Grand Adventure Part 6 (Cayman Islands)

Chad is arriving in 26 hours ... and then we set off on a two week trip through parts of Sri Lanka and then to the Maldives. Life has been pretty all over the place (literally), but I will most certainly have an update after the Commonwealth Games 2018 host city is announced! In case you don't know, Hambantota on the south coast of Sri Lanka is competing against the Gold Cost in Australia. I honestly can't tell you who is going to win and who I want to win because like so many others, I keep flip flopping on the pros and cons. I don't envy the CGAs who have to make a decision on who to vote for!

Back to the adventure ...

So from the Isle of Man we left to go to London, met up with two other CSOs, Wendy (Uganda) and Natalie (Falkland Islands) and spent a night in disappointing 2 star "hotel" in a dingy basement triple room that smelled musty. The company was great though, we had a nice walk around in Covent Garden, and we were thoroughly excited for Cayman Islands!

We flew via Miami and reach Cayman on the evening of the 15th September. Greeted by all the CSOs we were relieved to find beautiful rooms at the Grand Cayamanian Resort and being in the company of familiar faces. Being exhausted, I hit the bed pretty early after dinner so to be ready for the next day!

Despite what some might think, we were in the boardroom from 9 - 5 everyday with the exception of one day ... where we made an afternoon trip to 7 mile beach (SO SO goregous!) I wish I had photos - I forgot my camera that day. :( Needless to say it was relaxing and really enjoyable. Jennie (CSP coordinator) did some one on one meetings, including mine, in the water. Now that is what I call an effective meeting! Aside from that, quite a bit of time was spent in the morning and evenings by and around the pool as the ocean off this resort had jellies in the water. We only learned after Nat and Jennie got stung!

We also met up with the Cayman Hash House Harriers who were an extremely hospitable group and made us feel so welcome! It was a "Hash Bash" meaning they had met some major milestone (in this case, the 1750th hash in the history of the club). The challenge that day was that it was a short run/walk (4km) but every km they had stopping points where participants, if they chose to participate, had to down a beer at each stopping point. Hearing from those who tried it, it was tough!

Anyhow, our midterm training in Cayman was incredibly rewarding. There was a lot of self-discovery through a lot of the nervous and anxious energy I was harbouring. I got some reassurances with what I was doing is in a positive direction and a much needed injection of self-confidence. We worked more on our cross cultural skills, problem solving, assessing our personal and professional progress, as well as evaluating the program thus far. We also did some work on principled negotiation ... I really need to work on that!

It was really hard to leave this group to come back to Sri Lanka. Not that I don't like Sri Lanka, but when you are with people who you are close to and love it's hard to leave them. I had spent the last month with some of the closest friends I have from meeting Linda in India, travelling with Paddye through Ireland and the UK, spending time with Wendy and Nat, then with the awesome CSOs in Cayman Islands. Additionally, for three weeks I had let my guard down and didn't have to deal with the constant questions of whether I needed a taxi, where I'm from, what I'm doing, or the staring. As much as those things don't really bug me, I am consistently in a heightened state of alertness which is a bit tiring and exhausting!  This was a really foreign feeling from the first time I left Vancouver. The difference I think was that I didn't have a benchmark of what it would feel like living alone, away from home, for an extended period of time. My trip back to home away from home felt like I was missing something ... but it wasn't long until I got back into my routine and things felt better again.

With that I conclude my Grand Adventure. I did spend one more day (12hr layover) in London on my return trip from Cayman back to Sri Lanka where I wandered around the Museum of Natural History (really cool place!) and Oxford Street. Photos will be on Facebook, eventually!

I also want to take this chance to thank my readers. I know many of you are reading this to just see what I'm up to, but I am also getting hits from some countries I wouldn't expect - particularly on my posts for the Kandy Esala Perhera and my stakeholder map! I also want to say that if you are one of those people who have ended up at my blog because you are searching for an image or information on travelling (or whatever else I have written about), please don't hesitate to send me a message/email if you have any questions! 

Because I said so!

It's been noisy around Olympic House the last couple of weeks. The walls that previously surrounded the grounds on which our building sits are in the process of being torn down. Why? Because "someone" said so. This "someone", like "He who must not be named" in a very famous movie, is a bit of a villain in my mind. Unfortunately, this person also has a lot of power.

