Writing this from Peradiniya hospital. We have just finished for the day (4pm - not bad) on our 3rd day of the placement. I'm doing obs&gynae to begin with and have done so many PVs i've lost count (and i still don't have a clue what I'm feeling).

Also this morning - definately the highlight of the placement so far - I got to help deliver a baby, which was quite cool, although admittedly I don't know how much help I was, but I pulled the head out etc.

Coming to the hospital was a bit of a shock compared to all the hospitals in the UK - the corridoors are dark and the floors are dirty. There is not a alcohol gel bottle in sight (and even soap is sometimes a rarity). Within half an hour we were getting our hands stuck in (literally), stitching up episiotomies etc. Consent doesn't seem to exist here, which is lucky for me, as I'm finding the language barrier quite a large one, so I'd be struggling to gain it anyway.

The city of Kandy is nice too - cooler than Colombo but still hot, and very hilly. They have a temple here that contains a relic of Buddha's tooth, and is very impressive. Erandi's dad managed to get us some kind of VIP entry so we could get close to the tooth, and hopefully buddha will listen to our prayers!!!!

I'd like to write more about the hospital and Kandy but running out of time (we have to pay for internet apparently) so I will write a bit about the New Year Celebrations in Colombo. It seems to be a really big event, we all woke up at the crack of dawn to the sound of fireworks going off all around Colombo. We broke our fast at 6.10 exactly (the idea is that the whole country is united as they are doing it at the same time) with kiribath and some other special foods like cokiss (which is lush, like thick popadoms in a wheel shape). During the day we went round to Erandi's grandparents house and lots of the family/neighbours came around. It's a really sociable event. We also had a lot of temple visits over the course of the 2 days - at one they had an actual baby elephant which was slightly odd, and so many buddha statues it was incredible. Another one was a hindu temple where we went and prayed to the god of education (particularly appropriate) in a ceremony involving setting a coconut on fire (i found this slightly alarming).

This weekend we are going to Niruwa Eliya which is where they grow ceylon tea. Apparently it is also cool here as it is so high up - hallejuhah!!