Well, not yet but I will be arriving very early on 4 July and it seems likely that I'll be returning to a house that is newly electrified, plumbed, cleaned and painted. Hurrah! Not everything will be ready but it'll be a very different experience from the last time I was there and I can't wait. And there will soon be a dog too. That's a lot of responsibility for a commitment phobe. And, given how scared I was by the kitten, things could get ugly. Eeek!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Worse before it gets better. Inshallah.
Another expat living in Negombo, Lankalogger, got in touch through the blog recently and I was rude enough to ask for her help in seeing what is happening at my place. She very kindly cycled over and took these photos. See what I mean about "worse before it gets better"?
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Bumps and Noises
There are lots of weird bumps and noises here. It's often a coconut falling off a tree next door, the chimes going in the breeze, the fishermen doing something inexplicable. But it's only scary at night. When you can hear things going across the roof. They are birds or water monitors or... well, actually I don't know yet. Which is why I was awake at 430 this morning and so saw the fishermen go off to work. I'll find out though and let you know. If you come to visit it will help. Although so will the arrack!
Update: Apparently it's usually those squirrel type things. I don't know their name yet.
Update: Apparently it's usually those squirrel type things. I don't know their name yet.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
The Manager
I thought I had found the perfect person to manage the property for me. And she was a masseuse as well! Sadly it didn't work out as her family commitments were too onerous. However, I got lucky!
When staying here for a long time, an American friend of mine got to know a family. He did this by sitting, completely soaked in the only clothes he had with him for months (he washed them every day and didn't smell) on an air-conditioned bus, next to Brayen.
Brayen is a brave soul who likes to help others and, surmising that there must be a problem if a 40 something American law professor is wearing wet clothes, he struck up a conversation. This ended up in a friendship starting and my friend staying with Brayen's family. I did likewise the last time I was here and found them charming.
Brayen and I stayed in touch as he fell in love with a Russian girl he met on the net (I know this sounds dodgy but if you heard the whole story you would be forced to say "ahhh!" and crush your cynical thoughts). He then married her.
He's now in Russia with her and then they're both coming here. They will manage my place!
It happened on our journey back from Columbo the day I was leaving for Dubai when I finally said "oh, I wish you weren't going to Russia and could do massage. You'd be perfect to help me run this place and you could run a cafe on the deck when guests aren't here." He said "oh, I'd love to do that".
It's all about the communication!
We have found a work around to the massage problem (I already know 2 ladies who will travel, with chaperone, here) and now I have the perfect manager. Brayen speaks great English and knows a lot about a lot of useful things For example, he brought wild cashew nuts this morning and told me about the acid in them! In fact, apparently there's a flower you can eat on the same tree. He also knows how to find the only shop in Columbo that deals with apple macs.
His family are pretty well known around the area and seem respected. He can cook. His mother is a tailor (does great work) and his father owns a fishing boat. They are the most honest people I've met.
I don't know much about Julia except she comes from a small town in the North of Russia. She's learning lots of languages and dreams of being a translator. She seemed sweet the one time I spoke to her on the phone.
Perhaps best of all, Brayen also worked in a 5 star hotel in Columbo and completely gets how to leave people who stay here alone to enjoy their privacy whilst still giving them everything they want, showing them around and letting them understand what's going on around them. That's all I want!
And yes I realise the photos are fabulously romantic. That is Brayen.
When staying here for a long time, an American friend of mine got to know a family. He did this by sitting, completely soaked in the only clothes he had with him for months (he washed them every day and didn't smell) on an air-conditioned bus, next to Brayen.
Brayen is a brave soul who likes to help others and, surmising that there must be a problem if a 40 something American law professor is wearing wet clothes, he struck up a conversation. This ended up in a friendship starting and my friend staying with Brayen's family. I did likewise the last time I was here and found them charming.
It happened on our journey back from Columbo the day I was leaving for Dubai when I finally said "oh, I wish you weren't going to Russia and could do massage. You'd be perfect to help me run this place and you could run a cafe on the deck when guests aren't here." He said "oh, I'd love to do that".
It's all about the communication!
We have found a work around to the massage problem (I already know 2 ladies who will travel, with chaperone, here) and now I have the perfect manager. Brayen speaks great English and knows a lot about a lot of useful things For example, he brought wild cashew nuts this morning and told me about the acid in them! In fact, apparently there's a flower you can eat on the same tree. He also knows how to find the only shop in Columbo that deals with apple macs.
