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Published: July 14th 2009
My test match ticket
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, International Cricket Ground, Galle11 July
It has been a while, so I need to catch up on what has been happening! Life is now becoming routine, with a few funnies added in just to keep you on your toes!
Went to the cricket last weekend. It was a test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It was good to go and see and hear all the trumpets and noise makers in the stands! All other countries seem to do it so well. No one really drinks at these games even though there was a mobile bar! Tests are not the most interesting of games to watch, but hey while in the country!
Last Monday was a Poya day (full moon day). Every full moon there is a public holiday, so every month there is a day off! The amount of public holidays is quite amazing, there are religious ones, government ones, village ones, you name it. Not to mention festivals, every region has them and they seem to come around very quickly. Realistically it is an excuse for a lot of young men to get drunk on Arrack! (which isn’t too bad for a local hooch).
Had a great day
on the beach on Monday, it was packed with locals enjoying their day off. I had a local lady make me a pair of pants and a shirt while I swam, had lunch and rested myself…I know the clothes won’t last long, they are not well made and the material is thin and cheap, but for $10, they are great.
When I got home, Mrs Bubba had put an aloe vera plant on my balcony! She must have thought, poor white girl, she will need this after being in the sun. Anyway, it is great, fresh aloe vera for my skin every day!
Bec and I went to Colombo on Wednesday for a couple of meetings about the pool project. I met Duncan from AFLAC and saw their pool and their project which was great to see how they were reaching out to the poorer society and then headed to Julian Bollings pool, Julian is an ex Olympic swimmer and a bit of a celeb in Sri Lanka! Meetings were good, a very long day in Colombo. We were up at 4am and home at midnight. Thank god for Uncle who did all the driving.
We did
a spot of shopping at Odels, which is “the” department store in Colombo and has just about everything. I bought a new pillow which is heaven compared to the lumpy things Sri Lankans call pillows! So sleeping is much more enjoyable now. I know it wont last long as the humidity makes everything moldy so quickly here. You have to put pillows and mattresses in the sun regularly to dry them out.
The rest of week has been spent at the pool wording Dharmadasa up on what is to come for him as the pool manager. Not sure he will cut it, but we have to try.
I received a strange phone call yesterday, a school in Kalutara (2 hrs north of where I am) wanting 2 foreigners to judge an English Competition, so Julia roped me in and we are going up. Neither of us really know what we have to do, where we are going or who is picking us up. Julia is judging the morning session and I am doing the afternoon session. This school must have some money, as they are sending two drivers to the same area to pick us up individually (different times!). They also advised they would pay us, however both of us said this would not be necessary. Anyway, maybe we are being kidnapped for the black market…. Will let you know.
Went into Galle Fort last night for dinner with Julia, it was a good night, the people who own Anura’s Restaurant are a lovely young couple, and you can have a Lion Cappucino in a mug (beer) as they are not supposed to sell it!. Finding a tuk tuk driver to take me in was not so easy. As soon as it gets dark, they all scamper home or to the local bar! I had to call my new friend Daya, who is an older man, and he very kindly came and picked me up, waited outside the restaurant and bought me home!
No rats last night, so I have to think positively and hope they have gone away to rat heaven, or maybe they overheard Julia’s and my conversation last night! Julia’s housemate has returned to the UK and she has a 2bedroom place in Galle and offered me a room! I said if the rats don’t go soon, I will take her up on the offer!
The man across the way from my house and I have become great friends! He is deaf and with my lack of Sinhalese, but excellent arm waving, we can completely understand each other.
My other new friend lives next door. He is a German man who has lived here for 40 years! He is some kind of artist that paints a lot of Buddhist/temple type pictures. I am guessing he is a Buddhist! He told me about the tsunami as the wave went straight through his house, which means it went through where I live as well!
The fishermen have been getting huge catches in Galle over the past week which the German tells me is a bad sign, there could be another tsunami, the locals tell me it is great, because the fish is cheap to buy! Daya bought 1kg of tuna yesterday for 150 rupees (which is less than $2AUD). So who do you believe? I certainly hope there is not a tsunami coming, so I will side with the locals and be happy the catches are good!
I had better get moving for the day! Got the wash the sheets (yes, by hand!) and get ready to be picked up by the unknown driver to go the unknown place!
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