The Blessed and The Brave

2008-10-13T11:05:00.002+05:30

Hey hey

So much has happened - travelled around Sri Lanka, got engaged, moved back to Australia, got a job (finally, after 8 months of waiting for work), and am now in the throes of setting up a life here.. Its a long process! Exciting but frustrating too..

Dealing with Real Estate Agents and Recruitment Agents is not fun - they both want to make money off you!

The Sydney rental market is a nightmare! 60 people will show up for a house inspection and some people will immediately offer up to $100 more rent a week - what chance does a girl like me have??

I have started planning the wedding and started my fitness regime (Lord help me!) so things are quite exciting.

Pictures and more to follow..

Peace xx

Colombo bomb blast Al Jazeera news report 6 June 2008

2008-06-07T09:55:00.003+05:30

WTF??

2008-06-05T10:36:00.010+05:30

Just another example of propaganda, dictatorship, bullying and a severe lack of freedom of the press (let alone freedom of speech) in this country.

Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror Newspaper report, Wednesday June 04, 2008:

"Breaking News
Defence Ministry says it will stop journalistic treachery
The Defence Ministry has asserted that it will take all necessary measures to stop journalistic treachery against the country adding that it does not find any other word better than a "Traitor" to call whoever attempts to show the soldiers as thieves or fools by making false allegations and raising baseless criticism against them."

This is very worrying considering the fact that last month the Sub-Editor of the Colombo-based Lakehouse Newspaper was abducted, tortured and then released 24 hours later. It was claimed that he allowed a news report that contained material that was critical of the Sri Lankan military. No one has taken responsibility for this crime, but its not too hard to guess..

See below in the post dated 18 April for my photo of the news stand that reads "News you could trust". Ironically it kind of takes on a whole new meaning for me now..

Peace xx

Monsoon-scape

2008-06-03T13:09:00.008+05:30

The monsoon season has started, and has spilled its theatrics across the landscape of our lives.

It has been bucketing down pretty much non-stop for at least 5 days. Floods have killed 3 people around the country already and many homes are flooded and have even been washed away. 100,000 people are displaced! It is the heaviest rain I think I have ever seen, sometimes falling in what appears to be a solid air-shaped chunk rather than in individual droplets.

Thunder and lightning is choreographed across the sky. Sometimes the thunder rolls ontop of thunder, ontop of thunder. Rolling like waves of heavy swelling sound, blanketing the city in bass and rumbling hair, stomach, bones and toes. The lightning, flashes of sharp white against the backdrop of dark grey clouds, momentarily reminds you of the sun you used to know, and then disappears. Peripheral zaps leave static tingles and metallic tastes.

Umbrella-less Sri Lankan men walk through the rain with hankerchieves or plastic bags perfectly covering their scalp, so as not to get a single strand of hair wet, despite their face and clothing being soaked through.

Tuk tuk drivers convince themselves that the inconvenience of driving in the rain warrants a 30% increase in the price for any journey and argue vehemently against any protest.

The bird bath on our balcony is still frequently occupied by pairs of Wag-tails, Sparrows, Houseswifts, Indian Minors and Areoles, ignoring the fact that they are already soaked through and studiously carry on business as usual. Skwarking mobs of crows patrol the now emptier skies, congregating on power lines and amassing upon rooftops as flocks of smaller birds huddle on mango tree branches, out of sight.

And so I hibernate, dreaming of the butternut sunny skies, cocoa skin and refreshing swims in turquiose seas.

Peace xx

All sorts

2008-04-18T12:30:00.007+05:30

This pretty postcard shot is of traditional Sri Lankan fishing boats in Negombo Harbour (about 1 hour north of Colombo on the coast)

One close up..

Beautiful Negombo Beach and Jase doing his Jet Star ad..

Jase chatting with a local guy about fishing..

We witnessed a traditional Sri Lankan drumming ritual in a little town called Wadduwa about 40 mins south of Colombo on the coast. The ritual went all night! It hadn't been held since the 1960s, until now, when Jim (second from the right- a PhD student studying traditional drumming of the central South region of Sri Lanka), organised a grant which allowed the ritual to be performed for the first time in 40 years.

Obviously, this guy is the elder and he was amazingly good. He is still pretty energetic for a guy in his 80s!

The ritual was held on the grounds of a Buddhist temple in the heart of the Sri Lankan jungle..

It was a very mythical setting.

