I have never ...

... sweat so much in my life! I went to my first Zumba class today. Has the potential to be fun, but the instructor isn't the most enthusiastic. Not one smile ... no encouraging words. But most of all, it was hard to forget the sweat soaking through all my clothing. Not a pretty picture. At least everyone else was like that ... and sure fire way to lose a few quick pounds (but not a good way to do so!). Yes, there is NO A/C at most gyms unless I pay an arm and a leg for a membership. So, I'll have to settle with drinking probably 2 litres of water per workout (or something kinda silly like that).

I'm going to stick with Zumba for awhile ... spoke to a couple of ladies and mentioned I was interested in hip hop so one of them passed on the number of their daughter's instructors. I'm assuming her daughter would be closer to my age... she was apparently working out in the gym downstairs but I didn't get a chance to meet her. I hope that works out as I was told hip hop is more a thing for people my age ... so maybe I'll be able to grow my social network here!

While on the topic of fitness, I wanted to share the in-flight safety video I got to watch for Air New Zealand. So what does fitness have to do with an in-flight safety video? I present to you, this:



See if you can spot a celebrity other than Richard Simmons!

"Home" and a bit of Vesak.

At last! Photos of my place!

My colleagues wonder what I do with my downtime at home. Well, I like to cook so I do that a lot. For example, today, I baked some bread. I've been finding the sandwich bread here very dry compared to what I'm used to so I think I'm going to start baking my own from now on! For this loaf, it's Amish White Bread and it tastes deliciously sweet. MMmmmmmm.

And a couple weeks ago I made my first curry attempt, Chinese/Sri Lankan/Western style!

I've also finally started a Picasa Web Album so I can show you more photos without clogging up this blog. I will post a link for each album I might blog about ... so for this entry, you can find it here.

Since my last blog I'm feeling a bit better again. I did get sick after heading out for that long walk and was down with what I think was stomach flu for 2 days. But, I did promise I would post photos of Vesak so you will find these here!

I did want to highlight a few lanterns though that were entered into their annual lantern competition ... the theme this year was to use as much existing natural sources and recycled material as possible to construct the lanterns.

Lantern made entirely of cardboard!

Incredible detail on this one!

Some smaller ones that were more commonly found around the city. 

Hope you enjoyed it! Cheers until next time!

Mr. President!, annoyances, masks, and chocolate.

A little of a different tone to this post ... and, uh, not so edited as I just regurgitated my thoughts onto here in 20 minutes or so. 

Just got back from a 3.5 hour outing to check out Vesak in Colombo. It was super busy ... and it got me to my wits end (CSP-ers, my Sargeant’s Curve just dipped below the average).

As beautiful all the lights were, it was hard to be walking around alone. Mostly because I was sick and tired of boys and young men staring, saying “hello hello. Hello lady!” with some being rather obnoxious. Kids stare too, but I forgive them because the looks on their faces are usually ones of curiosity. However, one boy who was probably about 9 years old ran right up to me, cut me off, and started shouting and saying things in Sinhala with some English thrown in there somewhere. Then there was a older teenage boy who, wearing a mask (more on that later) who stopped and offered to shake my hand... probably as a dare from his friends. Mostly, there was just some hooting and hollering, but I’m getting tired of it. From what I know, it’s more pronounced because I’m a foreigner, but locals aren’t immune from it either. I've mostly been ignoring it but tonight, I found it hard to handle. And in general, I think males were just more rowdy than usual tonight doing things that I would find annoying even at home in Vancouver (you know, causing trouble, being loud/rude, etc. Yeesh, boys!). Mob mentality. 

So these masks ... it’s odd. I was reading an opinion paper online about how this Vesak celebration has kind of lost it’s real meaning which I related to how Easter and Christmas has lost some of it’s real meaning in the Western culture. Anyways, the paper pointed out that these masks are a new “tradition” that the younger generation have brought into the celebration. So I’m sure you’re wondering what masks ... think Halloween. Yup. Halloween costume masks. The most popular is the mask from Scream so you can imagine how odd it is that in celebrating the Buddha with all this fanfare and fancy lights there are people walking down the street with these masks on.

