An up and down week ... and not just because of the topography

Oh it's been a busy week! So I was away last week from Colombo having departed for Bandarawela/Diyatalawa in "Hill Country" on Wednesday and returned on Sunday afternoon. OH how BEAUTIFUL it was up there and I loved the climate. Highs in the upper 20s during the day and lows in the upper teens at night. I want to go back! It was so green and lush.

We stayed at our NOC President's vacation home, Cranford Villa. It was an old tea plantation bungalow from the early 1900s. There were some pretty cool antiques there! Aside from the absolutely fantastic weather we had, food had to be my favourite. We ate Sri Lankan meals during our stay here and it was sooo tasty! 

However, it wasn't all relaxation and fun. I was up here to see what the Olympic Sports Administration and Management course was all about ... in Sinhala. In large part, I didn't know what was going on except for the text that I borrowed from time to time to flip through, the PowerPoint slides, and the occasional English term. 

What I took most away from this experience were from the students at this teachers' college. A little background... The Uva National College of Education is a government run school which offers a three-year teachers' diploma in physical education. At the end, students who are able to can move to university for another year to attain their degree. The students live on campus attending classes and training sessions for their first two years, followed by a one year practicum. Everyday, in addition to attending classes, they have physical training sessions in the morning and evening. 

These students were really bright and exhibited an excellent work ethic. They were so attentive during our three day course and was absorbing every word being said to them. They were so grateful of this opportunity provided to them. Then I was told that these students, although they have room and board, get by with very little. Their dormitories are barracks style. They get 60 rupees a day to eat three meals. That's about $0.52 a day to buy mostly rice and some curry and a bit of veg and protein if they're lucky. For students who need to use their minds and also are so active in training, I couldn't believe that was their diet. Not exactly a habit you want physical education teachers to have when they will be the ones who will set the example for their students when it comes to nutrition. 

Students working on their final task. 

However, truth is that as government teachers, their students in the future won't be very wealthy and likely be surviving on a similar diet. I was reading last Sunday's paper and on their pull out health section was a plate with 2/3 rice and 1/3 veg on it to promote what they should eat (no protein?). Protein was mentioned in the article, but also mentioned was this was a goal that Sri Lankans should shoot for, given that the majority of the population here eats 90% rice and 10% everything else in their meals. That put into perspective that 2/3 carbs and 1/3 other food groups made a lot of sense as a good target to shoot for. 

When they get a job as a government teacher, they'll be making about $150 a month and I can only hope they will be able to fuel their bodies better ... until they have families and if they are the primary breadwinner then back into more carbs they go as that little bit of money then needs to feed many more mouths and provide larger shelter.

That brings me to the National Team Selection meetings today for the Isle of Man Youth Commonwealth Games. Many of the National Federations came in insisting their athletes could improve upon the trial times/scores that were submitted given that we are in mid-season and they won't peak until the Games. I started connecting the dots ... knowing what I learned last week about diet and nutrition in the country, I really believe that these athletes absolutely could improve. However, as much as training will improve their score, I think the true improvement in the performance of these athletes are hidden in their nutrition. Many of these athletes are from rural areas and have not a clue how they should treat their bodies as high performance athletes. 

It was a thought I had at the office and I know it's something that will not change overnight (and when it does, it will be very slow) But if the government wants better performing athletes, they need to realize that it starts at education. If they don't feed their teachers properly, then the teachers won't learn proper nutrition to teach as they can't practice it. Then, you end up with student athletes who have this amazing potential, but are unable to perform to their fullest because they lack the nutrition they need for their bodies to grow, condition, and repair itself. Most of their athletes come out of the education system because very very few are able to afford other training or advice. You may have recently seen a slew of Sri Lankan cricketers and rugby players testing for banned substances ... mostly because they've heard from someone a supplement or an energy drink is good and not aware at all of the risks of consuming those. 

