One Week

I'm going to ask that The Barenaked Ladies bring us in to the start of this blog...

"iiiiiiitt'ss been one week..."

I started yesterday out at Vishva Niketan. I had an appointment to meet with a Mr. Jagath at 9:30am. He apparently had a board meeting and didn't return until 10:30am. Why I hung around so long, I don't know. I guess I had hopes for the center. We talked about what I wanted to learn and they wanted to know what I could teach them. I explained that I am here to learn from them... Mainly about meditation and the programs offered. I expressed interest in the Prisoner and Expectant Mothers programs (discussed in my last blog) after having all the programs explained to me. We decided I'd come back on the 8th (today) to watch a company during their meditation and training. Also, I would come back on the 15th for the expectant mothers program, and the 21st for individual meditation (full day). I then went to help a woman in the library at the peace center. She wanted me to redo the numbering system on the books and make new tags. This involves taking books off the shelf, writing their code number down, putting the book away, typing and printing all the numbers, cutting them out and taping them back on to the books. It actually is super boring and I don't want to do that again! I am a university graduate here to learn about peace and conflict and be involved in projects, not make tags for books in a dusty library. The woman there calls me 'sister' and always asks when I am coming back. I said I have to talk to Bandula, my adviser. She then says "You don't like library?" In my head I'm screaming "NO! IT'S TERRIBLE" but I just reiterate that I have to talk to Bandula.

Below are some pictures of Vishva Niketan.

I left at just before noon to be at headquarters for lunch and then I talked to Max on Skype. It seems like that is the only time we can talk because he has just arrived home from the late shift at work. It's better than nothing but I don't like to keep him long because I want him to get a good sleep.

I did my office work and spoke with Jasmina, another volunteer who drops by every now and then to help the staff with their English. She is nice. She gave me some ideas of some things to see in Sri Lanka. I've got a list going!

Next I went to the orphanage at 3, as per usual, and helped bottle feed, bathe, and play with the kids. I did not have a baby fall on my watch yesterday! I was hyper-paranoid. The baby that fell did not appear to have a bruise or anything, so that's really good news. One baby has a fever and won't stop crying. It's saddening. Another thing that made me sad is that one child was dressed in a purple tank top that said "mommy's little monster'. It made me sad because that child doesn't have a mommy in her life right now. She doesn't know what that's like. I wonder if those children will ever grow up with a family or spend their years in various children's homes. Do they know that they don't have families who care? When they are so little do they realize that they're not living a typical life? I wonder about that a lot. They get great care there with 3 baths a day (my mom said she didn't even bathe me that much!). I hope they find someone who loves them and wants them to be part of their family some day.

I had dinner with Erandi and Joe, a man who just arrived from London. We talked about things to do and how things 'run' around headquarters. Afterwards, Erandi and I discussed some things we may be able to do this weekend. We thought about going to Colombo in the afternoon (since we both had obligations in the morning). She wasn't sure what time she was done at so we left things up in the air. Worst case scenario, we go Sunday.

I Skyped with my mom a bit. We still have that problem where she can see and hear me but I can't see or hear her. Then it all cut out and we were down to just typing. A little lame but it's better than nothing, that's for sure!

This morning I woke up early to be at Vishva Niketan for 8:30. I was supposed to be there until 12:00 watching the meditation and training session with a major company that was there for a retreat. I was looking forward to learning about meditation and how it can play a role in how we work. Unfortunately I ended up watching people sit and listen to him talk in Sinhalese. I stayed for about an hour and then I left. I have been let down by the peace center twice. Once with the late meeting, and now having them ask me to observe something I can't even understand. It left me bored and confused and I felt like I was useless. I had more important things to do.

