More Stuff from here

Its Vesak- the day that celebrates Buddha's birth death and enlightenment- today. Yet another holiday. I decided to come into work anyway...because I am lame. Sri Lanka just lost the Cricket World Cup...it kind of sucks...I have learned a lot about the game. I however didn't watch much of the match. It was rain delayed from 7pm to 9:15pm and when it is a 6hr game well it is hard to watch the whole thing. Also, I don't have a TV- it exploded and I haven't been around enough to call and get it fixed- so I went to Dorthy and Prabo's house and then went home around 10 b/c I didn't feel well. I spent the rest of the night mostly in the bathroom being sick (for 4hrs and 4min I threw up every 61min....kind of funny in a well not so funny way). I could hear fire crackers going off and crowds yelling...I thought, "we must be playing well" however I couldn't get too excited because a) I was sick b) the electricity was out so there was no fan...it is wise to stay as calm as possible in those times. Well I found out the next day that SL had in fact lost by 50points to the Aussies. Grr. Then on Monday I found out that what I thought was a celebration with firecrackers was actually an air attack by the LTTE. Not a large scale thing, the power plant (hence no electricity) and some oil tanks or something. Anyway, I am staying off the buses on Galle Road for a while...Other than that I am not really nervous. I know a lot more people in way more scary positions. I can't really worry...no time. I am sure GOD's hands are capable of worrying for me ;-)
Things are going well with the project. I am excited about our new village, unlike the rest of the people that helped make the decision on what village it would be. I think they have made some exaggerated judgements and will be happy to see this village rise above their expectations. One gentleman associated with the project- not on the Y Gro side- decided to criticize the chairman and secretary at a meeting of the village. It was not done in a helpful but hurtful way. He was way out of line!!!! I was so so so angry. However, they sat there and took it...smiling. And the secretary's closing remarks were, "I know I have many faults and I will work very hard to change and help make this FMS great." I was very impressed and have expectations beyond what others see.
On another note, my bible study group went on a retreat to upcountry last weekend. It was perfect timing!!!. We stayed at a guesthouse/tea estate owned by our one of my friends uncles. My friend manages the tea estate and helps manage the guesthouse. It was a great mixture of relaxing and fun activities. There was a lake we hiked up to and a waterfall we hiked down to and a natural rock water slide. We did different types of worship in the morning and evening and a bible study on Saturday afternoon. It was great! I really liked Saturday night where we sang hymns and praise songs from 7pm to 1am. Some people went to bed but there were a few literally lying around on the floor singing and playing guitar. One bad thing about this place was that there was a lot of leaches....YUCK. After we had gone to the water slide I found one on my stomach!!! I didn't scream, but asked for some salt and got it off with some help from a friend. Then I was taking a shower and I found a big one under my arm...I did squeal a bit this time...it was huge. I tried to get it off with salt and it didn't come off right way so I went to get more salt and saw myself in the mirror and there was blood all down my side and down my leg. Certain now that I was in fact going to die, I called my roommate in for backup. It is off now and I am in fact alive....yea!!!!!
Oh yeah for Sinhala/ Tamil new year (april 14) I went to YFC teen camp as a helper. It was cool. (It was also at the Y Gro campsite in Madampe...where I live...very convenient) However now a bunch of teenagers think that I am Jodi Foster....I tried to tell them....it was no use....kind of a funny story.
Anyway I will write more later
Peace,
Jodi

TURNING 40 and other stories of a cool cat!