And here are some streetscapes from around Colombo:

Here is our local holy cow, who thinks he is a Pizza hut delivery bike (photo taken at the end of our street).. This crazy cow is in there often. We can't figure out why!

This is the local fish man. He walks down our street every morning shouting "MALU! MALU!" (Malu obviously mean fish). Here he is chatting with our next door neighbour with a nice big hunk of Seer fish..

Our girls, Ranjana and Sunanda..

A typical streetscape in Colombo - policeman with AK47 and a street dog asleep on the side of the road. They are pretty daring with where they fall asleep. We call them Colombo's dead dogs - they will sleep in the middle of a busy road, cars zooming around them, with no qualms at all..

Colombo has been getting some pretty gnarly storms lately. This is the view from our balcony looking northwest.

I love this photo. I pass this newstand everyday. Its so Sri Lankan.. News you COULD trust. not News you CAN trust. Its like the slogan shold read "News you could trust ...But..."

Family, Friends, Food and Fun at Freshwater, Sydney, Dec 07 - Jan 08

2008-02-06T10:11:00.000+05:30

Where's my special little guy?

Always smiling!

Ruszczyk Christmas morning:

Santa dances to Shaggy in his festive shirt while handing out pressies:

An alfresco Lavarack Christmas lunch:

The 3 Tuskateers (adorned with elephant tea cosies)
The 3 sisters' portraits by Sam:

The Lavarack traditional flamin' pud! :

Ruszczyk Chrissie dinner:

Post-Christmas dinner with the Ruszczyk's and the Woodrow/Lavarack's:

New Years Eve @ a Neutral Bay Penthouse apartment:

Jase and Juz:

Lil' Blue Eyes

High 5ing Grandad at New Port Arms (Hugh's first visit to a pub..):

Lil' Blue Eyes at it again..

Frankelton P. Esquire, (P stands for Playboy Pug):

Quinn St Crew at All Bar Nun, Canberra:

Ez (heavily pregnant), Mick and Jeff:

Australia Day 2008 @ Dee Why Beach:

Cookie going for gold @ the annual Manly Daily Throng Throwing Championships:

.. and Mr Triumphant (52m!!):

Alex, me and Ceciel:

A traditonal Aussie Day BBQ @ Cookie and Ceciel's:

Whew! Frankleton P, all tuckered out from slaying stuffed toys. I know how he feels! :

December

2007-12-11T12:02:00.000+05:30

Colombo lately has been winding down to the end of the year, and its been a mixed bag of emotions.

Work is slow, the weather is getting hotter, the cicadas have started humming, mangoes are back in season. Yipee! But then also a lot of friends have finished their work contracts here and are returning home or continuing their travels.. : (

At least there have been a lot of changes in our lives to distract us from this - my job is coming to an end at the end of December so have been going for job interviews, and Jason has started a new position as General Manager of Eco Fisheries in Negombo. We had to move out of our apartment for a month (because the owners came back for Christmas) so are now temporarily living in a great apartment around the corner from our old house, with another friend, Otto just until we leave to go home to Australia for Christmas. Packing, cleaning, cleaning, unpacking. It has been a welcome distraction.

Many of our Australian friends have already left to go back home or onto other travelling adventures. So we have been really quite miserable with so many friends leaving, even though there have been many farewell parties:

Apart from parties, the weather is not the only thing that has been hotting up here. In the last few days of November, there were 2 bombs in Colombo on the same day, and many more undetonated ones found around the city on buses, on the footpath, etc. It was really scary.

The first was targeting the Minister for Social Services. At 9am, a woman walked into the Ministry building (it was "Meet the Public Day") and blew herself up when she got to the counter, killing the Minister's Public Relations Aide, and injuring many more.

At 5pm, peak hour traffic, a person walked into the No Limits department store, full of people, and blew themself up, killing 19 people and injuring scores more.

Both bomb blasts were within 3km radius of my house, I heard the sirens. The bomb set the street dogs barking, and they didn't stop for hours. The wailing of the sirens, the dogs, the blanket of low humid cloud, it was very eerie.

Its sort of weird how accustomed you get to this sort of thing. I wouldn't say de-sensitised, because everytime it happens it is still terrifying, but life doesn't stop because of it. You get up the next day, walk down to get a 3-wheeler, go to work, go shopping in the supermarket, go about your business. What else can you do?

Its a crazy world.

Peace xx

Wow.. I'm back..

