We got into Hambantota last night after a 6 hour drive from Colombo, down the coast. The entire coast line was hit by the tsunami, and every few hundred feet there was a grave site for the victims.
We arrived at the Children's Resource Center (CRC) at 8pm and met the staff. Mr. Wanni, the director, greeted us and fed us a great dinner of eggs, bread, and potato curry. We then went to our house, where we'll be staying for the next 5 weeks.
The house is beautiful, and quite large in comparison to most dwellings here. We have a room, and we share the rest of the house with a woman, her mother, and her 2 children. The woman lost her husband in the tsunami.
This morning we woke up around 5:30 or 6 (we are still jet lagged) and had a great breakfast of fruit, milk rice, and something spicy to put on the rice. I spent the morning drawing, reading, and writing, until we went to the CRC around noon for lunch.
We got to see the center a bit more, and we spent a lot of time talking to Mr. Wanni about the center and the goals he has for us. It sounds like we're going to be doing a lot of publicity development, including websites and pamphlets.
The mosquitos and heat attack with a vengeance, but overall this is a very pleasant place to be. The pace is much slower than at college, and I have a lot of time to relax and enjoy myself.
I believe the agenda for the rest of the day is to drive with Mr. Wanni to view the affected area, and then possibly visit some elephants. I'll take pictures.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Saturday, May 27, 2006
The Trip and Day 1
This is one of those horror story travel tales that should never happen, but did anyway.
My original travel itinerary had me going from Philadelphia to Frankfurt to Mumbai to Colombo. I was due to leave around 8pm on Thursday night. My sister was flying in from college that same day, so we had a master plan of picking up my sister, checking me in, having a family dinner, and then bringing me back to the airport for boarding. We did all of this with resounding success.
There was one little blip in the checkin process, however: I did not have a seat assignment at that time. Therefore, my seat would be assigned to me at the gate, at which time my luggage would be loaded onto the plane. Not before.
I got to the gate with a few hours to spare and waited around for the gate crew to show up so I could get my seat assignment. They arrived approximately 30 minutes before boarding and announced immediately that those people waiting for seat assignments should just sit tight, as the seating was still being worked out. So I sat and waited. I knew I was guaranteed *a* seat, I just didn't know which one. After about half the plane had boarded, I got my seat assignment. I then boarded the plane and waited for takeoff.
Takeoff was delayed by a few hours due to the following 3 elements: 1. We were waiting for a few more people whose connecting flight was late. 2. There was some sort of equipment malfunction in the stewards kitchen and it had to be fixed. 3. A fire earlier in the day had caused the airport to shut down completely. There was a good 50 plane line waiting for runway space to take off.
By the time we finally got ourselves off the ground, I was worried. I knew that my layover in Frankfurt approximately 2 hours, and I knew that our takeoff had been delayed by more than that. Missing my connection in Frankfurt might result in missing my next connection in Mumbai, which meant that Meg, the other student consultant, would be stuck waiting in the Colombo airport for some undetermined amount of time.
We landed in Frankfurt well after my connection had departed, so I made my way to the ticketing counter to see about alternative flights. The attendant found one to Mumbai that would allow me to make my original connection in Mumbai, thus preserving the total overall travel time. This flight was leaving in 30 minutes, so I had to hurry to catch it. It left on time though, and I arrived in Mumbai exhausted, but with 2 hours before my next flight to Sri Lanka.
As I exited the flight, I came upon an airline worker standing next to a whiteboard sign. Among other things on that sign was my name. I asked the worker about it and she told me to wait, that there may be more coming. Once it became clear that this was not the case, she explained the connection procedure in Mumbai. She had to get my luggage transferred first, and then me, all onto the plane. In order to transfer my luggage, she needed my baggage claim, my ticket, and my passport. She walked off with all of these, not to be seen or heard from in 20 minutes, until she came back with the news that my luggage was missing.
I wasn't too surprised. Given the unusual circumstances surrounding both previous departures, I considered it highly possible that my bag was no where near where I was. I filed a claim with her and boarded the flight to Colombo.
I arrived in Colombo at 6:00 AM local time. I found Meg easily and after updating the Colombo airport staff with my luggage woes, we set out to find Ashan, our contact who was supposed to meet us at the airport.
