independence. 

Sight seeing in Colombo

Sight seeing in Colombo. 

Yes. Even in Sri Lanka you can get a whopper. 

Stadium in the shape of a lotus flower

Fountains in Colombo

I got spoiled by all the colors. Did not want to come back to tan city! 

Sri Lanka was a wonderful vacation spot and I would highly recommend it to anyone. It was the perfect getaway that was just what I needed. Never in a million years did I expect travel opportunities like this to fall into my lap. Hard work pays off! All I can do is embrace it and enjoy.