We had the packers in on Friday. We learned that even though we are allowed 450 pounds for air shipping, we only get 400 lbs, since the container weighs 50 pounds. Live and learn. Turns our we had 413 pounds, so we have to pay for 13 pounds ourselves.

The visa situation went well too. ICMA acquired our entry visas through a service in DC. We had to send them our passports and we were sweating whether or not they would get to us in time for our flight. They came Friday morning. We had to fib a bit by saying the Ron wasn't working, but ICMA insists this is beasue there is a flaw in the Sri Lanka law. We just took that on faith.

A good friend of ours took us and all our luggage (4 checked bags and two carry-ons). We had on bag that was over the 50 lb limit by 5 pounds, but the gate agent let us slide, so we didn't have to pay for excess baggage. The others were under, so I offered to move things around, but he said "no sweat."

When we got on the plane in Portland, we realized we forgot to bring our sun hats. Oh well, if that's the only thing we forgot, we'll be doing good. We'll just have to buy new ones.

So now we made it! Twenty-seven hours of travellater we're in Sri Lanka... but let me tell you there is a world of difference flying business class. The seats recline so you can SLEEP! And the food is delicious. We took Ambien for the Chicago-Frankfurtleg of the journey and got about 5 hours sleep. I managed to sleep off andon during the Frankfurt-Colombo leg but Ron didn't sleep as much.

Today is our first day here. Our flight was about an hour late gettinginto Colombo because we left Frankfurt late. We arrrived about 6:00 a.m.Immigration was a snap but getting our luggage took about 30 minutes. Acar from the hotel met us and since today is a holiday (full moom, nokidding) there was no traffic. Normally the drive in from the airporttakes 1.5 hrs but it took 45 minutes. Our hotel is right downtown and wecan see the Indian ocean from our hotel. We checked into the hotel and Ronhad about an hour to shower and change before he went to meet the Board ofthe Asia Foundation where he will be working (they are a partner to ICMAfor the Sru Lanka project). Meanwhile I went to breakfast and spent time getting us unpacked andsettled into our hotel room. I wandered into the mall next door but mostshops are closed due to the holiday. There are 29 holidays in Sri Lanka,counting the full moon holidays each month. All banks and governmentoffices and most shops are closed for "Polya", full moon. I am hoping wecan get massages later today. First impressions: Sri Lanka reminds me of Thailand in terms of the flora.The few residences I saw coming into town also reminded me of Thailand.The major difference was that everything here looks like it could use agood washing down with soap and water and a lot of places need a coat ofpaint. Sri Lanka does not appear to be as prosperous as Thailand. We had a delicious lunch in the hotel as it was pouring rain when we wentdown. I think we are going to love the cuisine here as lunch was spicy! Ohmy, I forgot to mention how inexpensive it is. Our lunch for two was $7.00plus service charge and tax. I had chicken curry and rice and Ron had achicken chili dish. Lots of folks seem to speak english. It probably won't be this wayoutside of Colombo. We did get a foot massage and we both seemed o feel better. More as we get settled..