"If you haven't eaten rice, you haven't eaten"

This Sri Lankan saying basically means that the people here don't feel full unless they eat rice- which is usually eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had a special Sri Lankan Lunch today at Raja Bojun (fit for a king) one of the only places in town that still serves the food the traditional SL way, in other words, a buffet of different rice, curries and spices- but no cutlery allowed! It was so great!
It was also a day that was full of info. We started out with Harshani briefing us on the may programs that WUSC runs in SL.

The Canadian system of funding seems really great because instead of giving a foreign country money, especially one that is will spend the money on a war, they use it to promote local organizations with SL employees (who know more about the country & will also be able to sustain the project long-term) so that these orgs can improve the living conditions of the people directly and can be monitored by the Canadian Gov't.
In the afternoon we had a chance meet a delegate from the Canadian High Commission who came in to talk to us about "how to work with Sri Lankan's". There were some really funny and very true facts, ie. regarding how a simple situation can be much more complex than you realize. Andy and I had to laugh because we have been having the strangest encounters with the hotel restaurant. For example, we will order something off the menu and have to literally circle it in pen before this server will understand- and even then, we think we might be getting something different. And then this morning they wrang our doorbell and brought us up tea at 6am for no apparent reason! And it was so grossly sweet- which we also learned today that the sweeter the tea the sweeter the person preparing it thinks you are so I guess that explains that. Oh, and then when the person came to clear our dinner plates last night they also went through our fridge and took things out of it like 1 of my 2 tiny Toberlone bars from the plane, a creamer and a small jam. There must be a reason behind this but we'll never know.
Anyway, I found Calvin's knowledge to be so practical! For example, you have to be careful about what colours you wear, particularly around the time of rallying because you might be unknowingly making a statement of support. He said that if you see streamers around town (other than white which means there is a funeral) than there is a political rally coming so stay out of town. They are predicting an uprising of violence in the East in March because of the elections.
Norwegians are portrayed by some political leaders as sympathizers of the LTTE because of their role in promoting peace, and to some degree Canadians are, too. But in our experience so far Canadians are VERY well recepted! When I was in Latin America I found that GENERALLY the men could be quite rude and aggressive, but here they are often much more subtle. So far, of those I've met here I've found: the older men treat you like a daughter and boys treat you like a god. The young ones look to the floor in your presence and call you "ma'am." It's quite a strange thing to experience. Harshani said that people feel so special to be bring a white woman to an event.
Regardless of this experience that we are having, we have no idea what it is like to be a SL woman here. This is still a very patriarchal society and we learned today that it has the highest rate of spousal abuse in the world.
The West is really revered here, as seen in the obsession with cars and cell phones in the city, which is pretty disturbing since they have such a great way of life in other ways, valuing relationships over work- it's sad that they are trying to imitate the individualism of the capitalist West.