The Martin's Blog

Helen – Yesterday I taught a 3 hour workshop on Fitness Walking to a group of 40 women whose main goal is to lose weight (so what’s new???)  It was pretty funny watching them watch me because they are used to having the lecturer stand in front of the room in the same spot the entire time.  After the introduction, I told them my educational background, going to grad school for a MS and receiving MRS instead.  They didn’t get it until I wrote it up on the broad and then they all laughed (they don’t usually laugh during lectures either).  Moving right along, I was walking around the room demonstrating different paces and styles of walking and they were having a difficult time keeping me in focus while they were sitting on the mats in the gym.  After finding heart rates, we went out to the field to walk our timed mile. 

I was told it would be clear but we found a rugby game in progress and a class of preschoolers having a play day.  We walked our mile in and around them; most of the women were dressed too warm with long sweat pants, long sleeve shirts and hats.  I really felt sorry for them but they were troopers and did great.  Inside we did a little electric slide for a cool down then did a hula hoop relay to demonstrate clogged arteries.  They seemed to enjoy the lecture parts interspersed with activity and after class they said they never enjoyed a class so much and that the time flew by.  Being my normal crazy self I was a novel teaching experience for them.  We really had a few laughs when we came to diets and how to lose weight…they were disappointed that there wasn’t a pill that would get them in shape and take away the fat.  Their diets include a lot of coconut products and they really need to change their lifestyles but I think it will be most difficult for them.

I went to the office with Tom today to get my fitness swim files off the computer so that I could go over my lesson plans with Gota in the afternoon.  Gota and I spent about 2 hours going through the progressions and teaching methodology but did not get a chance to go into the pool to help him with his strokes.  He asked what time I was coming in the next day to finish in the pool and I told him that today was my last day.  He was disappointed but understood. He gave me a small university plate for a souvenir

Tom is down to two more classroom lectures and then we are FINISHED with work!!!  I will have to rethink the road trips as I am sure he has at least another one planned.  I can almost taste home and am getting anxious about our return.

Tom – I started a three-day workshop on “Exercise Physiology” for the Faculty of Medicine, Instructors of Physical Education and Sports Medicine Physicians today. 

I had about 30 in attendance for a three-hour morning session. 

To save time, I answered questions during their tea break!

Tom – I took pictures of two roosters above a Buddha shrine

 and the historic Queens Hotel at the front entrance to the “Temple of the Tooth” this morning.

 Helen and I participated in a “Fitness for Women Workshop” sponsored by the Department of Physiology.  She presented a three-hour Fitness Walking session in the morning and I gave a two-hour presentation on “Health-Related Physical Fitness” with an emphasis on the physiology of energy metabolism and weight/fat loss in the afternoon.

Helen – Dinner with Who?  Communication is difficult at best but this takes the cake.  Our landlords, Shenani and Ananda, were supposed to ask our physiology sponsors, Raj and Shamila, to dinner for Friday night.  The next day Shamila asks Tom if she and her husband could take us to dinner with Gota, from PE.  Tom is confused, thinking she means to come to our house and she says no.  Meanwhile, Ananda forgot to ask Raj and Shamila, so now I think we have a double engagement!!!   Next Day: we remind Ananda to ask the other couple because his wife has already begun cooking and he will be dead meat if he botches this up.  They accept and then ask us out for Thursday night with Gota so we can discuss the workshops from the last week.  Next morning: I tell Shenani that we will be going out to dinner with Raj and his wife and she says that they are coming too!!   I said, really, we are eating at 7 (they never eat before 8:30) and she said they would be OK.  Raj felt odd going to their house for dinner (they don’t socialize together) so when they invited him, he in turn invited them…are you following this???  Anyway the six of us ate together two nights in a row, once in the restaurant and once in our home and Gota joined us at the restaurant!!! 

Tom – brief descriptions of an interesting day!

Sri Muthumariamman Thevasthanam – Hindu temple in Matale, it is noted for the ceremonial chariots pulled along by people during an annual festival.

 I think this picture of children preparing to pray is an interesting one.

Rock Monastery of Aluvihara – is situated among and in large rocks at the base of a mountain.  It is noted for its murals on the walls and ceilings of the caves as well as the monastery where monks are still working to replace the Tipitaka which was first transcribed on palm strips from oral and Sinhalese sources into Pali text in the first century BC.  The Tipitaka and other manuscripts were destroyed in 1848 when British troops burnt the library when putting down a revolt.  The manuscripts are hand written on palm strips called “ola” by an interesting process of preparing the strips, engraving them and then filling the engraving with an ink like substance. 

Notice the mural figure of a creature with an elephant nose, crocodile teeth, monkey eye, pig ear, horse leg, fish skin and peacock tail (with variations, used extensively in Buddhist art),

 also the ceiling mural of the astrological signs. 

There is a large bell donated by Korea outside the monastery.

