Elder and Sister Condie Mission Blog: August 23, 2015

Wow, what a wonderful week! This week was a total play week....kind of a break in the action for a minute! Some planned, some not planned! The week began with elections here in Sri Lanka. We had a new President elected in January but these were elections in the Parliament. The old President who was defeated in January, was running again and trying to get the majority in the Parliament. there have been rallies all over for the past few weeks...lots of hype and emotion! We were asked by the Mission President to not go out for 2 days.....just to make sure there weren't any problems from the elections! So, we ended up having the missionaries over on Monday afternoon and watching a couple of church movies! We ordered pizza for lunch and had a very enjoyable day. It was strange not going out and about all day! Tuesday, we did go to District Meeting at the church but then came home for the rest of the day! We were able to catch up on a lot of paper work and emails, etc. So crazy not to put on a skirt for 2 days!!! 3 months ago, we made reservations in Kandy for the Perahera festival that falls on the Poya day in August. Someone told us it gets really really crowded and you can hardly move through the people. They suggested we get a room at the Queens Hotel because we could watch the parade from our balcony window. It sounded like a good plan! The hotel was booked except for the first day of the Perahera which sounded fine to us. We decided to go a day earlier so that we could see the sights of Kandy. We had Kumar come and get us in his taxi and it took 4 hours to get there. But the drive is so beautiful! He dropped us off at the hotel! Wow! It was like an old movie! It was so fun! It was clean and everyone was very attentive. It is funny how many tourists were here in Kandy......but no Americans. We think it is just too far for Americans to want to come here. But there are so many Asians and Europeans that come. So we saw quite a bit of white skin! The hotel was right next to a lake and right next to the Temple of the Tooth. We unloaded everything and headed out to take a walk around the lake! We saw monkeys running around, carp in the lake, fancy birds and a huge monitor lizard. There are quite a few street vendors around for the big celebration week....trying to sell you little trinkets and food. There were hundreds of people saving places on the sidewalks for the first night of the Perahera on Thursday night. Some stayed almost 24 hours. Some of the restaurants sold seats for lots of money. I was happy for the balcony after seeing all the people! We had a nice lunch at the Pizza Hut that was across the street. We then went into the Temple of the Tooth. The Buddhists believe that Buddha died and was cremated. In the sandalwood that was used for the fire, they found one of his teeth. So it is encased in a guarded vault like tomb room inside this temple. As we entered, we had to take our shoes off and all foreigners had to pay. If you are Sri Lankan, it is free. There were a lot of drums and pageantry going on the whole time. You could stand in a line to see the tooth. Once you got to the room, there was a monk there making you hurry by and not stop too long. They had an ornate presentation of the tooth.....although the tooth is inside something so you really can not actually see the tooth. In fact, no one has seen the tooth. They just think it is in there I guess! But there is a huge celebration for it anyway! It goes for 10 days. We walked around the temple and the temple grounds. Lots of drums, lots of candles and incense , lots of monks and believers in white that stop and chant (pray) all around. There were several elephants around getting ready for the parade the next day. They all have heavy chains around their ankles so they can't go anywhere! Dinner was included in the hotel stay and it was a fabulous buffet with all sorts of different kinds of food. Of course, I took pictures! It was a very nice day! Thursday, breakfast was also included in the hotel stay and it was equally as good as the dinner! We met one of the sisters in the branch at her home to give her some piano books. We then headed to the famous botanical gardens a little bit away from the city. Again, a foreigner price to pay! It was a beautiful place. Lots of different kinds of trees, flowers, cactus, bushes, herbs, etc! It was massive and it took quite a while to see everything! We really enjoyed it. Yes, it was hot but there was lots of shade! We ate at a cafe that was there and that was very nice. We caught a trishaw back to the hotel. We visited a Hindu temple close to the hotel. Lots of lights and statues. We also did a little shopping on the way back to the hotel. Found some "deals" for Christmas!! Steve was close to melting completely so we went back to the hotel and decided to go swimming! It was so clean and just the right temperature! It felt good after the heat of the day! Steve had a hard time getting out! He could have stayed all evening in there! We had another wonderful meal at the hotel and then headed up to the room for the big celebration to begin! They said the parade is not as good on the first night. As the nights progress, there are more elephants and dancers. But it worked out great for us. In fact, Steve really enjoyed being able to go inside the room and cool off and not hear drums for a minute as loud! There was lots of fire, lots of drums, lots of dancers, lots of elephants all dressed up so wonderfully!! They would take the outsides of coconuts, doust them with kerosine and light them and put them in a basket on the end of a pole. These young men would walk by the side of the parade to help light the way! When the fire would go out, there was a little wagon coming around filling them to get them going again. Everyone in the parade had bare feet. All the dancers, drummers, etc. If some pieces of hot coals fell on the ground, they would just brush them to the side with their bare feet! I am so glad we were able to go see this festival! Friday morning brought breakfast and some more sightseeing! We went up to the big Buddha that was on the hill. It was beautiful looking out to see all the green and gorgeous surroundings of Kandy! We met with the seminary teachers from Kandy at Pizza Hut for an Inservice meeting! They are such dedicated, wonderful women. The numbers in Kandy haven't been very good at church but they keep plugging away, doing so much for their little branch! We walked up to another park and took in one last glimpse of the beautiful city! We decided to take the train back to Colombo....just to try the experience. We reserved seats in an air conditioned part of the train. We had wonderful seats and had big windows to see out of. The scenery was gorgeous. One of the things that the kids in Sri Lanka do for fun is fly kites. Big kites! And we saw hundreds of kids along the route that were out in the big open fields flying their kites. There were also a lot of people working out in the rice patties and that was really interesting too. It only took us 2 1/2 hours to get home by train and we only stopped once and didn't worry about traffic or bikes or people on the roads! It was fabulous! Saturday brought piano lessons for me. Steve taught the early morning seminary class that morning. When he was done, he went to the store. As I was teaching, he called me and asked me to give the phone to one of my students. He asked him to go take some pictures of a parade that was going on down the street from the church. So Abishek took my camera to take the pictures. He brought the camera back a little while later and I looked on it to see why Steve wanted him to take pictures. There was nothing there. He wasn't able to figure out how to use my camera. When I was done teaching, we walked outside the church to go home and noticed the parade was still going on. I saw these young men swinging from some cables on the back of a big truck. I couldn't tell what the big deal was but I took pictures anyway so I could give them to Steve. As I finally looked a little closer, I saw what Steve was looking at! These guys were actually swinging from cables.....that were hooked in their bodies with big, honkin, fish hooks! It was crazy! Apparently, this is a Hindu tradition. If they have prayed for something and it has come to pass.....this is a way of thanking the Gods.....or something like that. OMG! It was totally gruesome. When I walked a little farther, there was some little boys ahead....about 11 years old I would guess. I noticed that the boy in the front had 8 or so hooks coming out of his back and his friends were pulling the cables...keeping them tight. I asked if I could take their picture and they let me. It was nuts! We drove to Chilaw later and had a great time their teaching with the elders. Got home late of course! Sunday was a great day. Wonderful talks, great lessons and such fabulous people! We worked on our dance for the RS Birthday party. It was fun as some of the young women wanted to join us! I was tired after. I just don't dance every day like I did 40 YEARS AGO!!!! We had Inoka and Naveen and Stephanie over after and then the Elders came later for their Sunday dinner. YUM! Enjoy these great young men! We are so grateful for them and for being missionaries in this great country!