Friday
It hasn’t cooled off one bit. We have discovered that houses here that are two stories are much cooler since they have the upper floor to insulate the first floor. We visited Khun Pa Cha-Onn, Nattawan’s aunt, who recently broke her hip and her house is significantly cooler with very high ceilings and two stories. We will survive.
On Sunday and Monday we worked on a yard project. The front yard was filled with construction debris. Since we want to implement our landscape plan the first step is preparing the soil. So that means digging up the front yard that has chunks of concrete, tile and wood. There is also about six inches of sand on top of the dirt. Nit and Noi, Nattawan's cousins, had started the project but we had a long way to go to finish so we pitched in working only very early in the morning (until the sun came up) or in the late part of the day (after the sun went down). We moved very slowly as the heat is unbelievable. We made progress and were pleased that by the end of the week we would be able to finish.
On Tuesday we drove to Hua Hin about an hour south of here and shopped for household items like outdoor doormats, and ready made or assemble your own cabinets for bathroom storage. Although the selection is much better in Thailand than SL, it is still limited by our standards. Most Americans have no idea how the rest of the world lives. Take it from me they make do with a fraction of what we have on every level and are doing just fine without 100’s if not 1000’s of choices. After finding some of the items on our list we went over to Kay and Bill’s house. They had invited us to spend the night so we thought ‘why not’. We are on vacation and Ron is semi retired so why the heck not??? We had a great visit, got to see some news in English (something we both miss when we travel) and Kay prepared a lovely Thai feast for us. Kay owns a fantastic Thai restaurant in Eugene and has to go back there soon for a month to relieve her business partner.
The next morning we got up and had another delightful Thai meal: rice with sliced chicken and sauce. Yum. Our favorite cuisines are Thai and Indian so we are in hog heaven here. Food is so inexpensive here, and it is real easy to find take-out places so our breakfast was take-out. Many Thai people eat take-ut meals. After breakfast we went to town for more shopping. We were able to find some reading lamps for one of the bedrooms. Ron had hoped to find lamps parts here so he could make lamps from celadon vases. No such luck. He will have to buy the parts in the US and bring them here. We will also have to bring lampshades from home. Lampshades here are quite different and part of the lamp hardware is part of the shade. We were glad to have found something, as we love to read every night in bed before going to sleep. Next we went to a design center and found a few more things like the doormats I wanted. We got a quote on wood blinds for the master bedroom, the only room that needs privacy as it is exposed. After a quick lunch of duck noodle soup, we headed back to Kay and Bill’s and then headed home. On the way we stopped for a massage at a place we had not tried in Phetchaburi and got a mediocre massage so we won’t be going back there.
When we got home we discovered Noy and a friend had finished the de-rocking project in the front yard. We were flabbergasted. All the rocks were stacked to one side and all the sand had been moved to another part of the yard. On Thursday they worked all day in the sun to move the rocks to another part of the property. I tried to get them to stop because of the heat but they kept working so I took them water and fresh fruit that had been chilled. Noy said I couldn’t work anymore! You should know all the family speaks English but very limited. So Noy pointed to me and said, "No working". He told Nattawan he couldn’t believe Ron and I would get out there and do yard work. Little does he know when we re-landscaped our yard we worked hard labor for 16 weekends to transform our backyard. We will have some challenges here because there is a significant amount of concrete walkways around the yard. In addition Noy has started improving the yard by planting various plants. So we will need to do what we can to implement the design given these factors. All the more fun.
The family has us completely spoiled. They bring us tropical fruit grwon in the yard and various Thai dishes to try. We are blessed: mangoes are in season. We can't get over how accepting and kind our Thai family is. We have fun trying to communicate. Yesterday Tui got Cha-Onn, her mother to say thank you very much. Cha-Onn is 86!
Ron got a job while here to write a proposal for ICMA. We have a desk and his computer in the bedroom so yesterday he was in there all day with the AC on and I found lots of excuses to join him since the rest of the house is so hot. Another factor that increases the heat is the window and door screens we added. Since Ron’s episode with Dengue fever in SL, we are more cautious. But screens really cut down on airflow
Today Ron was doing a project: shortening the legs of a freestanding bar that had been given to Nattawan as a house-warming gift. It was about four inches too tall. So Ron was killing himself trying to saw these very big 4inch thick legs with a hand saw. Being the pushy broad that I am I told him I thought he was killing himself and what he needed was a circular saw so made him stop and took him to the one store we knew might have one. My treat. He now has a circular saw and is making a grand mess in the living area that I swept and mopped yesterday. I think I had it backwards. The bar is now the right height thanks to Ron’s hard work in the heat.
I have decided it makes no sense to cook here when take out is so readily available and so inexpensive. Today I got eight little packets of food for 80 baht, not quite three dollars. This will be enough for two people to have at least two main meals. When the man told me the price, I exclaimed, "Is that all?" Everyone laughed. We got food from this stand near the house two days ago and it was delicious.
All week we have had the use of Timm and Tum’s car, Nattawan’s cousin and her husband. Driving here is a trip. Although they had real roads unlike SL, it is not uncommon to have people on motorcycles or cars coming at you on both sides. Yikes! It is unnerving to say the least. The motorcycle is the predominant mode of transportation here and the cyclists are very reckless in their driving so you have to pay complete attention when you drive. So I help out by pointing out potential hazards. We are quite a team of old codgers! But so far we have done quite well, given that they drive on the left side of the road. The driving is tame compared to SL however.
If we were to compare Thailand to SL, we would agree that Thailand is far ahead in terms of development. Both are democracies. Thailand has a very revered king. The country’s name was changed to Thailand, the land of the free from Siam when it became a democracy. People seem more industrious here and Thailand is much cleaner. There is a higher standard of living here and Ron said the food is better. We have geckos in the house here also. Both are tropical in terms of climate. When the tsunami hit Thailand they declined outside aid, saying they could take care of their needs so others could have the money. Unlike SL, Thailand has never been colonized. The pubic transportation system, infrastructure and the like are far superior to SL.
We are searching for a water delivery company that might have the equivalent to a five-gallon water bottle that will fit the water-dispensing machine we bought from SL. We have found a similar model here but since there is no ‘yellow pages’ we are stuck so far. Time to post so bye for now.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
3-25-07
WOW! We are here and it feels great to be in Thailand and even better to be at ‘our’ home in Phetchaburi. It is hotter than blue blazes but we have AC in the bedroom so we can sleep at night. During the day you move very slowly and don’t do anything that requires much energy!
We got up at 4:00 am in Colombo and left the hotel at 4:30. Our flight left at 7:15 and we were worried we weren’t going to make it as the line to the counter was soooo long and one agent was serving the line. So my brilliant husband got into the shorter line for Singapore and they served him even though he was in the wrong line. Such a smart guy! There was no time to grab anything to eat or drink so no java, nuttin honey! We survived as they did feed us on the plane unlike the US. It was a three and a half hour flight so we were grateful for the breakfast. We grabbed a cab into Bangkok and checked into our hotel that was conveniently located and quite nice for $47 a night plus VAT and taxes brought it up to $70. Such a deal in the heart of the big city. We went shopping for a resource guide to Bangkok, that tells you where to shop for whatever you need. We discovered from the resource guide that there were several lamp stores in our immediate area. That was good due to the heat. Oy! We checked out three places, one had pretty celadon lamps but the price was too high for the frugal Bergmans so we will continue to search. We passed a window display with a gorgeous wall hanging, a traditional Thai weaving and I couldn’t resist it. I think I paid way too much but it’s too late now. I fell in love with the color and knew it would fit right above the living room couch. I got to Phetchaburi and discovered the colors were all wrong so it will move to the day room couch and the painting in the day room will move to the living room most probably. By now (back to Bangkok) we were tired, very hot and sweaty so headed back to the hotel for a rest and shower. Around 7:00 we headed out to the Thai massage establishment next door. We had one of the best foot massages ever that ended with a head massage and shoulder/back massage. Calling it a foot massage was not exactly accurate but we were delighted.
We ate dinner at Cabbages and Condoms. Yes that’s right, condoms. The man who started the restaurant wanted to do something to bring awareness to the need for family planning and the rise of AIDS in Thailand so he created a theme restaurant. His thinking was that condoms should be as easy to get as cabbages in the market. So there are mannequins through the restaurants in various forms of dress made from condoms and/or packets of birth control pills. Our table had a glass over rows of condoms. The place was packed and the food was good. That isn’t always the case with theme restaurants. A portion of the proceeds goes to help family planning clinics and AIDS charities. Instead of after dinner mints that usually come with the bill, you guessed it, you get two condoms! They also had a craft shop that is owned by the restaurants with funny t-shirts that continue the theme such as: Stealth Condoms-no one will see you coming.
