Author: taprobane@me.com

What is DNA? – A Word On Science

by Svara Jayasinghe

Have you ever wondered what DNA is? I was watching an episode of NOVA Wonders called “Can We Make Life?” that got me thinking about DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a molecule that contains our genetic code. The genetic code is what makes living things have certain characteristics. For an example, my skin is brown because my genetic code has instructions to make a chemical called Melanin that makes my skin brown. DNA exists in every living thing. In humans, DNA is located in the nucleus. The structure of DNA is called a double-helix that has two DNA strands that are twisted around each other. You can think of this like a twisted ladder. Each DNA strand is a row of four different chemicals called Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C), and Guanine (G). These chemicals are called nucleotides. The nucleotide “A” pairs with “T” and “C” pairs with “G”. This pattern is always the same, and does not vary. DNA is inherited by children from their parents. This is why children share traits or features, like hair color, eye color, and skin color, with their parents.

If you want to know more about DNA, you should watch the episode of NOVA Wonders: “Can We Make Life?” at:

https://www.pbs.org/video/nova-wonders-can-we-make-life-dzcxg8/

Sri Lanka Trip – Day 7-10

by Kiran Jayasinghe

The Hilton in Colombo! (image by the Jayasinghe family)

We relocated to the Hilton on the 25th. The Hilton was less ‘grand’ than the Cinnamon Grand, but the hotel was still great. The service was also exceptional. We had dinner through room service, and since it was Christmas, it came with bonbons, which was a nice touch.

Our food plus the bonbons from the Hilton (image by the Jayasinghe family)

On the 26th we visited the Old Dutch Hospital, which was a hospital built by the Dutch in 1681, that was recently converted into a mall. We enjoyed some chocolate biscuit pudding and shopped for souvenirs. Simran was still sick, so our grandfather took her to the hospital where he worked, to get a blood test done to make sure she didn’t have any serious virus, like Dengue fever or malaria. On the 27th, it was finally our birthday. Unfortunately, it was also finally my turn to get sick. I had such good luck! Right on my birthday, too. We lounged in bed for most of the day in hopes that we would feel better, but eventually we had to get up to go celebrate with family friends.

Several platters of finger foods! (image by the Jayasinghe family)

Our parents had made plans to celebrate with high tea at the Gallface hotel. The hotel had set up a table for about 30, overlooking the beach. They served us several platters of sandwiches and cakes, and of course, Ceylon tea. Everything looked delicious!

Us, our family and friends, and two delicious cakes (image by the Jayasinghe family)
The table set for 30 (image by the Jayasinghe family)

Afterwards, they brought out two chocolate birthday cakes with a giant sparking candle for each of us.

Two delicious cakes plus two giant sparklers (image by the Jayasinghe family)
The view from our table (image by the Jayasinghe family)

Although I didn’t enjoy the high tea because I was sick, it was a great experience. On the 28th we checked out of the hotel and took a three-hour drive to Minnehaha, where we would be staying for the next three days. We got there in time for dinner, picked our rooms, and had a relaxing night for once.

Sri Lanka Trip – Day 4-6

by Simran Jayasinghe

At the Cinnamon Grand! (Image by the Jayasinghe family)
Dinner at the Kingsbury Hotel! (Image by the Jayasinghe family)
Dinner with relatives! (Image by the Jayasinghe family)

Days 4-6 of our Sri Lanka Trip (December 22-24th) were spent at the Cinnamon Grande Colombo. Unfortunately, our family got sick during this time. Our dad got sick around Day 4, and then Svara, and then, our mother, and finally, me. Whenever someone in our family gets sick, it triggers a sort of chain effect and then, we are done for! We all had high fevers and just wanted to sleep! We spent those days meeting most of our relatives that lived in Sri Lanka. Our mom organized a dinner at the buffet in the Kingsbury hotel, where we met a lot of our relatives. Meeting all our relatives was interesting, and the food was delicious. We also ran some errands, and visited places that our parents remembered from when they were children. Kiran, Svara, and I also made sure that we had at least one day to just relax and play in the pool. I was still sick at the time, however, so Kiran and Svara got to play in the pool and I relaxed on a chair listening to music and pitying myself. We ordered food from the poolside cafe and relaxed.

Fun in the pool! (Image by the Jayasinghe family)
Food by the pool! (Image by the Jayasinghe family)

The Maze Runner — A Book Review

by Kiran Jayasinghe

The Maze Runner is the first book in a series of five.

The Maze Runner focuses on a boy named Thomas. He arrives at a place called the Glade, with no memory of who he was. He and several other children who have lost their memories are trapped inside the Glade. The only way out is a giant maze that nobody has been able to exit yet. People called Runners run through the maze every day, hurrying to map out the maze before the doors to the Glade close at night. If the doors close, the Runners are stuck in the maze, surrounded by monsters called Grievers. Grievers sting anybody close enough and they turn Runners mad. Thomas manages to be the first one to survive a night outside the Glade — and from there, it’s up to Thomas to save the rest of the kids, because Thomas seems to be more involved in this trial than anybody else.

The Maze Runner is a captivating book that I couldn’t put down! The book keeps you in Thomas’s perspective, which keeps you in the dark just like the children in the Glade — and also keeps you on the lookout for clues that Thomas doesn’t find. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Before We Were Yours – A Book Review

by Simran Jayasinghe

Before We Were Yours follows two stories, generations apart, linked together through long-forgotten events. One story is set in Memphis, 1939, while the other is set in present-day, Aiken, South Carolina. 

