About two weeks ago, I flew half way around the world and drove another five hours to my new home.

I’ll be spending the next month in Hambantota, a village in Sri Lanka’s Southern Province.

My new place of residence has elephants on the highways at night and eighty one per cent humidity. I use data on my phone as wifi and two swivelling fans in lieu of air condition.

I also live in a house with a woman who gave me her bedroom, her bed and her closet. After one night of staying with her she already knows how I take my coffee (black).

Hambantota is an hour away from Yala National Park, home to elephants, peacocks and a plethora of other animals; it was like driving though the Jungle Book. Hambantota is also home to bird sanctuaries, a blowhole and an hour away from turtle hatcheries.

As a volunteer for WUSC (World University Service of Canada) Sri Lanka I have been assigned as communications advisor to the Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce and more specifically, Deep South Tourism. I’ll be working on branding through the website and creating promotional materials for an upcoming exhibition.

My current goal is to blog every Monday and Saturday but with the power outages, limited access to wifi and the occasional safari, we’ll see how it goes!