Day 42

I'm home! Barely 6 weeks in Sri Lanka and I've already come home for a short visit. The main reason for this is that this trip is in in transit to a really awesome 2 weeks that I will be spending in Pretoria, South Africa for a youth conference on community service. 

I was so unsure of everything falling into place because of the difficulties with getting my visa sorted. I finally only picked up my passport and visa this morning. Talk about last minute!

I went into work in the morning. I probably glanced at the time every 2 minutes waiting for lunchtime to leave. I had to wait for ages for the bus to fill up and leave on the way back. How time slows down when you want it to hurry.

Please hurry up and leave!

The waiting lounge was like starters to being back in India. Loud chatter and plenty of pushing and shoving to get into the plane, almost as if their seats would get taken if they didn't rush in. There was a big group of elderly women on the way back from what seemed like a little excursion to Sri Lanka. One of them had misplaced her boarding pass which led to a very frantic tension in the group, delaying one of the shuttles to the plane. Airports are the best places to people-watch!

Please hurry up and take off!

The plane took off over the lovely Negombo coast just as the last few colours of the sky sank into the horizon. I always chose an aisle seat. But on these short flights, I can ignore the claustrophobia and enjoy the changing landscapes from the plane. Taking off at sunset over a coastline is beautiful. City lights and a few dotted lights from ships on the shimmery water. Most of the flight was over the clouds, except for one very brief moment where I spotted the coastline of India as the clouds moved over for a bit. Landing over Bangalore city lights is the warmest feeling. You know you are back in India, when even before the front wheels of the plane hit the runway, seat belts are already off and people are pulling out their luggage and cramming the aisles. 

What's extra nice about this short trip is that it coincides with my Mum's 50th birthday weekend. My grandpa and uncle are also here and it's nice to have a house full. 

I really don't know how often I will be able to update this blog from South Africa. But there will be plenty of exciting posts when I am back.

Oh! In my last post about Paradise Road, I wanted to post a picture of the lovely bowls I bought for my Mum. But first of all, they were all wrapped up so well in bubble wrap, didn't want to have to repack just for a picture and secondly, my Mum reads this blog, so didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Here they are. They are so beautiful. Locally made and hand painted ceramic serving bowls. 

Day 38

Happy Sunday.

The morning started off listening to music practice for a wedding at church. The combination of a cello and a piano is one of the best things to listen to. 

I sneaked off to Paradise Road Store while the cousins were busy. The building that the store, restaurant and gallery is housed in was Geoffrey Bawa's studio. I didn't have enough time to check out the gallery or peep into the restaurant. I've looked at the menu of the restaurant online before, some fancy pants food with just as fancy prices. The store was pretty awesome. I could spend ages and ages browsing crockery, books, and home furnishings. If I had a house here and lots of money, I would fill it with things from there. I should have taken pictures, but I'm sure I'll visit again to do that.

My afternoon was fruitfully spent discovering new music because I came across this awesome artist- Donavan Frankenreiter. Very similar styles to Jack Johnson, in fact the two were surfing buddies. Learning to surf is on my bucket list. Can't wait to cross that off.

"Being down in the open air

Living life like we just dont care
Just doing what we want to do
Not doing what we supposed to do

It's gonna be
A lovely day"

Day 36

This was the upholstery on the seats on the bus this morning. These Sri Lankan's travel in style. Torn and old, but style nonetheless. :D

This week went by so fast, I actually lost track of the days. The week ahead will only be busier. Excited.

Day 32

The weekend came and went and then it was Monday again. But somehow one month of work is not enough to start Monday blues. 

Sunday morning, the snooze button got the better of us and we made it to Freedom park for the 'jog' almost two hours after we planned to. The warm sun was already in full blaze and I will blame that entirely for my inability to actually jog more than 1 1/2 rounds in the park. Sigh. I am back to feeling unfit. How I miss my swimming days.

The park was quite beautiful. Here is picture I took last year on my holiday when we visited the park at night. The place was beautifully lit.

Sunday's picture is not as cool, because I took it while briskly walking (so brisk it was almost jogging! Hehe)  

We were at Galle Face as the sun sank below the horizon. Phone pictures don't do justice to the golden colours in the sky. The breeze left my hair in a tangled mess and my skin sticky and sandy, but it's all part of seaside enjoyment. The street food however, didn't look appetising to me.

Day 29

Four weeks have passed already. So fast!

I've always associated moss on buildings with decay and age. The last bit of my commute to work is a walk through a little residential area far away from the city centre. Moss grows over walls and staircases and the result is far from old and dilapidated. In fact it's quite the opposite. The moss lets the building breathe and coexist so perfectly with the plants around. 

Friday evenings are my time with music. Here's one I listened to today.

Day 26

I said no more boring food and vegetable posts, but this one's an interesting one. I bought Banana Flower at the supermarket yesterday and made a fry with the recipe from Love Food Eat.

Came out a lot better than expected. Even made it to the main blog. Pictures are ok. I struggled with the macro setting. Just wasn't focussing like I wanted it to. Oh well. Read recipe HERE.

Have two new interns at work. Two students from India. It's a bit weird to have to tell them what to do. My last job was an internship and I haven't quite gotten used to the fact that I have moved up from that. 

The weather has been lovely the past few days. Gone are the hot sticky days. It's been windy and rainy. Will love it while it lasts.

Day 21

My 'normal' kind of week is almost over. Have two new people at the office and will have two more soon. So it'll be fun working with more people at the office.

Bus commutes, work and more work while frequent short showers create random patterns on the glass, going through playlist after playlist on 8tracks, quiet lunchtimes and hoping it will stop raining while I travel back home. I've been missing my 2mbps internet. Had to watch Game of thrones bits at a time. 'Buffering' is such a horrible word. Ugh. And to make it worse, it was such a useless episode. Also had to watch the French Open matches by staring at live updates of scores online. Who would have ever thought I'd miss TV?!! Catching up with the Bangalore crowd in the evenings while fighting mosquitoes- Sri Lankan mosquitoes are tiny, but their bites are worse than the Bangalore variety (so hard to catch them!) That has been my week in summary and probably of many many more weeks to come.

Been cooking too- didn't try out any new vegetables this week. Made Egg Fu Yong for the first time. Somehow wasn't quite the same as what we used to make at home.

Stringing beans was strangely fun today. (Yes, I know it's a weird thing to find fun) I loved how the stings curled up once pulled off the beans. 

Yay for Friday tomorrow! Bring on the weekend, and maybe a more exciting coming week (otherwise I will have to resort to more uninteresting food pictures) :)

Day 17

The weekend came and went so fast. I have a busy week ahead. Lots of work at the office and some annoying visa things to sort out.

I finally finished putting together my write up for Vesak. Read HERE. Taking pictures at night was not that easy. So many blurry ones. :( Managed to get enough good ones for a blog post.

Today we went into the centre of colombo. We drove down Galle Face Drive up to the World Trade Centre. Fanciest part of town- all the posh hotels and big offices are in this bit of the city.  We had lunch at The Dragon. Sri Lankan Chinese food is definitely different to the Indian version. I enjoyed the meal except for the Chinese Tea. Bleeah. The Dutch Hospital building is a beautiful contrast to the modern high-risers. Can't wait to visit the little cafe there with an empty stomach.