July 3rd, 2017

July 3rd, 2017

• I’m not quite sure when I woke up today - or how I woke up. None the less I found myself sitting around a table eating a fried egg and banana with people from around the world; from Lebanon to Spain to The Netherlands to Uganda. Breakfast came and went, but we did nothing; we sat still in our seats waiting for someone to come to us and tell us what was going on. It was quite reassuring to know that I was not the only person confused; in fact absolutely nobody knew what was going on. Finally the head instructor, Dhammike, (really cool name) came to our group, and he lead us to the temple in which our first class was held. In this class we learned about the different placements that volunteers could go to. I really hope that i am placed in the Hill Country, but I think that a lot of other people want to go there too, so we will see. 
• After Class we had lunch... it was interesting. Good. But interesting. Lunch flew by, and immediately we went to the mall. the mall was nothing like a western mall, but it had a mobile telephone provider so that those who hadn’t gotten a sim card could. I had not done so yet, so I queued in line with the others. Fifteen minutes of standing in line passed, then another 15, and another. Ultimately, 45 minutes of simply waiting in line gave me time to think. “Is a mobile data a necessity?” I questioned the nature of assuming that having accessible internet at your fingertips was absolutely a need. I decided that there was so much more to do in this amazing island than sorry about what my friends are doing on snapchat or Instagram. 
• This night was really fun. we literally only sat around, played cards, and ate. No Phones. No Worries. As far as first days go in foreign countries this was best I have had so far. ​