10-23-05

Today has been a full day. After breakfast we went shopping at the mall next to the hotel and got items Ron needed for his trip. We came back and hooked up with John, one of the consultants Ron is working with and who is staying at the same hotel. By the way the other consultant is from Portland OR. Ha! We grabbed a taxi and went over to Alex’s house. Alex is the program director for the Asia Foundation program Ron is working with. She wanted us to see her place before we started looking so we would have an idea of what you can get in the way of housing in our price range. We were shocked! She has a lovely home with a garden, tropical plants throughout. All homes are surrounded by walls here as a security measure. There is a covered porch where you can sit outside. Inside there is a good sized living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom (all bedrooms have their own bath apparently) with full bath. In addition there’s a maid’s quarters, with bath, laundry room, garage and another room off the kitchen in addition to a pantry. That’s the first floor. On the second floor is the master suite which is Huge! And a third bedroom. Again each with their own bath. There was a room she used for ironing and hanging out clothes when it rains. There was a sitting room and a roof terrace. On the third floor was a prayer room she used for storage. All this for $1200. Apparently it was listed for $1700 but when the landlord found out she was an older single woman with no kids and that she worked for the Asia Foundation the price was reduced. We should be so lucky.

Tomorrow I hope to go see another employee’s home which is an apartment which rents for $1,000. Both of these are within walking distance to the office which is our goal. Apparently if you are willing to commute 40 minutes, you can live in a gated community in a four bedroom house for $700. We would prefer to live close in.

Apparently it is common to hire gardeners, housekeepers/cooks and security here. All are quite inexpensive. From Alex’s we walked out to the street and hailed two tuk-tuks and headed for Barefoot, a delightful store that serves Sunday brunch with live jazz. We sat outside undercover as it rained much of the day. The food was grand and the atmosphere super. Ron and I came back to the hotel to get him off on his travels. He left at 3:00 with two consultants and various team members and interpreters. It’s going to be a very long week here without him. Thank god for email and our new cell phones (hehe).

I decided to be adventurous and took at 1 hour and 45 minute walk around the ‘hood. A couple of things I have failed to mention before. I often smile at folks on the street. When Anthony Saul visited us from S Africa in 2001 he made us aware of how cold and unfriendly Americans are by contrast to people in his country. He said you would never walk down the street without greeting everyone you passed along the way. So I have made a point of doing that here. Without fail, my smile and greeting is returned with a big, warm friendly smile. Sri Lankans have impressed me thus far with their warmth and friendliness. The other thing I haven’t mentioned is dress. Many Sri Lankans, men and women, wear sarongs. A sarong is a length of cloth that is wrapped around the waist so that you end up with an ankle length skirt. It is not uncommon to see men in sarongs. Because of the heat and humidity dress is informal. Suits are worn but are not common. Ron will rarely wear one for work, probably only when he will be meeting with funding agencies for example. So I think that is one of the things we’ll take home when we go for a visit. We definitely need to lighten our wardrobe. I find jeans and even khakis are too heavy. It will be easy to find light weight clothing here.

Tomorrow the Asia Foundation (TAF from now on folks) is closed due to all the overtime while the Board was here so I won’t get to start my house hunting until Tuesday or Wednesday. I am so eager to find a place and make it our ‘nest’ and to start to feel settled. It will take time from what I hear plus ICMA has to approve it before we can sign a lease. But what the heck, after 25 years of working for bureaucracies, I can handle it.

Well this has been a mouthful. I’ll keep you posted.