皆さま
おはようございます。週末はいかがお過ごしですが？
今日はPEGLのKethaki先生をご紹介します。
Kethaki先生は常夏のSri Lanka出身です。
とても丁寧で、優しいKethaki先生の授業を是非受けてみて下さいね！
Hello Everyone!
My name is Kethaki and I’m from Sri Lanka.
It, with palms clasped together, a gentle bow of the head and a warm smile,
accompanies Sri Lanka’s traditional and gentle gesture of welcome “Ayubovan”
(May you live longer).
So this is a petite attempt to introduce my country to you all who reads this blog.
My country, Sri Lanka, also known as ‘Ceylon’ is a small tropical island lying close to the southern tip of India surrounded by the Indian ocean which is also known as ‘The Pearl of the Indian ocean’.
The population in Sri Lanka is approximately 22 million and Sinhala,
an Indo Aryan language, is the native tongue of the Sinhalese and also we start to learn English from the kindergarten as a second language.
Instead of four seasons like in Japan, we have a tropical climate
with high humidity throughout the year, tempered by sea breezes on the coast. The average temperature is about 81ºF (27ºC). January is the coolest month, becoming especially cold in the highlands, and May is the hottest time of year. 
Monsoon season is between May and July, and December and January.
Sri Lankan flag or "The Lion Flag" represents a gold lion (or 'Sinha' a Sinhalese word for lion), on a crimson field (pre-colonial state) with gold ‘bo’ leaves (Buddhist symbols) at the corners and vertical green (Muslims) and orange (Tamils) stripes at the left represent the minorities.
The island is around 65,000 square kilometers in area, and had a greatly varying range of landscape, temperature and rainfall. Sunny and hot beaches; nice and cool misty mountains; dark and wet natural rainforests that are as old as the mankind on earth; windy and dry rugged terrains; hot water fountains; animals ranging from elephants to tigers to wild deer - you name it - you can see them all in this small patch of land.
Sri Lanka is renowned for its high-quality tea. Sri Lanka is the 3rd biggest tea producing country in the world. There are six main tea-producing areas and the teas produced in each region have their own individual characteristics of flavor, aroma, and color.
Sri Lanka has an enormous range of Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim festivals.
The Kandy Esala Perahera (July/August) is the country's most important
and spectacular pageant, with 10 days of torch-bearers, whip-crackers, dancers
and drummers, not to mention elephants lit up like giant birthday cakes.
It climaxes in a great procession honouring the Sacred Tooth Relic of Kandy.
Vesak (May), a sacred full moon festival commemorating the birth, death and enlightenment of Buddha; the Hindu Vel festival (July/August) in Colombo, where the ceremonial chariot of Skanda, the God of War, is hauled between two temples; and the predominantly Hindu Kataragama festival (July/August) in Kataragama, where devotees put themselves through a whole gamut of ritual masochism.
While the national sport in Sri Lanka is volleyball by far the most popular sport in the country is cricket. The team went on to take 1996 Cricket World Cup beating Australia in the finals, and becoming the World Champions. The Sri Lanka team did well to reach the finals of 2007 Cricket World Cup but lost to Australia in a rain affected match to become the runners up.
That would be all for now. So if you are in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by Sri Lanka, because in addition to the long heritage and history, the people in Sri Lanka are best known for their friendliness and hospitality.
Have a great day everyone!!!
-Kethaki-
事務局・岡田
