sri lanka has taken hostage of my heart. this country is so beautiful and very different from india. it's green green green and people smile at you and there are beautiful beaches and the coconuts are bright orange.
my mom's host family is spoiling me. i call amma, who is a fesity white haired 87 year old, acchi, which means grandmother in sinhalese. she loves sweets and holds your arm while she walks. she told her maids that the "fair baby" was coming. i'm pretty sure she thinks i'm about 16. today she asked me to, "like a good girl, go put this cup in the sink." so a good girl i was and i brought my good girl self to that sink to drop off the cup.
deemi is the youngest of the sibings and she has been organizing my whole trip. she lives with acchi and during the day, she manages an ayurvedic resort right on the beach. she brought me to the hotel on tuesday and wednesday, where i was promptly treated like a princess. i ate and lounged and listened to the waves and got a full body ayurvedic massage--all compliments of deemi.
i'm staying with ramani, the oldest of the children, and her husband saliya. they live right across the little street from acchi and deemi. although ramani is sad i cannot eat chicken curry, i'm expeririencing all sorts of delicious sri lankan food, like string hoppers (skinny noodley things) and egg hoppers (crispy crepes with a fried egg in the middle) along with curries and red rice (harvested in acchi's rice fields). ramani even greeted me with a still-warm-from-the-oven chocolate cake on sunday, which we've been snacking on and having for dessert throughout the week. my host family here is very keen on feeding me. you aren't really allowed to decline food. examples:
eating finger sandwiches at acchi and deemi's. i had already eaten two. "EAT," acchi demands. i eat another. "EAT MORE," and then another.
eating pancakes with deemi. i already had three. "lauren eat more." "oh no thanks, i'm full. "come, eat one more." i am obedient.
eating egg hopppers with ramani and saliya. there are FIVE left. i'm pretty sure we'd all had two. "okay lauren, now you eat the rest please." saliya notices my glazed eyes, "okay i'll have one more." i eat four consecutively for a total of six.
dinner with ramani and saliya. ramani offers me a slice of chocolate cake for dessert, "no thank you, i'm so full." saliya says somethng in sinhalese and they laugh. ramani translates, "you don't look full." she slices a piece of cake for me.
dinner with deemi and acchi. my plate is just starting to clear and deemi asks, "more greens?" before i can say anything, acchi scoops more greens on my plate.
however, no matter how full i get, i always have room for the fresh fruit here. a neighbor of acchi's saw fair baby, and came over with a delicious juicy pineapple. can you see why i love this place?
today i went with a driver to colombo for a tour of the capital. we drove past the beautiful parliament building, a mosque, an old colonial hotel, and a very gaudy hindu temple. the driver got out with me and led me around two buddhist temples. the first one had a museum of knick knacks and old pictures, and even had an exhibit of old cave paintings in sri lanka. in the temple, he led me to the priest, who blessed me and tied white string around my wrist, granting me safety and well being for the next seven days. the outside of the temple had the life of buddha carved out into panels, and there was even a temple elephant with long white tusks taking a bath! after that temple, we walked down the road to another one which is settled on a lake. there was a wedding going on in the inside so i witnessed that for a second or two before focusing attention to the fair baby instead of on the elaborate bride and groom.
i walked around the national museum as well, which was really wonderful. it was filled with old coins, swords, buddha statues, jewelry, skeletons, and puppets--are coherently organized in a timeline starting with the first people in sri lanka, and sri lanka today. the sri lanka national museum was started by some british dude, and it's all housed in an italian styled building which he commisioned some other white dude to build. oh, colonialism, you slay me.
it was a lovely day, even if i did feel like i needed an oxygen tank in order to breathe in the thick, humid sri lankan air. ramani told me that when days are so hot like today, that it will end with a big rain. it's already rained twice since i've been here--i was so giddy.
off to dinner! wish my tummy luck!