On Sunday we met Jami Sachs and her husband John. He works for the US Embassy in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) and she works for ICMA, Ron’s employer for the SL project. They had come to Bangkok for the weekend to get away from the really bad pollution in Chiang Mai. You won’t believe this. In Thailand (this may be a global standard but I don’t know) 100 particulates per cubic ft is considered the threshold for safety (I may have the ratio wrong but hang with me on this) In Bangkok on any given day there are about 50. In Chiang Mai the current rate is 380!!!!!! You know it’s bad when you come to Bangkok for clean air!! That aside, they took us to a delightful restaurant called Crepes and Co. that was two doors down from where we had dinner the night before. It was delicious and they had good decaf so imagine how happy I was. Jami ordered a pot of Moroccan tea. It is a very light tea poured over fresh mint. It brought back a flood of memories as I had last had that tea in 1966 when I hitch hiked across Western Europe and Northern Africa. I guess there is something to that thing about cycles….
We had hoped to go to a famous outdoor market in Bangkok but it was just too hot and we ran out of time. We mentioned it to John and Jami and they gave us a very interesting statistic. The market, called JJ market by the locals and the Chatuchak for the rest of us has 6,000 booths. That’s not a typo. The statistic is if you visited each booth for one minute and did this for 8 hours at a time on Sat and Sun when the market is open it would take 2 months to see all the booths. I’m not sure I even want to go there but John and Jami said it is fun. Okay but no in 102-degree heat. Maybe in November…I’m such a magnolia blossom. I’d rather we sitting on the veranda in my porch swing sipping something ice cold….
We raced back to our hotel to catch our prearranged ride to Phetchaburi. Our friend Su who lives in Bangkok and is a dear friend of Nattawan joined us. Everyone worries that Ron and I will have a difficult time here so various friends and family members are assigned to take care of us and always spoil us. Jeap was our driver and lives about two blocks from our house in Phetchaburi. He is a professional driver and we are thankful to have found him. So we had a quick two-hour drive and arrived just in time for dear Su to present our lunch that she had purchased in Bangkok for us. It was khaao-man gai-boned chicken with rice. It is one of our favorites. While she got lunch on the table, we went to the big house and said hello to Nattawan’s aunt. She is 83 and recently fell and broke her hip. She then had hip replacement surgery and is recovering. She is an amazing woman and although she doesn’t speak English she always greets us warmly. She loves to ‘chat’ with us and we enjoy her company. Su had to leave shortly after lunch to go back to Bangkok as her work was plied up. She teaches agriculture in a university in Bangkok.
We spent the afternoon unpacking and getting settled. We walked to the store after a short rest (the heat demanded it) and got milk, water, and juice for breakfast. There was an open-air market across from the market so we walked through it. We are the only white people in the neighborhood so we got lots of friendly smiles and hellos. We got a small orchid bouquet for Nattawan’s aunt. Tomorrow we will go to a larger grocery store when we have use of a car and stock up. In the meantime, we decided to go out for dinner and had a difficult time finding anything open. As we were walking around the area, we passed a store where several people were eating outside. It is most common to cook and eat outside here due to the heat. They waved us over and started a conversation, with very limited English but it was great fun trying to understand one another. They were most curious as to where we were staying. Of course we have no idea of our address so couldn’t tell them the street name or number. Very few signs are written in the alphabet we use and we are clueless when it comes to reading the Thai alphabet. At last we found an outdoor restaurant. The music was so loud we couldn’t hear a word the waiter said to us and had to ask him to turn down the music. As we looked around (it was lit by fairy lights so it was hard to see much) we realized we were three times older than anyone there. No English and we couldn’t see the photos due to lack of light on the menu to determine what they were serving. After trying our Thai and not being understood, we whipped out our Thai language book and pointed to roasted chicken and sticky rice. No problem. Two women hopped on a motorcycle and went to some other restaurant and brought back our order! HA!! They didn’t serve water so I had my first Pepsi in about 20 years. Our dinner was delicious and we watched young people sing karaoke throughout the meal. We looked at each other and said, "We’re old". When we paid the bill, they asked us to wait for five minutes so we assumed they had to go out for change. Life here is different and we love it!
This morning we got up a little before 7:00 so we could get a little yard work done before the heat was unbearable. We went outside and started digging rocks out of the soil. I think I mentioned we had a landscape design done in Vancouver so want to get things moving to implement the design. We may get the soil in the front prepared and that may be all. It is filled with construction debris so it will take all week just to get the big rocks out and we will need to amend the soil in order to grow anything. But we have lots of time and no schedule. Noy, Nattawan’s cousin who lives in front of our house came out and helped us. He speaks a little English. We worked probably 45 minutes and stopped. The sun was up and not too kind. There is no need to kill ourselves on this. Noy looked at us when we said it was time to quit and commented ‘evening work’. I hate to tell him, it’s just as hot at night as early morning. We came inside and showered and had a light breakfast. We have weight scales here and we have gained weight. The hot weather should curb our appetite. We plan to eat lunch in the neighbor eateries and fix a light supper here at the house at night. That should help take some weight off.
Later today our friends Kay and Bill who live in Hua Hin, about an hour south of us, will come by and we are going out for lunch. They have always been a treat to be with. Bill is a retired contractor so he and Ron had lots in common. Well it is so hot at 11:00 I am sitting three feet from the fan and sweating. Time to wrap it up!!
WOW! We are here and it feels great to be in Thailand and even better to be at ‘our’ home in Phetchaburi. It is hotter than blue blazes but we have AC in the bedroom so we can sleep at night. During the day you move very slowly and don’t do anything that requires much energy!
We got up at 4:00 am in Colombo and left the hotel at 4:30. Our flight left at 7:15 and we were worried we weren’t going to make it as the line to the counter was soooo long and one agent was serving the line. So my brilliant husband got into the shorter line for Singapore and they served him even though he was in the wrong line. Such a smart guy! There was no time to grab anything to eat or drink so no java, nuttin honey! We survived as they did feed us on the plane unlike the US. It was a three and a half hour flight so we were grateful for the breakfast. We grabbed a cab into Bangkok and checked into our hotel that was conveniently located and quite nice for $47 a night plus VAT and taxes brought it up to $70. Such a deal in the heart of the big city. We went shopping for a resource guide to Bangkok, that tells you where to shop for whatever you need. We discovered from the resource guide that there were several lamp stores in our immediate area. That was good due to the heat. Oy! We checked out three places, one had pretty celadon lamps but the price was too high for the frugal Bergmans so we will continue to search. We passed a window display with a gorgeous wall hanging, a traditional Thai weaving and I couldn’t resist it. I think I paid way too much but it’s too late now. I fell in love with the color and knew it would fit right above the living room couch. I got to Phetchaburi and discovered the colors were all wrong so it will move to the day room couch and the painting in the day room will move to the living room most probably. By now (back to Bangkok) we were tired, very hot and sweaty so headed back to the hotel for a rest and shower. Around 7:00 we headed out to the Thai massage establishment next door. We had one of the best foot massages ever that ended with a head massage and shoulder/back massage. Calling it a foot massage was not exactly accurate but we were delighted.
We ate dinner at Cabbages and Condoms. Yes that’s right, condoms. The man who started the restaurant wanted to do something to bring awareness to the need for family planning and the rise of AIDS in Thailand so he created a theme restaurant. His thinking was that condoms should be as easy to get as cabbages in the market. So there are mannequins through the restaurants in various forms of dress made from condoms and/or packets of birth control pills. Our table had a glass over rows of condoms. The place was packed and the food was good. That isn’t always the case with theme restaurants. A portion of the proceeds goes to help family planning clinics and AIDS charities. Instead of after dinner mints that usually come with the bill, you guessed it, you get two condoms! They also had a craft shop that is owned by the restaurants with funny t-shirts that continue the theme such as: Stealth Condoms-no one will see you coming.
On Sunday we met Jami Sachs and her husband John. He works for the US Embassy in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) and she works for ICMA, Ron’s employer for the SL project. They had come to Bangkok for the weekend to get away from the really bad pollution in Chiang Mai. You won’t believe this. In Thailand (this may be a global standard but I don’t know) 100 particulates per cubic ft is considered the threshold for safety (I may have the ratio wrong but hang with me on this) In Bangkok on any given day there are about 50. In Chiang Mai the current rate is 380!!!!!! You know it’s bad when you come to Bangkok for clean air!! That aside, they took us to a delightful restaurant called Crepes and Co. that was two doors down from where we had dinner the night before. It was delicious and they had good decaf so imagine how happy I was. Jami ordered a pot of Moroccan tea. It is a very light tea poured over fresh mint. It brought back a flood of memories as I had last had that tea in 1966 when I hitch hiked across Western Europe and Northern Africa. I guess there is something to that thing about cycles….
We had hoped to go to a famous outdoor market in Bangkok but it was just too hot and we ran out of time. We mentioned it to John and Jami and they gave us a very interesting statistic. The market, called JJ market by the locals and the Chatuchak for the rest of us has 6,000 booths. That’s not a typo. The statistic is if you visited each booth for one minute and did this for 8 hours at a time on Sat and Sun when the market is open it would take 2 months to see all the booths. I’m not sure I even want to go there but John and Jami said it is fun. Okay but no in 102-degree heat. Maybe in November…I’m such a magnolia blossom. I’d rather we sitting on the veranda in my porch swing sipping something ice cold….