We wandered around for hours looking for him with no luck. Finally, around 10 or 11, a woman came out of the airport with a sign with our names on it. She escorted us back into the airport, into a small storefront owned by the Cinnamon Hotel. This room, no bigger than a walk-in closet, had a beautiful desk and an extraordinarily comfortable sofa. Best of all, it had air conditioning, something not very common in the Colombo airport. This woman was a staff member at the Cinnamon and she laughed as she told us that all of the airport security staff had been looking for us for the last 2 hours. However, since we were outside, waiting at the pickup curb, we had not heard ourselves paged. She called Ashan to let us know we had been found and to let me talk to him. Ashan proceeded to tell me that we would be taken to the Cinnamon, that we should eat, sleep, and then call him for the rest of the plans.
The drive to the Cinnamon was my first exposure to the Sri Lankan traffic system. It is far different from any style of driving found in the U.S. People drive on the left, and they drive aggressively. In addition to cars, there are many smaller vehicles on the road. Motorcycles and mopeds about, as well as a very interesting 3 wheeled contraption that has a small engine and a fabric top. There is room for a driver and the back seat can hold two passengers comfortably. I found out later that these are a very cheap, safe (?!) way to get around Sri Lanka, as they are for hire, and cheaper than taxis.
We got to the hotel and were immediately dumbstruck. This hotel is gorgeous. Marble everywhere, a fountain in the lobby, beautiful plants... The woman who escorted us to our rooms explained that this was Sri Lanka's first 5-star hotel.
I got to my room, took a much needed shower, and set up our meeting with Ashan. When he arrived with his extremely nice fiancee, he explained that we would leave the next day for a 5 hour drive along the South coast to reach Hambantota and the Children's Resource Center, our first work site. He and Swasha (sp?) answered our questions about life in Sri Lanka and told us where to find a mall for clothes. Additionally, he planned to follow up with the airlines to find my luggage. They were both wonderful people, and I felt much better after meeting them.
There was a very convenient mall right next to the hotel, and I was able to find clothes and shoes there. We then went to Unity Plaza to try to find some computer parts, and Majestic City for some movies. Majestic City is another mall, and it was there that I realized just how uncommon caucasians are in this city.
I was waiting for Meg outside of one of the stores when a family approached me. The father asked if I would be willing to take a picture with his son. I agreed, thinking he meant for me to operate the camera, but then his children gathered around me while the father stood back with the camera and I understood that I was meant to be in the photo. Either I look like someone famous, or I'm just an oddity here. I posed with his children, and then with his wife, and then Meg and I departed the mall to go back to the hotel. At this point, although it was only about 7 PM, we were exhausted. So exhausted that we grabbed a quick dinner and went to sleep immediately, forgetting completely that we were supposed to call Ashan that night. It's now about 3:30 AM and my sleep schedule is all confused, which is why I'm up typing this.
My original travel itinerary had me going from Philadelphia to Frankfurt to Mumbai to Colombo. I was due to leave around 8pm on Thursday night. My sister was flying in from college that same day, so we had a master plan of picking up my sister, checking me in, having a family dinner, and then bringing me back to the airport for boarding. We did all of this with resounding success.
There was one little blip in the checkin process, however: I did not have a seat assignment at that time. Therefore, my seat would be assigned to me at the gate, at which time my luggage would be loaded onto the plane. Not before.
I got to the gate with a few hours to spare and waited around for the gate crew to show up so I could get my seat assignment. They arrived approximately 30 minutes before boarding and announced immediately that those people waiting for seat assignments should just sit tight, as the seating was still being worked out. So I sat and waited. I knew I was guaranteed *a* seat, I just didn't know which one. After about half the plane had boarded, I got my seat assignment. I then boarded the plane and waited for takeoff.
Takeoff was delayed by a few hours due to the following 3 elements: 1. We were waiting for a few more people whose connecting flight was late. 2. There was some sort of equipment malfunction in the stewards kitchen and it had to be fixed. 3. A fire earlier in the day had caused the airport to shut down completely. There was a good 50 plane line waiting for runway space to take off.
By the time we finally got ourselves off the ground, I was worried. I knew that my layover in Frankfurt approximately 2 hours, and I knew that our takeoff had been delayed by more than that. Missing my connection in Frankfurt might result in missing my next connection in Mumbai, which meant that Meg, the other student consultant, would be stuck waiting in the Colombo airport for some undetermined amount of time.