Oh, and then I guess you can say that I was in the right place at the right time, but I saw the President of Sri Lanka on the street I was walking down. He was making his very smiley grand entrance to what looked like a banquet for very important people on the street. I’ve said all along that I was going to avoid any political events, but I accidentally walked into this one! Needless to say, I then proceeded to be a little nervous and quickly continued to walk down the street away from the event. No photos as I was told while I was taking pictures of a lantern that photos were not allowed in the area (government buildings and such).

Later, there was an older Chinese man who was obviously a tourist as well wandering along the same street I was. I was so hoping he was Cantonese (even though he totally looked like a Mainlander) so I could have someone to walk with, but when he opened his mouth to speak, out came a bunch of Mandarin that I could not understand and could only reply “I only speak Cantonese. Gwong dong wah. Sorry.” I think we were both disappointed.

That moment, coupled with the ongoing unwanted attention, sent me to a bit of a dip in my mood. It made me realize as I was surrounded by families and people out with their friends (especially large groups of young males) I was really missing some familiarity and people to share this experience with. I would compare this to going to the Richmond Night Market alone ... except that you’re totally singled out because you look different. So to all my friends and family, I miss you guys!!!

So after walking over 4km  (I took a wrong turn along the way) I was done. I wanted to go home. My original plan was to walk back, but I couldn’t deal with any more people at that point. So there I am, standing on the side of the road of this uber busy intersection trying to flag down a tuk tuk because when I tried to call a cab, they told me it would be probably a 1.5 – 2 hour wait. I was standing by police which made me feel a bit better and we tried to chat when I asked if it was okay to ask a tuk tuk to stop in the no parking zone they had there. Communication barriers prevented us from having an actual conversation, but at least he understood what I was asking. Anyways, 15 minutes later one finally unloads some passengers and picks me up and whisks me home in the fastest tuk tuk ride I have ever had, traffic and all!

I’ve booked myself on a Colombo City Tour (and got the local rate! Go Residence Visa!) that is doing a special Vesak tour tomorrow night ... I think my experiences tonight will make me really appreciate the tour tomorrow as I’ll be on a bus and not have to fight the crowds!

Anyways, it’s now 11:45 ... just over an hour since I got back and I’m still not really in the mood to put some photos up so that will come later. I just needed to do a bit of venting! I’m likely going to start a Picasa album that I will link from here so you can see more photos than what I post within this blog. Well, good night!

PS: While I was writing this I was nibbling on a Whittaker’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Slab bar from New Zealand and I have to say it’s probably some of the BEST chocolate (with no dairy) that I have ever had along with their Dark Chocolate Caramel bar that I still have some of. I haven’t found anything close to it in Vancouver (and definitely not here in Sri Lanka) and am afraid will be desperately seeking it in the future! 

Is this for real?

Sorry for a bit of a lull since the last post. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind the last two weeks so I don’t really even know where to start. It's a long one! 

On April 27^th I hopped back on a plane after being in Colombo for all of ten days to head to Wellington, New Zealand. On the way I had a six hour layover in Hong Kong where I got to eat some of my favourite Chinese foods – congee (rice porridge) and sticky rice wrap. Yum!

Rainy day in Wellington.

Anyhow, about 26 hours after taking off from Colombo, I finally landed in Wellington and was picked up along with Carla (CGC Director of International Programs) by Richard, CGF Zeus-pert and Wellington native. Catch all those acronyms? Upon checking in, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we were staying in Wellington for just one night. The next day, the CSOs with Carla and Richard were to depart for Martinborough about 45 minutes outside of Wellington.