Ok so I need a bit of work on the title of my post. So what have I been up to? Well quite a bit actually. I flew to Nepal on the 7th March and got back on the 19th. Before I left, I had to do a big report for the District Secretary and that was fun…..not! But she liked it and that was good. Then I got a break in Nepal. Tony (my brother…long story if you haven’t heard it) Kirupa and Shiloni took Rachel and Nigel and I to the airport. There were a lot of mishaps at the beginning; I forgot to get a passport photo for the Nepal Visa…Nigel forgot to put shoes on and then on the way to the airport we had a passport check- Rachel asked if we all had our passports, we all did when we got to the airport and the van drove away….I looked for my passport and money…it was not there…Rachel had to call shiloni and the van had to come back. I was so embarrassed. When I got my passport purse out for the passport check, I just set it in my lap. When I got up it fell onto the floor. I was so embarrassed. I took my passport from Shiloni and never looked at anyone in the van because I knew they would laugh…I laughed. Anyway Nepal was great and I had a lot of fun. I went PARAGLIDING IN THE HIMALAYAS!!!! How flipping cool is that. Oh yes…paragliding was a bit out of my budget (but about 1/3 of the price of doing it in the US and 1000x better view) so Nigel was making it his 40th birthday present so I too decided to celebrate my 40th in style. YEA!!! I celebrated my 40th birthday in Nepal. It was a great time in Nepal, even if Team Sri Lanka did find it quite cold.
I am so so so itchy!!!!!! I want to itch off my whole body. So I have this really bad itchy rash all over. I went to the dermatologist on Monday (March 26th) and am now on pills and creams and soaps. It is working, but slowly. My face is now cleared up though which is nice. On the Monday I went to the Dr. the inner corner of my eye and eyelid and bridge of nose were all swollen (lots of little bumpies) and itchy and all over my face was bumps…I know it may be a bit vain but I found the look of my face as bad or worse than the itch. It doesn’t help that March and April are the hottest days of the year so it’s been around 40 C and 93% humidity. Anyway, thank you to all that support MCC b/c you not only help with the projects but you also help send service workers like me to the doctor. Yeah for People that help me not itch.
So next week is Sinhala/Tamil New Year. The whole week is pretty much a non-work week. Villages have all these parties and games and sweets. I think I may go up to Madampe and visit some of my villages. Also YFC-English Ministry has a youth camp at the camp ground where I live so I might do some things with that as well. If all other plans fail, I can go to Kandy for a Tamil Methodist camp. (This is a really funny concept since I only know how to say older and younger brother, what, running, you’re crazy, and go away in Tamil. But it was nice of my friend to invite me anyway.)
For those of you that haven’t heard I did get my next 6 month visa extension. Yea!!! God provides!!!! Oh speaking of… All my new farmers now have cows!!!!! I am so excited. They are really working hard. One person thought the progress was too slow and that further new farmers wouldn’t be successful. There are some times I shut my mouth due to cultural taboos about the roll of women. This was not one of them. He is now knows that just because results are slow doesn’t mean the project has failed, also next time he will talk to the new farmers and see that they have much more dignity and self-respect and this sentence is a run-on. Oh and speaking about keeping my mouth shut around male chauvinist boars. On Friday the 23rd we met with a donor to try and get more money. After all was done and we were having a nice lunch (if you want to hear a less than funny story ask me about the lunch and Tony’s experience with turkey pie) and talking about ourselves, it came out that the donor had very controversial views on women’s rolls and divorce. Not wanting to start a big debate I kept my mouth shut. Priya however opened the door. Thus his overly conservative views were shared. I mostly politely nodded while twisting my napkin in my hand and trying not to grimace. I did however ask one question and that was what he thought of my roll since I am put in charge of teaching men. He didn’t like it which I knew he would say, but then came the statement that, “[my] term would be more productive if I were married.” The reason being something about security. I slipped a little and let out a bit of my inner-conflict in a short mangled laugh. Then I very begrudgingly told him, “he was entitled to his opinion.” Thinking to myself, “even if it is wrong!” Just a side note…he was doing God’s work and collecting money for projects all over the world. However he was staying at a 5 star hotel and taking us out for Rs 1500/per person meals…hmmm.
Anyway, things with me are good. Things in the country however are not. Please keep Sri Lanka in your prayers. An air force base- the one right next to the only international airport was bombed the other day. It was bombed by planes, an obvious indicator that the LTTE now has planes… There is a feeling of detachment and hopelessness among people. Please pray for the country, its leaders, and people.
Well, I have to go now.
Peace
jodi