Surfs Up at Hirikitya

If you are ever coming to Sri Lanka, one thing you must do is visit the beaches down south of Colombo. Some of the best things to do in Sri Lanka are in their oceans, whether that’s diving to see old shipwrecks or swimming with the corals, or even surfing on the waves, Sri Lanka has it all. Some of my best memories have been by the beach and this event was no different.

Last week, my family felt that we had spent far too long in our house and thought it would be best to go out and relax. Luckily there was a Poya day that was happening that Thursday which we felt was a great time to pack up and hit the beach. For those of you that don’t know a Poya day is a Lunar monthly Buddhist holiday that happens every full moon. Although mainly for Buddhists, our school allows everyone to have a break which is one of the greatest things ever.

In order to beat the morning traffic, my family woke up at 5 am in order just to dodge all of the rushes. We hoped that we would reach the beach by 9 am that day as it was about a 3-hour drive from our place. By the time we arrived at the beach, my sister and I could not hold our excitement as this was one of our favorite beaches with great spots to surf and swim for beginners and pros alike. During that morning I spent time trying to remember how to surf as I had not done any surfing in a couple of months prior to this. At first, it had been a bit tricky as I had forgotten most of it, however with some help I was soon able to catch quite a lot of waves.

For the first day, I did nothing but swimming and surfing with a couple of breaks in between to eat and rest (This later showed as the sun burns on my face).

What was very interesting was that we were not the only people who thought it would be great to relax after so many months of DLP. In fact, we met multiple teachers and kids whose parents felt the need to have a change of scenery. For the first day, we spent getting as much sun as possible with little to no worries about the future.

Then Friday came along. You see, we still had school that Friday and even though we were at the beach we still planned to try and participate as much as possible in class. So we set up a base that Friday at a cafe where we took out our laptops and books and joined the class as much as possible. This showed to be quite difficult, not due to the internet but rather the fact that the beach was perfect that day. I desperately wanted to go swimming and took whatever chance I had to get into the ocean and release all the stress.

Overall this day had been great as I was able to balance both learning and swimming while reducing as lots of stress from being stuck in my home.

(Map of Hirikitya) (Google Maps)

On the final day of the trip to Hirikitya, my dad, sister, and I all woke up early that morning to be able to catch some of the best waves. According to one of the instructors (who was teaching my sister), he said that the best time is early in the mornings around 6-7 o’clock. He was not wrong, even though the water was much cooler than we were used to the waves had been some of the best I had seen. In fact, I was having so much fun I did not realize  I had been swimming for almost 4 hours straight! By that time my family and I had to get ready to go back home and recover from such an energetic but exciting trip. This experience has been some of the most fun moments I have had the whole DLP, and the decision to take a break from school has been a good thing. With the stress of work piling in its always important to take a break now and then.

This post focuses on the learning outcome LO1 Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth, because I am  recognizing my surfing but also trying to improve my ability to surf on my own as well as without guidance.