The Martin's Blog

Helen – Ruki was expecting us late Tuesday afternoon but we surprised her by arriving before 9am.  After the exchanged greetings we headed for the shower and took a nap so we would be ready for the Perahera that evening.

Tom – I took the car back to the rental agency to get repaired and then had them provide me a driver/car to go to the Fulbright office.  I said I didn’t want a loaner because I wouldn’t drive in Colombo anyway due to the parking problems.  Ramya said that the Fulbright Commission wanted me to give an “All Colombo” presentation related to nutrition and exercise physiology in their auditorium.  As usual they really don’t understand the complexity of these areas, so I’ll delimit the topic to one that is workable and interesting for the “sophisticated” audience she said I should expect.

Afterward I went to the bank to get cash to pay for Helen’s ticket to India, the next month rental car fee, our stay in Colombo and next month’s house rent.  I don’t like walking around with $2000 in my pocket but things here are best done on a cash basis.  My next stop was the US Embassy Food Mart where I bought items for our return to Matara.  I got back to Ruki’s had a late lunch and then rested for an hour before getting ready for the Navam Perahera at the Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo that is held during the February Poya Day (full moon) each year.  It is the second largest Poya Day festival in Sri Lanka.

Ruki had bought tickets for us ($60 donation to the temple) to sit in the first row on a stand with the dignitaries near the temple.  We were told we had to be there by 6:30pm to make sure we were in our seats by 7pm when the parade started.  Sherry, a Fulbright Ph.D. candidate from Arizona State accompanied us.  Sherry is doing her dissertation analyzing the book covers of 18^th century Buddhist manuscripts.  After arriving by Tuk-Tuk we had to go through tight security (frisking, separate stall for women) before we could proceed to our seats.

Island temple in Beira Lake

Before the start there were prayers and introductions over the loud speaker from the temple.  The American ambassador stated that Buddhism was the fastest growing religion in America!?  Shortly thereafter there was a large explosion and we could feel the shock wave from behind us – I still don’t know what it was, I’ll have to check the newspapers.  The parade started with about five men flicking large whips to chase away the evil spirits followed by Kandyan dancers leading a formal procession of reliquaries the final of which were carried on huge decorated elephants.  It would take a book to describe this parade; I took a series of videos and am hopeful they will turn out.  The following is the official description of the parade:

• A Caparisoned Elephant (Tusker) bearing the Casket of Relics.
• A beautiful illuminated Elegant Buddha Image
• Participation of 500 members of the order of Monks
• Kandyan Chieftains and Mohottalas
• Caparisoned Elephants
• Over 100 Kandyan and Low-country Dance Troupes (each troupe consists of 50 or more dancers)
• Buddhist Flags, National Flags, Provincial Flags, Sun-bearers, other attractions (2000)
• The Perahera will be illuminated with Copra Lanterns (500)   

Gangaramaya Temple and the Peacock Dancers

The parade made its way three times around Beira Lake and the front of the temple.  There was some excitement about one hour into the procession when an elephant got lose and people started running away in panic.  We started to move ourselves until we saw they got it under control.  I ran my battery down taking so many videos and we left about 9:30 when the procession was starting its third round of the lake.  We got up close to the procession on its second tour in front of the temple which was ablaze with lights.  The parade was still going strong but most people were leaving after they had seen one full procession and we left soon afterwards.  We took a Tuk-Tuk home and got there about 10:45.  We were tired but it was a great time.

Helen – Today I raked leaves….there are three trees in our yard that have large leaves (size of our sycamore) and they are everywhere.  We were supposed to have someone clean the yard…but this has become a problem since the theft.  At least the cow poop wasn’t there and I didn’t have to work around that.  I almost fell into the pond trying to get those leaves out, my flip flop slipped on the muddy edge and I just caught myself on the wall but wrenched my shoulder.  Sometimes I am not a happy camper!

