Family, Volunteers, Culture

Ok so i know you guys are wondering about the situation I'll be living in for the next three months... well here's the low down real quick!

I live in a town called Panadura with the Pieris family. Lal (dad), Chandra (mom), Erandra(son, 23), and Manoj (son, 20). They are all very very nice, hard to understand at times though the oldest son speaks the best english and he may be leaving soon to go to college in Australia (go figure). The house is large and very nice. I have my own bedroom, though they can hold up to 5 volunteers at a time. I am by myself right now, but i hear that there are 2 more volunteers coming this month, one from America! The other volunteers are all VERY nice! I have a Dutch girl next door, and two British kids down the street. But there are about 6 more volunteers that live about 4 hours south of us, one of them being another American girl from Penn. We do a lot of traveling together as a group which is nice to kind of hang out with english speaking people and do some cool traveling.

The hospital is a quick 5 mintue walk from home. Me and another volunteer go together, and this first week we are starting off in the pediatrics ward. There isnt much to do but follow the doctor on her rounds in the morning and once again in the afternoon. There are about 4 interns that are also following her every move, so its hard to hear what she is saying most of the time during her exams. And she also flips from explaining in Sinhala then to english, so i only catch bits and peices. Its hard...
The hospital is very limited on what equipment they have available. i've noticed that sanitation is not a high priority on their list and techniques are just different from home. hopefully i can snap some pictures to show you what i mean, but taking pictures outside is somewhat forbidden because of all the terrorism going on. hope this answers some questions!

love and peace from Sri Lanka!!
stay tuned....

xoxo
Lauren