A couple things I forgot to mention yesterday:
-I found it interesting that the children at the preschool did not want to speak English because they thought it was Tamil English. It's weird to see that these children understand that Tamil people are different and they see it as a bad thing. The teacher had to bribe them to speak. It was weird to see that divide because these children are too young to understand the past war but their parents must continue this hatred and belief in segregation. That's not fair to these children. to be caught up in this when they weren't even alive during the conflict.
-There are a lot of stray dogs and cats here, as in Nepal. There is one dog, Brownie, who is a resident of Sarvodaya. Unfortunately he is very old and disabled. He has one eye that is infected and one paw seems to have only 2 toes. He limps and is a sad old dog. He looks like he has mange or something. It makes me sad for him and I wish he would die already. (Same with the other disabled and sick dogs). I'm not sure if it's the same here, but in Nepal you can go to jail for 7 years for killing a dog because they are sacred. Maybe that is why there are many strays. I wonder what the opinion is on spay/neutering animals. However, I have not seen one veterinarian on my entire trip.
Today was a pretty 'blah' day. I woke up chilled again and found my retainer was cracked. I use it at night to help with TMJ, grinding, and apnea. It's pretty important that I have it. I talked to my adviser to ask if there was an orthodontist near by that I could go see to get another retainer made. I phoned travel health insurance to see what they recommend and there was no one there to help me because it was night time where their office is. So their recommendation was 'call back'. Bandula got me an appointment at Lanka Hospital to see an orthodontist there at 10:15. I was a little worried to hear it was in a hospital and I had a really bad feeling that this would be a flop. I took a tuk tuk (3-wheeler) with Chandima for an approximately 30 minute ride. In the hospital you must check in at the very front, regardless of what wing or doctor etc you may be seeing. Then you pay the consultation fee, which in my case was 1450Rs, or, $11.85. We waited for about 25 minutes before being seen. My doctor spoke awesome English and was curious about my night time appliance. She had no problem getting an impression/mold and making me a new one. She predicted that it would be made for Friday, but I explained that I need it ASAP because my teeth are still shifting a bit from my braces. So she worked some magic and got it for me in 6hours! On our way home we stopped for tea (I had a Fanta and a donut). I returned to Moratuwa (headquarters) and spent my afternoon in the office doing my spreadsheet assignment. At 3:30 we took the same tuk tuk back to the hospital and although I waited an hour to be seen, the retainer is perfect and is exactly what I needed. It cost me about 5500Rs, or $45. This is super cheap compared to Canada where it cost me a few hundred to get the set made. We tuk tuk'ed back to headquarters and here I am. The total for both rides was 3000Rs, or $25. Considering we were driving for about two hours, this is really reasonable. It is a metered tuk tuk and goes by the kilometer instead of time. Most of the time we were battling traffic and not moving a whole lot, so paying by the kilometer is good with me!
It was the most expensive day for me so far this entire trip. Yet, it was still less than $100 for the entire meal deal. That's pretty dang good if you ask me.
With lunch today I had papaya. I realized that I don't like it because it smells like soiled diapers. And after working with babies I definitely know that smell! I also had salted cucumber and pineapple. Salt on a pineapple is not so good, so don't even experiment with that!
I saw a couple signs with bad grammar, as usual.
-"Life is game" -bumper sticker
-"We care your vision" -optometrist sign
-"Insomnia Warehouse. Black Market, White House" - this was a store... selling who knows what!
I also saw a street named "Edmonton" (Heyyy!!).
Below are some pictures of headquarters and my room as well as some taken from my drive to and from the orthodontist. :) The way to my room is the open door on the second floor in the first picture! Enjoy!
-I found it interesting that the children at the preschool did not want to speak English because they thought it was Tamil English. It's weird to see that these children understand that Tamil people are different and they see it as a bad thing. The teacher had to bribe them to speak. It was weird to see that divide because these children are too young to understand the past war but their parents must continue this hatred and belief in segregation. That's not fair to these children. to be caught up in this when they weren't even alive during the conflict.
-There are a lot of stray dogs and cats here, as in Nepal. There is one dog, Brownie, who is a resident of Sarvodaya. Unfortunately he is very old and disabled. He has one eye that is infected and one paw seems to have only 2 toes. He limps and is a sad old dog. He looks like he has mange or something. It makes me sad for him and I wish he would die already. (Same with the other disabled and sick dogs). I'm not sure if it's the same here, but in Nepal you can go to jail for 7 years for killing a dog because they are sacred. Maybe that is why there are many strays. I wonder what the opinion is on spay/neutering animals. However, I have not seen one veterinarian on my entire trip.
Today was a pretty 'blah' day. I woke up chilled again and found my retainer was cracked. I use it at night to help with TMJ, grinding, and apnea. It's pretty important that I have it. I talked to my adviser to ask if there was an orthodontist near by that I could go see to get another retainer made. I phoned travel health insurance to see what they recommend and there was no one there to help me because it was night time where their office is. So their recommendation was 'call back'. Bandula got me an appointment at Lanka Hospital to see an orthodontist there at 10:15. I was a little worried to hear it was in a hospital and I had a really bad feeling that this would be a flop. I took a tuk tuk (3-wheeler) with Chandima for an approximately 30 minute ride. In the hospital you must check in at the very front, regardless of what wing or doctor etc you may be seeing. Then you pay the consultation fee, which in my case was 1450Rs, or, $11.85. We waited for about 25 minutes before being seen. My doctor spoke awesome English and was curious about my night time appliance. She had no problem getting an impression/mold and making me a new one. She predicted that it would be made for Friday, but I explained that I need it ASAP because my teeth are still shifting a bit from my braces. So she worked some magic and got it for me in 6hours! On our way home we stopped for tea (I had a Fanta and a donut). I returned to Moratuwa (headquarters) and spent my afternoon in the office doing my spreadsheet assignment. At 3:30 we took the same tuk tuk back to the hospital and although I waited an hour to be seen, the retainer is perfect and is exactly what I needed. It cost me about 5500Rs, or $45. This is super cheap compared to Canada where it cost me a few hundred to get the set made. We tuk tuk'ed back to headquarters and here I am. The total for both rides was 3000Rs, or $25. Considering we were driving for about two hours, this is really reasonable. It is a metered tuk tuk and goes by the kilometer instead of time. Most of the time we were battling traffic and not moving a whole lot, so paying by the kilometer is good with me!
It was the most expensive day for me so far this entire trip. Yet, it was still less than $100 for the entire meal deal. That's pretty dang good if you ask me.
With lunch today I had papaya. I realized that I don't like it because it smells like soiled diapers. And after working with babies I definitely know that smell! I also had salted cucumber and pineapple. Salt on a pineapple is not so good, so don't even experiment with that!
I saw a couple signs with bad grammar, as usual.
-"Life is game" -bumper sticker
-"We care your vision" -optometrist sign
-"Insomnia Warehouse. Black Market, White House" - this was a store... selling who knows what!
I also saw a street named "Edmonton" (Heyyy!!).
Below are some pictures of headquarters and my room as well as some taken from my drive to and from the orthodontist. :) The way to my room is the open door on the second floor in the first picture! Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment