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….