2007-10-11T11:49:00.000+05:30

Yes it has been a reeeeally long time between posts. But seriously, not that much has been going on. I mean you don't want to know about the intricacies of slaving away at work writing and editing a 127 page book, or my traumatic stomach bug, or how many dvds i watched.. Right?

Well I'm gonna tell you anyway! He he he...

So now I am back on track with my life. I went through the hectically busy time at work, published and launched a guidebook for recipients of microfiance loans called "Legal Aspects of Small Business and Economic Livelihoods Development". Its to provide information on how to successfully run and operate a small business in Sri Lanka. Ya. Told you it was boring. but I'm still proud. The feedback has been great - everyone has been saying that it is just so useful/never been done and timely/a great resource/etc, which is really nice. And rewarding. I feel like such an adult..

You can find the guidebook online at http://www.idlo.int/DLRC/documents/SriLanka%20SMALL%20BUSINESS%20AND%20ECONOMIC%20LIVELIHOODS%20DEVELOPMENT.pdf

Ya. So then I went on holidays to Thailand for 2 weeks. I left literally right after the book launch (official launch, shower and changed, dinner with colleagues, jumped in cab to go to the airport, hello Thailand). It was exactly what I needed...

Koh Phan Nyan, quiet, lazy beaches, snorkelling, occaisonal downpour, yummy food (except for the prawn that came with a side of salmonella..), reading books, etc etc.

Thailand was nothing that I expected, its much more developed than I imagined. A lot of tourists and the locals really cater to them. It was weird for me at first, being a tourist (in Sri Lanka I'm a foreigner, but not a tourist, and you don't see that many white-ies around). It took a while to adjust to just seeing that many caucasian people and blending in! It was also a holiday from being stared at, which was nice.

And it was great to catch up with my friend Kimmy (she flew over from Sydney and we met in Phuket), and have girlfriend time, which I have missed.

So it was Jason's birthday last Saturday, and we had some friends over to celebrate. We were planning to go down to the coast, but it poured with rain all weekend, but it was fun staying at home anyway. We hadn't seen eachother for pretty much a month, with Jase going to Australia for 2 weeks, then I left for Thailand 2 days after he got home.

We had silly fun, not like a standard 32nd birthday party at all! His birthday celebration was actually like a "Festival of The Porch", it seemed that for 3 nights in a row we were on the balcony, having celebratory birthday drinks, differing crowd, good tunes.. it was great.

We put on hats..

(No, it wasn't a hat party, it was just us.. on the balcony.. there was an urge.. and it was HAT-time..)

We sang bad Chicago songs..

We orchestrated photos and posed..

Ya, it was fun. Good times..

Ok, I think I said at the beginning of this post that I wouldn't tell you all about all the stuff i just told you about.. so I'll spare you and won't go on about how many DVDs I watched..

Peace xx

Out and about in Colombo - August 2007

2007-08-12T20:15:00.000+05:30

This is the view from our balcony at sunset.. Suprisingly its an abandoned building, but its so lovely from the outside (from afar)..

This is a scene along the side of the road, fruit sellers selling fruit. This scene goes along for at least 1 km. They are selling rambutans (the red ones, are the cousin of the lychee), durians (the big green ones, taste sweet but smell like a rotting corpse), and mangotsteens (the browny-purple ones, that taste like a cross between a strawberry and a mandarin, lush)..

These are brass things that at the beginning of conferences, meetings, etc, they decorate the structure with frangipani 'leis' and fill the little dishes with oil and set them alight. Its mean to be symbolic for lighting the awareness in your mind and promote pure thought..

This is also symbolic, with the war here and all.. (See below to the last picture for context)

This is around the corner from our house. We live in a tri-religious area - muslim mosques, a christian sect church, a buddist temple and a hindu temple, all within the same 2 blocks. So this what we call "Hindi Lane" and this is the entrance to it. There is a massive Hindi festival on this week and this thing lights up at night. Its pretty cool..

This guy is the coolest tuk tuk driver in Colombo. He is so old and so sweet you feel bad if you barter with him for the fare, so you just don't. He's gotta be pushing 90, and he drives the most pimpin' ride in the country. Check out his watch and the hanging hawaiian chick hanging over the dash.. Sweeeeet!

This is on the roundabout at the end of our street. Its designated Buddist land because the tree that you can see is a Bo tree. Buddha sat under a Bo tree for 6 years before he became enlightened, so now anywhere that a Bo tree is found becomes designated Buddhist land. Even if you own a house, if a Bo tree starts growing on the land, the Buddhist monks will reclaim it and there is nothing you can do and you are forced to move out.. no compensation, nothing, it just automatically becomes religious land and you are not allowed to live on it. So this roundabout has a Bo tree growing on it, but because its in the tri-religious area, there are Hindu holy cows that sleep underneath. Its kinda cool.

