Hey only 29 days later

31 March 2008
Last I wrote was before Alpha weekend and sari jacket getting. Hmmm. First I will start with a cute little Sri Lanka story. I am still amazed at the little things and how they make me laugh inside. Prema the office housekeeper sometimes brings food. There are many of us working at the office that live alone, a rare thing, so sometimes she brings food for us poor beings with no moms or wives. I am 24 years old and she is so so so so so happy when I let her feed me. It is Sri Lankan culture to feed your children. At weddings sometimes instead of giving each other the cake you feed your new spouse rice and curry. All done with the hands and no cutlery mind you. There I am 24 yrs old and eating rice and curry off the fingers of our office lady…haa life is funny.
Ok so what has been happening? I got my sari jacket back. It is nice, but I think I will go back to Roshan’s for my nice wedding sari top. It was $2 cheaper, but the quality at Roshan’s is honestly some of the best sewing I have ever seen, and the young lad that does it is so proud of every piece he makes.
Next…I went on Alpha weekend. That was really good. Very moving. I also got to spend time with Mikah and Jesse which is always a pleasure. The highlight of the weekend was the prayer. It was done in a normal fashion but it was just really moving. I was very pleased.
The next week was Easter holiday, but also national holidays here. Thursday was the Holy Prophets birthday and Friday was a full moon Poya, so I had those days off. Some friends and I took a trip up to the hill country. It was fantastic…well it ended that way. We started out Thursday at 5am. We drove for an hour or so until our A/C broke, and in SL in March A/C is a necessity. We stopped and as usual Che had to wee wee. So we went to the squat toilet of the people that lived bellow the A/c fix-it place. Wanting to prevent any discomfort in the future I too went. Well I started to talk to the lady b/c I couldn’t find the toilet. Well she was very pleased with my Sinhala, and invited me in for tea and jagary. We talked and she gave me her number and I gave her mine. Life is funny. Anyway, we were on our way b4 the tea was ready, so I apologized and went on my way. Good times.
We got to Haputale and it was very misty. Our hotel left something to be desired, but had a stunning view. (which we couldn’t really see b/c it was misty. Hot water was only on 4 hours during the day and the water worked in only 2 of our 4 rooms.) Anyway, the man tried to force us to pay 3 nights up front. Given the previous information and the fact that they would not cook for us and the fact that 3 nights up front is ridiculous, we were considerably disgruntled. Oh yes, this also came up at the end of the day, when we were tired, before we had eaten and after 4 rousing rounds of “Red and Black”. (a fabulous game!) Anyway, we paid only for the night, and the next morning when we were getting ready to leave (some had already left, and gotten a room at another hotel so they could have a warm shower. and get away from the random man that came in at 130 am and banged on everyone’s doors looking for the manager) he parked his truck in front of our van and refused to move it until we paid him for the other 2 nights. Grrr ing and Arrrggg ing ensued. NEVER STAY AT CUESTA INN in Haputale, Sri Lanka. Never ever ever ever. However, God has plans. After being evicted from our hotel there, we moved on to the TEA GARDEN HOLIDAY INN in Ella; the most awesome place ever!! It was magic. We went to waterfalls and caves and tea factories and hiking in mountains. It was so Sound of Music!!!! The cook there (actually Chef) was great and made us the best lampries ever. On Easter Sunday we sang Low in the Grave and…another one and it was really just a magic weekend. Go Team
Anyway, on the 27th Y Gro said good-bye to it’s first dairy village. We only work with a village for 3 years and then they graduate. It was a small but nice celebration. I hope to send the book we made for them home (with some translation as it is all in Sinhala). I dressed myself in sari that day. It was cool, but I put the fall (shoulder part) on the wrong side…oh well.
Ok I must get to bed now.
Peace,
jodi

Another GO TEAM

3 March 2008

Ok, so its been a while. I thought I would get this done on Sunday afternoon, but a friend of mine was having a rough day so I went there. We talked. or…she talked and I listened. When I had a thought I gave it. I appreciate our relationship b/c it is honest. I have gotten sick of people putting on a façade. Those sort of relationships no longer interest me. I want some one who can tell me I am being ridiculous if in fact I am being ridiculous. It is quite sad actually because most of the people I have stopped hanging around have been my Christian friends. It has however given me time to hang out in prayer and Bible studying. The fewer friends I have now are keepers which is nice…sort of upgrading in quality while decreasing the “bulk”…ok maybe calling those friends “bulk” was a bit harsh, but that is the only mental picture I can think of now.
On more exciting note, I got to go to Madampe this week after some time of not being able to go due to a security situation. My boss is a bit overprotective. It was an ok week. I had a bit of a fight with the project coordinator there. It is not fully resolved yet. But anyway, I went to the villages alone on Wed and Thursday and was able to function ok. There was some stuff that people had to say a bunch and then “dumb down” for me but I got most of it in the end. I explained milk fever to farmers…in Sinhala…IT WAS AWESOME!!!! It was scary!!! I thought afterwards, I am never asking God to help me learn a language again…He doesn’t normally give you the ability but rather the opportunity to gain the ability. Hmmmph…sometimes the opportunity is scary (i.e. being in the village alone.)
Hmmm what else??? Udaya, my cousin (we wore grey shirts one day…hence now we are cousins. He used to work for the Y Gro Mannar office. His brother Kiruba works in the Colombo office in Accounts. We talk about wrestling a lot and spend a lot of time avoiding work together.) is getting married on the 11th April. That should be fun.
I went to visit this man in urban Colombo today he has 200 animals on about 1 ½ acres. They go out during the day and “graze” about 2km away at a large garbage dump. He doesn’t milk any of them. In the Buddhist faith it is unacceptable to kill so he is simply keeping them b/c he wants to protect life. He knows he can’t take good care of them, but thinks that slaughter is worse. We are trying to pull some strings and get them taken to a National farm where they could have proper care and food. He would be very happy with that, he just doesn’t want them slaughtered. We’ll see how it goes.
Well I will try and write later this week. Really I am going to try and write weekly…really…i will try…honestly!

Peace, jodi