We raced back to our hotel to catch our prearranged ride to Phetchaburi. Our friend Su who lives in Bangkok and is a dear friend of Nattawan joined us. Everyone worries that Ron and I will have a difficult time here so various friends and family members are assigned to take care of us and always spoil us. Jeap was our driver and lives about two blocks from our house in Phetchaburi. He is a professional driver and we are thankful to have found him. So we had a quick two-hour drive and arrived just in time for dear Su to present our lunch that she had purchased in Bangkok for us. It was khaao-man gai-boned chicken with rice. It is one of our favorites. While she got lunch on the table, we went to the big house and said hello to Nattawan’s aunt. She is 83 and recently fell and broke her hip. She then had hip replacement surgery and is recovering. She is an amazing woman and although she doesn’t speak English she always greets us warmly. She loves to ‘chat’ with us and we enjoy her company. Su had to leave shortly after lunch to go back to Bangkok as her work was plied up. She teaches agriculture in a university in Bangkok.
We spent the afternoon unpacking and getting settled. We walked to the store after a short rest (the heat demanded it) and got milk, water, and juice for breakfast. There was an open-air market across from the market so we walked through it. We are the only white people in the neighborhood so we got lots of friendly smiles and hellos. We got a small orchid bouquet for Nattawan’s aunt. Tomorrow we will go to a larger grocery store when we have use of a car and stock up. In the meantime, we decided to go out for dinner and had a difficult time finding anything open. As we were walking around the area, we passed a store where several people were eating outside. It is most common to cook and eat outside here due to the heat. They waved us over and started a conversation, with very limited English but it was great fun trying to understand one another. They were most curious as to where we were staying. Of course we have no idea of our address so couldn’t tell them the street name or number. Very few signs are written in the alphabet we use and we are clueless when it comes to reading the Thai alphabet. At last we found an outdoor restaurant. The music was so loud we couldn’t hear a word the waiter said to us and had to ask him to turn down the music. As we looked around (it was lit by fairy lights so it was hard to see much) we realized we were three times older than anyone there. No English and we couldn’t see the photos due to lack of light on the menu to determine what they were serving. After trying our Thai and not being understood, we whipped out our Thai language book and pointed to roasted chicken and sticky rice. No problem. Two women hopped on a motorcycle and went to some other restaurant and brought back our order! HA!! They didn’t serve water so I had my first Pepsi in about 20 years. Our dinner was delicious and we watched young people sing karaoke throughout the meal. We looked at each other and said, "We’re old". When we paid the bill, they asked us to wait for five minutes so we assumed they had to go out for change. Life here is different and we love it!
This morning we got up a little before 7:00 so we could get a little yard work done before the heat was unbearable. We went outside and started digging rocks out of the soil. I think I mentioned we had a landscape design done in Vancouver so want to get things moving to implement the design. We may get the soil in the front prepared and that may be all. It is filled with construction debris so it will take all week just to get the big rocks out and we will need to amend the soil in order to grow anything. But we have lots of time and no schedule. Noy, Nattawan’s cousin who lives in front of our house came out and helped us. He speaks a little English. We worked probably 45 minutes and stopped. The sun was up and not too kind. There is no need to kill ourselves on this. Noy looked at us when we said it was time to quit and commented ‘evening work’. I hate to tell him, it’s just as hot at night as early morning. We came inside and showered and had a light breakfast. We have weight scales here and we have gained weight. The hot weather should curb our appetite. We plan to eat lunch in the neighbor eateries and fix a light supper here at the house at night. That should help take some weight off.
Later today our friends Kay and Bill who live in Hua Hin, about an hour south of us, will come by and we are going out for lunch. They have always been a treat to be with. Bill is a retired contractor so he and Ron had lots in common. Well it is so hot at 11:00 I am sitting three feet from the fan and sweating. Time to wrap it up!!
Friday, March 23, 2007
Yesterday (Saturday) we had lunch with Priyanthi. She is on maturity leave from the Asia Foundation and worked as a clerical person when we lived here. She is due in two months. To give you a flavor of life in SL, Priyanthi lives about two hours out of Colombo and rode a crowded bus into work everyday M-F. Her husband works in Dubai so that they can build a house. They house has been under construction for four years and this is her husband’s second year of working in Dubai. This is not uncommon here for people to work abroad, often in the Middle East in order for families to survive here. It is also a way to be able to build a home. The mortgage rates here are double digit around 15% and loans must be paid off fairly rapidly, I think it is 8-10 years. That makes owning a home very difficult given the wages in SL. Years ago Mr. Kularathna worked in the Middle East in order to build his home. The good news is your cost of living is low when you own your home free and clear. The bad news is people make incredible sacrifices in order to own a home. Most Sri Lankans own their homes although they are quite humble by our standards.
Later we had dinner with Chandini and Lakshman. Chandini was our language tutor and is a trustee at Shilpa Home. I asked her why Shilpa was having financial difficulties and she said inflation is running about 14% now. I asked her if raising the cost of a sponsorship was possible. She said most of the sponsors are Sri Lankans so $250 a year is an enormous amount of money. One of Shilpa’s major fund raisers is a sale of home made items such a clothing, table linens, embroidered towels and handkerchiefs. This sale is held twice a year. Unfortunately I will miss it as it occurs the week after we leave SL. When I met with Pushpa, the executive director, this week to give her the money from our friends in the US, she told me that in April the girls leave Shilpa for about a week (spring break) and visit family members/relatives and about ten girls stay at Shilpa, as they have no living relatives. Many girls at Shilpa were orphaned by the civil war or by the tsunami. Some are there due to family problems such as addiction or abuse.
At dinner I asked Lakshman if he could help we understand some behavior I have observed here that appear to be inconsistent. SL people are passive, they avoid confrontation yet they drive in an aggressive manner and any time they should be a line like at the drug store or post office, they consistently cut in front of people, much the same way they drive. It is sort of a ‘me first, me first’ attitude. He said he didn’t think it was aggressive so much as insecurity that they would get their turn. That made sense for me and helped me put the behavior in a context that is consistent with the culture.
As many of you know Ron and I have a St Patty’s Day tradition of a big party where we serve baked potatoes and guests bring toppings. Well last year we were in SL so we baked potatoes and invited our two neighbor’s over for dinner. This year we are in the hotel here in SL so we went to a restaurant that used to serve baked potatoes with toppings. No such luck this year so we ordered French fries to keep the tradition alive.
Gosh it’s Thursday. Where goes the time go. Ron’s Vancouver team arrived Tuesday and we have had dinner together every night since then. I tagged along with Pat and Ahmad when they were off on Wednesday and needed to do some gift shopping. Pat and Ahmad leave tomorrow and Ron and I head to Thailand on Saturday. In the meantime, we will have lunch with Veena and her mom on Friday and dinner with Suba who Ron works with and his family on Friday night. We fly out at 7:00 am so we will be getting up at 0 dark hundred. We will have the afternoon to goof around Bangkok, which is hotter than blue blazes about now, and head out Sunday morning for our ‘home’ in Phetchaburi that is two hours away by car. We are looking forward to working around the house and visiting friends there. We will have use of a family members car while there so will be brave and try driving in Thailand. The heat here hasn’t bothered me this trip. I can’t tell if it is because I am just resigned to it, acclimated or because in between outings, I live in an air-conditioned environment. At any rate I haven’t whined about the heat this trip. I think it is hotter in Thailand however. I just checked. It is 97 her with humidity factor and 102 degrees in Bangkok. Like I said, hotter than blue blazes. Perhaps the whining will start when we arrive in Thailand….
Later we had dinner with Chandini and Lakshman. Chandini was our language tutor and is a trustee at Shilpa Home. I asked her why Shilpa was having financial difficulties and she said inflation is running about 14% now. I asked her if raising the cost of a sponsorship was possible. She said most of the sponsors are Sri Lankans so $250 a year is an enormous amount of money. One of Shilpa’s major fund raisers is a sale of home made items such a clothing, table linens, embroidered towels and handkerchiefs. This sale is held twice a year. Unfortunately I will miss it as it occurs the week after we leave SL. When I met with Pushpa, the executive director, this week to give her the money from our friends in the US, she told me that in April the girls leave Shilpa for about a week (spring break) and visit family members/relatives and about ten girls stay at Shilpa, as they have no living relatives. Many girls at Shilpa were orphaned by the civil war or by the tsunami. Some are there due to family problems such as addiction or abuse.
At dinner I asked Lakshman if he could help we understand some behavior I have observed here that appear to be inconsistent. SL people are passive, they avoid confrontation yet they drive in an aggressive manner and any time they should be a line like at the drug store or post office, they consistently cut in front of people, much the same way they drive. It is sort of a ‘me first, me first’ attitude. He said he didn’t think it was aggressive so much as insecurity that they would get their turn. That made sense for me and helped me put the behavior in a context that is consistent with the culture.
As many of you know Ron and I have a St Patty’s Day tradition of a big party where we serve baked potatoes and guests bring toppings. Well last year we were in SL so we baked potatoes and invited our two neighbor’s over for dinner. This year we are in the hotel here in SL so we went to a restaurant that used to serve baked potatoes with toppings. No such luck this year so we ordered French fries to keep the tradition alive.