So the following is the prize photo - notice the guy with the AK47 in the back. This photo is taken literally at the end of my street. These army guys holding massive guns are all over Colombo (some of them look like they are 16 years old, and probably are), they are all over Sri Lanka, and if they see you taking a photo they will come and delete your memory card. I didn't even know he was in the shot when I took it, but notice him staring me down in the background. Eeek!..

Peace xx

80s Party pics

2007-07-22T16:43:00.000+05:30

Chipmonks!!

2007-07-19T18:43:00.000+05:30

Ranjana has a pet chipmonk, Tinkerbell.

This is lovely Ranjana:

She has raised Tinkerbell since she was just a tiny ball of naked warm pink skin.

Now fully grown (to a MASSIVE 20cm long) Tinkerbell sleeps in half a coconut shell.

She feasts on rice and papaya.

She preens her GT-striped fur.

She decadently reclines in the comfort of her coconut shell when her wild chipmonk brothers and sisters are huddling under leaves and branches to shelter from the tropical monsoon rain.

In the nesting season, Tinkerbell scurries in the night into Ranajana's long flowing thick black hair and hurriedly twirls the hair into a ball with a look in her furiously industrious little eyes as if she has just hit the "all-time-nest-building-material" jackpot. Ranjana is woken with her bum-length hair being yanked skyward, because Tinkerbell is taking it to build the comfiest nest in the corner of the ceiling. Little does Tinkerbell know its still attached to Ranjana's head..

The nesting season is over and to everyone's suprise Tinkerbell got lucky.

Ranjana now awakes in the night literally to the pitter patter of tiny little furry feet. Now there are 3 more little bundles of GT-striped fur to feed (lucky they don't eat much).

They sproing along this security fence with agility and speed:
(see how fast they are..)

They race up poles and tree trunks and leap from branch to branch.

They squeak, loudly.

They are the "Kings of the Hill".

But they aren't always very camoflagued..

Hee hee hee

Peace xx

Beatbox Chef = all time!!

2007-07-14T21:10:00.000+05:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKjh0ey7mc

Montage of Canoe Expedition on the Mighty Bentota River

2007-07-10T12:04:00.000+05:30

Peace xx

Humidity and Propaganda

2007-07-05T19:14:00.000+05:30

Today is a Thursday.

Time keeps tread-milling along here. Get up, shower, get dressed, drink a coffee, get a tuk tuk to work, sit at my desk for 8 hours, work out at the gym, come home, make dinner, shower, watch a DVD and sleep. Again and again and again. Jason picks me up everyday in The Red Baron. The security guards at my office refer to it at "your Cadillac" - even the local tuk tuk drivers wave now when they see it:

We have the occasional night out to dinner or whatever, but the days sort of melt into eachother and before you know it - it's the 5th of July!! Don't get me wrong, we are ecstatically happy and totally enjoying our time here. Its just that the days are slipping by and I can't believe its already July!!

I think the fact that the weather stays pretty much hot (30-35 degrees) and bloody humid, day in day out, its harder to distinguish the passing months. Its not like home where you have a change in seasons. Here, its either really hot and humid or really hot, raining, and humid. All the time.

Jason had an awesome mozzie net made up, and constructed the frame for it all by himself. Its awesome!!

On a sombre note, today is the anniversary of the major riot in colombo in 1983 that brought the civil war here to a head. The Sri Lankans call it "Black July", and we were all anticipating some kind of bomb or air raid or something happening in Colombo today. Luckily none of that happened, and the day sort of slipped past. Something probably happened in the north of the country though. it seems that attacks on various towns like Vavuinya, Trincomalee or Muttur, happen on a daily basis these days. The government claims that it has killed X amount of Tamil Tigers, and the Tamil Tigers totally deny that an attack even occurred. So you never really know what is truth and what is propaganda.

The tamil population has its own website called Tamilnet (http://www.tamilnet.com/) which provides counter-news to the Sri Lankan Government news portal (http://www.news.lk/). Apparently Tamilnet was temporarily disabled today. No one knows why, but its pretty obvious. No one really discusses it, not in the office or at home or amongst the neighbours. It just happens and nothing is mentioned.

I guess propaganda is not worth discussing after a while anyway, its kinda like talking about the weather..

