Vday in the Temple

We had such a great day today. In the morning we learned about economics and then had a doctor come in to talk about health. It was funny because he was coming from a fairly new private hospital so he was trying to recruit us- either to get sick or, you know- get some plastic surgery! It was craziness, haha. We could see the ploy behind his charisma but he was really great and I guess there is no problem in him thinking we are rich and egocentric. It was funny though because he told us we had about a 1/35 chance in getting "the denque" and 1/100 of getting rabies from a dog and he was saying it all with a smile! We went to the hospital to register in case anything does happen to us and to check it out. It was REALLY nice- even by NA standards, but it was also up to $100 a room. It's good to know a doctor because they seem to be have a lot of power/respect here.
After this, Keith took us around the city to see the main streets and the markets. The markets were crazy- it was really a lot to take in. Although it was tempting to jump out of the car to grab some garmets & such because they are so cheap we are not allowed to be spending any time in crowded areas and it doesn't get much more crowded than these markets. There was so much to look at and absorb.
Next, Keith dropped us off at a Temple. It was so fantastic - the monks are so intriguing - you just want to reach out and touch them but as a woman you cannot. They were very gracious though and we seemed to come in just at the time of some kind of ceremony. This was the highlight of my trip so far. It was spectacular. I did not want to take too many pics as I didn't know if it was offensive but it didn't matter anyway because it was the energy that was so great and that can't be captured- at least with my photographic skills.

We got home and in our remembered that our friend from the restaurant told us about a valentine's dinner the hotel was putting on. It was so cute- they had heart decorations all over and had a huge buffet set up but there was barely anyone dining. It is sad because the country now relies a lot of the service sector since the agriculture has faced so many problems since the Tsunami hit, but now the tourism rate has dropped so much in the last few months because of the war that you can already see the affects on the economy.
Although everything seems so cheap to us, SL has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, so when 50% of the population is making less than a dollar an hour, 5 dollars for a shirt or 100 a month rent doesn't seem that cheap anymore. Hopefully the war really will end in April as the gov't claims but most people can't see how it would be possible and the economist guessed that if continues to borrow money for this war for another few years, the SL economy is going to be in major trouble. You can really feel how glad the people are when they see foreigners are here to spend money and keep the hotels & restaurants open.
Generally the people here are so happy that we are here saying "thank-you for helping our people." However, in our case, we have to be careful when we say we are from an NGO because right now there is a lot of suspicion among aid workers. The media spreads rumours like if there is a Unicef van going North with food rations for the humanitarian wokers they will say they are bringing rations to the LTTE. This has set of a series of court cases and the gov't does not side with NGO's since they want the money to be streamed through them. There was also 17 humanitarian workers in the North murdered a while back. We basically just have to be clear that we are development workers not humanitarian so that people see that we are here to help rather than to get involved in the politics.