His family are pretty well known around the area and seem respected. He can cook. His mother is a tailor (does great work) and his father owns a fishing boat. They are the most honest people I've met.
I don't know much about Julia except she comes from a small town in the North of Russia. She's learning lots of languages and dreams of being a translator. She seemed sweet the one time I spoke to her on the phone.
Perhaps best of all, Brayen also worked in a 5 star hotel in Columbo and completely gets how to leave people who stay here alone to enjoy their privacy whilst still giving them everything they want, showing them around and letting them understand what's going on around them. That's all I want!
And yes I realise the photos are fabulously romantic. That is Brayen.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Sinhalese Language
This is not an easy language. I've figured that much out. Although I've read absolutely nothing about it yet and don't intend to until I'm here for a longer stretch. But, of course, it's interesting to be surrounded by a language you don't understand - I haven't experienced that for some time. And of course I'm listening and trying to work out what's going on at least some of the time. What I think I've worked out so far is
- it's tonal
- there are masculine and feminine nouns (fish (which I've forgotten how to say) is feminine)
- verbs do not decline in the present but do do other complicated things that are yet to be understood
- the pronunciation is very subtle
- questions are formed with "de" at the end of the sentence
-"iso gana pooloo-on de?" is my transliteration of how to say "can I get some prawns?" which is fun to know but, not having a kitchen right now, not hugely useful even if I'm understood!
- "kochira" means "how much" and possibly "how many" but this changes for feminine nouns
- "sale" (pronounced a l'espagnole) means money
- "mata" means "I"
That's it and it's not much.
And, of course, they do not use the Roman alphabet to write so there are no dictionaries I can immediately understand. This is a pain as I hate learning other scripts and am bad at it. I'm good at vocabulary and grammar though and as so many of the people I want to speak to don't have good English and most of my neighbours have virtually none I'm going to make an effort.
- it's tonal
- there are masculine and feminine nouns (fish (which I've forgotten how to say) is feminine)
- verbs do not decline in the present but do do other complicated things that are yet to be understood
- the pronunciation is very subtle
- questions are formed with "de" at the end of the sentence
-"iso gana pooloo-on de?" is my transliteration of how to say "can I get some prawns?" which is fun to know but, not having a kitchen right now, not hugely useful even if I'm understood!
- "kochira" means "how much" and possibly "how many" but this changes for feminine nouns
- "sale" (pronounced a l'espagnole) means money
- "mata" means "I"
That's it and it's not much.
And, of course, they do not use the Roman alphabet to write so there are no dictionaries I can immediately understand. This is a pain as I hate learning other scripts and am bad at it. I'm good at vocabulary and grammar though and as so many of the people I want to speak to don't have good English and most of my neighbours have virtually none I'm going to make an effort.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Money and the mind
I am never sure what currency to work in. Just as I've got it together the person I'm talking to generally changes. This seems to happen a lot in Dubai? Now I've got a new currency to master. Which means I spend a lot of time going to coinmill.com as I don't have a feel for it yet. 1000 Rupees is about AED 30, USD 8 or GBP 5. AED 30 seems like nothing but a fiver seems significant. What's that all about? Is it just me? Why should it be so? Maybe it's to do with how broke you were in any given country? Or just how expensive a given place is? Any research you can find on this I'd like to see.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Safari
As I understand it the word "safari" means journey in one of the African languages (I'm too lazy right now to look it up). In that case we need a new word for my place.
Yes, this is still nameless although we're leaning towards the word for Dawn in Sinhalaese (Udasssana) which also has the advantage of being the word used for sun salutation in yoga (again, I think!). The idea might be to pair this with a classical Sinhalese word for lagoon which is "Iwura". So that together it would be Dawn's Lagoon - උදැසන ඉවුර - Udasssana Iwura. I quite like this but Hassan has pointed out that it might be a bit (totally?) self-immersed. So enough about names.
Yesterday the garden was cleaned. It was a group affair over the last few weeks with the main work being done yesterday by a lovely young woman who lives down the road, her husband, their 3 year old daughter and her two friends. At one stage we left them to it to buy cigarettes and came back with ice-creams which the kids promptly smeared all over themselves. Nonetheless they did a great job and the garden was completely clear of random bits of Shiny's stuff and all the leaves. This meant two things.
