Tag: A Word From The Three Sisters
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
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 2
By Svara Jayasinghe
We arrived at the Bandaranaike International airport near Colombo, Sri Lanka, at 4:00 A.M. We got off the plane, and met our mom’s cousin (our uncle, sort of) who holds a high position in the police force. They were our “escorts” which meant we would get to skip the lines. After we had met, we headed onto security. Security checked our passports and visa’s but stumbled upon a mistake. They had gotten my birth date wrong. The police escorted my dad to immigration to get the problem fixed.
Our next stop was getting our check-in luggage. We went downstairs and waited near the conveyor belt for our luggage. Once we had collected our suitcases, we went over to a money exchange store and exchanged some of our U.S. dollars into Sri Lankan rupees. We were almost out of the airport, when we had to meet two more of our mom’s cousins. We all had a quick greeting, then went outside. There was a police jeep and a car that would be taking us to our hotel. We loaded our things into the jeep, then got inside the car. It was about a half hour drive to the hotel, and we got to experience Sri Lankan driving.
At first, on the road leaving the airport, the driving was what we were used to. However, as soon as we got off of the highway, we were exposed to the terror of driving in Sri Lanka. Cars didn’t stay inside the lanes, they just drove anywhere they wanted to! Sometimes they even went over the lane with one half of the car in one lane, and the other half in another lane! It was crazy! People honked and went between cars with only one inch between each other. But the mind blowing thing was that we didn’t see any car crashes! All that people are focused about is getting to the place they need to go and not crashing. It works out in its own way.
When we arrived at our hotel, which was the Cinnamon Grand, we got out of the car and unloaded our luggage. We said goodbye and went inside the hotel to check-in. The lobby was amazing! It was very beautiful and modern. Once we had checked in, one of the employees showed us to our room. We got into the elevator, and went up to level 5. On the way, an employee told us what level breakfast was on and that breakfast was from 6:00 A.M.-10:00 A.M. When we got to our room, we quickly explored it and found out that it was amazing! We had two adjoining rooms, one for our parents, and one for us. In our parent’s room, there was one king bed, and in our room there were two queen beds, one for Kiran and one for Simran. I would be sleeping on a rollaway bed, which I was fine with. We were all so tired, that we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer. We slept for a few hours and then woke up at around 7:00 A.M. Since we had been on a plane for 7 hours from Seoul, South Korea, and since then we hadn’t taken a shower, we decided to freshen up a little bit. We brushed our teeth, took a shower, and brushed our hair. After that, we lounged a little more, then got ready to go to breakfast.
We arrived at breakfast and told a staff member our room number so they could put our bill on our room. We then took a long look at the breakfast buffet. The food line stretched from one side of the room to almost the other side of the room, and boy, was that room big! We grabbed plates and served ourselves food. I ate the usual: scrambled eggs, sausage, and baked beans. I sat down at our table and my dad reminded me that since we were in Sri Lanka, we had to eat some Sri Lankan food. I then served myself some egg hoppers, string hoppers, and a Sri Lankan candy called juggery.
After we were done eating our delicious breakfast, we went back upstairs to our room and rested for another half an hour. When we were done resting we got ready to visit a couple of relatives houses. Our first stop was our grandma’s younger sister on our mom’s side, (our mom’s aunt). We stopped there for about half an hour and talked. When it was time to head off to the next house, we got into the van and drove off. Our next stop was our grandma’s younger sister on our dad’s side, (our dad’s aunt). At their house we met our dad’s aunt and uncle, our dad’s cousin, and our dad’s cousins son, (our second cousin on our dad’s side). We ended up staying there about forty to fifty minutes and in that time we gave presents, talked, and played with our second cousin, (Vihas). When it was time to go, we took our dad’s aunt’s family with us, to our next stop, which, was our grandparents house on our dad’s side. When we had all somehow managed to fit in the van, we drove off towards our next destination.
When we got to our grandparents house, we all piled out of the car and greeted our grandpa and said “hi” to our grandma, who has Alzheimer’s disease. We sat and talked and ended up staying for lunch. After some time had passed, my dad’s aunt’s family left. We hung around for a little longer, talking. When it was time to go we got back into the van and drove back to the hotel, where we rested for another hour. After we were done resting, we freshened up for a little bit, then headed down to the lobby where we met our mom’s cousins (the same ones that we had met earlier at the airport). They had brought Akenya, who is another one of our second cousins except on our mom’s side. We sat down, got drinks, and talked. It would have been a fun time if we hadn’t been so tired. Since we were exhausted from the plane ride, it would take a long time to get fully rested, and we accidentally started falling asleep in our chairs!
After about forty minutes, my mom’s cousins left and we went to dinner with our grandparents, to a restaurant called Chutney’s, located inside of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. By then the three of us were so exhausted that we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer and started falling asleep in our chairs for a long period of time. After some time, my dad took us back upstairs to our room so that we could sleep. He went back downstairs to finish dinner with our grandfather, and we slept peacefully. We got in bed, and we were all asleep as soon as the lights went off.
