Happy New Year

Today and tomorrow are big days in Sri Lanka. One of the days is the Buddhist New Year, and the other day is the Sinhala New Year. That makes up Wednesday and Thursday. The president, in a show of good will, gave the country Friday off as well. Last week was the last day of exams in the schools prior to a two week vacation. As a result of this perfect storm of time off, we are short on drivers, translators, national staff nurses and medical officers at the hospital. We are also missing cooks, cleaners, masons, carpenters, and people who put the air in our bike tires. In fact, I didn't even see the monkeys at the hospital this morning. I was hoping to hire one, but maybe they have vacation as well. It will be slower pace over the next few days. That is probably ok. After watching carefully for a couple of weeks, I have figured out how to change gears, so I think that I can drive the tukk tukk, but I'm not sure that they will give me permission. I hope we don't run out of food.