A friend told me this person can order pretty much anyone around. This person, has "asked" the the National Olympic Committee and the other user groups around us to knock down our outer walls to create a more "open space". Why? Because he likes it. Because, from where he lived overseas, that's the way things are with more open spaces and he likes it. Along the the same lines, if this person sees a wall that is painted the "wrong" colour, he'll ask the property owner to paint it a colour of his choice.

Of course, me being me, I asked, "what if someone says no"? She replied, "No one can say no" to which I did not understand. There is no law against having a wall is mismatched with those around you. Nor is there a law that says you can't have walls up. I know I have no control over it, but it irks me that one person in a position of power can disrupt so many people's lives with a few words and perhaps a wave of a hand (or wand in the movie mentioned above). Sure, if in a neighbourhood where all the walls were white and an eccentric resident chose to paint his/her wall in a multi-colour splatter, I can see them being asked to conform. But, only if it the majority of those living in the vicinity of this resident agree that the wall should be white and even then they can ask and not force this person to change.

So here we are at the NOC, down to almost no walls and feeling rather naked and exposed to everything else around us. The walls provided a feeling of security and identity.  Not just for us, but probably for people like the ones I can now see through the window at my desk; the living area of the few live-in workers in the building next to ours. The walls were a boundary that told us "this place is ours". Now, anyone can walk onto our grounds and enjoy them, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as we have a beautiful place. It's just that there is little privacy anymore. But if the ducks have it their way on the grounds, no one will get to enjoy the grounds. (I tried today to cut through the outdoor dining area of the restaurant attached to our building and they chased me out. These ducks also like to leave little gifts all over our driveway and grounds).

McRice?

After work one day last week, the girls in the office decided to head to McDonalds for some burgers and chips. It was good times ... 6 of us in a booth, 3 large extra value meals (so we could share the large pops and fries), 2 burgers and my selection.So while they had their burgers and chips, I went for the special offering as McDonalds does to cater to regional tastes. The McRice with Chicken.

The McRice and I.

The lovely ladies I work with! (L to R: Rasani, Hiruni, Gayathri, Dinushi, Shammi)

Basically, it was Uncle Ben's type rice (seasoned) with a McChicken patty on top, with a side of spicy sauce which I think is meant to imitate masala. I couldn't tell. But, it wasn't bad, especially for 240LKR (about $2.20 CAD).

Since consuming the McRice, the following week has been pretty crazy (no, the two are not correlated although I imply it is - a consequence for eating McDonalds?). Commonwealth Youth Games accreditation deadline is looming so this week has been filled with more selection stuff, training representatives from National Sports Federations to enter information on Zeus, plus completing my work plan for the year and this month's report! Anyways, that's all in as of 15 minutes ago and I'm off to Mirissa, a small beach town 4 hours south of Colombo (only about 140km though) for one night and two days with a Canadian (Jaimie) I met this week at an Internations (a networking site for "global minds") event and a Taiwanese girl who is interning with Jaimie at the Asia Foundation. Hooray for my first real adventure out of Colombo!

Alright. Off to bed now as I'll be up in about 7 hours until departure. I promise photos ... but how quickly I'll get them up is another story. Sorry for being so lazy on posting photos, especially on Facebook!

First weekend in Colombo

Easter weekend! After a couple more days of catching up on e-mail correspondence between the NOC/CGA and other parties along with a few small tasks, I reached my first weekend here in Colombo.

One of the streets in Pettah.

I had expressed wishes to visit Pettah, an older part of Colombo and location of the crazy and bustling marketplace. That had surprised the staff I work with as they perceive the place as sketchy and not a place for a female to be alone. So on Thursday after work, they decided that they would go with me (with a male – our driver) to walk around a little and check it out. Crazy it was! People were everywhere weaving in and out between the traffic which itself was nuts. I’m glad I didn’t go alone as it was a very different part of town. As neat as it was, I don’t think I will be going back. There are deals to be had, but quality is definitely lower than those in stores and it's not worth the effort in dodging vehicles and stares! After that brief outing, we all went to do more shopping at Arpico, Sri Lanka’s version of Wal-Mart. I picked up the last of what I think I’m missing at home, had some popcorn, and got dropped off at my place. I have to thank the lovely ladies that accompanied me on this trip and our very patient driver. They are all so caring and patient!