I didn’t know what to do with all the leaves and asked at the hotel…they said put them in bags and leave them at the end of your driveway; the garbage men will pick them up.  Where do you get these bags??  Walk down to the main road and ask for the empty 100 lb four/rice bags which hold a lot of leaves.  I did this (actually got across what I wanted!) and returned home with three bags for 45 cents.  I left them at the driveway and Thursday morning only one empty bag was there…guess someone else needed them more than I did.

In the afternoon, we went to Food City and Arpico where I exchanged a baking pan.  The first one I bought didn’t fit into my little oven.  I am determined to try to make brownies but I have to wait until tomorrow to get on the internet to convert C to F for the oven temperature.

Tom – On our beach walk this morning I took a picture of part of an Italian ship that was wrecked off the cost here a number of years ago.  Some days the hull is visible, other days the sea has filled it with sand.

Little beach friend

I spent 2.5 hours this morning marking out a 1 km course on the roads of the University of Ruhuna campus.  The two instructors who were assisting me were there ready to go (white enamel paint, paint brush) at 10am as planned.  However, Vini the female instructor who is always late had not come into the office yet and she was the only one who had a key to get the 100 meter measuring tape.  H.R. had to hire a Tuk-Tuk to go get her!  As a result we didn’t start until 10:30am.

I had also asked them to bring a broom to sweep (clean) the road before we applied the paint.  Well, brooms are the province of the cleaning ladies.  They are the ones who must use the brooms.  So, one had to accompany us to sweep the asphalt before painting our lines and numbers.  Then the other cleaning ladies came to get her for lunch at noon and she then, very reluctantly, gave up custody of her broom for the last half hour of our work.

I tried to make the course as flat as possible on a very hilly campus.  But when we got to the 900 meter mark the last 100 meters was up a steep hill!  We did mark the course to one kilometer at the top of the hill (entrance to the Botany building) but then also instituted a Plan B by going back to one of our turns and marking off an additional 50 meter toward the front gate of campus.  That way an individual could avoid the final hill by doing the round trip distance of 100 meters toward the front gate.

By the way, this is a secure? (I think it would be easy to bypass these guards) campus.  You must pass through a security gate/fence with guards to get onto the road into campus.  A few days ago they checked the bottom of my car with mirrors for bombs.

After shopping with Helen in the afternoon I went back into the office at 5pm to use the internet connection in my office.  When I finished my “must do” work, and also because the mosquitoes were eating me alive, I left the office at 7pm.  When I turned out my light – it was totally dark!  I could not see my hand in front of my face.  I had to feel my way down three walkways and two sets of stairs to get to the car which was barely visible in the parking lot – energy conservation!

Mosquitoes (and other insects) – these buggers are something else!  They are lighter and faster than the fat/slow mosquitoes in Ohio.  Kind of like a comparison of Sri Lankans to Ohioans.  You cannot tell when they are biting you unless you actually see them on your body!  When you do see them and go to smack them, nine times out of ten they can avoid your blow!  Helen and I have about 50 bites each just on our legs and they last for days!  We started taking our malaria pills again; we haven’t been taking them for a month because we were told they were not needed in this area. One of the main problems could be our fresh water pond.

Tom – I’m at the police station at 9am with Sarath, Chair of the PE Department, as my interpreter.   The electrician does not show, so I start making my complaint.  At 9:30 he does show with a lawyer.  So, I continue to make my complaint.  Almost all the critical information is on my typed sheet, however, we have to follow police procedures and the officer writes everything down in long hand in his “official book.”  There was only one typewriter and no computers in the police station.  I worked in my office in the afternoon and when I returned home got a phone call from the officer.  He surprised me by stating that the electrician was in jail – To Be Continued.