Atop the Rimutaka Range

Grocery stop in Featherston

Fast forward to the next day and as we drive through the countryside on our way to Martinborough, we were all in awe of the jaw-dropping scenery that was passing by. Rolling lush green hills, cows and sheep openly grazing, winding rivers, and fall colours (and golf courses!) made for an extremely enjoyable ride and left me pining to golf. We paused for a quick stop atop the Rimutaka Range. The six CSOs Wendy (Uganda), Natalie (Falkland Island), Paddye (Seychelles), Ella (Tonga), Duane (Samoa), myself, and Richard stopped in Featherston for groceries after we divided up who will cook what meals, before getting to our accommodations for the weekend.

Well, we were just blown away when we rolled up to the house we were staying in. “Is this for real? This is where were staying?” followed by gasps of disbelief could be heard among us. We had arrived at a house in the middle of a peaceful vineyard where not a car could be heard. Birds chirping, leaves rustling and crisp fresh country air; I was elated!  One evening we went out to look at the stars and I have never seen stars like that night before (I sound like such a big city girl). SOOOO many stars ... and you could see the milky way! I guess when I’ve gone camping in BC I’ve just never been far away from the city enough!

CSP Team 3 NZ prepping dinner!

We spent the next three days here doing more training and self-reflection. We shared with each other our first experiences in our host countries, talked about some of the challenges we might face and how we might solve them, did a draft work plan with both personal and work goals, and discussed how we might support each other. We watched the Royal Wedding (or tried to, most of us went to bed before it was over), cooked, ate, chatted and overall became a connected well-oiled CSP Team 3 machine!

Following these 3 lovely days in the countryside, it was time to get serious about Zeus. So remember when I wrote about this and called a database? Well, it is and so much more. I am so excited about it! It takes Games Management to a whole other level ... I’m blown away by what it can do and the potential it has for any NOC/CGA that uses it. So this is the program that I will be working on all year with NOC SL along with a few other things. Anyways, training was intense and we covered SO much in those 5 days but it was such a great learning experience. A shout out to NZOC for being such lovely hosts (we got to train in their Olympic Museum which itself is amazing).

I think this is the first place in the world I could say that I would consider living here as it really reminded me of BC, other than the wind! Wellington even comes with Vancouver type rain! But with no central heating ... that’s my only doubt. Snowboarding is only 3 – 4 hours away (not as convenient as the North Shore, but accessible), mountain biking 30 minutes away, and probably a whole lot more I didn’t get a chance to discover. Not only that, Wellington is just such a down to earth city ... not too big, not too small, and no attitude. Don’t worry ... it’ll take a longer visit for me to be convinced to try living there. I was talking to the a physiotherapist whom I saw there and is originally from Ottawa and she mentioned a major downside is not having health care like in Canada. But, NZ is definitely somewhere I am going to HAVE to visit again.

Heading back to Colombo I had close to a 9 hour layover in Hong Kong which was great. I escaped the confines of Hong Kong Airport and go to visit with family! Also quickly was able to pick up a pair of cheap Birkenstocks and replace my cellular headphone/mic as they seemed to have disappeared from my hotel room (Yes, I’m suspicious). Thanks to my aunt for taking care of me and my uncle for such a lovely lunch!

Fast forward to this past week where I’ve been “playing” on Zeus and updating all the notes that I had written during the 5 days of training (24 pages of them) and it’s been a long and slow process. Trying to format and keep format and wording consistent has been a challenge as I was a little all over the place when I was writing the notes during training. NOC SL has been great and they are such amazing go-getters that we’re already going to start training staff on Zeus starting next week. I’ll be presenting to them what Zeus can do and what I so far have gathered what they want it to do for them ... from there once we define who needs what roles in the system I’ll start to work with the first group of individuals to use it for the upcoming Commonwealth Youth Games in Isle of Man . We’ll also soon be getting set to get organized for the 1^st ever South Asian Beach Games to be hosted in Hambantota, Sri Lanka who also has a bid in for the 2018 Commonwealth Games .