Gosh it’s Thursday. Where goes the time go. Ron’s Vancouver team arrived Tuesday and we have had dinner together every night since then. I tagged along with Pat and Ahmad when they were off on Wednesday and needed to do some gift shopping. Pat and Ahmad leave tomorrow and Ron and I head to Thailand on Saturday. In the meantime, we will have lunch with Veena and her mom on Friday and dinner with Suba who Ron works with and his family on Friday night. We fly out at 7:00 am so we will be getting up at 0 dark hundred. We will have the afternoon to goof around Bangkok, which is hotter than blue blazes about now, and head out Sunday morning for our ‘home’ in Phetchaburi that is two hours away by car. We are looking forward to working around the house and visiting friends there. We will have use of a family members car while there so will be brave and try driving in Thailand. The heat here hasn’t bothered me this trip. I can’t tell if it is because I am just resigned to it, acclimated or because in between outings, I live in an air-conditioned environment. At any rate I haven’t whined about the heat this trip. I think it is hotter in Thailand however. I just checked. It is 97 her with humidity factor and 102 degrees in Bangkok. Like I said, hotter than blue blazes. Perhaps the whining will start when we arrive in Thailand….
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Tuesday I went to Shilpa. The trustees were having a meeting and I asked if I could come to the end of their meeting as I had a story about Shilpa I wanted to share. I arrived and waited in the foyer to be called into the meeting. While I was waiting a young woman sat beside me on the couch. I think she is a matron at Shilpa. She looked over at my arms and said, “ You are a little fatty, aren’t you”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but agreed with her that indeed I was a fat American. How humbling. She had arms about the size of a curtain rod.
I went into the meeting of seven women: the executive director of Shilpa and six trustees. I introduced myself, as I wasn’t sure if all of them knew who I was and what my connection to Shilpa was. I told them the story about Jeri Holt suggesting that our book club sponsor a girl. They were thrilled at that point in the story. I then told them how one of the first donors gave me the $25 I had asked for and another $250 to sponsor a girl. They gasped at that point. When I told them I had $1500 for them, they were almost speechless. Chandini, my friend who is a trustee, said, “I can’t believe this. We were just looking at our financial reports and were quite worried about the status of the home. We were trying to figure out what kind of fund raiser we needed to do.” I gave each person present a list of donors and the amount contributed. So thank you again to all who made this gift possible. I also told them I was willing to ask again in a year but I could not guarantee the same results.
The newspaper had a report on kidney problems in SL. The statistics are horrifying. One in ten Sri Lankans has some form of chronic kidney disease while one in 35 have serious kidney failure. One in every three women and one in every ten men suffer a bladder infection. One in every 15 women has kidney stones. We were astounded by the figures. “The research has failed to determine the direct cause. The suspicion that drinking water contaminated with aluminum and eating freshwater fish with cadmium in the NCP has not been proven.” Keep in mind that nowhere on the island can you drink the tap water without first boiling it. People do but you shouldn’t. We drink bottled water when we are here. Also keep in mind that only in Colombo is sewerage collected. It isn’t treated but rather dumped into the ocean untreated. Oy. The rest of the island has cesspools that will at some point probably poison the ground water here. Also keep in mind that many people do not have water in their homes. They walk to a water source and carry water in vessels, often aluminum or plastic, to their homes.
Denial is a wondrous thing. Yesterday the Export Development and International Trade Minister gave an address to the American Chamber of Commerce in Colombo. He ‘reiterated the government’s stance that the conflict (civil war) has no bearing on the economic progress of the country’. Really? Tell that to all the people here in the service/tourism industry: the hotel staff, the trishaw and taxi drivers, and the retailers. Each of them will tell you that every time there is a bombingh, attack or suicide bomber, their trade is affected.
Today I picked Geetha up after work at the Asia Foundation. We greeted one another with warm hugs and great joy. It was 11:00, too earlier for lunch so I suggested we go shopping. She was shy about the idea but I told her it would be fun and she could buy whatever she wanted: a sari, clothes for her grandkids, household items. We started at House of Fashion where Sri Lankans shop. She picked out two outfits for grandkids, and some items for the new grandbaby that is expected next month. Next we went to several sari shops. She wouldn’t even consider looking in one shop when they told her the price. I have no idea what the price was but know that if you are buying a synthetic material here it isn’t expensive by our standards. She found one she liked in the third shop we visited and it cost $6.75! The stepped next door to get material for the ‘blouse piece’. That cost $2.00 and she thought that was too much but I insisted that we get it. Lunch came next. I took her to a rice and curry restaurant that is near the Asia Foundation. I went there because I know Sri Lankans eat there. We ran into Ron and two staff members so we joined them.
Then we went to another clothing store and found an outfit for the third grandchild and a dress her pregnant daughter could wear. Geetha deliberated over it a long time and was about to put it back when I took it out of her hand and said, ‘let’s get it’. I told her to stop worrying about the prices but she checked the price of every item and was quite concerned that the outfit for one grandchild cost $4.50. We ended the spree by going to a grocery/variety store where she found two backpacks for two of the grandkids, a Tupperware container and I insisted we get a few grocery items. In addition I talked her into some basics like shampoo, talc, and hand cream. Each time she would choose the smallest size container and I would insist she get the largest size. I had never been to her house and knew she was somewhat reluctant to take me there. On two previous occasions I had taken her to lunch and she always got out of the trishaw before we got to her house. Respecting her needs, when we got to her house today, I stayed in the trishaw and handed the bags to Mr.Kularathna who in turn handed the items to Geetha who took them inside. After we unloaded the trishaw, she invited us into her home. Her home was lovely, as she is. It was small and all I saw was the living room. I had not known what to expect but was surprised at how well furnished the home was. She had a couch and two side chairs as well as a china cabinet. On top of the cabinet was the photo I had given her of Ron and me. She was very proud to show it to me. Her grandson was there and her daughter who is expecting next month. We stayed about 30 minutes and her daughter shared the photo album of her wedding two years ago with Mr. Kularathna and me. Her grandson served us a cold glass of juice. All is all it was a fun day for both of us. It was interesting to see that she only bought one item for herself and everything else was for her family. I wasn’t surprised knowing her as I do. Most of all it was fun to be together for some time.
Thursday
Today was ATM day. Shilpa preferred cash so I have used two of my accounts and two of Ron’s accounts to extract $1500 in cash. The largest Sri Lankan bill is 2000 rupee note (about $20) and usually you get 1000 rupee notes from ATMs here so I have a stack of cash!. Many machines here limit your withdrawals to 20,000 rupees, about $183. By tomorrow morning I will have the $1500 and can take it to Shilpa. It got hot today, 91.5 with lots of humidity. Then it rained for the first time since December. We had dinner at friends house tonight. They don’t have air conditioning and we had forgotten how hot it is without it. Oy.
Well somehow it got to be Friday and I haven’t posted this. Ron is on the road today but will return after visiting two cities his program is working with.
That’s the latest from paradise five degrees above the equator.
I went into the meeting of seven women: the executive director of Shilpa and six trustees. I introduced myself, as I wasn’t sure if all of them knew who I was and what my connection to Shilpa was. I told them the story about Jeri Holt suggesting that our book club sponsor a girl. They were thrilled at that point in the story. I then told them how one of the first donors gave me the $25 I had asked for and another $250 to sponsor a girl. They gasped at that point. When I told them I had $1500 for them, they were almost speechless. Chandini, my friend who is a trustee, said, “I can’t believe this. We were just looking at our financial reports and were quite worried about the status of the home. We were trying to figure out what kind of fund raiser we needed to do.” I gave each person present a list of donors and the amount contributed. So thank you again to all who made this gift possible. I also told them I was willing to ask again in a year but I could not guarantee the same results.
The newspaper had a report on kidney problems in SL. The statistics are horrifying. One in ten Sri Lankans has some form of chronic kidney disease while one in 35 have serious kidney failure. One in every three women and one in every ten men suffer a bladder infection. One in every 15 women has kidney stones. We were astounded by the figures. “The research has failed to determine the direct cause. The suspicion that drinking water contaminated with aluminum and eating freshwater fish with cadmium in the NCP has not been proven.” Keep in mind that nowhere on the island can you drink the tap water without first boiling it. People do but you shouldn’t. We drink bottled water when we are here. Also keep in mind that only in Colombo is sewerage collected. It isn’t treated but rather dumped into the ocean untreated. Oy. The rest of the island has cesspools that will at some point probably poison the ground water here. Also keep in mind that many people do not have water in their homes. They walk to a water source and carry water in vessels, often aluminum or plastic, to their homes.
Denial is a wondrous thing. Yesterday the Export Development and International Trade Minister gave an address to the American Chamber of Commerce in Colombo. He ‘reiterated the government’s stance that the conflict (civil war) has no bearing on the economic progress of the country’. Really? Tell that to all the people here in the service/tourism industry: the hotel staff, the trishaw and taxi drivers, and the retailers. Each of them will tell you that every time there is a bombingh, attack or suicide bomber, their trade is affected.