Information Overload

It was another big day of using the old noggin. We started out learning the history of conflict in SL with a Tamil doctor of economics. He explained how the root of the conflict began, so to make a long & complicated history short, when the Brits gave the Tamil minority a benefit over the Sinhalese with having the first University in the North. When the Brits left, the Sinhalese majority fought back by making Sinhala the official language of the country. The conflict began with this and escalated, with various issues over the years, but the conflict was non-violent.
In that last 25 years they have been given weapons, mostly from Russia, Chec, and China, which has converted conflict into a war.
About 30% of the Tamils in the North support the LTTE, but these are not educated people and those who are educated are too busy to campaign against the LTTE. Also, Dr. Muttukrishna said that if someone like he was to attempt to speak out against them, he would likely be killed. Those that support the LTTE, ie. in Toronto & London, have a lot of $ and it is too difficult for these host countries to track down the funds being sent to future LTTE leaders. And, of course, there is major political gain from these groups.
Next we learned about the situation of women from a lady named Sumi. Domestic violence in the home has increased in the last years, in large part due to the war. Apparently women in the north, where WUSC has an office, think it is ok that their husbands beat them because they think, living in the middle of a war zone, they are just lucky to be alive.
The dowery issues also exist among the majority, but if a women does not have a big enough dowry here she is not murdered by her husband like she might be in India- she instead will subscribe to torment from her husband and his family for the rest of her life. It is this kind of mental violence which is most common here and is what the WDC (where Andy, Heather & Patrick will work for) that tries to remedy some of this by empowering women and educating men.
The last part of the day Harshani told us the do`s and don`ts of traveling in SL, a lot of it being just common sense about any travel experience outside your own cultural experience.
We also walked to and from the office for our first time, to gain practice on walking in the streets here. We did pretty well I think because everyone at the office was expecting one of us to get hit but the unpredictable traffic (I am talking people are inventing lanes and three wheelers are literally scraping paint off other cars as they weave in and out)- it is the craziest driving I think I`ve ever seen but nothing could really surprise me these days.
On the way home we stopped at a few shops and I bought some shirts- they were all like 5 bucks (so cheap!!!) and they cover my shoulder so that I am prepared when I get outside the city. I still haven`t got a sari but I plan to because it makes people feel more comfortable with you which will be important at the office because I won`t have much time to break the ice which usually takes about 6 months from what I hear. Oh well, everyone keep saying the people at my office are great women and they know English but are just shy with it.
Oh ya, and the place I am staying is the same place that Viv (the old volunteer I`ve been in contact with) stayed- a loft with a couple in their 30`s who are supposed to be so fantastic- willing to take me places and gracious with dinner invitations! I bet I know what they`ll serve...

"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.

Daze in Colombo

Ayubowan! I am still adjusting to the time difference here but I've actually been feeling pretty good- must have been those zinc lozenges (go Judy!). It was our first big day in Colombo. We started off meeting Harshani who is fantastic and she told us some info about our positions. I will be staying with a family- apparently other volunteers have stayed with them and the reports are unanimously positive. It will be within walking distance of the INDECOS office (which they do this so that we will not have to take public transit and take chances right now) and my job will be to improve their marketing materials. Haha, everyone thinks Andy and I are twins and they do not see a difference between the names Angela and Andrea. Harshani also warned us that they mostly see white people on TV so they think we are all rich. That's pretty funny actually because I got my very first phone number handed to me today when I was at the bank!!!
She also told us, particularly for me, to have as low of expectations as possible for what we will get done so that if we get stuff done we will be happy. Only the people at the top of the org can speak English so I will spend a lot of time waiting around to be fit into these busy people's schedules. Still she does not want us speaking Sinhala if we learn it because the people at the office will just start to help you learn instead of learning English for themselves. She also said that the main boss has a daughter who is in school in America so he will dote on me & take me in as his own and that I should not refuse his invitations to dinners & other such events unless I say I am sick or it will insult him.
I got a good sense that they take our safety very seriously- while Harshani believes in fate she is also against putting anyone in the position where there is a chance. She has even banned any unnecessary travel. Even while she says this though she seemed more than happy to give Andy and I advice on how we can visit each other, ie. I could hitch a ride in with local doctors or WUSC office staff, and she even found Andy an apartment with an extra room because she said I will likely want to visit Kandy. We also met a lady at the WUSC office who seemed very well informed and quite a bit more organized than others I've dealt with.
She said she is putting off some volunteers until the end of April because the government said they would end the war then. But she also said it is not likely. Harshani says, and it seems to be the consensus of the Sinhalese, that the gov't should be killing the leaders of the LTTE but not just dropping bombs that are killing innocent Tamils.
After the orientation we ate some lunch and then went to pick up phone cards for our emergency phones which we are allowed to use as much as we want since the we buy the minutes. It took ages because everything is a major process here! After that Keith dropped us off at Odel, the mall in Colombo. I bought a few postcards there but Andy and I would both rather buy more authentic clothes since it was not unlike the clothes you can find at home- only it was much cheaper! If I want to pick anything up before I leave I can but right now we are both feeling unconsumerish- in fact, we're looking forward to Friday when we get to stay in a village with no electricity!