Then, at the other end of the spectrum, I see wealthy families who are also uneducated about what good nutrition is, but are stuffing themselves and their kids with so much food that they are obese. As my Yoga teacher preached last week, "fat makes you lazy and lethargic." Well, now you have athletes that are a little too lean and lacking nutrition or kids who don't want to be athletes because they aren't encouraged to live a healthy lifestyle. 

I know these are very strong opinions and what I have written here could be considered wishful thinking when so many residents worry and work just to ensure they have food and shelter day to day. Survival is first and healthcare is secondary. It's frustrating to me to see that some of the high performance administrators in this country don't recognize the importance of nutrition and are solely focused on physical training.  It's also frustrating to see that there isn't additional help offered to these young athletes with nutrition as they grow so that when they are fully mature they truly are performing to their full potential and are educated enough so that they aren't caught with banned substances in their bodies. I don't doubt that there are people who are trying to change this. I would love to learn more about what barriers they have faced in trying to "sell" this concept. I certainly know that the very passionate administrators at UVA National Teachers College have tried to fight for a bigger budget to provide better nutrition to their student teachers, but to no avail. 

This week was one where the culture shocks have hit me pretty hard as I had a lot of time to reflect on my  observations while in Bandarawela and in the long car ride back to Colombo. To me, as a person who comes from a land where we preach a plate 1/2 full of vegetables/fruit, 1/4 protein, and a 1/4 grains with dairy/dairy substitute on the side, learning what was real was shocking. Seeing that healthcare was secondary to survival made me realize how much we take healthcare in Canada for granted. And it was humbling to see these student teachers with such an amazing spirit compared to some teachers in Canada who have the freedom to choose where they want to teach and have so many resources to use to help them teach.  

The people I work with ...

Ayubowan! This is used as hello but it's true meaning is "long life" or wishing someone a long life.

In my last post I mentioned my colleagues ever so briefly about their generosity in paying my bus fare the few times we have taken a bus trip together. I want to elaborate ...

These ladies, my friends, are whom I call my "protectors". They have gone out of their way to ensure I know my way to and from work, that I am safe, and that I feel comfortable and settled. When we travel as a group they're always looking back to make sure I'm still with them. More often than not they keep me in the middle. They've arranged to help get my apartment clean and feeling like home. They've helped arrange my transportation to and from a number of different places. Since day one, they have adopted me into the NOC family with open arms, huge smiles, and plenty of giggles. We've only worked together for about 6 weeks now, but I feel everyday the connection gets stronger and our relationships grow. We eat lunch together everyday and most of us leave the office together everyday. And for the time being, we're working on Zeus together everyday.

Rewind to two weeks ago when I walked into the office thinking TGIF and to my surprise we were getting the latter half of the day off since it was a government holiday to celebrate the ending of the civil war two years ago. The girls in the office, also surprised, sheepishly asked if they could come to my apartment to celebrate the day. I, with some resistance, eventually agreed on the condition they give me 5 minutes to clean my apartment up before I let them in. At around lunch time we all left the office and took the bus back to my area. We stopped at a roadside vendor to buy some bananas. Then we went to the supermarket in Majestic City go get some junk food and a bit more fruit. We walk back to my apartment building where I took them to the rooftop patio for them to explore for 5 minutes while I went back down to my apartment to quickly put some things away and made sure I had enough sitting space.

We had all packed lunch to work thinking it was a full day so we broke those lunches open and ate. After eating, we kind of looked at each other and thought, "what's next?" Well, lucky Gayathri saves the day with a deck of cards. We play a couple of different games (these were smart card games ... requiring thinking which I was extremely slow at) had some good laughs when someone made a mistake was greatly penalized and some moments of joy when someone won.