Today I picked Geetha up after work at the Asia Foundation. We greeted one another with warm hugs and great joy. It was 11:00, too earlier for lunch so I suggested we go shopping. She was shy about the idea but I told her it would be fun and she could buy whatever she wanted: a sari, clothes for her grandkids, household items. We started at House of Fashion where Sri Lankans shop. She picked out two outfits for grandkids, and some items for the new grandbaby that is expected next month. Next we went to several sari shops. She wouldn’t even consider looking in one shop when they told her the price. I have no idea what the price was but know that if you are buying a synthetic material here it isn’t expensive by our standards. She found one she liked in the third shop we visited and it cost $6.75! The stepped next door to get material for the ‘blouse piece’. That cost $2.00 and she thought that was too much but I insisted that we get it. Lunch came next. I took her to a rice and curry restaurant that is near the Asia Foundation. I went there because I know Sri Lankans eat there. We ran into Ron and two staff members so we joined them.
Then we went to another clothing store and found an outfit for the third grandchild and a dress her pregnant daughter could wear. Geetha deliberated over it a long time and was about to put it back when I took it out of her hand and said, ‘let’s get it’. I told her to stop worrying about the prices but she checked the price of every item and was quite concerned that the outfit for one grandchild cost $4.50. We ended the spree by going to a grocery/variety store where she found two backpacks for two of the grandkids, a Tupperware container and I insisted we get a few grocery items. In addition I talked her into some basics like shampoo, talc, and hand cream. Each time she would choose the smallest size container and I would insist she get the largest size. I had never been to her house and knew she was somewhat reluctant to take me there. On two previous occasions I had taken her to lunch and she always got out of the trishaw before we got to her house. Respecting her needs, when we got to her house today, I stayed in the trishaw and handed the bags to Mr.Kularathna who in turn handed the items to Geetha who took them inside. After we unloaded the trishaw, she invited us into her home. Her home was lovely, as she is. It was small and all I saw was the living room. I had not known what to expect but was surprised at how well furnished the home was. She had a couch and two side chairs as well as a china cabinet. On top of the cabinet was the photo I had given her of Ron and me. She was very proud to show it to me. Her grandson was there and her daughter who is expecting next month. We stayed about 30 minutes and her daughter shared the photo album of her wedding two years ago with Mr. Kularathna and me. Her grandson served us a cold glass of juice. All is all it was a fun day for both of us. It was interesting to see that she only bought one item for herself and everything else was for her family. I wasn’t surprised knowing her as I do. Most of all it was fun to be together for some time.
Thursday
Today was ATM day. Shilpa preferred cash so I have used two of my accounts and two of Ron’s accounts to extract $1500 in cash. The largest Sri Lankan bill is 2000 rupee note (about $20) and usually you get 1000 rupee notes from ATMs here so I have a stack of cash!. Many machines here limit your withdrawals to 20,000 rupees, about $183. By tomorrow morning I will have the $1500 and can take it to Shilpa. It got hot today, 91.5 with lots of humidity. Then it rained for the first time since December. We had dinner at friends house tonight. They don’t have air conditioning and we had forgotten how hot it is without it. Oy.
Well somehow it got to be Friday and I haven’t posted this. Ron is on the road today but will return after visiting two cities his program is working with.
That’s the latest from paradise five degrees above the equator.
Monday, March 12, 2007
3-11-07
We are in SL. The ICMA travel agent for some unknown reason had scheduled us on a flight out of Frankfurt to Dubai then to SL. That is sort of like going around your elbow to get to your hinny…so when we got to Frankfurt we managed to get it changed and get a direct flight to SL saving us about 10 hours on our weary bodies. The bad news is our luggage hasn’t shown up. We arrived at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday and it is now 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
We fell into bed upon arrival at the Cinnamon Grand around 7:30 and woke up promptly at noon. Then we showered, grabbed a bite to eat and went shopping for SL clothes. Heavy jeans and turtleneck shirts don’t cut it in this climate. We had been given a $90 allowance. The deodorant at $4.00 cost more than the cotton shirt Ron bought. We got sandals, shirts, pants for me and shorts for Ron and spent a total of $75.
It is good to be back. The air smells of fragrant flowers, the tropical birds are singing, we see beautifully colored saris flowing as women walk down the street and of course the sun is out and not too hot. Lucky us. We had lunch with friends today and last night just the two of us went out for great Indian veggie food. Does life get any better? Of course if we had our luggage that would be better. There are some noticeable changes in Colombo. There seems to be less garbage strewed about. Maybe because of the Chikungunya fever epidemic they were forced to clean up their act. The other major noticeable change is many roads have been made one way as a security measure. Our friends told us today that sometimes they change the direction of the one-way streets and any time a diplomat or other VIP is on the road, they close the roads to all traffic and pedestrians, sometimes causing delays of 90 minutes. OY! One-way traffic makes it more difficult for suicide bombers on motorcycles or in trishaws to attack their target.
Monday
Ron’s luggage arrived at noon today but mine is still in some other place than SL. Bummer. I have worn the same blouse for three days now so this afternoon I bought another one. If the luggage doesn’t arrive tomorrow I will need to get another pair of pants. I only hope I get my luggage. I started a list of contents should I need to make a claim. Our landscape design for the Thai house is in my luggage and I will be so disappointed if it gets lost.
Ron started work today. The chief of party (program director) returned to Canada on a family emergency so our friend Don is filling in. I had my manicure/pedicure at the hotel then ran errands: getting a razor for Ron, snacks for the hotel room, another blouse for me and a little shopping for my sister. I had rice and vegetable curry for lunch and ran into two guys from the Asia Foundation at the restaurant that is near the office. I discovered that they eat there everyday. The price is right. My lunch was less than $1.20 and .40 was for bottled water.
Now I need to iron clothes since Ron’s luggage arrived. Tomorrow is a big day. You may remember from my previous SL blog, I volunteered at Shilpa, a home for 50 girls, ages 5-22. When I came home, I was telling my book club about Shilpa and how Ron and I had sponsored one of the girls. We made a financial contribution that pays for 80% of the girl’s educational, food and medical expenses for a year. One of the members of my book club said our club should sponsor a girl. Since all members weren’t present I decided to send out an email with information about Shilpa and sponsorship. Then I realized I should send it out to the women on my email list, seeing if I could get ten women to donate $25 each, giving me enough to sponsor a girl for a year. Well I was overwhelmed with the response. One of the first responses came from Bruce and Donna Cross, good friends who recently moved to Texas from Washington. They sent me $275, the $25 I had asked for plus a full sponsorship. I was sent $1280 in all and Ron and I will kick in another $220 to round it up to $1500, enough for six sponsorships. A great big thank you to those dear friends who were able to contribute. So tomorrow I am going to Shilpa and arriving shortly before the trustee meeting ends. I have asked if I could come to their meeting as I have a story to tell them. No one at Shilpa knows that I have this grand gift for them. I plan to tell them what happened then present them with the money. I am thrilled to be able to make this gift and could not have done it without the generous participation of many friends. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Yippee, I just got word that I will have my luggage tonight!! Life is good. That’s it from paradise five degrees above the equator. The men are still quite handsome here…
We are in SL. The ICMA travel agent for some unknown reason had scheduled us on a flight out of Frankfurt to Dubai then to SL. That is sort of like going around your elbow to get to your hinny…so when we got to Frankfurt we managed to get it changed and get a direct flight to SL saving us about 10 hours on our weary bodies. The bad news is our luggage hasn’t shown up. We arrived at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday and it is now 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
We fell into bed upon arrival at the Cinnamon Grand around 7:30 and woke up promptly at noon. Then we showered, grabbed a bite to eat and went shopping for SL clothes. Heavy jeans and turtleneck shirts don’t cut it in this climate. We had been given a $90 allowance. The deodorant at $4.00 cost more than the cotton shirt Ron bought. We got sandals, shirts, pants for me and shorts for Ron and spent a total of $75.
It is good to be back. The air smells of fragrant flowers, the tropical birds are singing, we see beautifully colored saris flowing as women walk down the street and of course the sun is out and not too hot. Lucky us. We had lunch with friends today and last night just the two of us went out for great Indian veggie food. Does life get any better? Of course if we had our luggage that would be better. There are some noticeable changes in Colombo. There seems to be less garbage strewed about. Maybe because of the Chikungunya fever epidemic they were forced to clean up their act. The other major noticeable change is many roads have been made one way as a security measure. Our friends told us today that sometimes they change the direction of the one-way streets and any time a diplomat or other VIP is on the road, they close the roads to all traffic and pedestrians, sometimes causing delays of 90 minutes. OY! One-way traffic makes it more difficult for suicide bombers on motorcycles or in trishaws to attack their target.
Monday
Ron’s luggage arrived at noon today but mine is still in some other place than SL. Bummer. I have worn the same blouse for three days now so this afternoon I bought another one. If the luggage doesn’t arrive tomorrow I will need to get another pair of pants. I only hope I get my luggage. I started a list of contents should I need to make a claim. Our landscape design for the Thai house is in my luggage and I will be so disappointed if it gets lost.
Ron started work today. The chief of party (program director) returned to Canada on a family emergency so our friend Don is filling in. I had my manicure/pedicure at the hotel then ran errands: getting a razor for Ron, snacks for the hotel room, another blouse for me and a little shopping for my sister. I had rice and vegetable curry for lunch and ran into two guys from the Asia Foundation at the restaurant that is near the office. I discovered that they eat there everyday. The price is right. My lunch was less than $1.20 and .40 was for bottled water.