Finally!

I am in Colombo and it is 2:30 am here but I am not used to sleeping for more than a few hours anymore so I am up to write this note. I have I don't feel so bad about getting only 6 hours sleep in the past 3 days, though, because Andy only got about 1! It was funny because apparently she was knocking on my door for ages this afternoon but I slept right through it- actually I am sure I got up at one point and opened the door to no one but maybe that was just a dream, too.
Oh man! Our hotel is fantastic... wireless internet!!!, great food, a safe (mine doesn't seem to work but it is still impressive), a fan, a huge ensuite between Andy and I, and... ANDY! (who must have some luck because if my room wasn't nice enough, hers is about twice as big, with a couch and coffee table).
The last 20 minutes of the plane ride was spectacular. As the SL tunes played in the backdrop we dropped down under the frothy layers of clouds and finally I saw where I was heading- a little tropical paradise- thick tropical greenery lined with white sand and the turquoise Indian ocean (looking inoffensively calm). The land is speckled with orange rooftops, not unlike what I saw arriving in Germany, but there is one big difference... even from up here I can feel the heat.
The whole time I've been here I have been internally laughing- when I told Andrea (who is in India) that Andy and I are coincidentally flying in on the same day she said "Oh Ange, you know better than that."
Nothing here seems like a coincidence- that we both ended up with volunteer jobs in this beautiful country- where the friendliness of the people is amazing, where we have so far been treated more like royalty than as easy prey (unlike parts of Italy or the US), and where you are served- not chicken or beef on the plane- but "Buttered Sugar Snaps & Carrots with Château Potatoes" or "Peas & Cadju Curry Basmati Saffron Rice"
(see it all for yourself- http://www.srilankan.aero/onboard/f_b_european4.shtml)
I love it, love it, love it!
Our food for the next week is also free at our hotel- lunch was a tasty buffet and it was so funny because they were so concerned that we weren't eating dinner (we both went to bed around 7pm and dinner starts at 8) that they called me not once but three times about it! The third time was to say "if you want anything- even soup- just call and boy will bring it up."
Anyway, on the plane I made a friend, Wasantha, who is a Marketing Manager for Carlsberg Brewery. He told me about a big beer festival that goes on in April in the hills- below Kandy. He also answered some of my questions although even had nothing when I asked how is it that Buddhist are eating meat, drinking alcohol and fighting in wars. He just laughed and basically said that's just the way it is.
We're in Colombo for a week now doing an orientation. Hopefully we will find out a lot about our positions today! The driver, Keith, said he was pretty sure that I was staying with a family which I am really happy about.
The drive here was just positively overwhelming. The tropical greenery and dusty streets reminds me of Fiji, but there are so many people and things to look at. And to look at me. Even while I was in the van, I was stared at by those outside.
The thing that reminds me about Central America is that there are officers everywhere- only more here. There are ones with green army camo, blue navy camo and purple airforce camo. All carry guns wrapped around their shoulders as if they were toys and some are on bicycles. Then there are the plain light green uniforms which are the police. At one point the police pulled us over- I thought it was Keith's crazy driving but couldn't understand how they could give out a ticket when everyone around was driving crazy! But while two of the officers smiled at me to say- no worries, the third had to take a look at my bags. After Keith told me that they had recent problems with NGO's sneaking in guns and bombs.
I also saw hand-woven baskets being checked in trucks on the way into the airport in what seemed like random check-points.
Another thing that I saw both on the plane and on my ride in to Colombo is something about the women- even though they cover their shoulders, and often legs, they are not really what conservative in the way we might imagine, as in trying not to be seen. They come off to me as confident with their often colourful hand-crafted saris and are flirtatious in the way that they move.
(There will be much better pics to come!)

