☼ ωeek ωithout ωalls ftw~! ☼

☼ ωeek ωithout ωalls ☼

 

ⓘntroduction + ⓖoals

The Week Without Walls trip that I signed up for was a trip that would take me to the dry zones of Sri Lanka, namely the Sri Giriya, Trincomalee and Polunaaruwa areas. It was a trip that, according to the itineray, would take us to places of religious and spiritual interest as well as expose us to the natural elemets of the Sri Lankan dry zone, a nature to be explored.

My goals going into the trip were quite simple; have fun and learn something. Honestly, I didn;t expect very much, not because I thought the trip would be useless, but because I didn't know what to expect. I didn't fully understand what CAS experiences we would get there and I didn't expect anything much to happen. In retrospect, I couldn't have been any more wrong! I learnt a lot more about the group I was with, myself and my own country by taking part in the Week Without Walls trip.

ⓜy ⓖroup
First up, I have to say that I was more than pleasantly suprised with the group I went with. I had expected, with some of the people that were going, that the trip would be a little... chaotic... to say the least but again, I was proved wrong. In fact, despite being a little loud, the group was in general the best group I'd been with. The biggest thing that struck me about them was their collective understanding and sensitivity towards the culture and religion practices of the places we visited.

A big moment was when, after having visited a few temples, I was getting irritated by the fact that they (our group) was loud and swore and messed around in the temples, habits that I, being bhudist, wouldn's have put up with. On noticing my distress though, the group listned to why I was getting upset, curbed their energy and followed the basic principles of being in a religious place. The ease in which they accepted that they would have to adapt their habits and how quickly and efficiently they adapted stunned me; I did not expect such grace considering most people our age though now, I have reconsidered my position and come to the conclusion that people may, they just may, be nice.







ⓘnteresting ⓣhings we did:

1. A stream dip on the first day - I have been told several times by my mother that if you take a dip in any (non-oceanic) water body in Sri Lanka, chances are that you will contract Mee-Oone which is basically Rat Fever. Apparently rats use these sources for water too and their diseases are transferred to the water and then a human can contract it. I went for the stream dip and walked away unscathed making me question this 'Rat Fever' in the first place.

2. Nocturnal walk -  Have you ever walked around in the night with just a torchlight? I can't describe the feeling I felt doing exactly that, trekking through the forest area with the rest of the group. Finding the Slow Loris was the highlight for sure though, the cuteness of the little furball was too much for me to resist.

3. Holding a flipping snake around our neck - although held by Anand the guide, we still got to hold it and put it around our neck. I thought it was amazing because I have a great respect for snakes <3

4. Visiting all the temples - the ability to chose to go into the temples and Kovils, the ability to do it on my own without people (my parents) telling me to do it and to go pray made me realize that despite me not being a strong Bhuddhist, I still felt a huge connevtion to all the archeological sights we went to, namely this one in the picture. I felt a sense of calm and bliss whilst I was there, removed from the normal weight of life, simply walking around the Bhodi and stoppin every so often to pay my respects to the statues lining the structure.

5. Tree and rock climbing - I am a person who is scared of heights. I can't even climb a ladder too far up without fearing the way down. I hate leaning on the balconies of buildings and I freaked out on my way up the Eiffel Tower. And yet, on WWW I climbed treas and jumped across mountain crevasses as if I didn't know what fear was. Tarzan for the win~!

ⓐchievements:

 My biggest acheivement during WWW was the risks that I took throughout the entire week. There was nothing at that point that stopped me from climbing and jumping and swimming and there was a sense of not having to be afraid. Risk taking in this trip was easy given the company I was in and the support they offered.

Spiritual connection to the sites we visited also made my trip a lot more superior than I expected. There was a lot of time to reflect on where I was and how that was important to me. In coming back from abroad after over 8 years out of my country, I found a connection that I hadn't felt on any of my summer visits here. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE8f_xQuqQE&feature=youtu.be