A UN Day shout out to Sue...thank you!

M futzed around with his camera and made this. Pretty Awesome!

 The dreaded day arrived...UN Day at school.  It actually had nothing to do with the UN but it was more a celebration of diversity at Overseas School of Colombo (OSC).  It's pretty cool that there are roughly 42 different groups in such a small school and that's not even counting the dual nationals!  I got rooked into being the Canada Country Rep so had to set up a table for this day.  I have to be honest, people were kinda sh*%$y about helping out so the workload was on my shoulders.  Luckily, M was extremely helpful in the baking dept. ( Not so much the cleaning up dept though!)  He made the shortbread cookies.  What was kind of nostalgic for me was being in the kitchen with him and pulling out the decades old cookie presses I used with my Mom to make these cookies.  He made one batch, I, the other and promptly declared his batch shorter!  Cheeky monkey!  I made 2 batches of Nanaimo bars.  They are no-bake and actually quite easy to make. 

This is before my head spouted holes.

 Of course, at the root of every event is "what am I going to wear?"  So this is what I came up with!  Quite effective I must say!  I think though some people thought me a chicken but I was making a statement...yes, a STATEMENT.  You see, I did have help at the table from a French Canadian guy, I was the English Canadian and my headgear represented the First Nations...get it? Oh well, made me laugh.  I think I poked a few of the smaller kids eyes out with it though.  By the end of the day those teeth that secure the headband to your hair were doing some serious stuff to my skull.  I was happy to get it off!  

Our lovely Canada table.

 So here's what my sister's generous contribution looked like!  Thank you so much Sue!  Everyone loved the Timmy's boites and were bummed that there weren't any inside!  I used hockey pucks as the name cards for the dishes and the HBC cookie tin you gave us at Christmas.  The principal of the elementary came through and made dollar size pancakes for the table and they were a great success.  But judging by the feeding frenzy, spoiled meat and fridge goo would've have also been a big success!  M was so proud of his cookies and told lots of his teachers he had made them.  He plans to bake for his buddies this weekend.

I'm sure he's texting "Oh Canada".

N, as the eldest Canadian, was the flagbearer.  He downplayed being the flag guy but I noticed come the morning of the day he carefully selected an outfit which represented our flag.  He is funny that way.  We had about 7 kids under our flag but as mentioned before there are a bunch of dual-nationals.  We got lots of people come up to us and say that they were happy to see that Canada had a separate table from the Americans and that, that hadn't happened in a long time!  A few people came up and thanked me for my work when they heard that I did it all by myself (and M). That was nice. Sue was right about that when she said not to pull out because of lack of assistance, just go do it.  Besides this is payback for all those people who went before me and did this for my kids at our other schools.  Don't tell anyone but, it was fun!

This is what happens at my house after "Law and Order."

Okay, not too bad for a 1/2 hour fooling around in my bathroom.  I got the idea to recreate some famous shots after I got turned down to participate in a traveling skirt of a certain colour blog.  It was like high school all over again! The cool blogging girls didn't want me!  Wah! 

You see while I was waiting to find out whether or not I was accepted, I had the brilliant idea to use the skirt in a shoot that would represent Sri Lanka.  What's more Sri Lankan than an elephant?  Who is more fashionable as a fashion photography than Richard Avedon? So why not recreate his famous shot of Dovima and the elephants here in Colombo?  But alas I won't be using the skirt of a certain colour in my next shot.  However, I did find a great location and when I can convince somebody to come with me to help shoot it, I'll post it.

In the meantime enjoy my first attempt...they can only get better!  Thanks to Nancy Cunard and Google Images.

It kinda snuck up on me...

Canadian Thanksgiving...I had totally forgotten that it is this time of year.  That's the only problem with the tropics is, is that it's like Vegas.  The light and temperature are such that you never really notice the passage of time.  However, unlike Vegas there are no free cocktails! 

Our Head of Mission (HOM) opened up the OR (Official Residence) to a pot luck dinner for the staff. She has a lovely house and it was very welcoming.  The kids could run around the yard and chase the dog.  It is the cutest dog ever!! She's a West Highland White Terrier and a dead ringer for that "Maggie" who stars in those commercials back home.  I COVET that beast.  Even though I really like the dog, I can't understand why my voice goes up several pitches and I want to say repetitive stuff like, "who's a good doggie", "does your mummy wuve you...yes she does!" I never even spoke to my own kids like that!  What gives?!

