First few days ...

Hello again everyone! I've got internet at work right now, but not at home as I haven't found a plug adapter for our Canadian/American 3-pronged plugs so I can power my laptop. However, work has provided me a laptop which they don't mind if I take home ... so I just might do that for the next little while!

So it's day 3 and I'm struggling a bit to figure out where I'm going to meet people. I've decided that will be my focus once I return from more training in New Zealand. So lets recap from the last few days...

April 18th, 2011

After a slight delay in Hong Kong I arrived in Colombo just after 1am. I was met by Maxwell, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Games Association and National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka. He and one of the drivers from our organization drove me to my apartment; my home for the next year. Unfortunately to our surprise, I was going to spend the first night without bed linens or pillows. Lucky I have my sleep sheet and sleeping bag! I tried to sleep but with the time difference I was unccessful. At about 10am I was picked up again by our driver and wisked away to the office for my first day!

I was greeted warmly as I walked into the office. They even created a banner to place at the entrance to welcome me (so sweet!). It was the first day back for everyone just after New Years holidays so we started the morning with a feast of traditional Sri Lankan treats. So tasty! After filling up on the delicious sweet and savoury treats, we retreated to the boardroom where a number of presentations were made to me about the organization, Sri Lanka, and the education system pertaining to sport and the Olympics. All that was followed by lunch. After lunch I spent some time in my new cubicle being able to check e-mail, update Facebook, etc., a few staff members took me shopping for the household goods that I was missing in the apartment. So nice of them! After getting home I cooked my first meal in Sri Lanka ... just a simple meal that I would make at home generally as when we went shopping I got some staples (i.e. garlic, onion, salt, etc.). However, I added a new condiment that I'm sure will be a fixture in my diet in the next year ... sambal!

My new workspace.

I have a TV, lucky me. :) It has one English channel which has some local programming along with CNN programming. There are occasional sports updates, but NHL updates are few and far in between! I've only been able to follow the playoffs through reading articles online at the moment.

"Home" is a little dirty I suppose compared to our standards. I don't know if it's because of the humidity but it seems like the walls are permanently dirty (in general). I'm also sure it didn't help that it seems like no one had lived in the apartment for a few months and I think the last tenants didn't treat it all too well. The organization was so kind to send a couple staff members to check it out and make sure that things were in working order and to help clean up. I'll probably be cleaning a fair bit this weekend so I finally feel more comfortable! I'll post photos when I am finally all cleaned up an unpacked. That might not happen until I return from New Zealand though!

April 19th, 2011

2nd day was a little more "normal" as I spent the whole day at the office. I was given the task of catching up through reading the correspondence they've had regarding the Isle of Man Commonwealth Youth Games coming up and their e-mails. Also they had me start working on a database in MS Access for all their Olympic Course Alumni (which I finished today). Things that are a little different in the office here compared to what I'm used to:

• Open floor concept. We're all in cubicles or a desk in the middle of a large space with the exception of the Secretary General. That means a lot of noise, phones ringing, and loud conversations. Nothing is private. For me, I usually like quiet spaces when I work and this will be a major adjustment!


• Tea time! We have tea time at 10am and around 2:30pm every day. It hasn't been overly social but we get served tea at our desk at these times.


• At SOBC we all had lunch together ... here's a little more casual that we go any time between 12pm and 1pm. However, major difference is that lunch only lasts about 15 minutes!


• 9am to 5pm. It's nice and especially that I live only about a 5-10 minute tuk tuk/cab ride away from work. I may start walking home soon as it'll probably be a slow, sweaty, 30-45 minute walk I really won't want to do in the morning.
• My cubicle is beside the accountant and he likes to break into a few lines of song every once in awhile during the day. =)

I also got driven to work in my very first tuk tuk ride. BEEP BEEP!

After work I did a bit of exploring around my residence with the new city map and city guide that the Commonwealth Games Association (CGA from now on) provided me with. I'm finding that people are generally very friendly and many speak at a least a bit of English. Most signs also have English on them so that helps! About a 10 minute walk from my place is a bubble tea place run by a Taiwanese lady! I couldn't resist and had to try it. It was decent ... definitely not as good as back home, but good to know it's here!

So on my way back home I got caught in my very first thunderstorm downpour here. Got totally soaked walking just one block.

Well, that's my update for now!