nearing the end

My time in Sri Lanka has come to an end. I have only three days left and this may well be my last blog entry.

Its always the most sad before you are about to leave, its when you miss people the most and get all nostalgic about how wonderful everything was. I am trying to be reasonable about leaving but this always happens to me. What is odd is that I don’t miss people here, I miss the people I am about to see. Perhaps my anticipation of seeing my friends and family elsewhere makes me think of them a lot and then miss them more than usual.

I work up this morning and everything was perfectly normal and familiar. I had to remind myself that I do indeed life in Sri Lanka which is a foreign country in which I am a foreigner. I have gotten to accustomed to everything to the point where it has become ordinary. I almost have to pinch myself to remind myself that I am in the third world, halfway around the world from people I love and my real home.

I am ready to go. My project ended up being successful, I made great friends and I got to see a lot of the country.

What I will miss:

Getting a massage whenever I want

Being 15 min from a swim-able beach

Living 100 yards from the ocean

Cheap, cheap clothes

Short eats

Elephants at every occasion

Public holidays

Sarong-wearing by both genders

Chili crab and seafood in general

The Sri Lankan accent (What to do machang?)

What I will not miss:

Waiting for taxis to come to your house

Security checks

Bomb blasts

Pictures of politicians everywhere (not even good looking ones)

Haggling for rickshaws but not haggling for fruit

Body odor and the smell of rancid coconut oil in the hair of the person in front of me

Mosquitoes

Expats who think they are better than everyone

Russian prostitutes who hang out in hotels

Food so spicy it makes you want to die

this was supposed to go up on the 6th

Last weekend, my last full weekend in Colombo, was extremely Sri Lankan. On Wednesday it was the going away part of one of my Sri Lankan friends. She decided to have a rooftop BBQ for all of her friends. I was given the weighty task of making pasta salad. Now when I think of pasta salad I think of that delightful concoction of boiled pasta tossed with various fresh veggies. When Sri Lankans think of pasta salad they are imagining jars and jars of mayo which covers a small amount of pasta. Basically that gross stuff they sell in plastic containers in the Safeway deli section. That stuff that mom never let us buy because it was always questionable as to what was in there. Needless to say, I made my own tasty pasta salad and tried to convert as many people as possible to its deliciousness.

On Thursday I attended the Navam Perahera, a major elephant festival. For the festival 50 elephants are brought in from surrounding areas, made to wear elaborate costumes, and then are paraded around a lake. The elephants are interspersed with teams of ethnic dancers. It all happens at night and is very religious, although I am not quite sure as to what the different things mean. It’s definitely a sight to behold as massive elephants go parading down the roads. I did feel a little sad for the elephants though as they are controlled by many chains that are wrapped around their legs making it so that they can’t run away. I supposed this is a safety precaution as there can’t be elephants stampeding around, but its still sad to see the elephants all chained up.

Saturday was another typical Colombo day. Being too lazy to go down South to spend time at the beach, I went to the resort within Colombo, Mt.Lavinia. Mt. Lavinia is a suburb around 8 km South of where I live and it boasts the closest decent beach to the city. For a mere $4 my friends and I used the pool and private beach all day. It was nice just to lay on a deck chair and get out of my dull, fluorescent lit guesthouse and office.

Sunday was Sri Lankan Independence day and everything was shut. I spent most of the day working on my final presentation for work. I presented yesterday and everything went off without a hitch. At the end of it all, I am quite satisfied with the work I have done here. I think I was able to really understand the entire e-village project and feel comfortable talking about it as an expert.

I’ve had fun while here in Sri Lanka but I am also ready to get back to my much more civilized life. This is the first time in my life where I have had nobody to take care of except myself and I have really seen the difference it makes in my lifestyle. In college I ate pretty well because I spent my parent’s money freely on food. At home I ate well also because mom bought the groceries. In India I always had roommates or my grandparents who made me be more responsible. Here I don’t have anyone so I end up eating kraft mac and cheese or peanut butter sandwiches for dinner because its weird to eat in a restaurant alone and I can’t be bothered cooking for one. Can’t wait to get back to Bombay and some good eating!

Colombo Weekend

Last weekend, my last full weekend in Colombo, was extremely Sri Lankan. On Wednesday it was the going away part of one of my Sri Lankan friends. She decided to have a rooftop BBQ for all of her friends. I was given the weighty task of making pasta salad. Now when I think of pasta salad I think of that delightful concoction of boiled pasta tossed with various fresh veggies. When Sri Lankans think of pasta salad they are imagining jars and jars of mayo which covers a small amount of pasta. Basically that gross stuff they sell in plastic containers in the Safeway deli section. That stuff that mom never let us buy because it was always questionable as to what was in there. Needless to say, I made my own tasty pasta salad and tried to convert as many people as possible to its deliciousness.

On Thursday I attended the Navam Perahera, a major elephant festival. For the festival 50 elephants are brought in from surrounding areas, made to wear elaborate costumes, and then are paraded around a lake. The elephants are interspersed with teams of ethnic dancers. It all happens at night and is very religious, although I am not quite sure as to what the different things mean. It’s definitely a sight to behold as massive elephants go parading down the roads. I did feel a little sad for the elephants though as they are controlled by many chains that are wrapped around their legs making it so that they can’t run away. I supposed this is a safety precaution as there can’t be elephants stampeding around, but its still sad to see the elephants all chained up.

Saturday was another typical Colombo day. Being too lazy to go down South to spend time at the beach, I went to the resort within Colombo, Mt.Lavinia. Mt. Lavinia is a suburb around 8 km South of where I live and it boasts the closest decent beach to the city. For a mere $4 my friends and I used the pool and private beach all day. It was nice just to lay on a deck chair and get out of my dull, fluorescent lit guesthouse and office.

Sunday was Sri Lankan Independence day and everything was shut. I spent most of the day working on my final presentation for work. I presented yesterday and everything went off without a hitch. At the end of it all, I am quite satisfied with the work I have done here. I think I was able to really understand the entire e-village project and feel comfortable talking about it as an expert.

I’ve had fun while here in Sri Lanka but I am also ready to get back to my much more civilized life. This is the first time in my life where I have had nobody to take care of except myself and I have really seen the difference it makes in my lifestyle. In college I ate pretty well because I spent my parent’s money freely on food. At home I ate well also because mom bought the groceries. In India I always had roommates or my grandparents who made me be more responsible. Here I don’t have anyone so I end up eating kraft mac and cheese or peanut butter sandwiches for dinner because its weird to eat in a restaurant alone and I can’t be bothered cooking for one. Can’t wait to get back to Bombay and some good eating!