Anyway I felt the time was right to introduce our family tradition to the rest of the world (hopefully to get a laugh this time!).  No, it is not aspic, nor ambrosia salad, nor any other of those wonderful 50's concoctions, it is the Rice Krispie Turkey!  Ta dah!

Next year I'm going to develop rice krispie giblets to go inside! Stay tuned!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Everyone!

May you be surrounded by family and friends and that you take the time to appreciate all that you have in your life and the fantastic place we call home.

"Glocal?"

There is always a bit letdown when something is realized.  I've been nattering on for yonks to anyone who would listen about the Sri Lankan Design Festival .  I even wined and dined a few hoping to score free tickets or contacts, but to no avail.  So I girded my loins and went down to AOD and just signed up.

The Sustainability Session was the part I was most interested in .  I was hoping to get some insight into how the business works.  So I got my myself down to the Mount Lavinia Hotel and was the first to arrive!   It's a lovely old hotel and the lobby was buzzing with fashion/design types.  Once inside the conference room, I thought that I had dodged the ticket guy and was going to get a free ride but no.

Anyway there were some interesting types in the audience.  This tall, slim fashionista in very chic grey stripe saree comes in with an entourage.  I thought maybe she was a Rajapaksa or a model but no she's the lady that established the host school and the Festival!

After many air kisses, we got down to things.  Turned out that it wasn't exactly what I had imagined! Honestly I wasn't sure what to expect.  Turns out, that they dealt in a lot of generalities.  I guess because I'm a conference/meeting newbie I had visions of indepth discussion, passionate discourse, fists pounding on tables, people storming out, but no.   However, I did learn a fair amount about standardization, partnerships and industry problems.

At the tea break, I got chatting to a very interesting woman who had spoken the night before at the "Colours" session.  Her name is Jane McCann and she is an English professor involved in a very exciting project in the UK.  It is called "Design for Ageing Well, New Dynamics of Ageing."  She is a part of a group of English academics doing cross disciplinary work on ageing.  She is on the design side of things.  Professor McCann was quite intense and I have to be honest, she was preaching to the converted!

I didn't get a chance to speak with her but there was another lady here from Draper magazine in the UK.  I would've spoken to her at the lunch but I felt a bit anxious about the taking the train back, a bit tired and frankly, I did feel slightly lame about being there as "Margaret Peters....Private Citizen."  Honestly there is nothing wrong with that, but after sitting for 5 hours I was knackered and my smooze mode was off. To my credit though, I did go up to the tall glamourazon and thank her for the conference.  Then I skittered off into my taxi.

Definitely the best was saved for last.  This is when they introduced the young up and coming designers.  The trend right now is to upcycle and use different of fabrics or unexpected types of processes.  There was a very cool young lady who had been partnered with a IT firm and had come up with a fabric that is hand woven by local women.  It's manufacture has a very small footprint as everything is done "organically", for example they use cow dung to bleach the fabric to an off white.  The sample jea that they show was awesome.  Oh yeah this is the cool part, they weren't dyed they were digitally printed.  Unfortunately I couldn't get over to see them up close but I love the idea of how it was produced.  Patagonia did too and there is interest from them.  Global + local = glocal!

"Omm Pah Pah...omm pah pah, everyone knows!"*

Wow!  It seems like forever since I last wrote even though I've been thinking about the blog everyday.  You see I'm trying to get an expat bloggers groups going.  I want to write with a community of people who have interesting experiences to share.  I also want to know how other expats view life abroad. Since I instigated this thing,  I gave them a challenge to "find their voice" They have to write a 300 word draft everyday (subject doesn't matter), then decide which one represents their truest voice.  The plan is then to discuss this next time and move on to another subject, ie.. photos/video.  Topics are supposed to be organically generated, but for the first little while I think there should be some structure.

Aren't they gorgeous?  Dancers at the festival.

This weekend I got to see Sri Lanka through German eyes!  It was the 60th anniversary of German/Sri Lankan Friendship and there was a street festival celebrating it.  Who knew?  There was the usual collection of pretty darn awesome cars and obviously a growing local taste for luxury vehicles judging by the line ups around the Audis and Porsches. (Cripes, there is even a Lamborghini dealership in town.  Which is pretty vulgar when you think of what that amount of money could do here.)