2007-06-22T16:15:00.000+05:30

Current Ipod selection:

- Babylon by bus - Bob Marley and the Wailers
- Morning of the Earth soundtrack - Various artists
- Right Back - Long Beach Dub All Stars

Cruising along at the moment..

Our 2 year anniversary weekend!!

2007-06-18T21:06:00.000+05:30

On 17 June 2007, Jason and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary.

To celebrate, we booked a hotel on the south coast at a hotel called Hotel Heritance.

http://www.heritancehotels.com/HA/index.php

Jason's friend knows the owner of half the hotels in Sri Lanka, Mr Aitken of "Aitken & Spence", whatever.

Anyway, so we drove down in the Red Baron on Saturday morning. It is only 60 km, but took about 2 hours to get there, for several reasons:

1. The roads out of Colombo are congested and scary.

2. The Red Baron doesn't go over 60km an hour.

3. The roads between Colombo and Ahungalle are scary.

4. We stopped several times, searching for a disposable camera.

So when we finally got on the road, I realised that the batteries of my camera were about 6 photos away from running out, so we didn't take many. After 4 different shop assistants in 4 seperate Kodak stores tried to rip us off (2000LKRs for a disposable, when its 2300LKR for a real camera, is a rip off, and I don't need a real camera). But we decided to "do a Kramer" with the battery and see if we could take it all the way before the juice ran out.

We drove through crazy traffic, farmers sitting on top of their truck load..

We drove past kms and kms of fruit sellers..

And then we finally arrived..

It was SOOOOOOO beautiful!!!!

We arrived to a glass of complimentary chilled Californian Chablis, and met with the Resdient Manager. We were upgraded to the luxury suite.. !!!

We lived like a King and a Queen and were treated like we were important, which was nice.

Note the fruit basket.. : )

The view from our massive private balcony...

There was even a nice wave that was barrelling at one point, right outside the hotel.. What a shame Jason didn't bring his board... (he he he)

It was like a movie - the Manager sent us a letter inviting us to call in case we needed "anything at all". We received complimentary treats. But the funny thing was at breakfast, when we had finished with the delightful breakfast (with an omlette chef, a waffle chef and a bacon chef!), we got up to leave. Four waiters rushed around us and shooed us back to the table, saying they had a suprise.. They brought out a chocolate cake, with a gorgeous sugar rose, with writing that said "Happy Anniversary Jason and Katarine". There was a knife with the ribbons tied at the handle, and they insisted we cut the cake together, both holding the knife at the same time..

Thank goodness the camera battery had pretty much had it, so there's no photographic evidence of our embarassment. He he he..

We had a lovely weekend and really didn't want to leave. But it was nice to "rent" a slice of heaven for a short time..

We drove away smiling and peaceful with life.

Peace xx

My beautiful nephew Hugh

2007-06-12T11:26:00.001+05:30

He IS the most beautiful boy in the world...

And he's my special little guy...
And he's soooooooo cute!!

Lots of love little cutey xxooxxoo

Some photos of my visit back to Sydney in April 2007

2007-06-06T19:48:00.000+05:30

I was so excited about the little things when I got home, like an electric kettle, salami and huge grocery stores, that I had to take a photo to remember what I left behind..

And hanging out with my mates just felt so good! I was whole again!! ...

Bennos celebrated his graduation at his parent's house in Harbord...

This is Luke doing his best impression of a doggy...

This is Chloe, riding "Kathleen" her pet horse..

And then I went down to Canberra to see my besties..

My trip home for 3 weeks was wonderful. I felt re-connected with myself and my friends made me laugh in only the way they know how.

It was a strange experience being home on a "working holiday", to return "home" to my house and life in Colombo. It was flipped!

Peace xx

Photos of the South Coast

2007-03-28T19:37:00.000+05:30

Ok, here are some photos from our coast trip down to Unawatuna, which is about 160kms from Colombo, but takes 3-4 hours in a cramped bus to get there.

Sitting on the seat for 4 hours with your knees squished to your chest, bag underfoot, stale air, no stops, no water, stinky sweaty packed bus, feeling sick, just to get there.

Then you jump in a 3-wheeler and drive down one of the bumpiest roads you've ever seen for about half an hour. You know the guy is ripping you off but you know any other driver will ask for the same amount, since you are a foreigner with a backpack and a look on your face that says "I just want a friggin swim!" Dust and fumes billow into your face, into your lungs.