So at about 9:30 I left for K-Zone, the mall about a 10 minute walk away. I really needed to re-stock on some groceries, like fruit, snacks, and I bought some clothes detergent (half price!). Everything is super cheap here. I also bought some Q-tips, shampoo, juice on sale, and lotion. My bag of ablutions (lotion, face wash, shampoo, conditioner, etc) was stolen so I have had to restock on things. That happened on the 3rd day I was here and really upset me. Anyways, they had a promotion on where if you spend 300Rs ($2.42) you get a free ride home and a pink rose. I had to ask her to repeat herself a couple times when she was explaining it to me because I thought it was the weirdest thing ever. So I ended up buying lotion for 370Rs and got a free ride back  to headquarters. That was actually really nice because my bags were heavy for a long walk. My walk to K-Zone was totally in pouring rain and my umbrella didn't do much good. I didn't want to risk getting soaked again if it started raining so I took the ride. And why wouldn't anyone take a free ride?? Plus it was in a hot pink van! That experience was filled with awesome.

So now I am all unpacked and back at headquarters, waiting for lunch. If Erandi comes back we will maybe go out to Colombo or do something at least. If not... well, I'll probably just go out by myself and do something. No sense staying inside when I am in Sri Lanka and could explore! Plus there are museums in Colombo if it starts to rain again. So we can find indoor attractions. Maybe Joe will join us, I'm not sure.

I'll keep you posted, but for now here is a picture of me not super impressed after getting caught in pouring rain!

Ok, now I will update you on my afternoon. Erandi had to stay at work so I ventured out to Colombo on my own. I got a tuk tuk there for 800Rs, or about $6.00. I went to see the National Museum which had a lot of old ceramic, stone work, paintings, textiles and artifacts. There were a lot of images of Buddha as well as other gods. I even saw squattie toilets from centuries ago! I guess they have been around for a long time. I didn't take any pictures inside the museum, as there are fees for using your camera. Weird. The entrance fee was 250Rs, or $2.

Next I went to the Natural History Museum which basically had a lot of dead animals inside. There were a lot of animals from Sri Lanka, like birds, snakes, spiders, but also some that looked familiar like deer. There were large turtles, a grouper about 6-7ft long (and scary as heck!), shells, stones, and also information about biodiversity. The amount of birds is amazing. They range from weird toucan looking things to parakeets to owls to eagles. I love birds so I took some time looking at them. The entrance fee was 300Rs.

I then meandered over to Viharamahadevi Park which boasts a lot of neat trees! It is being renovated though, so the sidewalks are torn up and it made it difficult to walk sometimes. The gardener took me around and showed me different trees, like cinnamon trees (picture of the leaves in my hand), banyan trees, teak, mahogany, ebony, eucalyptus, citronella, and the national tree, the ironwood. Its new leaves are soft and red and as they mature they turn hard and green. It was kind of neat! He then got some flying foxes (giant bats) to fly out of a tree and I took some pictures of that. He said their wingspan can be around 1 meter! That's huge! I saw a jackfruit tree (pictured below with the big fruit on it). He also showed me a plant whose leaves close when you touch it. That was neat! Afterwards he asked for a tip, $5 to be exact. I said I didn't know I had to pay and I gave him 100Rs. He said that wasn't good enough so I said I'm a student, here is 100Rs more, that's all I will give. He then went away. It's too bad everything here becomes about tips and making money. I wish people would just be generous and honest and just show a tourist around because that's a nice thing to do. Maybe that's wishful thinking.

I then bussed home for 30Rs after a loooong loooong walk to the bus stop. SUPER CHEAP. I went the wrong way several times and took some extra roads I didn't need to. I asked some men in a tuk tuk which way to Moratuwa (where I'm staying) and they let me hop in their tuk tuk and they dropped me off at the bus stop, which I had passed already. I was very grateful for their help. But the bus ride was long (40 minutes??) and super crammed. I was very nauseous so I drank some water and had an apple. I have been feeling weird in my head all day. Maybe it's the weather... It has poured twice today. And I've been outside in it twice. I have been completely drenched despite having an umbrella. It's not fun! Now I have changed into warm clothes and am back at headquarters.