It's the perfect Bug colour and not modified!  

There were also friendship groups from the various Universities around the country and the girls looked so cute decked out in dirndls and the like.  I can't imagine it was fun to wear white tights in this heat.  I got quite few great shots of the colour and pageantry that went along with the festival.

 They had stilt walkers, puppets and these way cool giant Sri Lankan and German characters.  I got video of them somewhere!

What's a street fair without food!  We went with visions of Teutonic wursts and bretzels dancing in our heads and weren't disappointed.  Although I am not a big fan of the rather rude looking weisswurst, I was happy to try them.  The pastries were good and G happily bought a loaf of 2 tonne bread.  There was heaps of beer but my stomach is still a little queasy after a bout of "mystery disease" this weekend.

I'm usually a Maclaren girl but I'm willing to compromise for German/Sri Lankan relations.

I included this picture because not only are they a beautiful, happy couple, you can see how Sri Lankan women tie their sarees.  If you notice around her waist is a pleated, peplum type fold.  This is unique to here.  People also wear the classic Indian style with the drape over the front of the body.  I have yet to see though the Gujarati-style where the drape comes over the shoulder from the back.  Interesting tidbit:  all female government workers must wear saree.










*Thanks to "Oliver" for the lyrics.

Galle...Redux

I'm not too sure that I'm using "redux" properly but I like the sound of it!  Besides this is a post about returning to the scene of the crime.

Hanging out on the SLR

Background:  Last weekend the whole family " loaded up the truck and we moved to Galle/Unawatuna. Beaches, pools, lots of pretty Russian chicks." (sung to the tune of "The Beverly Hillbillies!")

G did an awesome job of driving down.  It took 40 minutes to get out of the city and 40 on the highway (and a very nice one by the way).  We pulled in about noon and got to our hotel, Thrapoban. Immediately, we all felt at peace, the boys had wifi and we had separate, and certainly not equal rooms!  In a nutshell we had a blast.  Mika, G and I spent hours tumbling in the surf.  I'm still finding sand in my netherlands (and I don't mean Holland!).  

One day we took two tuktuks ( say that 3x fast!) into Galle Fort.  It is an old Portuguese/Dutch fort that managed to survive the tsunami intact due to it's ancient block walls.  The rest of the town outside the walls was not so fortunate (refer to Youtube for the footage).  Like any good disaster the carpetbaggers came to town in the aftermath and snapped up the best properties.  They have turned them into funky cafes and fantastic boutique hotels.  It has a bit of a Potemkin feel to it unlike Penang or Melaka, where people still actually live and work, but it's lovely none the less.

G drove us back up on Monday, dodging trucks, busses and mothers picking up their kids at school only to arrive home and realize that we left our phones, chargers and dirty laundry down in Unawatuna.  "Please insert your favorite expletive here!"  Obviously it was my fault! (ha!) So I begrudgingly volunteered to go back and get our crap.  At first I was PO'd, then I realized what a golden opportunity to get my groove back!  Woo hoo!  So Thursday morning, I got my act together and went to Colombo Fort station at 7:00 for the 8:30 train to Galle.  I forked out my rupee 160 for 2nd class and entered into the unknown!  Okay, a bit early, but I'd rather be there and have the lay of the land versus frantically trying to suss it out at the last moment.  

A bit deserted at 7:15 a.m.

I got to my platform and was relieved to see a couple of foreigners whom I assumed were going to the same place.  I asked one guy and he said he was Galle bound as well.  I stood next to him and we both resisted the urging by very "helpful" people to get on each train that went by.  Gawd I don't know where they were trying to send us but it sure wasn't Galle!  

Anyway, managed to get on and get a seat.  I figured out pretty quickly that you want to be on the sea side going down and the town side coming back, if you're doing a turnaround trip.  You can't believe the good feeling of being on your own in a foreign country, going somewhere on local transportation, no phone (though someone has a vague idea where you might be), a little bit of cash and some local knowledge.  I felt so awesome, just like the old days!

Behold the hideous treatment of foreigners in this country!!

So I got down there around noon and managed to shake off all the friendly guys I met on the train.  It really wasn't a problem after they found out I was married!  I actually enjoyed chatted, which is something I don't often do!