We landed in Frankfurt well after my connection had departed, so I made my way to the ticketing counter to see about alternative flights. The attendant found one to Mumbai that would allow me to make my original connection in Mumbai, thus preserving the total overall travel time. This flight was leaving in 30 minutes, so I had to hurry to catch it. It left on time though, and I arrived in Mumbai exhausted, but with 2 hours before my next flight to Sri Lanka.
As I exited the flight, I came upon an airline worker standing next to a whiteboard sign. Among other things on that sign was my name. I asked the worker about it and she told me to wait, that there may be more coming. Once it became clear that this was not the case, she explained the connection procedure in Mumbai. She had to get my luggage transferred first, and then me, all onto the plane. In order to transfer my luggage, she needed my baggage claim, my ticket, and my passport. She walked off with all of these, not to be seen or heard from in 20 minutes, until she came back with the news that my luggage was missing.
I wasn't too surprised. Given the unusual circumstances surrounding both previous departures, I considered it highly possible that my bag was no where near where I was. I filed a claim with her and boarded the flight to Colombo.
I arrived in Colombo at 6:00 AM local time. I found Meg easily and after updating the Colombo airport staff with my luggage woes, we set out to find Ashan, our contact who was supposed to meet us at the airport.
We wandered around for hours looking for him with no luck. Finally, around 10 or 11, a woman came out of the airport with a sign with our names on it. She escorted us back into the airport, into a small storefront owned by the Cinnamon Hotel. This room, no bigger than a walk-in closet, had a beautiful desk and an extraordinarily comfortable sofa. Best of all, it had air conditioning, something not very common in the Colombo airport. This woman was a staff member at the Cinnamon and she laughed as she told us that all of the airport security staff had been looking for us for the last 2 hours. However, since we were outside, waiting at the pickup curb, we had not heard ourselves paged. She called Ashan to let us know we had been found and to let me talk to him. Ashan proceeded to tell me that we would be taken to the Cinnamon, that we should eat, sleep, and then call him for the rest of the plans.
The drive to the Cinnamon was my first exposure to the Sri Lankan traffic system. It is far different from any style of driving found in the U.S. People drive on the left, and they drive aggressively. In addition to cars, there are many smaller vehicles on the road. Motorcycles and mopeds about, as well as a very interesting 3 wheeled contraption that has a small engine and a fabric top. There is room for a driver and the back seat can hold two passengers comfortably. I found out later that these are a very cheap, safe (?!) way to get around Sri Lanka, as they are for hire, and cheaper than taxis.
We got to the hotel and were immediately dumbstruck. This hotel is gorgeous. Marble everywhere, a fountain in the lobby, beautiful plants... The woman who escorted us to our rooms explained that this was Sri Lanka's first 5-star hotel.
I got to my room, took a much needed shower, and set up our meeting with Ashan. When he arrived with his extremely nice fiancee, he explained that we would leave the next day for a 5 hour drive along the South coast to reach Hambantota and the Children's Resource Center, our first work site. He and Swasha (sp?) answered our questions about life in Sri Lanka and told us where to find a mall for clothes. Additionally, he planned to follow up with the airlines to find my luggage. They were both wonderful people, and I felt much better after meeting them.
There was a very convenient mall right next to the hotel, and I was able to find clothes and shoes there. We then went to Unity Plaza to try to find some computer parts, and Majestic City for some movies. Majestic City is another mall, and it was there that I realized just how uncommon caucasians are in this city.
I was waiting for Meg outside of one of the stores when a family approached me. The father asked if I would be willing to take a picture with his son. I agreed, thinking he meant for me to operate the camera, but then his children gathered around me while the father stood back with the camera and I understood that I was meant to be in the photo. Either I look like someone famous, or I'm just an oddity here. I posed with his children, and then with his wife, and then Meg and I departed the mall to go back to the hotel. At this point, although it was only about 7 PM, we were exhausted. So exhausted that we grabbed a quick dinner and went to sleep immediately, forgetting completely that we were supposed to call Ashan that night. It's now about 3:30 AM and my sleep schedule is all confused, which is why I'm up typing this.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Travel Prep: Part 3
Used book stores are up to no good. That is my recent conclusion after visiting one yesterday to make a donation and coming home with more than I started with. This particular store was trying to offload its hardcover volumes. They take up a lot of shelf space and apparently no one buys them. The store's solution to this is quite a deal: customers can fill up a paper grocery bag with hardcovers for $10. $10! That's less than $1/book. So now I have stacks of hardcover books that I don't really want to put in my luggage.
