by Sean | Jan 14, 2013 | Fulbright, Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka, Travel
Back in November, which seems like an eternity ago, I taught my students about the American Festival of Thanksgiving. I compared Thanksgiving to the Hindu festival of Pongal, which is celebrated in January. Pongal is a festival to celebrate the harvest. Pongal...
by Sean | Jan 2, 2013 | Fulbright, Sri Lanka
Women were adorned with countless kilos of gold and dressed in vibrant glimmering saris. The men had new shirts on, and their shoes were spiffily shined. I rang in the New Year with the staff and students from Sarvodaya’s Trinco District center, and it was quite...
by Sean | Dec 18, 2012 | Fulbright, Sri Lanka, Travel
The sea has a rhythm to it; its churning is constant, and meditative. In the ocean you feel powerless, as the waves bash you and the current pulls you along. Submerging yourself in the surf, letting go of control, and having your body be tossed around – weightless –...
by Sean | Nov 27, 2012 | Education, Fulbright, Politics, Sri Lanka, Teaching English, Travel
Trinco is a town dominated by the military. As you enter the main city you have to pass through multiple checkpoints, where uniform clad youths clutch their presumably Chinese made kalashnikovs. In the town itself, Tamil is the language of choice. Sinhalese is about...
by Sean | Nov 24, 2012 | Fulbright, Politics, Sri Lanka, Travel
For the past week the international community has been trying to grapple with a number of questions revolving Sri Lanka’s civil war. Namely, how were they so unaware of the scale of civilian casualties in the final months of the war? It is estimated that 40,000...