Amelie, 11, goes to school on the balcony

“Before flying to Sri Lanka with my parents, I had to get permission from my headmistress and teachers. After all, I wasn’t going there on holiday, but was staying for five whole months because my father was working there as a photographer. When my parents told me about their plan, I was happy – but also a little sad. Because I didn’t want to leave my friends. At first, they thought I was joking.

Fortunately, the headmistress and my teachers had no objections whatsoever. They said I was a good student and enjoyed learning independently. Of course, that meant I had to work through the material my classmates were covering in school with my mother. In addition to our normal luggage, we had a separate rucksack with schoolbooks and materials. It weighed six kilos!

Pinnawala, elephant orphanage: More than 60 big and small pachyderms bathe in the river every day, a unique spectacle for Amelie and Smilla.

The lessons in Sri Lanka were, of course, very different from those in Berlin. The biggest difference was that Mum and I studied outside on the balcony, sometimes even at the pool bar. And I was alone, which made the lessons much more intensive. That’s why I didn’t have to study seven hours every day, but often only two. Most of the time, we sat down together at lunchtime when my little sister Smilla was asleep. As soon as she woke up, the lessons were over.

Fear of a tsunami

My mother and I had put together a timetable. We did German, French, maths, history and geography together. We also did dictations, which I never had to do in Berlin. I also had to write three essays during those five months. I sent them to my teachers by email.

Amelie during the descent from Adam’s Peak. 4.800 steps down. Now the knees and calves call for our attention.

I was free to choose the topics. One essay was about the tsunami that had struck Sri Lanka a few years earlier. For this, my mum and I interviewed a hotel owner who had to flee to the roof of the hotel during the tsunami and was rescued from there. I often thought about the tsunami during my first few weeks in Sri Lanka. I was a little afraid that something like that would happen again. The other essay was about a turtle farm that I visited with my parents.

While we were away, I often sent photos to my classmates, and we even chatted online once. Most of them had never been so far away. I was already used to travelling, because before Sri Lanka I had been to Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Laos and Vietnam with my parents. But I hardly remember that, because I was only four years old at the time.

Locals enthusiastically playing water soccer at sunset.

And next year we’re going to Nepal

Of course, I missed my friends very much in the meantime. I couldn’t celebrate my birthday with them in Germany, which was a shame. We have a tradition: on our birthdays, we always go out for Indian food together. This time, my friends came up with something: they went out for a meal together on my birthday and kept a chair free for me. As if I were there.

So that I wouldn’t forget my classmates, my good friend Pit took photos of everyone and wrote a little saying about each of them that characterises them. He emailed them to me in Sri Lanka. And they sent me a photo of the first snow in Germany. I really missed that.

Shortly after 6 am the sun rises above the clouds and bathes the landscape around Adam’s Peak in a breathtakingly soft light. Previously, Malte and Amelie had covered 4,800 steps during 3 hours and 15 minutes of ascent.

Otherwise, Sri Lanka was great. I could go to the beach every day and swim in the sea. We also went on exciting trips. The most exciting was a hike with my dad. We climbed Adam’s Peak. It’s a mountain with 4,800 steps leading up to the top. We set off at 2 a.m. because we wanted to be at the top for sunrise at 6 a.m. On the way, I felt very sick and had to throw up. It was because of the excitement, the exertion and the cold. My dad wanted to turn back, but I was determined to make it. When we got back to the hotel, word had spread that I had persevered, and the guests applauded me.

I would have liked to stay in Sri Lanka longer, but I was also very happy to see my friends again. I settled back into school very well. Thanks to the private lessons, I was even further ahead in the curriculum than my classmates and was almost a little bored. Next year, my parents, Smilla and I want to go on another trip, probably to Nepal. But my personal dream destination is Australia, because of the kangaroos.”