Local Bus

The office was closed for Good Friday so one of my colleagues, Dinushi, made plans to meet with me in the morning to go to the National Museum then head to the Univesrsity of Colombo where her friend was working on a final project for one of his classes. However, the National Museum was closed for Good Friday so we went to Gangaramaya Temple via public bus! Dinushi took care to get us on one that wasn’t crowded, but it was a very jerky ride as the drivers tend to brake pretty hard here. Not too bad when it’s not crowded, but it looks like a very different journey when people are packed in there like sardines during rush hour.

The temple was quite different from the temples I’ve seen in Malaysia, China, and Japan. Those ones were all so clean and looked like they really catered to tourists. Although this one had tourists, it really looked like a well-worn and locally used temple. Things weren’t all polished, shiny, and bright. Instead, it looked liked it really had a lot of character. And then there was an elephant. Sacred animal indeed, but it didn’t look too happy.

Afterwards we hung out at my apartment for a little while after picking up some lunch packets. I had Dinushi teach me how to eat with my hands! You can see my attempts at eating. I was rather slow, but I think I’m slowly getting it! Still out of my comfort zone, but I hope it will become more normal. The curry here is so delicious!

My friendly colleague, Dinushi

After lunch, we headed to the University of Colombo campus where Dinushi’s friend was shooting a music video as a school final project. We sat around and enjoyed the scenery while they shot a scene. I don’t understand anything they’re saying, but I’m enjoying trying to decipher the mood and tone of the conversations just from facial expression and body language. One thing I noted to Dinushi is that in the Western culture, when we agree with something we nod up and down. Here in Sri Lanka, they nod side to side. 

Saturday was a very rainy day. Like Vancouver, but very warm. It did provide some welcome relief to the very hot weather. I finally connected with video on my Skype with the family and Chad in the morning (yay!). After spending some time on the computer in the morning and cleaning a bit, I took a cab to Crescat Boulevard in Colombo 3 (Colpetty). It was nice and definitely more like malls in Canada, but tiny compared to what we’re used to! That’s very unlike Majestic City which is the mall that I live close to … which I compare to more like a bunch of shops in a strip mall (or for those of you in Burnaby, Crystal Mall). However, there are three floors and each one has shops side by side that are crammed to the brim with merchandise!

After a bit of a sleep in on Sunday, I set out on a long walk. Walking north on the street I live on (RA de Mel Mawatha) I got to see a couple clothing shops. First was Fashion Bug then I passed through Beverly Street. These stores carry so much merchandise I really didn’t have any motivation to look, but prices are pretty affordable for most things. Because the clothing industry is so big here and in India they get a lot of overstock here. However, the styles seem a little on the old side compared to what we have. At one of these shops, I saw an overrun of an Eddie Bauer skirt for $8 CAD. I also saw an H&M button up shirt that I own in Canada for $6 CAD here. I almost got to Kollupitiya Market when it started to pour. I quickly hailed a tuk tuk (lucky a metered one came down the street while I was unsuccessfully bargaining with a non-metered one) and set out for ODEL. Considered one of the higher end labels in Sri Lanka (prices are comparable to ours) I went to their main store which is like a department store. I spent an hour or so trying to wait out the rain amusing myself in trying to find some steals (i.e Zebra print Zara dress, $16 CAD). When the rain stopped, I went and continued my walk through Colombo 7 around the area I work, then caught a tuk tuk back to the area I live. I stopped in on House of Fashion which was a mad house with clothing, homewares, toys, luggage, etc. Ridiculously cheap clothing here too! Again, so much to sort through … save that for another day. Lucky for me it’s only about three blocks from my apartment.

I also picked up a internet dongle (def: “A device that is connected to a computer to allow access to wireless broadband or use of protected software” (google.com)). However, I currently can’t get it to load the driver or software properly onto my computer to have access. 

I had promised to show some of you how dirt just sticks to everything here. Here are some examples: 

The dirty side of the cotton wipe is from cleaning my face after a full day of walking around the streets of Colombo.

See if you can tell which part of the couch I have cleaned!

I'm off to Wellington in two days ... 6 hours in Hong Kong on the way there, about 10 hours in Hong Kong on the way back. Going to enjoy HK airport!