The first thing was that when I woke up this morning the porch was not covered in leaves: housekeeping in this environment is a battle against leaves and so now I understand the importance of keeping the garden free.
The second was that I was able to spot, immediately upon opening the cabana door and about 2 minutes after opening my eyes, the enormous pile of poo in the middle of the garden. This isn't dog poo ladies and gentlemen and nor is it goat poo. This looks like nothing less than a cow pat. A big one. Dried and not unpleasant but still distinctly concerning until I find out what made it. I'm guessing/hoping water monitor as the big ones are very cool and they don't (I think) pose any danger.
In any case this isn't the only wildlife to be seen - there are at least 2 fairly sizeable lizards (not huge) that hang out in the garden but run away if you get close, there are squirrel type things and there are creepy hermit crabs in the lagoon that you can take out and place on the deck. Within minutes they appear out of their shell and move straight towards the water. And jump in. I spent an hour doing this with Roshan the 11 year old last night.
So, if safari means "journey", what word would cover a home where nature comes to you?
UPDATE: The poo is not poo. It is the "castings' a crab made by burrowing into the ground. Apparently. A very large crab it seems. And for those of you who asked "how do you know what water buffalo poo looks like?"; I really thought everyone did but if you didn't know before you can click here to find out.
Yes, this is still nameless although we're leaning towards the word for Dawn in Sinhalaese (Udasssana) which also has the advantage of being the word used for sun salutation in yoga (again, I think!). The idea might be to pair this with a classical Sinhalese word for lagoon which is "Iwura". So that together it would be Dawn's Lagoon - උදැසන ඉවුර - Udasssana Iwura. I quite like this but Hassan has pointed out that it might be a bit (totally?) self-immersed. So enough about names.
Yesterday the garden was cleaned. It was a group affair over the last few weeks with the main work being done yesterday by a lovely young woman who lives down the road, her husband, their 3 year old daughter and her two friends. At one stage we left them to it to buy cigarettes and came back with ice-creams which the kids promptly smeared all over themselves. Nonetheless they did a great job and the garden was completely clear of random bits of Shiny's stuff and all the leaves. This meant two things.
The first thing was that when I woke up this morning the porch was not covered in leaves: housekeeping in this environment is a battle against leaves and so now I understand the importance of keeping the garden free.
The second was that I was able to spot, immediately upon opening the cabana door and about 2 minutes after opening my eyes, the enormous pile of poo in the middle of the garden. This isn't dog poo ladies and gentlemen and nor is it goat poo. This looks like nothing less than a cow pat. A big one. Dried and not unpleasant but still distinctly concerning until I find out what made it. I'm guessing/hoping water monitor as the big ones are very cool and they don't (I think) pose any danger.
In any case this isn't the only wildlife to be seen - there are at least 2 fairly sizeable lizards (not huge) that hang out in the garden but run away if you get close, there are squirrel type things and there are creepy hermit crabs in the lagoon that you can take out and place on the deck. Within minutes they appear out of their shell and move straight towards the water. And jump in. I spent an hour doing this with Roshan the 11 year old last night.
So, if safari means "journey", what word would cover a home where nature comes to you?
UPDATE: The poo is not poo. It is the "castings' a crab made by burrowing into the ground. Apparently. A very large crab it seems. And for those of you who asked "how do you know what water buffalo poo looks like?"; I really thought everyone did but if you didn't know before you can click here to find out.
Monday, June 4, 2012
The full moon
It's full moon tonight and pretty lovely. I'd post pictures if I wasn't so useless. Full moon here doesn't have the same connotations of debauchery as in Thailand. Yet.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
I've never ...
pulled down a tree, planted flowers and believed they might live, asked and paid for someone to pull down walls that really looked like they might be supporting a roof, cared quite so much about the cushions I bought or got as excited as I was today when I bought a folder in which the bits of paper that doing business in Sri Lanka entails can be stored.
I now no longer have a Bo or a dead tree, I have a knocked-through living room and so don't have to hate the pointless dining room and the back wall of the kitchen has been knocked down prior to extending it so that it fits a washing machine, fridge etc.. The ceiling has been raised and there are flowers in one of the tyres as well as a number of pots. There are sand and cements and rocks and, sadly, there is a holiday on Monday so that will be it for progress until Tuesday.
