Just a Couple More Days...

Since last I wrote, I have extended my time here again. Twice. Each time I do it, I think "Just two more days", but then I change it and almost right away another seemingly compelling reason to extend "just two more days" presents itself. So here I am, my original 4 days in Sri Lanka turned into 10. Good thing for free flight changes!

Had I known from the start that I would have been here so long I would have made some efforts to do a little traveling and see some more of the country. But as I kept extending only by little increments, never really thinking I had more than a couple more days left here, plans were never made. And, in the end, I've been very fine with that. For almost three months now I have moved from place to place, packed and unpacked an ungodly amount of times and been in a perpetual state of doing and going. So for me to have a week here where I could keep my clothes in a dresser (SO nice to not live out of a suitcase!) and just settle in, even a little bit, has been delightful. Add to that the fact that I get to spend my time catching up with an old friend, and I have no complaints.

And so the official "Hanging Out" period of my trip has commenced. Dineli and I are masters of this. Back in the day when she and I used to travel so much between each others' houses in Lancaster and Toronto, we would spend weeks at a time doing just that, just 'being' together. Where no one is a guest but rather just a part of daily life in each others' house. It's also been really nice to get to see what her life in Sri Lanka is like and to get to know her family and her city.

One of the reasons I extended my time here (at least one of the times) was so that I could be here for a big party that was upcoming. Every December 1st, Dineli and Nigel host a large Tree Trimming party with lots of friends at their house. Much of our time the past couple of days has been spent preparing for that: making decorations, shopping, going to food markets and, shockingly for me, doing some baking. Anyone who knows me knows how rare it is for me to do anything so domestic but for whatever reason, we (read: Dineli) decided it would be a good idea for me to make a pie. Go figure. I should be clear that this was my first attempt at making a pie crust (I was up front about that fact all along) so I can only assume it's normal to have to spoon out a pie rather than slice it, right?

Tonight we left everyone else at home and Dineli and I went out to a great place for dinner, just the gals. I really love how so many places here are open-air (often with either one whole side of a building open or with an open courtyard in the center) so even though you're technically inside, you always have the feeling of being outside. Didn't hurt that the food was totally yum, too.

Not that we even have to leave their house for amazing food, really. Meal time has been a real treat here. In Sri Lanka it's very commonplace to have house help. Dineli and Nigel have Saro, who happens to be a wonderful cook. So every day I'm treated to amazing, traditional Sri Lankan food for all the meals that we eat at home. It's sometimes almost overwhelming to have SO much good food ALL the time. At home I'm lucky if I bother with a bowl of instant oatmeal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. Here there is rice and all manner of curries and spicy meats and seafood and fresh fruits and fresh fruit juice and salad after salad, dish after dish. Whereas in the States we would have one main dish for a meal, here it's common to have at least two. So you don't just have one kind of curry per meal, you have two: often one vegetarian curry and one with meat or fish. Plus all of the accompaniments. It was a bit of a surprise to have rice and spicy beef for breakfast the first day, but it's funny how quickly you adjust. My personal favs so far have been the pumpkin curry and the meal in which all of the ingredients (spicy chicken, rice, curry, sweet onion paste, veggies) were compartmentalized but then all wrapped up together in a banana leaf. Mmm.

A great advantage (or yet another one, I should say) of staying with people when visiting a new country is how much more you learn about the REAL life there. So while I haven't been out visiting and seeing as much of this country as I have of others, I have still managed to learn more about it overall through staying in a Sri Lankan home, talking to Sri Lankan people and observing the daily life of people here. I've also spent a lot of time talking with Dineli and Nigel about their culture, customs, politics and beliefs. I'm really fascinated by other cultures so to be able to hear about and see firsthand the superstitions, thought processes and daily rituals of people here has been very cool for me. Hmm, maybe I should extend just a couple more days...