To see the previous day of our trip, click here.
To see the next day of our trip, click here.
Sri Lanka Trip – Day 1
by Simran Jayasinghe
Today we are embarking on the wonderful trip to the beautiful island of Sri Lanka! Or at least this is what we told ourselves before we hopped onto our plane, for the next 22 hours. It was the 18th of December, and we were just about out the door and ready to go international!
(Image by the Jayasinghe Family)
We woke up early that Tuesday morning, excited and ready to take the long journey to Sri Lanka. Kiran, Svara and I were jazzed up and excited, but our parents, having taken this flight before, advised us wisely that it was no party. Even with what they told us, we didn’t take them seriously and continued to be jumping beans. Boy, were we mistaken. We drove to the Los Angeles International Airport which took about two hours. When we arrived at the airport, we were still excited and not especially exhausted by the long drive we had just endured. We said goodbye to our grandparents, who had accompanied us to the airport. Everyone said their goodbyes and we walked to our terminal.
We would be flying on Korean Airlines for the first time. The airline had good reviews, but we did not know what to expect. None of the airlines that we usually fly on have flights to Sri Lanka, and Kiran, Svara and I had never been on an international flight except for when we were two. When we got to the baggage check-in desk, we were told that there was a problem on Dad’s ticket! He was actually put in a different flight. We ended up standing there for a long time waiting for the airline to correct the mistake.
While we were waiting, we had plenty of time to check out the screens behind the check-in desk. These featured a video of the first-class seats. Our dad had told us that we would be flying on the biggest passenger plane there is. Nicknamed the ‘whale’, our plane had two decks of passengers and could seat 500 people. Passengers flying premium or flying first class would sit on the upper deck. Those passengers would get private cubicles with remote control walls, and seats that converted into beds. Our dad took the liberty of reminding us that those seats would be where mom and dad were sitting if they did not have kids! After a short wait, the problem with the tickets got fixed and we checked in our baggage. Whenever we travel on a plane, we always have weight problems with the suitcases that belong to our parents. Especially this trip, we had to take a suitcase with just presents for our relatives. When we weighed our bags, a couple suitcases were overweight, but the person who was helping us said she would let them slide and sent us on our way.
We now hurried to the security checkpoint. We put our things on the conveyor belt and made sure all liquids and electronics were out of our bags. Afterwards, we went through the hectic process of putting everything back into the carry-on bags and making sure everything was still in our bags and checked that we did not lose anything. Then we hurried to the gate. Our mom poked around in some of the shops on the way to the gate. Somewhere along the way we realized that we had not had breakfast and we grabbed a bite to eat from a cafe on the way to the gate.
We made it with about ten minutes to spare. Soon, the premier passengers started boarding. A couple minutes after they boarded the top deck, or first class passengers, they started the line for us to board. We found our seats and realized that we had been given the bassinet seats. This meant that there were no people in front of the three of our seats. This was devastating information. Our seats meant that we could not keep our carry-ons by our feet. This was far from ideal, as we had packed our carry-ons as our survival packs with all the books and electronics that would have helped us survive the horrendously long flight. After settling in to our seats and figuring out how things would work, we buckled up and got ready to fly. We took off around 11:30, and soon after we were served our first meal about two hours into the flight. This would be lunch. After that our dad took our carry-ons down from the overhead bins, where the flight attendants had stored them, and we got out our electronics. I plugged in my phone and listened to some music to drown out everything else. Over the next few hours, I read some iBooks that I had downloaded, listened to music, and attempted to watch a movie. None of the movie selections that they provided were entertaining, and most of them were not age-appropriate, so I didn’t end up watching any movies on the flight. Kiran, Svara, and I got to experience the deliciousness that is airplane food, for the first time. They almost always had beef, chicken, and fish options. Sometimes there was a Korean rice dish option, but we usually stuck to what we knew. The last thing any of us wanted, was a stomach upset. After what seemed like more than ten hours, we were all miserable, and I turned around to ask our parents in the seats behind us, how much time we had left. They looked at each other and told us that we had a staggering nine hours left! It had only been four hours and we were dead.
By the time we finally touched down at the Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea, we were all miserable. Sleeping on planes has never come easily to me or my sisters, and we did not sleep at all on the whole flight. We had a five hour layover in Korea, and all we wanted to do was to sleep. Incheon Airport has a Transit Hotel, where you could get a room for as little as six hours. Our dad payed for a hotel room and we all traipsed in. We dropped our bags and we were out! We slept for a couple hours and then we got ready to leave. It never feels good if you have to stay in the same, sweaty clothes for long periods of time, so we took a shower and changed into fresh clothes. We then proceeded to the nearest Starbucks like zombies. We were surprised at how different the Starbucks was! After a double chocolate creme frappuccino, I was still not ready to have seven more hours on a plane. But the universe never listens to what I want, so we boarded our flight to Sri Lanka!