 New Paradise Spice and Herbal Garden – I believe a young man at the Rock Monastery scammed us for an unnecessary $10 donation for entrance.  He also recommended a visit to this spice and herbal garden “free” as part of the same donation.  I was suspicious but agreed with Helen that we should try it out anyway.  Well, the owner gave us a very nice and informative tour of the garden, first cups of cocoa tea and later cups of spice tea, then massages by his employees, and then pressure to buy products before we left.  Helen bought some hair removal cream, spice tea and what was labeled saffron.  She now believes the saffron is really turmeric and has called trying to get her money back and threatening to report him to the Ceylon Tourist Board.  As far as I am concerned, the $60 I spent was well worth the experience.

 Umbrellas for shade in wagon as we pass

 Nalanda Gedige – is one of the earliest stone buildings constructed in Sri Lanka by Hindus (8^th century) but later used as a Buddhist temple.

 Dambulla Royal Rock Temple – Initially a gaudy entrance for the Golden Temple and large Buddha but up the mountain five interesting cave temples. 

 Sigiriya (Lion Rock) A UNESCO World Heritage Site – this was the highlight of our day. 

The official story, told by our guide, is that it was a palace fortress built in the 5^th century and there is surely evidence to support this claim.  However, a recent theory hypothesizes that it really began as a Buddhist Monastery in the 3^rd century BC.  In any event, we had an interesting tour of the royal gardens (water gardens, boulder gardens and terraced gardens) and it was fun climbing the 1200 stairs to the top of the rock. 

The female frescoes found in a niche half way up the rock are considered a national treasure. 

The ascent continues and goes through the “Lion’s Mouth” (see the paws in the picture) to the top.

Sunset at the Polonnaruwa Rest House

 Helen – EVERYTHING LOOKS BETTER IN THE PLANNING!!  This weekend Tom planned another trip to some historical sites supposedly within a few hours of Kandy.  We always begin being cordial to each other and looking forward to another adventure with map in hand.  Within the first hour, I misread the map (those names are hard to decipher) and there were no signs so we ended up on the wrong road.  Tom was ticked because he can’t read the map and watch the crazy traffic…I on the other hand, am upset because I thought I was doing a good job.  That mistake took an hour.  Now we are not on very friendly terms as we stop to visit the first temple or the second one where we have to climb many stairs to see the rock (cave) temples.  It is so hot and the venders at every bend in the trail get your dander up shoving their trinkets in front of your face.  We pick up a couple of vegetable rottis (I am getting hooked on these bad for your health treats) and ate them in the car as we continued to the main focus of the day. 

We get to Sigiriya which is a huge rock outcrop in the middle of a flat landscape.  One of the kings built a palace on the very top so that he couldn’t be attacked and of course made enough room for himself, his several wives, and his 500 concubines.

At first we thought we would do it without a guide but because of the time crunch we reconsidered and hired a nice man with good English.  We told him that we only had two hours to complete the tour/climb because we needed to get to our lodgings while it was still light.  He was very accommodating, took us to all the sites and even included a couple of rock sites (which looked like enormous elephants) usually omitted by other guides.  We hoofed it quickly up the cliff which had stone and metal stairs, depending on the incline, to see the frescos of some of the 500 concubines (the king had each one painted in the cave like indentures in the rock or on what they called the mirror wall.  On we went up to the very top to see the remains of the palace and baths.  The views from the top were very beautiful and it was worth the effort to get there.  We came down pretty quickly, passing the slower Asians who were blocking our path and finished the entire climb in ONE hour…the man was impressed with us and we were all pretty sweaty when finished.

Tom had booked us a room at the Polonnaruwa Rest House, which is owned by the Ceylon Hotel Corporation (It is government run and they have many lovely hotels around the country), which was situated right on Topa Wewa Lake.  It also backed up to some of the archeological sites we were to explore the next day.  There were only a few people there (because of the war and terrorist activity) and we occupied one of the six rooms booked for that weekend.  Too bad we were number six, because the first 5 had balconies with better views of the lake.  Anyway, we had a chance to clean up and have dinner.  We were the only ones in the dining room and we had grilled chicken, green beans with carrots, french fries, and fruit for dessert.  The hotel would have been quite lovely but it has been neglected.  It would be amazing what just paint would accomplish!!

April Fools Day! – Helen – Back to our routine, walk around the lake and then French toast for breakfast, even Shenani had some.  Her husband is in Japan this week for a conference so she has been sharing our meals with us.  After Tom left for school, we decided to have a shopping spree.  We took a three wheeler to a small nearby town and went through two antique shops.  The first had a lot of neat old jewelry and I put several pieces on hold so that Tom could see them next Monday, and the second shop was just a waste of time with overpriced repro pieces.  We then took the bus back to town and had fish sandwiches in some sorry little place with the greatest fish buns!!!  Visited a few little shops and then to the famous Food City for a few things which I couldn’t buy yesterday because I ran out of money!!!  We were really tired by now so decided it was worth the $1.50 for the three wheeler home where we showered and took short naps.

While cooking dinner, I went outside to open the gate for Tom to park because it looked like rain.  I noticed a zip lock bag on the ground that looked as though it had been chewed open.  I thought it’s the monkeys but couldn’t think what was in the bag and where it came from.  I mentioned it to Shenani and she asked if I had left the kitchen door open (which we do when we cook) and unattended and I answered no.