The crazy driver is driving on the wrong side of the road, dodging buses, cows, people, cars, coconuts (no, the real ones, not just the drivers), other 3-wheelers, bikes, and pot holes.. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes coz you just can't believe you are doing this..

Its worth it..

This was the view from our private balcony..

I know, sorry. It's ridiculous..

Its just so conducive to relaxing.. We lazed and swam and lazed and snorkelled and ate and lazed and surfed and lazed and swam and drank cocktails and lazed..

Enjoyed the Unawatuna sunsets and drank Mojitos..

Walked down Unawtuna Beach (no, that's not us, probably just some German tourists)..

Shangrila - the bungalows where Jason stayed for 3 months before I arrived (and where Justine, Gibbo, Paula and Em visited) .. Its a bit back from the beach in lush tropical surrounds at the base of a hill..
Paradise. Well, sort of.. That was the highlights..

Peace xx

Photos of our house

2007-03-28T19:32:00.000+05:30

Here is the link to the web album of the photos of our pad.

http://picasaweb.google.com/katalyst2002/SriLankaOurHome

Thought I'd put it somewhere that is obvious, coz so many people kept asking me where it was..
He he he

Peace xx

Me in a Saree!!

2007-03-21T22:34:00.000+05:30

Me in a saree - I had it made to go to a Sri Lankan wedding. Someone has to dress you coz its like 8 metres of fabric that is wrapped and folded and wrapped and pinned and tucked and draped. I don't know how some women here wear them everyday. But you feel so elegant wearing them.

From the back. Its a real flower from our garden. I had my hair done in a french roll.. : )

Our very sweet maids (I know I know) - Ranjana and Susanta

Me, Pushpi and Gary (colleagues) at a Sri Lankan Wedding (Pushpi was a bridesmaid)

Happy Birthday to me..

2007-03-20T21:35:00.000+05:30

So yesterday was the anniversay of my 30th revolution of the sun...

I am now the big 3 - 0.... and I love it!

I had to work, but fortuitously, we had a 2 hour team meeting so I brought in a sponge cake (it was a light pink colour on the outside with little icing flowers and pink and green on the inside – eeeeek!), which we ate after our team meeting. The whole team (6 people) chipped in and got me a voucher for 3000 rupees (about $40) for a department store, which was so sweet. And believe me, for $40 you can buy so much stuff!! Skirts are about 200 rupees.. Then I went home and two boxes, one from Esther and one from my Mumma were waiting for me on the doorstep. So I had presents after all.. I got many little things that I desperately need, such as face moisturiser, mascara, etc. Thanks Ez and Mumma!!

Jason then took me to The Cinnamon Grand, a huge ritzy gorgeous hotel, for dinner.

This was the inside of the Hotel - the foyer - it was incredible. Check out the PODs!

It was so lush. First we sat by a beautiful huge roman-style square pool in a cabana drinking cocktails. The hotel is just gorgeous, the restaurant area is huge and all outside with Palm trees and blazing candles, and it’s a collection of gazebos connected with covered walkways over fish ponds with giant Koi. Its hard to explain but it was just gorgeous.

This is the walkway over fish ponds, towards the restaurant..

So we had a romantic table for two, looking out over the lawns and pool with candle light. We had more cocktails, and Jason gave me a little present, which was a gorgeous woven cotton stripy beach bag, in sort of mango oranges and aqua. Its cool. And he gave me a long stem red rose – which is unbelievable because you just cannot buy flowers of any kind over here.

For entrée we had fish cakes and chicken satay skewers. I had the whole Red Snapper - which actually freaked me out coz the head was sitting up looking at me and Jason had to remove the head and take it off my plate! Jason had a collection of things, red curry chicken, lamb cutlet and tiger prawns. It was lush!

So we finished, and were just sitting there talking after our meal, and the waiter brings over a huge cake with a candle on it!!

It was so sweet of Jase. The cake was a luscious chocolate layer cake, sort of chocolate mousse, then layer of choc almond meringue then layer choc mousse etc. And it was so yummy we ate a quarter of it!

So all in all, I had a great birthday. It was really nice. Jason and I are going to the coast this weekend, and lashing out and spending $40 a night on a room in a hotel on the beach. So my birthday celebrations will continue. The festival!!

Piccies of the birthday coast weekend to follow..