We had better seating this time, and none of us had to have the exit row seats. Somehow this flight was more miserable than the thirteen hour flight. Knowing that this was the second flight was more grueling. This flight was also during nighttime so that was horrible. Since I couldn’t sleep, I put on my headphones, played some music, closed my eyes, and pretended that I was asleep. For some reason, my internal clock was very messed up. Since there was no WiFi on the plane, I did not know what time it was because my phone was still on California time. My thought process was more like, “Oh, there’s the food cart. I wonder which meal this is supposed to be.” The flight felt like way more than seven hours. Trying to pass the time was like looking at the clock every time one minute went by. Dehydration was my problem. I did not have a water bottle with me as we could not take outside water bottles on the plane. I would have thrown up if not for the countless little cups of water I asked for from the flight attendant. Slowly, the hours went by and by the end, I could not stand to look at the inside of another plane.
We landed at Bandaranaike International Airport, at 4:00 am. The airport was about 40 minutes from Columbo. Kiran, Svara, and I were very tired, but excited that we were finally off of the plane and on solid ground. We were looking forward to the hotel and the rest of our trip. Our journey had come to an end.
To see the post on the next day of our trip, click here.
Tea At The Park
by Kiran Jayasinghe
Simran, Svara, and I had been asking our parents to take us to a tea room as part of Simran’s and my birthday present (from our parents, at least). After making a reservation a few weeks ago, we, as a family, went out to the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort to have “High Tea at the Park” . Reservations are needed to have tea at the Park Hyatt, and Mom said that the reservations get booked up very early. When we pulled up to the lobby I was definitely not expecting for the staff to open the car doors for us, or for them to open the hotel doors for us, but they did! I felt so special. We also had no idea where the tea room was in the resort, so we asked the ladies at the front desk. Turns out the high tea room was less than ten feet away! The tea room had four to five tables set up. We were seated at a table set up just for us (the benefits of making a reservation). At the time of the reservation, Mom reserved the “Traditional Tea”. There’s also a tea called “Royal Tea”, which is the same the “Traditional Tea” except that they also serve champain. The tea was served, and it came with an assortment of finger foods such as cucumber sandwiches, egg with caviar, smoked salmon with caviar, and more. It also came with scones and desserts. There were a number of teas to choose from, but we chose a Chocolate and Orange peel tea that was recomended by the server and a more traditional English Breakfast tea. The server poured our tea for us. Each of us had our own small pot of tea and a strainer. Everything was absolutely delicious. My personal favorite was the cucumber sandwhiches. I had one of everything, just like Simran and Svara and my mom and dad. We all agreed the desserts were a little sweet, maybe too sweet, but it was dessert all the same, so I ate all of it. I also had several cups of tea of both the Chocolate with Orange Peel and the English Breakfast, with milk and sugar, of course. My dad liked the Chocolate with Orange peel tea which remninded him of a Christmas tea, and I agree with him. When we were finished, the server, who was very kind, decided to give us a few extra scones and desserts to take home (yay, more!).
Overall, the food was great, the tea was a-MAZ-ing, and the service was also over the top. Our server said that the Tea at the Park is known as one of the best in San Diego, and after trying it out, I pretty sure that’s true. We all enjoyed our experience at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort Tea Room and I’m sure we’ll go again!
Oman/ Anthony Bourdain – Parts Unknown
By Kiran, Simran, and Svara Jayasinghe
In December of last year, we had watched an episode of ‘Anthony Bourdain — Parts Unknown’ and it took us to the country of Oman. Oman is located in the Middle East, in the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. It’s surrounded by the Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea.
Oman is a country that is partly well-developed, and partly not. In the 1970’s, Oman was a very under-developed country. It only had six miles of paved road! Then, Sultan Qaboos, rose to power. He managed to transform the country into a more modern place, while still keeping it’s traditions at heart. The Sultan earned the respect and admiration of his people.
The country sports the largest sand dune in the world. Clean sand draws several groups of Omani people to wander the dunes. On the show, Bourdain spent one night and day with people who roam the desert. They traveled on camels and set up tents in the night, played music, and overall just enjoyed their time. Oman also has beautiful beaches and shoreline, and many people have boats. Most people spend some time each day at the ocean.
As usual, had Bourdain showcased the food of the country. Oman’s food is a mix of their own and Indian food. They eat shuwa, which is pit-roasted goat. Shuwa is prepared by taking the meat of a goat, wrapping it in palm or banana leaves, burying it in the ground over hot coals, then taking it out again two days later. Shuwa is a special dish. There is also pakora, which is Indian fritters, and chapati, which is Indian fresh baked bread.
Oman is a modern, but traditional country. Bourdain himself said that Oman “defys expectations”. With beautiful scenery, shores, sand dunes, and the culture, it would be an interesting place to visit.