Then I was introduced to this new game called "maru maru" (probably spelled wrong again) which "change". There were 6 of us, 30 pieces of paper with 6 colours written on them (so 5 pieces each of each colour). They were all folded up into little pieces and mixed up. When the organizer said go, we collected 5 pieces as fast as we could, opened them, and then decided privately which colour we would aim to collect all 5 pieces of paper of. When you got all 5 of the same colour you finished and put your hand in the middle. This game was HILARIOUS!!!  We played I think 5 rounds ... and one or two of those rounds there would be just 3 people left and the same colours would just circulate around and around as we frantically called to each other "maru maru. Maru maru. MARU MARU." Often we had more than one person looking for the same colour and eventually someone had to give. I lost ... I was so slow and probably just too stubborn to ever change my colour early on enough to make it easier on myself. Anyhow, when we were done, I still hadn't really figured out any strategy to be any faster other than relying on luck and hoping that I had three or more of the same colour to start the round (which never happened). Gayathri and Hiruni were the quick and quiet ones. Somehow, they always ranked near the top and did quietly. Kaushalya was quick, but polite. Rasani was similar, but when she was ready to win she went for it. Dinushi was always full of action and enthusiasm. However, we were all definitely competitive. Chetana, another one of the girls I work with wasn't able to join us on this day, but I'm sure she would have been just as competitive!

It proved to be a very entertaining afternoon until it was about 5pm and it was time for my colleagues to leave. Off back home they went. My only wish was that I was more prepared to entertain! Next time girls, next time.

Bring us to the last couple days and despite working really really hard juggling their day-to-day responsibilities at work with sitting with me and training on Zeus, they've always kept a sense of humour and still take care of me. We've spent a minimum of 2 hours a day on Zeus each day this week and more the last couple of days being such troopers learning the ins and outs and putting up with my "quiz" questions. For pushing them to their limits they took me to their "stores" to try and find me some Team Sri Lanka wear (no smalls) but I left with a sports bag and a commemorative medal from when they hosted the South Asian Games in 2006. I also was given one of the mascots from the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. And another example of them taking care of me: on Friday they ordered doughnuts to end the week and when we found out there were eggs in the batter, they went and got me pastries from a different store that didn't have egg in them (they were really tasty ... I gobbled them up right away). Thank you ladies, for working so hard, being so kind, and so understanding. I've got some some things for you up my sleeve ... and I'll leave you with that. ;)

They've also officially started teaching me some Sinhala. On Thursday I learned how to count to ... 999 (Nava seeya anoo navaya?). I didn't actually count to 999 nor can I do anything without looking at my notes right now as I'm learning this language is pure memorization, much like Chinese. Although words can be written in arabic letters by the way they sound, the combination of letters and their pronunciation can be different from what I am used in in English. As a result, my pronunciation and emphasis on certain syllables can be quite off (and yes, I sound really funny and I currently speak in slow motion). I'm looking forward to learning more though and hope that by the end of my year here, I can understand some conversation and maybe even hold a simple one. Lofty goals, but not unattainable.

I also want to give a mention to Taranga who is one of our drivers but has been amazing lately in getting me to a number of different places (ex. post office, physio). Him, like many other drivers here have AMAZING driving skills to squeeze through the smallest of spots and make the tightest of turns. Lots of respect for your skills, sir! Then there's Kanishka who was my driver for the first month and a bit while I was here who also possesses some excellent driving skills. Dinusha who despite seemingly in and out of the office all the time is trying really hard to keep up to speed on Zeus. And also Tuan, who's adorable son made a visit to the office on Friday and has been taking care of a number of administrative things for me since my arrival (ex. my work visa, curtains, looking for resources). I don't know these guys as well as the ladies in my office, but on Friday also showed they have a great sense of humour as well!

This Wednesday I'm travelling to the Hill Country for an Olympic Academy "train the trainers" course for a few days, returning on Sunday. I'll try to post while I'm there, but if I don't, I'll post in about a week's time!

So this traffic chaos does lead to accidents after all ...

My colleagues took me to Borella (Colombo 8) to show me where Meat Shop (really, that is the name of the store) and the near by Keells Supermarket is. I was on a quest for some pork which isn't always readily available as there is a small but significant population here that follow halal food practices. Anyhow, I got some and then my colleague saw me off on a bus going home.

