LTLT Sri Lanka

Hello peeps!

Last week, I was in Sri Lanka to attend the Introductory Workshop for Youth Leaders on Learning to Live together. We previously had an LTLT workshop (read about it here and here) at Bandos, and got the opportunity to go from GNRC, and Democracy House so Nawaf, Shaam and I headed to Lanka on the 23rd. 

The Place

We were staying at Vishvanikethan International Peace Center which is beautiful. It is filled with ponds, trees and lots and lots of flowers. The building is given a very old feel and the most important thing were its rules. We were to observe noble silence during all times, walk with mindfulness and talk compassionately. I was getting so used to the silence and it helped me to think, to get in touch with myself. I absolutely loved it there. My favorite part was the fish pond with the rocks leading to the meditation center. We were also to walk barefoot in the premises and the feeling of your feet touching the sand, the grass, the bricks, it just gives a natural feel and it's like meditation to your soul.

The Program

It was a three day program organized by GNRC where Suchith, the guy who came to Bandos last time along with facilitators Rajith, Sanjani and Prabha carried out the workshop with so many fun activities. We learned many new energizers, and activities to involve children in learning to live together. We also learned to design a workshop, to make an agenda and sessions and to carry out the sessions to achieve the leaning objectives. In all, I would say that by the end, we were very ready to be able to carry out programs by ourselves. y favorite part of the program was the Silent Journey, which I could not experience last time as I was facilitating. I especially loved the White room's burning of what we did not want int eh world, and the Green room's nature walk. 

The Food

Since it was during Ramadan, we did not eat during daytime, but the kitchen staff made us food for Iftar, and the lovely Aunty even got up by 3 and made us food for Suhoor. There were 7 Muslims including us and during the last day, we invited everyone to have Iftar with us and explained about Ramadan and the blessings of the holy month. The peace center provided only vegetarian food, and it was the best vegetarian food that I have ever tasted. I thought I would hate, it but it was so much better than the non-veg food we have here in the Maldives. 

The People

There were 20 participants, three of us from Maldives, one from US and the rest from Sri Lanka. There were Muslims, Hindus, Budddhists and Christians and we learned a lot about each others religions and we were able to get well with each other.I met some very awesome people, and I'm inspired by the work they are doing for children and their ideas.

My Personal Experience

I grew up a lot as a person during the trip. I had to sleep alone in a room (I am scared of EVERY SINGLE THING) but by the last night, I was able to sleep without getting scared. I also navigated myself on the last day while the guys were on their way to Yalla and I was going alone to airport and got myself on the flight. For me, this is a huge accomplishment as I have never been alone in an airport. I'm so proud of me being able to do all this myself. 

So, that's it. 

So what happened to the Dude on the Beach?

Since this April, I have been writing stories for Entertainment Guide, the Medianet magazine, which I used to love because of the series features and interviews. I still do love it, more since I can now see name published there. haha

So, I'm not a story writer and I'm not very good at it either, but because I love doing random things and because life is for living and writing stories, (duh!) I thought I should give it a go when I got the opportunity from Iththi, a friend who works there.

The idea behind "Dude on the Beach" (Dob) came from IQ, who works there as well and I thought it was such a great idea. Me, someone who usually ends up writing random stuff about girls and handbags and shoes, had to write about the life of a guy! It was very challenging, also creating characters and giving them different roles and googling synonyms were pretty hard. But once I saw the print, it made everything worth it.

Dob was a series story which ended this month, and I also wrote a few more short stories, my favorite of which was "The Overachiever" which is an idea for a story that I had for a long time. I'm just very glad for this, and I hope that I can do stuff like this more often. 

To find out what happened to Dave, the dude on the beach, read the EG on the Medianet website.

Weekend Reads

Hey Friday, am I glad to see you!

elle - flickr

Here are some posts you might love to read over the weekend,

• College Prepster: Sporty sister's summer essentials and Carly's taffy recipe.
• Hot Chocolate & Mint: Her feature in her university magazine. 
• Bakerella: Super cute sunny ball recipe.
• Silent Fingers: Another beautiful piece by Isha.
• Color Me Katie: Katie's super fun Tampax ad!

