h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(jail is gaol)

Hi there madame from Colombo !!!

Trust you are well too.

I just finished my dinner. It's 9pm over here.

Are you from the beautiful Paris?

Hullo!

Yes, I know jail is gaol. It's a word we always had in our pronunciation tests at university...


I am well, thank you!
It's 16:45ish here.
I'm not from Paris, but I do have an auntie who lives near Paris...
I'm from Reims, Champagne city, but I was born in the Ardennes, just next to Belgium. Very nice area, loads of forest.


So, where are you?
Timeanddate.com tells me you might be... in India?

Indeed your country and also your language is beautiful.

I am from Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.

You are completely right we are in the same time zone as India.

Sri Lanka is a tiny island south just south of India.

We too have beautiful tropical jungles and famous for growing tea. I assume you have not visited here.

Oh, yes, Sri Lanka. OK. Ceylon tea, is it, then?

I haven't visited there, but only because I've never been invited... hint, hint!!


I wouldn't go so far as to call the forests around my parents' village "jungle", though...

It's lunch time here. Is it dinner time there?

What's the menu?
I think we're having fish at the canteen today, probably in a kind of creamy sauce, with some veg. Yummy!

Hello there Madame !!!

Yes it is Ceylon Tea.

You are most welcome to visit here, although right now, you would have heard on the news, we are having some security concerns.

It is approaching dinner time (6.00pm) and we will be having dinner at the club after playing badminton.

You must be at work right now, since you are having dinner in the canteen. Do you work late?

Our menu tonight will vary.

Oh I alomost forgot, are you left-handed also? I am 100% left-handed.

Yes, I eat at school.
I'm a teacher of English. (But not an English teacher... Can be confusing )

I work in a secondary school, so the latest I leave is 5pm.
Right now it's 5:20pm and I've just finished my week.
My poor pupils still have some lessons tomorrow morning, though...

It was indeed fish in a creamy onion and tomato sauce. With carrots, and I treated myself to a few chips.
Or you could also have steak and chips, or liver and mashed potatoes.
Of course you could also choose to have your fish with mashed potatoes, or steak and carrots. It's mix 'n match!
Most pupils have steak and chips, though.



Oooh, badminton!
I'm not very sporty, to be honest.
Well, better badminton than marathon, I suppose...


I am indeed left-handed, but I've been told I'm not "completely" left-haded, because I sometimes use my right hand, for example I use the mouse with my right hand, and I use my knife with my right hand, etc... So apparently, that makes me some kind of "part" leftie...



Yes, I've heard of those problems in Sri Lanka, but I'm not sure I understood it all... I listen to the BBC in my car, and reception is not very good, and I'm not always very attentive, so I don't always get everything right...
I gathered that there was something about Tamul (?) rebels, but I'm not quite sure who they are and what they want and what they do (apart from attacking people)...
So would you mind explaining to me what's happening?

Hi there,
It will be my pleasure to explain this terrible problem our country is facing.

Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) has a majority Sinhalese population making up about 70% and several ethnic minorities Tamils (20%) and the rest comprising of Moors and Burghers.

The total population is approximately 21,000,000.

Since gaining independence from Great Britain in 1948 the country was governed by the majority Sinhalese.

The Tamil population, settled mainly in the north and east of the island, were never happy with this arrangement and were festering in discontent. In July 1983 an incident in the north killed a dozen or so sinhalese. This sparked off riots firstly in the capital Colombo and then in the whole country. Several Tamils lost their lives and many more were displaced.

This was the start of the whole terrible saga where more than 65,000 people have lost their lives to date.

The LTTE (an armed Tamil Organization) while fighting the country's armed forces in the north and the east constantly unleash suicide attacks and explode anti-personnel mines targetting government officials and sometimes the general public.

Above is a highly simplified explaination. Hope it gives you some idea.

Thanks for the explanation. We don't hear about Sri Lanka here in France.
I asked my mum this weekend, and she hadn't heard about it (although she's always listening to the radio).

I only heard about it on the BBC, really. I had no idea about it all, and how serious it was.




This morning, I gave a test to my pupils. They were supposed to take it last Friday, but I had forgotten (oops ); well, they were rather glad it was moved to today...
They're having this parent-teacher meeting tomorrow afternoon, but I'll be at my other school, so I won't be able to make it there... So I have to write a report on each of them to give to their "main teacher" (), that's the teacher who supervises everything for one class. DO you have that kind of stuff in Sri Lanka?