lauren
p.s. oh yeah and one small thing i forgot to mention
MY MOM WILL BE HERE TOMORROW.
my mom's host family is spoiling me. i call amma, who is a fesity white haired 87 year old, acchi, which means grandmother in sinhalese. she loves sweets and holds your arm while she walks. she told her maids that the "fair baby" was coming. i'm pretty sure she thinks i'm about 16. today she asked me to, "like a good girl, go put this cup in the sink." so a good girl i was and i brought my good girl self to that sink to drop off the cup.
deemi is the youngest of the sibings and she has been organizing my whole trip. she lives with acchi and during the day, she manages an ayurvedic resort right on the beach. she brought me to the hotel on tuesday and wednesday, where i was promptly treated like a princess. i ate and lounged and listened to the waves and got a full body ayurvedic massage--all compliments of deemi.
i'm staying with ramani, the oldest of the children, and her husband saliya. they live right across the little street from acchi and deemi. although ramani is sad i cannot eat chicken curry, i'm expeririencing all sorts of delicious sri lankan food, like string hoppers (skinny noodley things) and egg hoppers (crispy crepes with a fried egg in the middle) along with curries and red rice (harvested in acchi's rice fields). ramani even greeted me with a still-warm-from-the-oven chocolate cake on sunday, which we've been snacking on and having for dessert throughout the week. my host family here is very keen on feeding me. you aren't really allowed to decline food. examples:
eating finger sandwiches at acchi and deemi's. i had already eaten two. "EAT," acchi demands. i eat another. "EAT MORE," and then another.
eating pancakes with deemi. i already had three. "lauren eat more." "oh no thanks, i'm full. "come, eat one more." i am obedient.
eating egg hopppers with ramani and saliya. there are FIVE left. i'm pretty sure we'd all had two. "okay lauren, now you eat the rest please." saliya notices my glazed eyes, "okay i'll have one more." i eat four consecutively for a total of six.
dinner with ramani and saliya. ramani offers me a slice of chocolate cake for dessert, "no thank you, i'm so full." saliya says somethng in sinhalese and they laugh. ramani translates, "you don't look full." she slices a piece of cake for me.
dinner with deemi and acchi. my plate is just starting to clear and deemi asks, "more greens?" before i can say anything, acchi scoops more greens on my plate.
however, no matter how full i get, i always have room for the fresh fruit here. a neighbor of acchi's saw fair baby, and came over with a delicious juicy pineapple. can you see why i love this place?
today i went with a driver to colombo for a tour of the capital. we drove past the beautiful parliament building, a mosque, an old colonial hotel, and a very gaudy hindu temple. the driver got out with me and led me around two buddhist temples. the first one had a museum of knick knacks and old pictures, and even had an exhibit of old cave paintings in sri lanka. in the temple, he led me to the priest, who blessed me and tied white string around my wrist, granting me safety and well being for the next seven days. the outside of the temple had the life of buddha carved out into panels, and there was even a temple elephant with long white tusks taking a bath! after that temple, we walked down the road to another one which is settled on a lake. there was a wedding going on in the inside so i witnessed that for a second or two before focusing attention to the fair baby instead of on the elaborate bride and groom.
i walked around the national museum as well, which was really wonderful. it was filled with old coins, swords, buddha statues, jewelry, skeletons, and puppets--are coherently organized in a timeline starting with the first people in sri lanka, and sri lanka today. the sri lanka national museum was started by some british dude, and it's all housed in an italian styled building which he commisioned some other white dude to build. oh, colonialism, you slay me.
it was a lovely day, even if i did feel like i needed an oxygen tank in order to breathe in the thick, humid sri lankan air. ramani told me that when days are so hot like today, that it will end with a big rain. it's already rained twice since i've been here--i was so giddy.
off to dinner! wish my tummy luck!
lauren
p.s. oh yeah and one small thing i forgot to mention
MY MOM WILL BE HERE TOMORROW.