It's going to be a busy weekend for me! In a few minutes I'll be on my way to Villigili to join in with my classmates for a maahefun, and tomorrow, I am going to be facilitating MCYC's Youth Forum. So excited for everything. Have fun you guys. :)

Happy Birthday Superman!

This is a post to wish a very happy birthday to the number one fan of the blog, who's been reading this since he found it. His stories are full of life, just like him. 

image credits; we heart it

Have a happy birthday Gigs, you're awesome! 

I'm so glad you loved the gift. Guess what? It's my Hijri birthday today, so we sorta had the same birthday. :D

Inspirational Women: Sal

Last year's Youth Leadership Program (YLP) has been the most life changing experience yet, and through it I met some amazing people that I know are going to be friends for life, but I also met some very inspiring people, especially Sal who was a part of organizing the event from Institute of Governance and development. 

She is friendly, and treated each of us like her own children. She was a mentor to us throughout the one month of the program, she was friendly and strict when she needed to be. Her speeches inspired me so much, at the end I felt like crying. This woman, she gives me hope, she constantly restores my faith in humanity. I look at her and I realize that despite everything negative going around in society, there are people who are full of good. There is hope, and a chance for a better future.

image credits, polyvore

I wish her all the love in the world, and I wish her a fast recovery and I pray to God to make her life easier. She is a beautiful person who deserves good things. She makes the world a brighter place, and I'm grateful to have met her, to have known her.

I wish to follow in her path, to work for the country, to work to bring a change, and to be able to inspire people.

I believe.

The last week has been extremely busy and not to mention, really fun!

So last sememester of college started on Sunday and so did my internship. I went to work and met everyone who were extremely nice. Fortunately, I had no classes but had my proposal due that day since I was changing my topic to something more interesting than Performance Appraisal.

On Monday, Nattu came to work to give a presentation on twitter.That is how cool my office is, we get people to give us presentations on the coolest stuff ever. Then right after work, I had four hours of classes. The guy who comes to teach us Service marketing is some big shot person in Dhiraagu, so I try to refrain from giving Wataniya as examples, eventhough I do love giving Wataniya's example since I use Wataniya and I'm really happy about it. The E-marketing teacher's name rhymes with Enrique, and has the funniest accent ever. A mix between 1800's English and French, methinks. I also had to go through lots of misunderstandings and confusions in communication between FMC and my supervisor who just happens to be Mr.S, one of my favorite lecturers in the entire world! YAY! Class got cancelled so the girls and I bought hedhikaa (Thanks to Sharu, the Fishbun) and ate them on the beach.

image credits: we heart it

Tuesday, Em and I had lunch at FMC canteen. Contrary to popular belief, the food there is actually good. After work, I went to the University library and got some books. Sadly did not get to see Mh and his pretty hair but he later tweeted me a picture of it. :D Later at night, Dad and I got some paper from paper World, which is a my kind of place. I love paper!

Wednesday was busy at office, and Nawaf and I had lunch at Food Bank. The food was pretty bad, but I did enjoy my burger and lemon juice. I'm not very good at tasting things which is sort of weird but whatever. That makes me very less judgmental on food. Then at night, the class got cancelled and it started raining so the gang and I went vaareya-themenings and also went moodh-ing which was so so much fun! 

On Thursday, I had lunch with Gigs. Office was pretty fun with some funny incidents, one of which involved a lecturer that I often see in FMC who apparently knows my name because "I am famous in FMC" as he says. I try to keep a low profile nowadays though. E-marketing class was sort of boring with too much talk about punch files. Later at night, DYMers and I went to GAWG office to get the tees for Friday's Road Race.

The weekend went so fast. Friday, I was at the GAWG stall with Nash and we were giving away leaflets and badges to everyone while the DYMers ran the Road Race. Then Gigs and I went to see Moony's mom at hospital, which is one of my least favorite places. Saturday was a little lazy with me resting whole day. I did go to tutor the twins who adores me. Ninni mentioned that I would be a perfect girl to be a princess! What girl doesn't want to hear that? ^^ 

So that was my entire week, well most of it anyway. Today, I got a little cabin at work and did the Performance appraisal forms and in two hours, I have a class which I hope will be a little more interesting.

How was your week, readers?

Current Music: Affirmation by Savage Garden. Love this song.