Now I need to iron clothes since Ron’s luggage arrived. Tomorrow is a big day. You may remember from my previous SL blog, I volunteered at Shilpa, a home for 50 girls, ages 5-22. When I came home, I was telling my book club about Shilpa and how Ron and I had sponsored one of the girls. We made a financial contribution that pays for 80% of the girl’s educational, food and medical expenses for a year. One of the members of my book club said our club should sponsor a girl. Since all members weren’t present I decided to send out an email with information about Shilpa and sponsorship. Then I realized I should send it out to the women on my email list, seeing if I could get ten women to donate $25 each, giving me enough to sponsor a girl for a year. Well I was overwhelmed with the response. One of the first responses came from Bruce and Donna Cross, good friends who recently moved to Texas from Washington. They sent me $275, the $25 I had asked for plus a full sponsorship. I was sent $1280 in all and Ron and I will kick in another $220 to round it up to $1500, enough for six sponsorships. A great big thank you to those dear friends who were able to contribute. So tomorrow I am going to Shilpa and arriving shortly before the trustee meeting ends. I have asked if I could come to their meeting as I have a story to tell them. No one at Shilpa knows that I have this grand gift for them. I plan to tell them what happened then present them with the money. I am thrilled to be able to make this gift and could not have done it without the generous participation of many friends. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Yippee, I just got word that I will have my luggage tonight!! Life is good. That’s it from paradise five degrees above the equator. The men are still quite handsome here…
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Our friend John told us a funny story that had happened to him. The story involved a Jewish couple that was visiting him in Croatia. The husband was telling about a difficult task and he described it by saying ‘it was like squeezing juice out of a rock’. His wife was somewhat indignant and asked him what he had just said. He repeated it; she laughed and said, “I thought you said it was like squeezing Jews out of Iraq.” We laughed so hard we were crying.
So on Monday we drove to Porec, a coastal town and had dinner before putting John on a bus to return to Zagreb. We spent the night at the house then packed up on Tuesday and drove to Venice in John’s car.. We made four or five wrong turns so it took us much longer to get here than we had anticipated. After arriving, we parked the car as close as possible to Venice and took a vaporetto (motorboat bus) into Venice and got off at the Rialto Bridge, a famous tourist area. We then had a short walk to our hotel. After checking in we set out to explore Venice. I was last here in 1970. Venice hasn’t changed other than there are a lot more tourists, and things are more expensive. We bought a good map and haven’t gotten lost yet. We wandered over to San Marcos Square where the basilica has some of St Mark’s remains. They wouldn’t let me in since I had a large purse and they had no means to check it. So we wandered around for hours and stopped and had café latte and a pastry.
We did a lot of window-shopping but didn’t see anything we wanted to buy. We were amazed at the prices here. We saw ties for $250 and a nice man’s suit for $2,500. Oy! Later we ate at a restaurant that was a tourist trap. The meal was overpriced, mediocre and the seating was claustrophobic. Tonight we will go further away from the Rialto Bridge and hopefully have a better meal. After dinner we roamed some more. Venice is such a great place for walking around, as there are no streets, only alleys, squares and walkways. And of course canals. Neither of us slept well. I turned out the light around 12:00 and a young couple next door was having a bath. The woman giggled a lot and the man ‘s voice carried well right through our walls. After a long bath, they pulled the plug and went to bed. By then the hardness of our bed was bothering me. I got up and searched for a sleeping aid but couldn’t find them. Then at some ungodly hour a construction crew started assembling scaffolding. If that wasn’t enough I was just starting to get accustomed to the rhythm of the clanking of scaffolding when a seagull started screeching reminding me of my dear friend Kathy Burkey who can imitate a screeching seagull to perfection.
So we got up and started our day. The breakfast was bread, jam and coffee. Delicious Italian coffee. Starbucks doesn’t stand a chance here. You can’t improve on perfection. We headed out and spent the morning at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Art. What a treat to see so many pieces of artwork by artists that she helped to get their start. There was a room of Jackson Pollack’s paintings, Mark Rothko, Motherwell and other important abstract expressionist artists. She had a fabulous home and sculpture garden. Next we took a vaporetto to the Jewish ghetto. We discovered that the Italian word for foundry was geto and the Ashkenazi Jews pronounced it ghetto. In the 1500’s the Venetians required the Jews to live in the area where the foundry was and hence the term ghetto was coined. We visited three of the five synagogues in the area and learned the history of the Jews in Venice. Since the Christians were not allowed to lend money with interest, the Jews were required to be the moneylenders. Commerce was such a vital part of the Venetian economy that having money available for loans was essential. The fact that they were forced to be moneylenders led to the stereotype of Jews being moneylenders. Each night they were locked in the ghetto and they were four guards to ensure they did not go out after dark. We were surprised to learn the Jews were required to pay the guards salary. When Napoleon captured Venice he liberated the Jews and later he sold Venice to Austria. Once Austria ruled Venice the discrimination against Jews resumed. Today there are about 30 Jews who live in the ghetto. During its height there were about 4,000 in the ghetto.
We came home and napped. How delicious. And then to the Internet and out to dinner. Tonight was fine dining. We had seen the restaurant on our walk last night. We had an exquisite meal with excellent service. I had sea bass and Ron had a pumpkin gnocchi. YUM! More walking into an area whew we hadn’t ventured before. What an absolutely lovely place Venice is. We saw more lovely shops with Murano glass. The artwork is of such a high standard that we never tire of seeing it. We passed lots of designer clothing shops where you can buy a pair of pretty underwear for $80. We meandered home and were glad we had such a great visit, a relaxing time and a feast for our eyes.
So on Monday we drove to Porec, a coastal town and had dinner before putting John on a bus to return to Zagreb. We spent the night at the house then packed up on Tuesday and drove to Venice in John’s car.. We made four or five wrong turns so it took us much longer to get here than we had anticipated. After arriving, we parked the car as close as possible to Venice and took a vaporetto (motorboat bus) into Venice and got off at the Rialto Bridge, a famous tourist area. We then had a short walk to our hotel. After checking in we set out to explore Venice. I was last here in 1970. Venice hasn’t changed other than there are a lot more tourists, and things are more expensive. We bought a good map and haven’t gotten lost yet. We wandered over to San Marcos Square where the basilica has some of St Mark’s remains. They wouldn’t let me in since I had a large purse and they had no means to check it. So we wandered around for hours and stopped and had café latte and a pastry.
We did a lot of window-shopping but didn’t see anything we wanted to buy. We were amazed at the prices here. We saw ties for $250 and a nice man’s suit for $2,500. Oy! Later we ate at a restaurant that was a tourist trap. The meal was overpriced, mediocre and the seating was claustrophobic. Tonight we will go further away from the Rialto Bridge and hopefully have a better meal. After dinner we roamed some more. Venice is such a great place for walking around, as there are no streets, only alleys, squares and walkways. And of course canals. Neither of us slept well. I turned out the light around 12:00 and a young couple next door was having a bath. The woman giggled a lot and the man ‘s voice carried well right through our walls. After a long bath, they pulled the plug and went to bed. By then the hardness of our bed was bothering me. I got up and searched for a sleeping aid but couldn’t find them. Then at some ungodly hour a construction crew started assembling scaffolding. If that wasn’t enough I was just starting to get accustomed to the rhythm of the clanking of scaffolding when a seagull started screeching reminding me of my dear friend Kathy Burkey who can imitate a screeching seagull to perfection.
So we got up and started our day. The breakfast was bread, jam and coffee. Delicious Italian coffee. Starbucks doesn’t stand a chance here. You can’t improve on perfection. We headed out and spent the morning at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Art. What a treat to see so many pieces of artwork by artists that she helped to get their start. There was a room of Jackson Pollack’s paintings, Mark Rothko, Motherwell and other important abstract expressionist artists. She had a fabulous home and sculpture garden. Next we took a vaporetto to the Jewish ghetto. We discovered that the Italian word for foundry was geto and the Ashkenazi Jews pronounced it ghetto. In the 1500’s the Venetians required the Jews to live in the area where the foundry was and hence the term ghetto was coined. We visited three of the five synagogues in the area and learned the history of the Jews in Venice. Since the Christians were not allowed to lend money with interest, the Jews were required to be the moneylenders. Commerce was such a vital part of the Venetian economy that having money available for loans was essential. The fact that they were forced to be moneylenders led to the stereotype of Jews being moneylenders. Each night they were locked in the ghetto and they were four guards to ensure they did not go out after dark. We were surprised to learn the Jews were required to pay the guards salary. When Napoleon captured Venice he liberated the Jews and later he sold Venice to Austria. Once Austria ruled Venice the discrimination against Jews resumed. Today there are about 30 Jews who live in the ghetto. During its height there were about 4,000 in the ghetto.
