Today is Saturday. We got back from Nuwara Eliya around 9:30 Thursday night. It was a great trip. It was cool the entire time we were there and we had rain from noon until the evening on the first day. I experienced vertigo while there. I learned quickly to get out of bed very carefully holding my head very straight otherwise the room spun and my stomach did flip-flops.

Because of the vertigo, I was unable to do much while in Nuwara Eliya other than moan and whine. I made it to the Internet café one morning and answered a few emails but that was about it. I toured the beautiful grounds of the hotel. Everything was in bloom and it was so lovely. Ron treated the group (there were six of us) to a wonderful meal at the fancy hotel, St Andrews. We had decided we wanted to go there for an evening meal and invited our Sri Lankan friends to join us then realized the price was probably beyond their means so solved the problem by treating everyone to dinner. Afterwards, Ron and Don played snooker but I went back to our hotel and rested. During the two days we were there Ron had three meetings with three local authorities. On the way back to Colombo we stopped at our favorite vegetable stand and got fresh veggies for Veena, Geetha and us. Because Nuwara Eliya is at 6000 feet, they can grow wonderful veggies.

The violence continues here but is concentrated in the north and east, far away from us. Today’s headlines were about the Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University fleeing the country because of death threats from the LTTE. Jeevan is a very good friend of Ron’s cousin Hal, who teaches at Harvey Mudd College in Southern California. Jeevan taught there for a number of years. Jeevan has a double doctorate in engineering from London University. Apparently the LTTE wanted someone else appointed and did not like the fact he was a Christian. Most Tamils are Hindus. Jeevan came back to Sri Lanka from Harvey Mudd because he wanted to serve his country and region and he wanted his children to grow up in Sri Lanka. All members of his family were threatened according to the article. How very sad. Because the LTTE has long arms, Jeevan’s whereabouts is being kept secret.

The president of Sri Lanka has insisted that the negotiators on both sides return to the peace talks and the goal is May 10th. As a result of the violence in the east, Ron has suspended program activities in the east for 60 days hoping things will settle down. We are more relaxed and feel that we may be able to complete our assignment and remain until December. Only time will tell.

Tonight we have having Suba and his wife over for dinner. SubaToday is Saturday. We got back from Nuwara Eliya around 9:30 Thursday night. It was a great trip. It was cool the entire time we were there and we had rain from noon until the evening on the first day. I experienced vertigo while there. I learned quickly to get out of bed very carefully holding my head very straight otherwise the room spun and my stomach did flip-flops.

Because of the vertigo, I was unable to do much while in Nuwara Eliya other than moan and whine. I made it to the Internet café one morning and answered a few emails but that was about it. I toured the beautiful grounds of the hotel. Everything was in bloom and it was so lovely. Ron treated the group (there were six of us) to a wonderful meal at the fancy hotel, St Andrews. We had decided we wanted to go there for an evening meal and invited our Sri Lankan friends to join us then realized the price was probably beyond their means so solved the problem by treating everyone to dinner. Afterwards, Ron and Don played snooker but I went back to our hotel and rested. During the two days we were there Ron had three meetings with three local authorities. On the way back to Colombo we stopped at our favorite vegetable stand and got fresh veggies for Veena, Geetha and us. Because Nuwara Eliya is at 6000 feet, they can grow wonderful veggies.

The violence continues here but is concentrated in the north and east, far away from us. Today’s headlines were about the Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University fleeing the country because of death threats from the LTTE. Jeevan is a very good friend of Ron’s cousin Hal, who teaches at Harvey Mudd College in Southern California. Jeevan taught there for a number of years. Jeevan has a double doctorate in engineering from London University. Apparently the LTTE wanted someone else appointed and did not like the fact he was a Christian. Most Tamils are Hindus. Jeevan came back to Sri Lanka from Harvey Mudd because he wanted to serve his country and region and he wanted his children to grow up in Sri Lanka. All members of his family were threatened according to the article. How very sad. Because the LTTE has long arms, Jeevan’s whereabouts is being kept secret. The president has demanded that the negotiators on both sides return to the peace talks and the goal is May 10th. As a result of the violence in the east, Ron has suspended program activities in the east for 60 days hoping things will settle down. We are more relaxed and feel that we may be able to complete our assignment and remain until December. Only time will tell.

Tonight we have having Suba and his wife over for dinner. Suba, an environmental engineer, is a program manager for Ron’s program and teaches the classes on Solid Waste. Geetha has prepared a feast of potato curry, green beans, cabbage and bindjal (eggplant) and basmati rice. Yum! Ron has gone native and is wearing the sarong and matching shirt that he received from one of his staff for his birthday. God, he’s a handsome devil. We will post photos soon.
We will post photos soon.