If, like me, you just couldn't wait for bootcamp and are stuck with a XOM install, you may have noticed that firmware updates don't work, which means you can't install bootcamp. It turns out that the cause of all these problems is that XOM changed the MBR. This site has instructions for replacing XOM with bootcamp, theoretically without loss of data to either your XP or your Mac partition. I haven't tried it out yet, but it looks promising.
I'm having a hard time finding the coffee maker. In Pittsburgh, where I go to school, I can grab them at the local grocery store. Here, outside of Philadelphia, the first store I tried didn't have them. I'll keep hunting today.
I'm not panicking about leaving tomorrow, which probably means that there's some monumental task I've forgotten about. My to-do list today consists of visiting a few people, buying the last couple things I need for my trip, mailing a rent check, and messing around with my computer. And finishing the packing.
If, like me, you just couldn't wait for bootcamp and are stuck with a XOM install, you may have noticed that firmware updates don't work, which means you can't install bootcamp. It turns out that the cause of all these problems is that XOM changed the MBR. This site has instructions for replacing XOM with bootcamp, theoretically without loss of data to either your XP or your Mac partition. I haven't tried it out yet, but it looks promising.
I'm having a hard time finding the coffee maker. In Pittsburgh, where I go to school, I can grab them at the local grocery store. Here, outside of Philadelphia, the first store I tried didn't have them. I'll keep hunting today.
I'm not panicking about leaving tomorrow, which probably means that there's some monumental task I've forgotten about. My to-do list today consists of visiting a few people, buying the last couple things I need for my trip, mailing a rent check, and messing around with my computer. And finishing the packing.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Travel Prep: Part 2
Status Update: It's Tuesday. I leave Thursday.
I was getting prescriptions filled today and I ran into an interesting problem. My insurance provider will only cover a month's worth of doses for any medication. So I had to pay full price for the rest of my malaria meds. That particular medication is cheap, so it wasn't an issue. If I had more time, I probably could have worked this out with my insurance company.
I've been drafting packing lists since the beginning of May and I keep asking myself how much I want to bring in the way of disposables (tissues, shampoo, etc). I am constantly reminding myself that I will be able to buy many such things there. So I am concentrating my efforts on acquiring things that I definitely won't be able to get in Sri Lanka. Such as:
Coffee
Rumor has it that Sri Lanka's coffee is only distantly related to the American version. I'm all for cultural immersion, but I'm also a miserable morning person. In the interests of international diplomacy, I'll be bringing a stash. And this Coffee Maker
Simple coffee.
Toilet Paper
Also a rarity in Sri Lanka. Travel tissue packs will be my friend.
Insect Repellant
To fight off those pesky disease carriers. Find the stuff with DEET.
Money Belt
I'm not actually convinced that this is necessary for a resident (as opposed to a tourist) but I'll bring one anyway. Losing my passport would be miserable.
Shampoo
Travel sized. Just enough to tide me over until I can get some real stuff.
Pepto Bismol
My doctor recommended this. He also gave me a few doses of something stronger if that doesn't work.
Suntan Lotion
As it turns out, my malaria meds make my skin even more sensitive to the sun than it already is. Curses.
I was getting prescriptions filled today and I ran into an interesting problem. My insurance provider will only cover a month's worth of doses for any medication. So I had to pay full price for the rest of my malaria meds. That particular medication is cheap, so it wasn't an issue. If I had more time, I probably could have worked this out with my insurance company.
I've been drafting packing lists since the beginning of May and I keep asking myself how much I want to bring in the way of disposables (tissues, shampoo, etc). I am constantly reminding myself that I will be able to buy many such things there. So I am concentrating my efforts on acquiring things that I definitely won't be able to get in Sri Lanka. Such as:
Coffee
Rumor has it that Sri Lanka's coffee is only distantly related to the American version. I'm all for cultural immersion, but I'm also a miserable morning person. In the interests of international diplomacy, I'll be bringing a stash. And this Coffee Maker
Simple coffee.
Toilet Paper
Also a rarity in Sri Lanka. Travel tissue packs will be my friend.
