I have been to the land where they speak Sinhalese. The place is called Sri Lanka. It is pretty cool there. I don’t remember what the Sinhalese language sounds like or if we spoke it while we were there but I do remember what the island was like. I remember the tea plantations and walking up a winding road to make it to the top of the mountain where we ate cheese that had a cow on the lid. I loved that cheese, it was yummy, the tea was yummy too. I also remember playing in the ocean. The sand part of the beach was small and steep and the waves crashed right on shore. Dad found or borrowed swim flippers, ya know the ones that make you walk like a duck, but they were too small for him so he had blisters on his foot for the rest of the time we were there… I’m pretty sure his food got infected… poor dad. I also remember we were near a treehouse that I had hoped we were gonna stay in… but we did not… We stayed in a house on the ground instead. 🙂
2500 years ago (500BCE), the Sinhalese crossed (Rama’s Bridge) the 30 mile long chain of shoals, between Sri Lanka and India. Many people in Sri Lanka and India believe that the bridge was built by Rama and his army of monkeys.
Interestingly enough, the epic poem Ramayana by the poet Valmiki, was written about the same time 2500 years ago in Sanskrit. The poem narrates the story of the life of the divine Indian prince Rama and his struggle to rescue his abducted wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Guess what? The Demon King lives in Sri Lanka. Rama organizes an army of monkeys to go to Sri Lanka. When they arrive at the edge of India, the monkeys construct a floating bridge across the sea by writing the name of Rama on the stones and tossing them into the water. The stones do not sink because they had Rama’s name written on them. Amazing! Rama’s army uses the bridge to cross the sea towards Sri Lanka and defeat the demon king Ravana. Rama returned home with his wife to be crowned king and a bridge forever named after him.
Because of the location near the water Sri Lanka has always been a trading post. Hindu, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians all live on the island. The Sinhalese were always fighting off invaders. Rice and tea are popular in Sri Lanka. Irrigation networks needed to be constructed to farm rice. Some of the earlier traders were with India, China, Persia and Ethiopia. The later traders, Portuguese, Dutch and British were more interested in invading and colonizing than trading. The Sinhalese made their ancient capital in Anuradhapura. Then they moved it to Polonnaruwa. There was also an intersting story about Sirigiya.
Sri Lanka became independent from the British on 4 February 1948. They changed the name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka. Yes! A beautiful place with beautiful people and beautiful memories
Phrases
මක්නිසාද කාලය ඇති තැනැත්තාට වනය පවා සුරපුරයකි
maknisāda kālaya æti tænættāṭa vanaya pavā surapurayaki
For he who has the time even the jungle is a paradise
ගමන් බිමන් යාමේදී ප්රඥාව සොයාගත හැක.
gaman biman yāmēdī pragnāva soyāgata hæka.
Wisdom can be found travelling.
පියා සහ මව හැර ඔබට සියල්ල මිලදී ගත හැකිය.
piyā saha mava hæra obaṭa siyalla miladī gata hækiya.
You can buy everything, except a father and a mother.
එළදෙන සෞඛ්ය සම්පන්න ආහාරයක් ලෙස කිරි දෙනවා නම් ඇය කළුද සුදුද කියා අසන්නේ ඇයි?
eḷadena saukhya sampanna āhārayak lesa kiri denavā nam æya kaḷuda sududa kiyā asannē æyi?
If the cow gives milk as a healthy food, why ask whether she is black or white?
ඔබ විශ්වාස කරන ප්රතිකාරය පමණක් සුව කරයි
oba viśvāsa karana pratikāraya pamaṇak suva karayi
Only the cure you believe in cures
Words
Yes – Ow
No – Naa
Hello/good day – Ayubowan
Thank you – Istuti
Thank you very much – Bohoma istuti
How are you? – Kohomadhe?
Fine – Varadak neh
Please – Karunakerara
OK/very good – Hari hondai
Delicious – Hari rasai
What? – Mokadhdha?
When? – Kawadadha?
Where? – Kohedha?
Who? – Kaudha?
Why? – Ayi?
Phrases
What is your name? – Nama mokadhdha?
My name is Ezra – Mage nama Ezra
I don’t understand – Mata terinneh neh
Where are you going? – Koheda yanna?
What is this? – Mekeh mokadeh?
How much? – kiyadha?
Do you speak English? – Ingirisi dannevada?
I don’t speak Sinhala – Singhala danna naa
LANGUAGE MADNESS 