Memphis, 1939 – Twelve year old Rill Foss, her four younger siblings, and her parents, live aboard the family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. One night, their father must rush their mother to the hospital in the middle of the night, and Rill is left in charge. Strangers arrive and forcibly remove Rill and her siblings from their home on the river. They are thrown into Tennessee’s Children Home Society’s orphanage, and are told that they will be returned to their parents as soon as is possible – but the children quickly realize that the explanation they are given is far from the truth. Rill must do everything a twelve year old can to keep what is left of her family together and safe.

Aiken, South Carolina, present-day – Avery Stafford has a successful career as a federal prosecutor, and has just gotten her life in order. But when Avery returns to her home, to help her father through a health emergency, she happens to stumble upon a little piece of information that leaves her with a boatload of curiosity and not enough answers. She starts to question her perfect, privileged life, and against her better judgement, takes a journey through her family’s secretive and long-lost history, to uncover the truth that has been buried for generations.

Before We Were Yours is a historical fiction novel, based on true events. The story is based on the Tennessee Children’s Home Society scandal of 1924. To the general public, The Tennessee Children’s Home Society, led by Georgia Tann, was an adoption agency, that tried to find the perfect home for the orphans and abandoned children in their care. In reality, the adoption agency kidnapped children, mostly from poor families, and selling them, as orphans, under new names, for the highest price they could find. This went on for twenty-six years, from 1924 to 1950. Over that period of time, around 5,000 children were sold through this system, and around 500 died because of poor care and abuse. Georgia Tann was able to keep the business running by bribing officials, and by keeping good relations with wealthy, influential, families. In 1950, the incoming Governor of Tennessee caught news of the scandal, and launched an investigation. Georgia Tann, however, passed away, from cancer, just before the illegal operations were revealed to the public. The Tennessee Children’s Home Society shut down a couple of months afterward. 

I would definitely recommend reading this book.  I really found this book interesting, as I had never read a book about the Tennessee Children’s Home Society Scandal before. I thought it was interesting and different that most books that I usually read. Sometimes I found it a little challenging to keep track of all the characters between the two different story lines, but it wasn’t a major issue for me, as the story went on. I would rate this story a 10 out of 10, because it was an interesting read, and I loved it!

Small Foot – A Movie Review

By Svara Jayasinghe

(Image from the Internet)

On the 6th day of our trip to Sri Lanka we decided to watch a movie. Our family rarely watches movies, due to lack of time, and when we do, there is always the issue of which movie to watch! After some arguing, we decided to watch the movie, Smallfoot. Smallfoot tells the story of a yeti named Migo. Migo lives in a secluded, and secret, village, with his fellow yetis, up in the Himalayas. The yeti village is based on a foundation of stones. Laws are carved into these stones and the stones are unquestionable. If a stone says something it is right, then no yeti will be known to question it. What happens when Migo sees a small foot, which the stones say, do not exist? Is that stone wrong? If so, are more stones wrong? Will seeing this creature known as the small foot, tear down everything their community is built upon? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out!

I rate this movie a 10 out of 10, because it is humorous, and the songs in this movie/musical are amazingly great! Smallfoot is an animated movie, not a live action movie, but I don’t think that it took away from the movie. I highly recommend this movie and you should definitely watch it!

Sri Lanka Trip – Day 3

by Kiran Jayasinghe

We woke up late in the morning. We had all slept in, wanting to catch up on the sleep we had missed in the past few days. Our first order of business once we woke up, was food. We decided to have breakfast at the hotel buffet again. This time, the three kids (us), had breakfast alone while Mom relaxed in the hotel room and Dad worked out in the gym. We had a similar breakfast as the day before, eating hoppers, eggs, toast, sausages, and pastries with our milk tea.

The Cinnamon Grand! (Image by the Jayasinghe family)

We met up in our hotel room again before we decided to run a few errands. We went to a couple of jewelry shops to look for some gifts, and items for ourselves, which took a long time. We also had to search for a replacement the back of my earring, which I had lost some time ago. These earrings happened to be from Sri Lanka (my grandparents bought them for me), so we went to the shop that the earrings were from and dropped them off to get a replacement made.

Then we went to lunch at our grandpa’s house before we went to swim. We had traditional Sri Lankan food, including rice, and several fish and potato curries. After lunch, we headed back to our hotel to relax for a while.

We had decided that we would try swimming with Killer Whale Aquatics for one practice, just to see how different it was from our practices back home, so we headed to their home pool after relaxing. Svara was not old enough to be in that particular group, so Simran and I tried it out by ourselves. By the end, we had decided that it was…interesting. Our first mistake was on the very first lap that we swam. Most swimmers circle swim as to not crash into each other. Swimmers stay on one side of the lane, depending on which direction they’re swimming in. In America, we usually circle swim always staying on the right side of the lane. In Sri Lanka, however, they swim staying on the left, as it is with several other countries. We got in the water and started swimming, on the right, as usual. The coach blew his whistle over and over, so we stopped swimming, just to realize that we were swimming on the wrong side of the lane! After executing several other mistakes like this, the practice went by in a flash, and we had learned many new things in our short visit.

Killer Whale Aquatics! (video by the Jayasinghe family)

After swimming, we went back to the hotel, only to quickly change, and get back in the car to visit our mom’s cousin on her dad’s side. We were still very tired, and after having some some food there, and talking a little bit, we drove back to the hotel and slept after another tiring day of vacation.

To see the previous day of our trip, click here.

To see the next day of our trip, click here.