We came home and napped. How delicious. And then to the Internet and out to dinner. Tonight was fine dining. We had seen the restaurant on our walk last night. We had an exquisite meal with excellent service. I had sea bass and Ron had a pumpkin gnocchi. YUM! More walking into an area whew we hadn’t ventured before. What an absolutely lovely place Venice is. We saw more lovely shops with Murano glass. The artwork is of such a high standard that we never tire of seeing it. We passed lots of designer clothing shops where you can buy a pair of pretty underwear for $80. We meandered home and were glad we had such a great visit, a relaxing time and a feast for our eyes.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Wow, we love Croatia. Zagreb is beautiful. We arrived around 5:30 and our friend John picked us up and we checked into our hotel then headed for his apartment. We met his lovely wife Jen and the cutest kid ever, Harper, not quite one year old yet. Fruit trees were in bloom as well as the early spring bulbs. We ate a great meal at the Craig’s home-chili, cornbread and salad. We were so ready for a lettuce salad and so grateful to have one after two weeks in Vranje with no lettuce.
After dinner we walked around old town, our favorite, of course. We wandered through six connected two squares that are very pedestrian friendly. Our hotel used to be a refugee hotel. It looked as though it has been recently updated and we found it totally adequate although somewhat spartan. The breakfast buffet was good with cabbage salad, multiple breads, cheeses (goat cheese and feta were my fave), sausage, good coffee, yeah. The scrambled eggs had a ladle as a serving spoon so I skipped the eggs!
Croatia is expensive. Internet costs $6.00 an hour, meals are as expensive if not more expensive than the US. Zagreb is also a modern city with scads of development. Croatia is graduating and going off the developing country list so there will be no more aid such as USAID. Bummer, Ron won’t be able to get work here. What a sweet post this would be. The infrastructure is great here: excellent roads, drinkable water, solid waste collection, etc.
On Saturday we went to the fresh market. Beautiful fruit and veggies and beautiful homemade cheeses. I spied some lovely needlework and couldn’t resist buying a small tablecloth. Everything closes at three and stays closed until Monday in Zagreb. Sunday Ron and I got up and went out to take photos around old town since we had forgotten the camera on Saturday. We retraced our steps and found everything and were proud with our sense of direction.
Around noon we loaded up the car and John drove us to Istria where he and Jen have restored a 200 yr old stone house. We visited Motovun, a hilltop village where Mario Andretti was born. This area of Croatia was part of Italy until 1945 when it became part of Croatia (Yugoslavia at the time) so most people here speak Italian. Motovun was one of the most picturesque villages we have ever seen. Istria is one wonderful sight after another. There were so many villages to see that are hundreds of years old, all constructed in Istrian stone, a light colored stone indigenous to the area. We passed several medieval castles along the way.
People drive crazy here, I mean really fast. Motorcyclists raced between cars at unbelievable speeds. We went through a number of tunnels as we drove through Istria. There were narrow canyons, small rivers and deep valleys. It was sunny all day. We saw lots of olive trees, vineyards.
The Craig’s home in Istria is in a village of nine homes, all stone houses and no other buildings. All villages have names and city water. We were astounded because these little villages are in very rural areas. They live in the village of Boscari. Their home is four floors and they gutted the interior of the building and started from scratch. They had to re-point the stone walls that are TWO feet thick! They have done a grand job and are still hard at it. John had spent the week buying IKEA furniture and kitchen cabinets in Austria and then trying to get it through customs in Croatia. It took four days!! Oy…so we spent Sunday evening assembling cabinets before heading out for a fabulous meal at a restaurant that specialized in truffles. Ron had gnocchi with truffles and John had steak and truffles. I opted for venison and pasta. YUM, they had bread that had been grilled on the open hearth and served it with a variety of olive oils each with a different flavor. My favorite was truffle oil. John’s steak was also grilled on the hearth. We have eaten well in Croatia.
On Monday we spent the day assembling cabinets and furniture with some tense and some very funny moments. But the team of three got all twelve cabinets assembled and one very complicated day bed. We took a lunch break and went to another charming village. It was an artist’s colony although we only saw one studio, as it is the off-season. We only found one place serving food. A woman was mopping the floor in her bar/café and offered to make us a sandwich. We decided to eat outside since her floors were wet. She made some thick sliced bread with very thin single slices of cheese and ham. We didn’t care because we couldn’t believe the ambience of the village. We were charged $6.00 for one bottle of water…ouch.
Time to head out to the Internet café so will continue this later today or tonight. We arrived in Venice yesterday so there’s a lot to exclaim in Italian.
After dinner we walked around old town, our favorite, of course. We wandered through six connected two squares that are very pedestrian friendly. Our hotel used to be a refugee hotel. It looked as though it has been recently updated and we found it totally adequate although somewhat spartan. The breakfast buffet was good with cabbage salad, multiple breads, cheeses (goat cheese and feta were my fave), sausage, good coffee, yeah. The scrambled eggs had a ladle as a serving spoon so I skipped the eggs!
Croatia is expensive. Internet costs $6.00 an hour, meals are as expensive if not more expensive than the US. Zagreb is also a modern city with scads of development. Croatia is graduating and going off the developing country list so there will be no more aid such as USAID. Bummer, Ron won’t be able to get work here. What a sweet post this would be. The infrastructure is great here: excellent roads, drinkable water, solid waste collection, etc.
On Saturday we went to the fresh market. Beautiful fruit and veggies and beautiful homemade cheeses. I spied some lovely needlework and couldn’t resist buying a small tablecloth. Everything closes at three and stays closed until Monday in Zagreb. Sunday Ron and I got up and went out to take photos around old town since we had forgotten the camera on Saturday. We retraced our steps and found everything and were proud with our sense of direction.
Around noon we loaded up the car and John drove us to Istria where he and Jen have restored a 200 yr old stone house. We visited Motovun, a hilltop village where Mario Andretti was born. This area of Croatia was part of Italy until 1945 when it became part of Croatia (Yugoslavia at the time) so most people here speak Italian. Motovun was one of the most picturesque villages we have ever seen. Istria is one wonderful sight after another. There were so many villages to see that are hundreds of years old, all constructed in Istrian stone, a light colored stone indigenous to the area. We passed several medieval castles along the way.
People drive crazy here, I mean really fast. Motorcyclists raced between cars at unbelievable speeds. We went through a number of tunnels as we drove through Istria. There were narrow canyons, small rivers and deep valleys. It was sunny all day. We saw lots of olive trees, vineyards.
The Craig’s home in Istria is in a village of nine homes, all stone houses and no other buildings. All villages have names and city water. We were astounded because these little villages are in very rural areas. They live in the village of Boscari. Their home is four floors and they gutted the interior of the building and started from scratch. They had to re-point the stone walls that are TWO feet thick! They have done a grand job and are still hard at it. John had spent the week buying IKEA furniture and kitchen cabinets in Austria and then trying to get it through customs in Croatia. It took four days!! Oy…so we spent Sunday evening assembling cabinets before heading out for a fabulous meal at a restaurant that specialized in truffles. Ron had gnocchi with truffles and John had steak and truffles. I opted for venison and pasta. YUM, they had bread that had been grilled on the open hearth and served it with a variety of olive oils each with a different flavor. My favorite was truffle oil. John’s steak was also grilled on the hearth. We have eaten well in Croatia.
On Monday we spent the day assembling cabinets and furniture with some tense and some very funny moments. But the team of three got all twelve cabinets assembled and one very complicated day bed. We took a lunch break and went to another charming village. It was an artist’s colony although we only saw one studio, as it is the off-season. We only found one place serving food. A woman was mopping the floor in her bar/café and offered to make us a sandwich. We decided to eat outside since her floors were wet. She made some thick sliced bread with very thin single slices of cheese and ham. We didn’t care because we couldn’t believe the ambience of the village. We were charged $6.00 for one bottle of water…ouch.
Time to head out to the Internet café so will continue this later today or tonight. We arrived in Venice yesterday so there’s a lot to exclaim in Italian.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Wednesday
Well it’s another sunny balmy day in Vranje. Hooray! The hills (low mountains?) that surround us are covered with a dusting of snow. The landscape here reminds us of Grants Pass because of the mountains and the rural areas remind of us rural southern Oregon-Applegate, Williams area.
I took a walk this morning up the hill behind our house. There is a narrow road with houses on each side. Some of them are farmhouses with barns. The only animals I saw were chickens but I am assuming there are some pigs or other four-legged type given how strong the manure smell was. There were a few huge lovely homes on the brow of the hill. I took some photos that we will post when we have access to high speed Internet, either in Zagreb or Colombo. While I was walking two neighborhood women were walking towards me. They stopped in their tracks and looked at me. I guess they know everyone in the village so I greeted them and they asked me in Serbian who I was (I assume that was what they were saying). Any way I said a few things and was on my way.
Speaking of Colombo I went online today to see what is happening there. The Tigers fired on a government helicopter that was carrying eight diplomats from donor countries. They were landing in Batticolola on the east side of the island when the Tigers fired on them. The government condemned the Tigers for such action but the Tigers blame the government because they didn’t tell the Tigers there were diplomats on board. You gotta love this mentality of “It’s not my fault”. War is so stupid!
I got an email from Veena and she still hasn’t found a tenant for ‘our house’. She said there was a couple that wanted it but she didn’t like how aggressive they were so declined to rent to them.