I hied myself out to the hotel to retrieve our stuff and got a nugie from the "is she or isn't she pregnant" receptionist!  So having accomplished what I needed to do, I decided a spa treatment was in order so I went to The Sanctuary.  "Oh my Lord" was it awesome and the young, virile masseuse was not too bad either.  It is truly amazing how at first,  you're a bit freaked because it's a guy and then once he starts it's like "okay, please feel free to do whatever you want! But he doesn't want to do anything that he's not paid for because you're a fat old foreigner!"  Life is cruel! 

A view of our apartment from the tracks!

So afterwards made it back to the station for the 2:45 to Colombo.  Everyone had appeared to get the memo that you catch the train a bit further up the tracks so by the time it rolled into Platform 1 all the seats were taken!  So much for my 160 rupee investment in a second class seat!  So I had to stand for the entire ride up on the sunny side of the train.  Everyone wanted me to see the beautiful ocean and being Canadian I couldn't say "it's lovely but my retinas are being burnt to a crisp.  May I sit down please?" But this too, turned out to be a fun blessing as I got to hang out the train and chat with some people.  I felt so "subcontinent!"

Anyway after 3hours standing, the ride was begining to wear on me and I was hoping that the train would stop at "Slave Island", the closest stop to home.  No such luck.  It actually stopped a little bit beyond there and if I had had any cajones I would've jumped off the train and walked home.  But people live right up to the tracks so I wouldv'e jumped into someones's living room.  Could you imagine that at the end of the day having a large, sweaty foreigner come flying through your shanty wall?  (I do like the imagery though!).  So I got home, showered and got in yet another form of conveyance and headed out to a Wine and Cheese at the HOM's place.  It was fun and I felt quite exhilarated by my bravado.  What was also nice was that G was so proud of me and kept telling everyone, "not everyone would've gone local just to get the phones!"  So I felt vindicated by and for myself.   G was just the icing on the cake.  It was really fun and I look forward to going further afield.  Life is good.

Medical Adventures in Sri Lanka

I knew it was coming on Friday.  It was that tickle in the back of the throat, the zero energy I felt.  However, I thought I can easily rise above this...I NEVER GET SICK!  But last night proved me wrong.  I ended up on the couch trying to sleep upright so I wouldn't cough or feel that anxiety I get when my nose is plugged.  Let's just say that G did not awake to a pretty sight on the sofa this morning.

So two options; 1) wallowing in self pity or 2) hie myself to the appropriate medical facilities.  I was going to go to this recommended doctor but when I got thinking about it, I'd first have to go to the ATM, get a taxi, see her, then go to a pharmacy and then head back.  Argh! Too much work so I decided I'd go to the hospital.  I must say it was a rather grim journey as the taxi went past the eye hospital and the orthopedic centre.  It was like that scene in "Jesus Christ Superstar" when all the beggars come out to see Jesus (not that I'm comparing myself to the Big Guy).

Nothing sticks out more like a sore thumb than a fifty year westerner in Sri Lankan hospital lobby.  I was promptly directed to the admitting desk. OMG, they couldn't have been nicer, especially after I paid!  It was 300 rupees (120rp - $1) to be admitted.  I was thinking to myself I've had tuk tuk rides more expensive than this!  The attending physician was heavily pregnant with her first child.  She acted surprised when I told her my age and mentioned that she was used to westerners being much spottier and wrinklier at that age!  It made me laugh!  She prescribed a bunch of stuff (yuck... I hate medicine) that set me back a whopping 457 rupees!  I hadn't even needed to go to the bank!

After less than 1 hour, I was back out on the mean streets of Colombo.  By this time I was starting to flag and needed a drink.  Fortunately there was a BreadTalk near the hospital. It is part of a chain of bakeries.   Sufficiently fortified, I decided to walk over to Union Place.  G had mentioned that there was a nicer Keel's Supermarket there.  I didn't get that far, I stopped at Arpico instead.  It's an okay place and I enjoyed a rather leisurely stroll up and down the various aisles.  Their meat looked a lot better than the demoralizing partially frozen crap at our local Keel's so I picked some up.  

On my return I managed to hook up with the nicest tuk tuk driver who had excellent English. So the moral of my story is, is that you can have a most excellent adventure even on a sh*#y day!