Fingers crossed that it keeps going!
I now no longer have a Bo or a dead tree, I have a knocked-through living room and so don't have to hate the pointless dining room and the back wall of the kitchen has been knocked down prior to extending it so that it fits a washing machine, fridge etc.. The ceiling has been raised and there are flowers in one of the tyres as well as a number of pots. There are sand and cements and rocks and, sadly, there is a holiday on Monday so that will be it for progress until Tuesday.
Fingers crossed that it keeps going!
A rose by any other name..
Given I've just seen a heron, a squirrel and a lovely little lizard; that the lagoon is a constant presence and that the reaction of even Sri Lankans who come here for the first time is to go quiet, grin and then say "nice place", I think this place deserves a good name.
It is currently known as Barramundi although, according to the unpaid TV bill that came yesterday, it does have a more prosaic address. In any case, Barramundi is, I think, Australian so we need to change it.
Brayen is working on this and has a professor of the Sinhalese language involved. The first suggestion was lovely but very hard to pronounce so it's back to the drawing board.
I'll post the choices and listen gratefully to advice!
It is currently known as Barramundi although, according to the unpaid TV bill that came yesterday, it does have a more prosaic address. In any case, Barramundi is, I think, Australian so we need to change it.
Brayen is working on this and has a professor of the Sinhalese language involved. The first suggestion was lovely but very hard to pronounce so it's back to the drawing board.
I'll post the choices and listen gratefully to advice!
Friday, June 1, 2012
The Expats
Expats are a weird bunch. I am one so I know. I've been an expat for a very long time and they are different in different places. In Thailand you traditionally have the "ecchi"old men, in Dubai the career guys etc. although, of course, there are many exceptions.
So far the expats I've met in Sri Lanka have been marvellous: really generous with their time, knowledge and experience. My real estate guy, Martin Fullerton, called me to check in before I fly back to Dubai tonight. He and his colleague, Marilyn, have advised me and facilitated meetings. I've met with the GM of the 5 star hotel 10 minutes away and discussed getting involved in some initiatives that are going on around the lagoon for the environment and the fishermen. On top of that, they have an awesome 100 metre pool that's open to non guests for about 1000 Rupees per day although don't see to have pictures of it on the website?
And the Rotary club have invited me to a meeting. They seem to think I'm a guy though. I hope they won't be too disappointed.
So far the expats I've met in Sri Lanka have been marvellous: really generous with their time, knowledge and experience. My real estate guy, Martin Fullerton, called me to check in before I fly back to Dubai tonight. He and his colleague, Marilyn, have advised me and facilitated meetings. I've met with the GM of the 5 star hotel 10 minutes away and discussed getting involved in some initiatives that are going on around the lagoon for the environment and the fishermen. On top of that, they have an awesome 100 metre pool that's open to non guests for about 1000 Rupees per day although don't see to have pictures of it on the website?
And the Rotary club have invited me to a meeting. They seem to think I'm a guy though. I hope they won't be too disappointed.
Progress is made...
Today was great. The men have agreed to do the work, the massage table is under control, most of the rubbish is gone, the canoe is clean and the garden is getting into shape. I quite enjoy the sweeping of the leaves but picking up all the rubbish is less fun. Tomorrow I'll get one of the local kids to finish it off and put all the bits of wood together, bits of rocks together, bits of plastic together and so on. Very little doesn't get reused - a guy turned up earlier to pick up Shiny's water tanks and he ended up taking all the bottles, plastic and creepy picture of a blue lady with naked top units.
I do have photos of some of these things but I have clearly done something stupid as
1)Harry's camera is saying it has no memory left even though there's only a few pictures on there
2) when I put the drive from the camera into Picasa it doesn't take.
It doesn't seem a huge shame given how bad my photos were and in any case....
Tomorrow we shop. For everything.
I can't wait until it's all ready and people can come and enjoy it. And take pictures of course.
I do have photos of some of these things but I have clearly done something stupid as
1)Harry's camera is saying it has no memory left even though there's only a few pictures on there
2) when I put the drive from the camera into Picasa it doesn't take.
It doesn't seem a huge shame given how bad my photos were and in any case....
Tomorrow we shop. For everything.
I can't wait until it's all ready and people can come and enjoy it. And take pictures of course.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)