Our landlady here told me she was going into Vranje if I wanted a ride. So we rode into town together, ran our errands separately and met up two hours later to return home. Neither of us speaks each other’s language but it is amazing what you can communicate. Her car is old and every time you go up the hill into Vranje it starts sputtering and acting like it isn’t going to make it to the top. I discovered this on Monday, our first full day here when I rode into town with her daughter who works at UNDP. Today the mother starts really going fast in an effort to get up the hill but alas the car sputtered and we crept along for several blocks until the car regained its strength. The house we are staying in is a cash cow. We rent the downstairs apartment for 50 euro a night, the upstairs is now rented to three Italians. I don’t know what it rents for but is has three separate bedrooms and I think two baths plus a full kitchen (with refrig) and a washing machine so I would guess it rents for 75-100 euros a night. The owner lives in another section that I haven’t been into. Meinke, her daughter, is staying in town this week. The owner has the most unusual hair color, sort of maroon. I have seen it and several strange variations on red here.
So today I got breakfast rolls, a take out pizza thing for my lunch and mailed a package of two books to myself to lighten my load before heading to Ivan’s place. He was out so his girlfriend who works in the dress shop called him and he walked her through getting me online. I was grateful since I had limited time today.
We went out for salad tonight – just the two of us. Eating in restaurants is a drag after a while. We are feeling stuffed and like we have gained weight. The light dinner of salad was just the ticket.
Thursday
Ron and I actually managed to get up and go for a walk this morning before breakfast. It’s another lovely day here. We are trying to make our dinar last so we don’t end up with a bunch tomorrow when we leave or worse run out before we leave. Like Sri Lanka the dinar can’t be exchanged once you leave the country. We leave from an airport in Macedonia, not Serbia. Since we still don’t know if Ron will get any more work on the project beyond tomorrow we want to spend down the dinar. Otherwise we would just save them for the next trip. So last night we calculated how much we would need between now and when we leave, including paying for our lodging in cash since we are paying a private party.
Today we saw our landlady after we had finished breakfast so Ron went out to pay her. She used a higher exchange rate (the lodging had been quoted in euros). So much for our careful planning. I am eager to be somewhere where I can read a newspaper or see news in English on the TV.
I ate my last lunch here at Kybura where we have eaten so many times. We have yet to see a lettuce salad. Most salads are chopped tomatoes, cucumbers with grated white cheese on top or a platter of roasted peppers, cabbage salad, feta and pickles. Today I had the chopped salad and chicken soup with bread that warmed me right up. I had been at Ivan’s shop for over an hour on the Internet and my hands had turned to ice as the shop is rarely heated. Striking the keyboard became torture after about 45 minutes. Somehow blowing on my fingers didn’t seem to have any impact. The sun darted in and out behind clouds all day. I hadn’t worn my coat to town so anytime the sun disappeared I felt chilly. On the sunny days I can do just fine with my light wool jacket I brought with me.
When I got home, our landlady asked me a question and then came into the house. She was inquiring as to whether we had any heat. The answer was nope. We haven’t had any today so now the house is a wee bit cool. I should have had an espresso before I left town. I have since fixed myself a cup of decaf and am now warm. Hopefully she will get us some heat before nightfall.
Today someone was playing loud but pleasant music in the pedestrian square. It really felt and sounded like Europe. The music was tambourines, violins and I’m not sure what else but I felt like I was in some European movie set. Ivan told me today that his brother Igor owns the clothing shop that is in front his computer shop. I thought their mother owned the shop. She and Ivan’s girlfriend staff the shop most of the time.
When I was ready to leave town I walked to the taxi stand and looked for Goram. When I couldn’t find him I called and he said he would be there in 10-15 minutes so I told him I would wait for him. When he showed up he had his two kids with him. I think he picks them up from school and keeps them until his wife gets home then he goes back to work. At any rate, they are beautiful kids and Gorem got his six year old daughter to say something in English because she is studying English in school. It was very sweet.
We head tomorrow for Croatia so this is the last blurbia from Serbia.
Well it’s another sunny balmy day in Vranje. Hooray! The hills (low mountains?) that surround us are covered with a dusting of snow. The landscape here reminds us of Grants Pass because of the mountains and the rural areas remind of us rural southern Oregon-Applegate, Williams area.
I took a walk this morning up the hill behind our house. There is a narrow road with houses on each side. Some of them are farmhouses with barns. The only animals I saw were chickens but I am assuming there are some pigs or other four-legged type given how strong the manure smell was. There were a few huge lovely homes on the brow of the hill. I took some photos that we will post when we have access to high speed Internet, either in Zagreb or Colombo. While I was walking two neighborhood women were walking towards me. They stopped in their tracks and looked at me. I guess they know everyone in the village so I greeted them and they asked me in Serbian who I was (I assume that was what they were saying). Any way I said a few things and was on my way.
Speaking of Colombo I went online today to see what is happening there. The Tigers fired on a government helicopter that was carrying eight diplomats from donor countries. They were landing in Batticolola on the east side of the island when the Tigers fired on them. The government condemned the Tigers for such action but the Tigers blame the government because they didn’t tell the Tigers there were diplomats on board. You gotta love this mentality of “It’s not my fault”. War is so stupid!
I got an email from Veena and she still hasn’t found a tenant for ‘our house’. She said there was a couple that wanted it but she didn’t like how aggressive they were so declined to rent to them.
Our landlady here told me she was going into Vranje if I wanted a ride. So we rode into town together, ran our errands separately and met up two hours later to return home. Neither of us speaks each other’s language but it is amazing what you can communicate. Her car is old and every time you go up the hill into Vranje it starts sputtering and acting like it isn’t going to make it to the top. I discovered this on Monday, our first full day here when I rode into town with her daughter who works at UNDP. Today the mother starts really going fast in an effort to get up the hill but alas the car sputtered and we crept along for several blocks until the car regained its strength. The house we are staying in is a cash cow. We rent the downstairs apartment for 50 euro a night, the upstairs is now rented to three Italians. I don’t know what it rents for but is has three separate bedrooms and I think two baths plus a full kitchen (with refrig) and a washing machine so I would guess it rents for 75-100 euros a night. The owner lives in another section that I haven’t been into. Meinke, her daughter, is staying in town this week. The owner has the most unusual hair color, sort of maroon. I have seen it and several strange variations on red here.
So today I got breakfast rolls, a take out pizza thing for my lunch and mailed a package of two books to myself to lighten my load before heading to Ivan’s place. He was out so his girlfriend who works in the dress shop called him and he walked her through getting me online. I was grateful since I had limited time today.
We went out for salad tonight – just the two of us. Eating in restaurants is a drag after a while. We are feeling stuffed and like we have gained weight. The light dinner of salad was just the ticket.
Thursday
Ron and I actually managed to get up and go for a walk this morning before breakfast. It’s another lovely day here. We are trying to make our dinar last so we don’t end up with a bunch tomorrow when we leave or worse run out before we leave. Like Sri Lanka the dinar can’t be exchanged once you leave the country. We leave from an airport in Macedonia, not Serbia. Since we still don’t know if Ron will get any more work on the project beyond tomorrow we want to spend down the dinar. Otherwise we would just save them for the next trip. So last night we calculated how much we would need between now and when we leave, including paying for our lodging in cash since we are paying a private party.
Today we saw our landlady after we had finished breakfast so Ron went out to pay her. She used a higher exchange rate (the lodging had been quoted in euros). So much for our careful planning. I am eager to be somewhere where I can read a newspaper or see news in English on the TV.
I ate my last lunch here at Kybura where we have eaten so many times. We have yet to see a lettuce salad. Most salads are chopped tomatoes, cucumbers with grated white cheese on top or a platter of roasted peppers, cabbage salad, feta and pickles. Today I had the chopped salad and chicken soup with bread that warmed me right up. I had been at Ivan’s shop for over an hour on the Internet and my hands had turned to ice as the shop is rarely heated. Striking the keyboard became torture after about 45 minutes. Somehow blowing on my fingers didn’t seem to have any impact. The sun darted in and out behind clouds all day. I hadn’t worn my coat to town so anytime the sun disappeared I felt chilly. On the sunny days I can do just fine with my light wool jacket I brought with me.
When I got home, our landlady asked me a question and then came into the house. She was inquiring as to whether we had any heat. The answer was nope. We haven’t had any today so now the house is a wee bit cool. I should have had an espresso before I left town. I have since fixed myself a cup of decaf and am now warm. Hopefully she will get us some heat before nightfall.
Today someone was playing loud but pleasant music in the pedestrian square. It really felt and sounded like Europe. The music was tambourines, violins and I’m not sure what else but I felt like I was in some European movie set. Ivan told me today that his brother Igor owns the clothing shop that is in front his computer shop. I thought their mother owned the shop. She and Ivan’s girlfriend staff the shop most of the time.
When I was ready to leave town I walked to the taxi stand and looked for Goram. When I couldn’t find him I called and he said he would be there in 10-15 minutes so I told him I would wait for him. When he showed up he had his two kids with him. I think he picks them up from school and keeps them until his wife gets home then he goes back to work. At any rate, they are beautiful kids and Gorem got his six year old daughter to say something in English because she is studying English in school. It was very sweet.
We head tomorrow for Croatia so this is the last blurbia from Serbia.
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