It was a nicer bus with plusher than usual seats and high backs and we chose that I got on this one because it wasn't jam packed with people as they often are. I often let quite a few buses go by if I find they're busy or my favourite spot to stand (up front, in front of the front seat to the left of the driver where I can wedge myself into a corner) isn't available. After sitting idle at the bus stop for 5 minutes, we were finally off heading back west towards my apartment. Buses here are known to lurch forward, stop suddenly, and careen around corners so when we suddenly stopped in the middle of the intersection, it didn't surprise me. What did surprise me though was that shortly after, a man came up to the bus yelling and obviously angry. This goes on for a few minutes with traffic driving around us also quite annoyed before we pull forward then over to the side. Anyhow, I'm a bit curious as to what is happening as some people have gotten off the bus so I look over a few seats back at the most professional looking person (i.e. dress pants, dress shoes, laptop bag, and a dress shirt vs. the guy in front of me in a polo shirt, jeans, and ratty looking flip flops ... shoes are the key here) and ask him "What is happening?" He notes that the bus has been in a minor accident. I proceed to ask "do you think this will take a long time?" He does the head nod I have grown to be determined to learn how to decipher and says "I'm not sure. It may be better to get off and try to get another bus." So off the bus I get and away I go.

10 seconds later I hear a voice behind me ... "oh, I do the same as you". So this man and I start walking to the next stop which is roughly 500m ahead. He seemed nice enough and started the conversation by the question the majority people ask me: "Where are you from? China?" I say "No, Canada." He goes "Noooooo. Really? Noooooo. Canadian?" I guess what I've grown so used to, knowing Canada as a multicultural country where just about any background and race is accepted, isn't common knowledge here. In fact, there have been many times where I have just given up and agreed "Yes, I'm from China" which is somewhat true as I was born in Hong Kong after all (but I usually like to differentiate Hong Kong from China). We go through the usual banter with what I'm doing here (working? studying?), how I like Sri Lanka, and how it's different from home.

I noticed his English was quite good so I started to ask a bit about him (usually it's all about me). He told me he was working in Colombo as a database management administrator (how interesting) working on Oracle software and doing Oracle courses. I asked him if he went to University and he said no, he missed entrance by half a point (ouch.). But he also told me it doesn't matter because he is studying Oracle now and that working hard to get himself ahead is what counts. We went more into depth about my thoughts about Colombo and how it differs from where I come from. Then he shared with me that he felt a bit the same about how I felt. I asked him why and he told me he only moved to Colombo six months ago from Kandy. It then clicked in my head that I knew he seemed a little different ... just really openly genuine and nice. So we talked all the way to the bus stop and the 5-10 minutes we stood waiting for the next bus to come. About what brings people to Colombo, what I do, what he does, missing family and friends back home, and how Colombo differs from where he comes from (I've met rowdy young men, he has encountered thugs, both which do not exist in Kandy). I was so happy to be talking to someone who wanted to carry on a conversation not just because I was sitting in his taxi or trishaw.

Anyhow, a bus finally comes and we do a double take that it was the same bus that we got off (it wasn't, so it confirmed that we did not waste our time and energy walking to the next stop). I'm fumbling with my bag and when I finally get my 10 Rupees out, he looks at me and says "I paid for you". How nice. Bus rides here are cheap (9 Rupees from where we got on to where I needed to get off ... about 8 cents Canadian). But it was such a nice gesture (and thank you to my colleagues who have done the same for me numerous times, I owe you all) from someone I had only known for about 15 minutes that gave me kind of a renewed hope that there are nice guys around and not all are obnoxious. I know that obviously is the truth, but they just seem so far and few in between when I usually just get stares ... It added to the awesomeness that a girl from my dance class yesterday offered to drive me up to the main road to catch a taxi when I asked which way I needed to walk to get one.