Helen – This is a little hard to believe.  We were at the university trying to get this SL7 out, had a torrential thunder storm and the power kept shutting off and me with it.  I went back to Tom’s office and asked if we could go home.  As usual, I wasn’t patient enough to wait for the rain to let up (as it was quite a long time) and we got drenched getting to the car.  Our road to our house is pretty bad in good weather and we were expecting a rough ride after the asphalt ended and the rutty dirt road began; not to mention that the dirt road is also downhill to the beach.  We were fearing the worst, but were surprised that we were able to maneuver pretty well until we got to our driveway.  Seems the tubes under it were plugged and a lot of the water coming down the hill was going into our driveway.  The driveway has a valley at the base where the car is parked under the carport roof and it was flooded.  We had to take off our shoes and wade to the front steps.  The water was ankle high.  The man from the hotel was already there unplugging the tubes but the water at the base has no where to go…wonder how long it will take to evaporate??  It didn’t take long at all!! There is a sewer line at the lowest point of the driveway and after the rain stopped the water washed away, I guess down the road to the beach.  Now we have to deal with clean up because the area is covered with mud!

While the storm was still going on, the cow and calf were separated on two different sides of the yard and the baby didn’t look too happy.  As the rain let up some, I first took the washed clothes off the line (had to re-rinse and spin) then went to move the mama to the baby.  Tom said leave them alone…nothing doing!!  I wade through the valley in the back yard to get to mama and begin to untie her lead.  I am facing away from her and with no warning she jumps up onto my back with her front hoofs on my shoulders.  Talk about scared and surprised!!!  I jumped forward and she fell off of me.  Tom was an amused bystander and wished he had the camera!!  He said just leave her there…but I was not going to stop now.  Sometimes, I wish I weren’t so hard headed and would mind my own business!!

 Helen – This is their independence day, celebrating their split from England in 1948…funny that it should also fall on the 4^th only this time six months different from ours.  Tom had to go into the university to catch up on his classes and I stayed home to clean the grout from the bathroom tile and floor where the new water heater was installed.  It looks to be a new added on bathroom and the grout was left to dry on the tiles and globs of it everywhere including the floor.  While Tom was showering I got on the computer to finish up some on the diary so he could send it off and while I was doing this, the caretaker scared me again by coming into the house unannounced and standing over me as I typed.  He can be spooky at times.

Sri Lankans enjoying their 4th

This was also the day the carpenter was coming to put another lock on a set of doors, and the electrician was coming once again to try to fix the fan in the dining area, change a few light bulbs, and loosen a few sticky light switches.  I was watching them and running in and out of the bathroom trying to get both things done.  The electrician said that I needed another fuse for the fan and he had to go to get it…seems whenever he comes (this is the third time) he always has to leave to get more parts even though he is told ahead of time what he is going to work on.   He helped me hang the netting in the spare room (where we use the beds to lay out our loot) because I couldn’t reach the hooks without the ladder.  By noon they are done and gone and I am getting lunch ready for Tom.  He comes home and asks where my cell phone is.  I answer, wherever you left it after calling the girls last night.  He said, I left it on the table, did you move it??  Here we go again!!!  The cell phone is missing and so are two large plastic bags of candy which we brought here from the states for the children.  Reanalyzing the situation again, we see that Tom’s phone went missing when the electrician and ground keeper were in the house last week.  It seems to us that one of them took it.  Lots of phone calls back and forth with the owner of the house (they hired the electrician and carpenter) and it was decided that his worker from the dairy who speaks English would go to the police department the next morning to file a complaint and then bring them here (DOES THIS STORY SOUND FAMILIAR???).

We were to go to the physics professor’s (Kanthi) house for dinner that evening.  She called to confirm our plans when I told her what had happened.  She was quite upset, in fact, she called the lady (Kamala)who represents the owner and asks her to look in the ground keeper’s living quarters.  Kamala comes over by a tri-wheeler and goes into his sleeping quarters but cannot get into the kitchen area which is a separate room. We try calling my phone to see if it rings but the voice recording says that the party is unavailable now and to call back.  The phone must have been turned off and we never turn it off.  She leaves and when Tom returns he calls the owner again about having a report made and the police coming to the house the next morning…we think that it is settled.

