Finally made it to Sri Lanka

We've arrived!!

We got to Colombo one week ago today after waiting and waiting and waiting for our visas to arrive at the Sri Lankan Consulate office in Sydney. What a hassle. So I was the lucky one who got to spend two extra weeks staying with the in-laws twiddling my thumbs because we couldn't really do anything as we expected to leave any day. As soon as we got the final approval, we zoomed over to Dubai for a 16 hour stop-over. Got some shopping in and I got my Christmas/Birthday present! I love my new MacBook, but I am still learning how to use it. Nice and shiny and white.

Colombo is bustling, hot, sticky, polluted. Everyone stares at you because you obviously stand out as a foreigner. So much for wanting to be inconspicuous. There is good food for cheap, everything from lunch packets that you can get on the side of the road to fancy decadent dinners. For our engagement anniversary we went to Richard's favorite restaurant, The Gallery Cafe, and stuffed ourselves with a three course meal. The coconut souffle was particularly yummy - but I don't think it was really a souffle, more of a pudding. Hmm. I guiltily went shopping yesterday, but everything is a bargain compared to back home, especially in Australia - so I didn't feel too bad for too long.

Its raining in Kandy. The mist creeped in over the hills creating a romantic tropical scenery and the rain started pouring down in buckets. While there is a water shortage in Australia, there is plenty of water in Sri Lanka. I love the rain.

I arrived in Kandy this morning after the most rocking train ride I have ever been on. While the scenery was gorgeous from the "observation deck" - another name for the caboose on this trip - it was most uncomfortable. I was lucky to get a seat next to the only other white person who happened to be one of those unfriendly Europeans. I keep running into them here. Three hours later I arrive in Kandy, my new home for the next three months. Don't ask me what I will be doing yet - I haven't found out yet. I just need something to keep me busy while Richard is away in the north, in a town called Killinochchi, in a region called the Wanni (pronounced Vanni (I think)), where the LTTE reign. There is lots to explore...

On our drive to Sydney

We took our merry ole time getting to Sydney, leaving at 3pm. Took two days, stopping in Coffs Harbour overnight. This is the Big Prawn in Ballina. We missed a photo op with the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour.




Then we finally got to Sydney and got stuck here for over a week with the in-laws. We took one Sunday to visit with Richard's cousin Elvis downtown in the city. We had lunch by the Sydney Opera house and the Harbour Bridge and tried to fit in with the hip city crowd. Don't think it worked. I'm not looking so wonderful.

ADF Ball

Dean and Libby

Our only friends in Brisbane, Dean and Libby (center), invited us out to a black tie charity ball for the Australian Defense Force September 30th. Since both Dean and Richard are Army boys, they thought it would be appropriate. It was a first for us, I've never seen Richard so dashing in a tux. We had a good time as we always do with Dean and Libby and her brother and his wife, Kylie and Craig. Thats me there wearing my wedding dress that has since been hemmed and my impossibly high heels.

Our home is no more

We have packed up and headed out. The packing up and storing was the worst part. I hate keeping all the stuff I won't see for who knows how long. But its done now. I only have three bags with all my belongings now to sustain myself in the next few months. Don't worry I understand there is plenty of fun shopping in Sri Lanka. If we ever get there. Our flight has now been delayed one week and I get the joy of spending that extra week with the in-laws. Someone please tell me, or maybe there are no rules, but I can't figure out how to deal with these strange people. They probably think I am just as strange. I'm hiding. Waiting, waiting to get on that plane. And I've made some contact with a Tulane professor in Sri Lanka. Lets hope he has some work for me.

Our home

Packing - Again

I hate packing. Goodbye to our tidy little home that we've made for ourselves as a married couple. And once again we get to judge our possessions and decide what stays for an indefinite amount of time in storage, and what is worth lugging around the world. Streamlining to fit my life into two suitcases. I hope we don't have to do this again. At least the bulk of our furniture and discount electronics have been sold. I think we'll sell our car and get some money back as well. Sri Lanka here we come.

When it rains, it pours

Splat! I ran into a bird today. I think it was a crow or a raven. It crashed into my windshield as it was trying to take flight out of the road. I don't think I killed it, or even injured it (too much). It landed on the side of the road and I was too startled to even think about stopping to check if it was dead. I wonder if it is bad luck to kill such a big bird. Because then,

A stupid redneck woman starts cursing me out in the supermarket carpark, in front of her children sitting in the backseat, for parking too close to her car and in a mothers-with-prams-only spot. I apparently didn't even have a car seat to satisfy her nerves.

And the stupid building manager of our resort apartments has decided to unfairly abuse my husband with accusations of criminal behavior and doing something wrong. When there was no wrong doing. Asshole!

I hate mean people. Why can't everyone be nice and civil to each other.

I hate packing

I should be good at packing up all my belongings and putting all my essentials into two bags by now. But boy do I like shopping, there is no point going shopping if you can't accumulate things. Dilemma, dilemma. At least this way we can save money that we have yet to earn.

In an attempt to empty my pantry, I made chocolate chip cookies. But I never seem to get them right. I hate it when they are too cakey. Arg. I need a foolproof chocolate chip cookie recipe so they come out chewy and gooey, and yummy.

New Adventure

We are leaving for Sri Lanka! Richard got a job there and we are off to a new home. Don't know how this will all work out. But I am still scheduled to arrive in the US for Christmas. This all means lots of pack and organizing, living out of a bag again for a few months maybe, Sri Lankan food... I don't really know. Big changes. Time to get out of Cabarita and back to the real world.

2 AM

2 O'Clock in the morning is now our usual bedtime. Which means that we inevitably end up waking up around noon, sometimes 2pm (in my case). Its a sad sad situation, one that we can't seem to break out of. Whats even sadder, is that at this moment the two of us are sitting in bed, 2AM, with our computers in our laps. This after I enforced a "no computers in the bed" rule for so long. Nothing important is getting done and nothing will get done tomorrow once we wake up by mid-day. Sigh.

I haven't been able to sleep so well in the past few weeks. I wonder why. This damned sleep cycle could have something to do with it, and just plain laziness.

Goal: To stimulate our brains with meaningful activity during daylight hours so that we can get to sleep at a normal time and break out of this crazy insomnia cycle.

Goal 2: to continue to regularly update this blog even though I know that no one reads it.

Good night, or rather good morning.