Peace xx

Colombo Streetscapes

2007-03-19T14:26:00.000+05:30

Hmmm.. 100 sq metres of land: $10 000

Bricks and mortar: $800

Labour: $2000

Knowing you have the tallest house in the street: priceless

There is no phrase in Sri Lankan that equates to OH&S

This is a visual representation of "Sri Lankan Time" - look at how the arm rest has grown into the tree, or the tree has had to grow around the arm rest - it must have been there for decades!!

Me outside my office building (on my day off)

Jason walking down Gower st - I work in a building through the beige coloured gates on the right

Typical Colombo Streetscape with Buddhist temple dome

Streetscape with Tuk Tuk (3-wheeler) in foreground.. I get one of these to and from work everyday..

Typical Colombo Suburban streetscape with lots of green.. There are mango trees, jackfruit and coconut palms everywhere, you just have to look up!!

Sri Lanka - The road to establishment

2007-03-19T09:34:00.000+05:30

It has been just over a month since I arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and we are on our way to establishing our lives here. It looks like we could be here for some time yet.

Luckily things have been quite quiet on the conflict front (well around Colombo anyway - however it has flaired up in a bad way in the North and East). The way of life over heretook quite a bit of getting used to - the traffic, pollution, food, smells, heat, language, etc. I think it will take some more time to truly feel like I am living here, rather than just treading water here.

Jason arrived 4 months ago now and has been working with a Sri Lankan NGO as a fisheries advisor. I am working with an international organisation in rule of law, good governance and livelihood projects. We found a lovely house to live in, which has really made a huge difference. It is peaceful, secure and comfortable. Check out the photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/katalyst2002/SriLankaOurHome

We are finally beginning to feel settled in. We are trying to establish a routine, but the heat just slows you down. By the time you get home, that last thing you want to do is exercise or do the grocery shopping. You just want a cold shower, a cold drink and a lie down. Time moves at a different pace over here - and I don't necessarily mean slower, just differently and I'm pretty sure its because of the heat.

Speaking of time, thought I might just mention that today is my last day in my twenties, for tomorrow I progress into my third decade. Weird.

Some photos from my Farewell BBQ in Sydney on 10 Feb 2007

2007-03-05T10:20:00.000+05:30

My Girls - Kimmy, Carmel and Ceciel xx Syd, Daz and Amanda

Amy, Kimmy, Christie and Cookie - Yeah!

Amy and Bennos the Barbie Saviour

The Mob

The CBR Gang

The Girls! Burly, Kel, Me and Ez

Me, Aunty Jenny and Uncle Ted

Nanna, me and Pappa

My cousin Louisa, me and cousin-in-law (??) Andy

Cameron, me and my sista Grace

Grandma, me and Grandpa

Have I Done any Good?

2007-01-24T10:33:00.000+05:30

This is a hymn, and I'm not religious or anything but I really like the words.
Very apt for this time in my life..
I found it on another blogsite that I like, which is posted by a couple that have also worked as aid workers in Sri Lanka: http://mondugi.blogspot.com

Have I Done Any Good?, no. 223
1. Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?

[Chorus]
Then wake up and do something more
Than dream of your mansion above.
Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,
A blessing of duty and love.

2. There are chances for work all around just now,
Opportunities right in our way.
Do not let them pass by, saying, “Sometime I’ll try,”
But go and do something today.’
Tis noble of man to work and to give;
Love’s labor has merit alone.
Only he who does something helps others to live.
To God each good work will be known.

Text and music: Will L. Thompson, 1847–1909, alt.

Mum's the Word

2007-01-18T08:32:00.001+05:30

I have realised that this government department is where all the generic "mums" work.

I feel like I am working inside some fictional landscape created by Roald Dahl or something.

Everyone here is either pregnant, or a walking "mum" cliche.

Floral shirts with mother of pearl buttons, flat sensible sandal shoes (some with *shriek* skin coloured stockings), ankle length flowy skirts, tuck-shop arms (bat wings), muffin tops galore (in all directions), pot pourri perfume, reddy-orange lipstick, and don't even get me started on the hair.

People bake for morning teas. If you sneeze, someone around you will comment that you should put a jumper on if you are cold. If you ask the admin mum for a spare access pass to the building to go to lunch and you get a look and a "did someone forget their pass this morning??"

Eeeeek!

Just a moment in time..

2007-01-12T05:46:00.000+05:30

I am still sitting at my desk in North Sydney, in a generic NSW Government, tapping away at my keyboard and looking out the window to get glimpses of Sydney Harbour. Ahhh, bureaucrats. Pigeon holes of existence.