Well, I'm off to write my report...
Might stay around a little, though.

Bye!

SF

I am not surprised Eri Lanka is a very small country.

Being a former colony of Great Britain our education system is very similar to theirs. Yes, teachers in our country too have to submit such reports.

I am a civil engineer and did my higher studies in England.

You must be very busy - teaching in two separate schools. How old are your students?

Regards,
Dhammita

Well, I'm only a trainee, so I'm doing 8 hours in a higher secondary school -they're between 16 and 18), and I've got this other one that's only temporary in the lower secondary school (they're between 11 and 15). The younger ones is only a 20hour training period, and I'm almost done with it
But it is indeed a lot of preparation. I generally need two hours tp prepare one lesson (that's 50 to 55 minutes).

Teachers who are not trainees do 18 to 20 hours a week.

In fact, I've just agreed to do 5 more hours in the lower secondary school, that'll take me to the holidays (which are in two weeks )


Cold and grey here.

Hi there nice to hear from you!!!

You must be looking forward to your holidays. Are you going abroad?

It's hot and grey over here. So, there is something common even if our countries are thousand's of miles apart.

My daughter finished her A-levels (units 3 & 4) last thursday and we were relaxing over the weekend. She will finish all A-levels units in June '08.

Just returned from work and enjoying chatting to you guys.

Regards,
Dhammita

I'm not going anywhere yet. I'll probably stay at home and relax a little. Then I'll get some lesson preparation done.


I was planning to go to Australia in the summer, but I've been told I have to stay arounsd until 15 july, in case they give me copies to correct.
Ans since the event I wanted to attend in from 10 july to 20 july...


How did the exams go, then? Is she confident?

She says the papers were quite good - I am waiting to find out !!!!

En route to Australia you can always stop over in Colombo for sometime, security situation permitting - you are most welcome.

Well, I probably won't go to Australia, after all, because I would get there for the last three days of the festivl, which is a pity.

I think I might go to Ireland instead. It's not too far away, it has the Euro, so there are lots of advantages.
... But Sri Lanka is not on the way.


I did a rather good lesson this morning.
A video extract. It was !
We're starting a new theme, about tradition vs integration.
So we started with a picture of 2 English policepeople (one man and one woman), the man a Sikh (with turban and beard), and the woman a Muslim with headscarf. I got them to describe them, and say where they thought the picture was taken. They all agreed it was probably India, or maybe another country, but certainly in the Middle East, then.

Then I uncovered the Union Jack that was in the corner, and the big building that said "New Scotland Yard".

After that, we watched an extract from "Bend it like Beckham". A part where the heroine is playing football with boys in the park, and her mother arrives, and she's very angry indeed!
Thye talked quite a lot, and they had good ideas.
It worked really well!

Please let me join in the

Did you select the clip? A very clever illustration of "Tradition vs Integration" indeed !!!

What kind of festival did you plan to attend in Australia?

I met many Irish people while studying in the UK. I know it is a lovely place and so too are the people. I am sure you will have a great holiday there.

Hopefully, one day (soon) people in my country too will learn from the Irish and put an end to hostilities.

Oh, thank you!

Yes, I selected the clip myself, and I'm planning to do the next bit on Friday: the scene where she gets home, and a lot of shouting is done... Wonder why...



"Hopefully, one day (soon) people in my country too will learn from the Irish and put an end to hostilities."
I hope so too, and then I can visit!!

Well madame you are most welcome !!!

I can't recall the film in detail, I watched it many years ago. But, in general it's an asian gender stigma - girls are expected to be prim and proper without getting involved in activities too physical. Similar to victorian times.

Well, young lady, assuming you do not have adolescent offspring, when it comes to "shouting parents" - I too plead guilty. Inexplicably, however much you dote on your kids something snaps and voices are raised. Very silly ofcourse. In my case, it's just a momentary lapse especially when I am not in a mood explain or answer their inquiries.

I admire and respect your profession, for you have such great amounts of patience.

Hello!

I didn't do what I'd planned, because we needed to recap what we'd said last time, and it took longer than expected - they were quite unreceptive

So we'll do extract two on Tuesday; that means not much preparation for them this weekend, as it's all ready - even photocopied!!


Hope you are well.

F

Hi there madame,

I am very well many thanks.

Hope you had a nice weekend.

We are having a long weekend here as it is Independence Day !!! Sri Lanka will be very popular with your young students as we have around 22 public holidays a year !!!

I just returned from sunday mass and planning to go out for dinner.

Best Wishes.