Frankfurt

Well, I’m now in the Frankfurt Airport recovering from the last flight. In your time it is 3 am and I ate my fake egg omelette breakfast at about 1:30 am. Hmmm... sounds like Vegas.

Anyway, as far as 10 hour flights go, it went pretty well. There were about three babies crying in addition to the cold stale air and constant reminders of my thirst as the Heidi Klum look alike flight attendants came by over and over with dehydrating substances like coffee and wine. I did manage to sneak in about 2 hours of uncomfortable chair sleep though and I am feeling surprisingly good!

I am currently stalking those in the fold out chair section of the airport hoping to steal another wink among all the hustle and bustle.

Coming in over Germany reminded me of how great Switzerland and Germany are. They totally have this old school Little House on the Prairie thing going on and I think I got an even better view on the Mainz than when we purposely rode beside it in a train!

It’s already really hot and I haven’t even gone south yet. I feel like they are jacking the heat up more and more in here as the day goes on but maybe it’s just my swollen body adjusting poorly to the earth.

I think that people who are good at flying are probably those who are grounded- like Aaron. People like me are already so high that getting even higher just hurts. Natural highs, folks. Natural Highs.

Later

I was doing pretty well at being unattached to my thoughts throughout this day but after 11 hours of waiting I have just found out my flight is delayed another one, at least. I am trying not to let the frustration in. First it's "When will this day freaking end" and next thing I know I will be wondering what I will be thinking about when my plane crashes or if I will even have time to think when the bomb blows me up at the airport. So to cut these thoughts off before the can really get going I fish out my mp3 player and listed to TAO. This music has the ability to not only unravel my worst fears about how I will die today but also has the ability to clear my mind of all thoughts. So for the next, what turns out to be almost 2 hours, I just stare at the wall and zone out.

Montreal to Vancouver

It’s Friday night and I am finally heading home, after nearly being stuck in the snowstorm in Montreal! Over the course of the day, three different flights of mine to Toronto were canceled and I was eventually rerouted to Vancouver when the Toronto Airport actually shut down.

It’s been such a long day and it’s not over yet. I still have my flight from Vancouver to Vic which I’ll be lucky to get and then the taxi home.

The great thing is that all of the transportation is covered by the organizations involved. The first 3 days was covered by CIDA who is a big funder for Uniterra. Those days I had a giant room to myself with a king size bed and a mini office. The two days in Montreal were funded by WUSC and CECI so our hotel was much more modest and I shared the room with a Vancouverite. It was good though because we hit it off right away. Her name is Clair and she is going to Malawi to do gender-related work for 15 months.

We had a fun exploring the city last night. It is a wicked city- There are lots of big skyscrapers but in juxtaposition, many of the houses are older brick houses with spiral staircases winding up the front of them. Clair and I went to Saint Catherine’s for a couple of beers and then went to meet my Quebec friend Marie-Eve who I used to live with in Whistler. On the way to Le Distillerie we were feeling a little hungry so we took a break to indulge in a little tradition and ordered up some savory crepes in a little cafe on St. Denis.

They were so tasty and had me feeling nostalgic for Europe... only the ham to cheese ratio was much better than the memorable one I had in Greece.

After the crepes, we met up with Marie- Eve in a funky little pub that brews its own beer. Although that was its claim to fame we actually had mojitos instead. It was cool because Marie-Eve is one of those people who I didn’t know really well or for a long time but the three of us got along like seaweed and rice. I told Marie-Eve that I would come again in the summer with more time!

The training was really good- most of it was in French but we had interpreters. Again, it was mostly just cool to see what everyone is doing or has done. Going away for three months looks like nothing, as many people involved are dedicating a year or more and bringing children. I’m happy with getting my feet wet though!!!

Depending on how my project goes in SL I would like to continue volunteering with Uniterra throughout my life, at least doing the 2-3 week Leave for Change every once in awhile. The training just made me feel like I have so many more countries to visit!!!