Year-End Celebration
29 December 2009
To spice up their December school break, and to celebrate Christmas, New Year's, and the end of the Sri Lankan school year, our Nayabedde children enjoyed a wonderful holiday party and dinner at beautiful old colonial-era Bandarawela Hotel
Arrival
We departed from Nayabedde by hired bus at 1:30 pm for our short ride to Bandarawela, just a few kilometers down the hill. When we arrived, we explored the beautiful hotel, and discovered lots of gifts waiting for us under the Christmas tree...
Our Lunch
After a little free time, we entered the large wood-grained hotel restaurant to have our buffet lunch. Our lunch was as exciting for us as our party! We've simply never eaten such wonderful food in such a wonderful place before (not to mention that we all skipped breakfast in anticipation for this moment!). The suited staff were so kind and patient and anticipated our every need, we felt like little princes and princesses! -and then there was all-you-can-eat dessert...
Our Party
After seriously overeating, we enjoyed a little free time to try to work it off. Then we all gathered in the wonderful warm lounge room where we celebrated our Holiday Party. First, Santa visited and gave us all chocolates and sang with us. Then we all scrambled to find our gifts under the Christmas tree and opened these with much excitement. We also received towels/hygiene packs in our favourite colours, and very nice pencil cases and supplies for our new school year, colourful calendars, and special Holiday bags to carry it all home in. Finally, the hotel staff served us tea and chocolate cake. It seemed like the fun would never end! We finally boarded the bus for Nayabedde at 6:30pm.