That evening, Kanthi and her husband are really concerned about our location.  They said they had this concern as soon as they saw where we lived but rethought their objections when we told them we were supposed to have a security guard…which we don’t.  They call Kamala again that evening to confirm the plans for the morning. Things look even bleaker when we discover that there was a robbery in the little house across the road just last month when an Australian living there had the window broken and his camera and laptop taken.  Kanthi said that she would go to the police station with us the next morning and thank heavens she did.

 Helen – Another easy relaxing day.  We decided not to go to St Mary’s church since we didn’t understand anything last week.  We miss St.Theresa in Colombo.  We went northwest today to visit two beaches, the closest being Marissa which is said to have some of the loveliest beaches and Welligama which is also a fishing port.  It didn’t take long to reach Welligama.  Parking the car under some trees, Tom paid a man to watch the car.  This beach had lots of shells and we spent some time looking for the ones we have been collecting.  The beach also had lots of multicolored fishing boats with nets drying around them.  We stopped by one boat and the man gave me a lesson on how to fix the torn nets.  I remember my mother knowing how to make net bags for carrying things…but then she knew everything!!

There was a small island just off the shore and when the tide was low you could walk out to the small bridge to get on.  I don’t know what it is used for but there was a house up there.  The people swimming in the water always amaze me.  The women are dressed in their blouses and skirts while the men are in Bermuda shorts.  Even on our beach I will not walk in a bathing suit…shorts and tank top are about as daring as I get.  If I plan to swim, I wear my bathing suit but don’t lie on the beach in it.  It was pretty hot so we didn’t stay very long there and we decided not to swim there either.  We had a big breakfast of French toast, fruit, coffee, and juice so we weren’t too hungry for lunch.

Drove back toward Marissa and found another beach which was really the eastern end of Welligama.  There were lots more shells there and it looked like a sailing regatta was taking place out in the ocean.  While I sorted through shells, Tom walked toward the sailing area.  He can tell you more about that.

Tom – I walked to where a Laser sailboat had just left the beach to join the regatta and struck up a conversation with three Sri Lankans who were sitting in a jeep drinking.  It seems two of them Vish and Duhan had a business called Ceylon Sea Anglers and were supplying the safety boat for the regatta.  We chatted for awhile and I mentioned that I had recently written a book on learning to sail.  Vish convinced me that he really wanted my book.  I told him I would drive back (half hour one-way) to Matara to get one for him if he were serious.  He said yes; so I figured I could drive Helen back, shower and return with a book for Vish and another for someone who might be interested from the regatta.

When I returned the regatta was over and they were loading the safety boat onto the trailer.  Vish was acting a little strange, so I asked him if he really wanted the book, if he did it would cost 2400 rupees (standard price in the U.S.).  He said yes he collected books and wanted me to autograph it.  I wrote him a nice note and he proceeded to take lots of pictures of me plus him and friends.  He was again beating around the bush, so I asked him if he could pay me so I could go talk to the organizers of the regatta.  He said he would go to the hotel and get his money and meet me back there in five minutes.

I discovered that the Ruhuna Sailing Club had organized the regatta.  The club has about 8 Optimist and 5 Laser sailboats to teach children to sail.  The club is financed by a Belgian who owns a very large factory nearby.  I briefly talked to a British woman named Sue Evans who was in charge; however she was intently working on the sailing awards for the regatta, so I returned to meet Vish.

Well, he never showed!  I asked a number of people where he might be and got the run around.  I was getting angrier by the minute and finally decided to leave a message for Vish with his friends.  Basically I reamed him out in abstentia!  My last comment was something like this – here it is the celebration of the Sri Lankan Independence Day weekend, a time of national pride, and Vish is walking off with a book and not paying for it!  His friends immediately took up a collection and paid me for the book.    

Helen – On the way home we stopped to buy some shrimp and get a few supplies.  Once again the tiger shrimp were totally intact including the gross heads.  It is not easy making dinner here at times!!!  It was still hot so I made a cold potato salad with the shrimp (similar to the crab salad I make at home).

After dinner, Tom tried to call the girls but only got to leave messages on their phones.  Since his was stolen we only have mine to work with.