The day began with the arrival of students who would be participating in the competition and guides from various countries. This created a busy atmosphere between Pegasus Reef and the airport. Our media room at Pegasus reef was not rescued from that. Everyone was busy inside with all kinds of work related to making posts about the event, publishing them, getting information about arrival times of teams, clicking photographs and collecting to edit and put up and so many things. With the day starting like this, team Kazakhstan was the first team to arrive, giving a shiny hope and in-numerous pleasure for all.

A bit about “Wattala”…

Wattala is a sub urban city in Sri lanka, where Sri Lankans belonging to different cultures live in harmony. This city has got its name by “waththea”(garden) + “ala” (photatoes) = “Wattala”, due to transformation of pronunciation. This is the one city  that produce a large number of migrant workers for the country. Also, this city is located close to the coastal area, especially the famous Negombo beach with golden sand and clear water. Not only the churches, temples, mosques and kovils add beauty to this city. There is also a part of the famous Hamilton canal which was built in the Kotte era. This city is located in between Colombo and the Bandaranayake International Airport at Katunayake. It can be assumed that this was a main reason for Wattala being chosen to serve as the location of this event.

The uninvited guest…

While the teams were arriving one after another, including participants from countries like Bulgaria, Sweden, Moscow, there arrived an uninvited guest, without speaking a word. That was none other than the rain!

Troublesome for the wet zone and a gift for the dry zone, rain came here while all were busy with the competition. Ceaseless rain, sometimes with thunder and lightning, showed its power to competitors and guides who came to this occasion. Suddenly, day and  night has become dark and cloudy. Haa.. Sometimes it may be a wonderful experience for them how environment made changes, preparing for raining and after the raining. It must be a different view from their homelands. While things were proceeding the rain started to sink the lowlands in country. Even though  there was a beautiful beach nearby,  everyone had to stay  under the roof of the hotel almost whole day. At that time, the participants started to get to know each other while enjoying refreshments and watching the arrival of other teams.

At the end of the day there were thirteen teams from thirteen countries worldwide, ready to be a part of this occasion. The night was cloudy and rainy, without stars. There were brief meetings among members of the jury and team leaders and everyone’s need for rest brought an end to the day. Here I stop, hoping for a happier and more eventful tomorrow.

Image Courtesy: FOSMedia