Insect Repellant
To fight off those pesky disease carriers. Find the stuff with DEET.
Money Belt
I'm not actually convinced that this is necessary for a resident (as opposed to a tourist) but I'll bring one anyway. Losing my passport would be miserable.
Shampoo
Travel sized. Just enough to tide me over until I can get some real stuff.
Pepto Bismol
My doctor recommended this. He also gave me a few doses of something stronger if that doesn't work.
Suntan Lotion
As it turns out, my malaria meds make my skin even more sensitive to the sun than it already is. Curses.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Travel Prep: Part 1
I'm knee deep in pre-travel prep. Most of the large administrative tasks, such as applying for a work visa and booking flights, are done by the program organizers, but that still leaves me to get vaccinations, power adaptors, proof of international insurance, etc.
Advice for students travelling out of Pittsburgh: STA Travel, on Meyran Avenue in Oakland, can dispense international student ID cards (ISIC). They won't do passport photos, but they'll give you business cards and send you down the street to the CVS. Show the business card to the photographer and you'll get a discount on your photos. I got 6 photos for about $7, and the whole photo process takes less than 10 minutes.
I've been wrestling with the issue of whether or not to bring my laptop. I don't expect to have steady or reliable internet access, and since I haven't been explicitly told that I need my own computer, I am fairly sure I don't need one to perform my job. But I want to take a lot of photos, and I shoot digital. So the laptop needs to be around for photo storage.
I also have to put serious thought into what else I want my laptop to do while I'm there. And the obvious answer is gaming. Cleary internet gaming is out. However, I have a box of old Playstation games sitting at home and I haven't actually finished any of them. I think it's time to find an emulator or two.
...which means my MacBook has to dual boot, because the PSX emulation options for OSX are pathetic, and they haven't been updated in 4 years. So I'll be installing boot camp sometime within the next 3 weeks. An XP partition will also give me easy access to other platform emulators and all my Blizzard games (Starcraft and Warcraft 3) that are too old for OSX.
Note to my parents (and anyone else who thinks, after reading this, that I'm going to spend all of my time playing video games): I won't.
Advice for students travelling out of Pittsburgh: STA Travel, on Meyran Avenue in Oakland, can dispense international student ID cards (ISIC). They won't do passport photos, but they'll give you business cards and send you down the street to the CVS. Show the business card to the photographer and you'll get a discount on your photos. I got 6 photos for about $7, and the whole photo process takes less than 10 minutes.
I've been wrestling with the issue of whether or not to bring my laptop. I don't expect to have steady or reliable internet access, and since I haven't been explicitly told that I need my own computer, I am fairly sure I don't need one to perform my job. But I want to take a lot of photos, and I shoot digital. So the laptop needs to be around for photo storage.
I also have to put serious thought into what else I want my laptop to do while I'm there. And the obvious answer is gaming. Cleary internet gaming is out. However, I have a box of old Playstation games sitting at home and I haven't actually finished any of them. I think it's time to find an emulator or two.
...which means my MacBook has to dual boot, because the PSX emulation options for OSX are pathetic, and they haven't been updated in 4 years. So I'll be installing boot camp sometime within the next 3 weeks. An XP partition will also give me easy access to other platform emulators and all my Blizzard games (Starcraft and Warcraft 3) that are too old for OSX.
Note to my parents (and anyone else who thinks, after reading this, that I'm going to spend all of my time playing video games): I won't.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Back Story
For those who haven't heard, I'm headed to Sri Lanka this summer for a tech consulting internship. I'll be working with 2 organizations on the southern coast for a total of 10 weeks. I was able to get this internship through a tech consulting class that I'm finishing up, and my professor has asked that I keep a blog while I'm there.
FAQ
Where is Sri Lanka?
Off the southern tip of India. It used to be called Ceylon and it's famous for it's tea (Ceylon tea).
Didn't the tsunami hit Sri Lanka?
Yes, and one of the organizations I'll be working with is dedicated to tsunami relief. The south coast, where I'll be, is one of the most affected areas.
Isn't there a civil war going on?
Not as of this writing. It remains a possibility. The most dangerous areas are the north and east, far from where I'll be. In fact, I'll be about as far as possible from any conflict.
Did you really use an LOTR reference for your blog title? Are you THAT much of a dork?
Yes.
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