Sunday ended up being a quiet day here as we spent the morning waiting for a delivery that never arrived. When Ron called to find out what happened they said they didn’t know of our delivery and would call back. When that didn’t happen, Ron called back and the man said he would try again. Then the man called back to say sometime before 4:00 at which point Ron said we had already spent the morning waiting for a delivery that was promised before noon. Ron asked the man to be much more specific about delivery time. So then the man said, 3:30. We left the house and walked down the lane to the fresh market. It is difficult for me to carry much weight for any distance so having my own sherpa with me, I bought more groceries. As we were walking home, my phone rang and it was the store saying they were on the way with the delivery. That was 1:30. Guess what, SL time is different and the sooner the Bergman’s learn that the better. After waiting for almost an hour the furniture (patio table and four chairs) showed up. We took another walk on Thimbirigasyaya to the hardware store and got an extension cord for the office. I wish you could see Ron’s set up. He is brilliant. The things you have to do to ensure your equipment doesn’t blow up/burnout because of the differences with electricity, plug patterns, and the like. I wouldn’t know where to begin.

This morning I called the store that sold us our couch to find out when it would be delivered and was told they would call back by noon to let me know. It’s 1:00 now and ….well you get the picture. We are still on the learning curve here.

I am also waiting for the electrician to show up. Our lack of hot water is an electrical problem with the pump. Veena called the electrician last night and he told her how to use an extension cord to give us water until he could get here. Fortunately, his solution worked so we had water and hot water this morning. The awning guys left Friday but left their tools so I am assuming they would have been back today to finish but we all know about assumptions…and contractors-the most undependable, least reliable to all workers. We’re also waiting for the screen contractors to return and finish the job of putting mosquito screens on some of the windows. Fortunately, very little is critical to our comfort. It’s just that I can’t leave the house unless Veena will be here to let them in. So today I have hung around the house and read my book called Culture Shock-Sri Lanka. Today’s chapters dealt with time and work patterns. Pretty timely I’d say.

Well we have spent four nights here and absolutely love the house. Every time I cook a meal, I realize there more things I need in the kitchen. I am having one heck of a time finding spices in jars. They come in plastic bags that are really inconvenient when cooking. I have looked for little jars but am not having any luck. Houses here are different. They are not airtight so it is easy for critters to come in, like ants, mosquitoes, etc. This morning when I went out to the kitchen I spied the biggest roach I have seen since I left Florida in 1970. I debated whether to kill him or not and decided that I didn’t want to have a roach problem so into the trash he went. Also screens aren’t generally used here but the ex pat community seems to demand it so it is possible to get them. We are not yet screened although Veena is working on it. Because we don’t have screens in our bedroom yet, we are sleeping in air-conditioning. We prefer not to use it but can’t handle the heat with the doors closed. Hopefully, we will be able to screen our balcony then sleep with the doors open and use the ceiling fan. If not, then I am grateful for the AC!

It hasn’t cooled off here yet. We had a week of cool weather when I was recuperating from the flu but it is long gone and we still have warm days here. April and May are the hottest. Hopefully, that will be when we take out first break and go somewhere cool for a vacation.

From a work perspective, things are really heating up. We have a new training module on financial reporting that we are going to start for the Local Authorities in the south next week. The program manger in charge of financial programs was supposed to develop the training materials… but what he’s produced is almost useless. I’ve had to completely develop all of the materials and approaches myself. It’s frustrating dealing with someone who’s very nice, but not reliable to get the job done. I’m told he’s the best that was available. I’m thinking we need to look again, but this is definitely not the Sri Lankan way. All the advice I’m getting is to keep working with him. Maybe this is more of the learning curve.

I’ve built a rather large Excel spreadsheet that the Local Authorities can use for financial tracking and management reporting on how their revenues and expenses are tracking with their budget. Seems as though the Local Authorities here prepare a budget each year, because they are required to, and then never look at it again…. They don’t track their actuals against what they forecast in the budget. Strange! Someone said that the LAs track their revenues and expenses the way the 19th century Britts taught them. They account for every penny, but report it in a way that doesn’t tell anybody what they actually did. It’s pretty amazing.

I guess that’s why we have a capacity building project and I get this experience.