At the end we got off at the same stop where he needed to connect to another bus and I needed to walk home. We exchanged a few more words and he thanked me for being so nice. I said the same to him and thanked him for paying my bus fare. He asked once more where I worked so I handed him my business card and said that if he wanted to learn more about the Olympics and Commonwealth Games to send me an e-mail. Gotta put in a plug for what I do. He also asked me what sports I played ... just for insurance I started by telling him I did karate, followed by all the other sports I dabble in. Anyhow, it was dark out now and I really wanted to get home so I thanked him again and said good-bye.

It felt good to know that I'm not alone in feeling a bit like a fish out of water here in this city and that even someone from the country who speaks the language can sometimes feel the same way. I walked home with a smile on my face, remembering Maxwell's (our Secretary General at the NOC) words that people outside of Colombo are nicer and more happy which I think this guy (Emal was his name? That's what it sounded like but I'm sure my spelling is all wrong) was a great example of.
***09 June Edit: It was Amil. (I got an e-mail from him this morning). My spelling and memory were soooooo far off.

Side note: Kandy is about 2 - 3 hours away, inland, by bus. It is home to the Sacred Tooth Relic; a tooth of the Buddha hidden somewhere extremely secretive. It is also known as the cultural and Buddhist centre of the country and my colleagues are planning a trip for us to go up and explore. Yay!

Behold the stakeholder map!

It's hard to believe it's getting close to a month and a half since I've left home to move here ... and that I met all the other Capacity Support Officers nearly two months ago. How time flies! Each month we have to submit a monthly report that is approved by our host organization to the CGC. Well, tomorrow my monthly report for May is due, but we also had two other "assignments" that are to be submitted part of the report this month. One is a year-long timeline that outlines our goals and tasks with Zeus, other CGA/NOC projects, sustainability (referring to our capacity building), and personal goals. Second is a stakeholder map.

Each CSO's timeline is varied as our goals for Zeus can be quite different. Some CGA/NOCs that the CSOs are at might have just one or two full time staff. Here in Sri Lanka, there are 16 (I think ... there are a lot of people who come and go) people who work full-time which is pretty amazing! So you can imagine how that might impact to what capacity each different CGA/NOC would use Zeus for. But for example right now, we're training 4 staff right now with 3 about to come on board along with an executive member. I know there will be more added to this list too!

Personally there are a few things I want to achieve soon ... making some friends outside of work in addition to the social circle I have at work. I've joined Zumba but learned there weren't too many females my age at that class. I start Yoga this weekend so I'm hoping that there might be people there ... and I'm thinking about joining a hip hop class on Tuesday nights where I know for sure there will be people my age. I still don't have a good grasp of what people my age to do here for hobbies ... some play sports (mostly males) and some obviously hang out at the mall or go out to movies on the weekends, but aside from that I'm not sure.

I also need to start studying Sinhala more seriously soon. I recently bought another learn to speak Sinhala book that is published here with audio CDs. I shouldn't be able to go wrong now! However, the few words and names that I have tried to speak and remember I've had a lot of trouble with. The names and words can be so long and of course like tongue twisters to me.

So I also mentioned this thing called a stakeholder map. I did two just because one single one with both the internal and external relationships got to be too much. However, I want to share with all of you how I kinda fit into the big picture. So, behold the masterpiece that is the stakeholder map! It may not be entirely accurate as some of the relationships are what I've perceived them to be and there will likely be changes and additions to it as I learn more over the year.

I learned a lot by doing this and it doesn't look a whole lot different for other CGAs and NOCs, I think. Hmm... I'm thinking a lot in this post. Well, it took a lot of thinking to get this done. We did a mock one when we were training in Ottawa in small groups and it was hard given the fact I had so little knowledge of all the sport bodies and stakeholders that exist!

So the NOC/CGA staff and I are there, in the middle and all the other stuff is what goes on around us!

I know this was a work-heavy entry so I hope I didn't bore you guys! And sorry about the week-long hiatus. There might be times where it's like this and there may be times I may blog more often. I was sick again the last few days with a cold so I wasn't feeling great. Getting better quickly now though.

GO CANUCKS GO! What is this thing about Burrows biting Bergeron?