I am doing my time to get outta here to escape to a world that is jewelled with fascination in my mind.

Time seems to be moving slowly and quickly simultaneuosly.

I can't fathom that I have been working here for almost 3 months. Time has flown in that respect. Day-to-day I wittle away at the minutes, which turn into hours, that have carved themselves out of the fabric of my mind. The mundane conundrum of having no work to do and yet having to look like I am working has, suprisingly, made moments slip into the past.

At the same time, it feels like the moment will never arrive when I step off the plane and breathe in the mysterious, and no doubt heavy, tropical monsoonal air of Sri Lanka. But its only 5 weeks away and the sociable vibe of January will hopefully allow me to connect the dots until I get on that plane. I can't wait.

I have found an interesting commentary on the political saituation in Sri Lanka -

http://srilankapolitics.blogspot.com/

I don't have any idea what I am going to encounter in my future. And I sort of like it that way.

Some Pics from Christmas 2006

2007-01-03T15:22:00.000+05:30

Baby Jughead's First Christmas..

Grandma and Grandpa Lavarack

Dear Old Dad!! I was trying to take a photo of my beautiful table ornamentation, and he butted in.. But I think the photo is much prettier for it xx.

My Beautiful Special Little Happy Guy, my nephew Hughie. He's so cute!!

The floating ship/low flying plane (you decide) on Christmas day. Off shore NSW Central Coast. grandpa discovered it, and turns to my Gandma and says.. "Hey Sue, do you want to see an optical illusion?" He has been saying that to her for 60 years, and she always replies "yes". He never ceases to find amazement in the world around him.

Some People Pictures

2007-01-03T14:55:00.000+05:30

1. Me and Cecial on NYE 2006-07.
2. Esther and Kimmy in Canberra.
3. My Beautiful Special Little Guy, Hugh Daniel Kraus, on his blessing day.
4. Those crazy kids, Chloe and Tommy.

5. Me and Jase on his last day on Oz xx.

Philosophical or fluff

2006-11-22T08:38:00.000+05:30

"Problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking at which they were created"
Albert Einstein

I am not usually one to quote the big man, but in this instance it seems fitting.

My own personal growth seems to be mimicking a global period of deep cognitive change:

the awakening (or at least the international media's awakening) to global warming issues,
political overthrow of the Republican balance of power in the USA Congress and
(to a very miniscule extent) Britney Spear's awakening to the fact that she was married to a gold-digging-red-neck-loser-hick and it had to end

... and I apologise for even having that piece of fluff's name on the same page as the mighty E-man.

Once people realise that they have a problem, and if the thinking pattern changes to a mode of problem-solving, it is very true that the mind seeks alternative options for action if it is to overcome the problem. This is not profound. What is profound is the thought that the mind must sometimes look outside what it has always thought, concluded, debated or seen, and seek new ways of being, in order to solve the problem that, in some circumstances, has created for itself. Taking a different course altogether is the only way to extract oneself from the situation created by their own mind in the first place.

I don't know. Maybe this is babble.. I'm interested to know if this makes sense to anyone else but me..

Traveller's wisdom

2006-11-03T04:42:00.000+05:30

Octopuses are weird! Be free and do what you feel like doing!

Thoughts for the day..

2006-10-30T04:01:00.000+05:30

Howdy.

Thought I'd leave some thoughts for the day. Ponder at will. Feel free to criticise or add something if you wish.

1. People are becoming increasingly socially blind (people can be so unkind)

For example (and this happens to me on a daily basis) you are in a lift and the door opens and someone rushes to get into thew lift before you can get out. This doesn't make any sense - people need to get out before there is room for you to get into a lift.

Second example (I witnessed it this morning). An elderly lady who had just stepped off the bus, fell over on the footpath in Mosman. Another woman was walking past and walked straight past her without even flinching or even looking, let alone helping the poor woman to her feet. So the bus driver, who had just let the woman off the bus and had taken off to continue the route, stopped the bus and jumped out to help her.

2. The six degrees of seperation phenomenon...

...is weird. Last night, I decided to call into an improptu bbq at my friend's next door neighbour's house. The group was talking about six degrees of separation. Cookie told a story about meeting a guy in Whistler, who he was meant to look up in Miami. I told a story of mvoing into an apartment in Whistler before moving down to live in Vancouver (where I was taking the room of an Aussie girl who was moving up to Whistler to be with her boyfriend and take the room of another Aussie girl who was moving down to Vancouver - which turned out to be me). I was saying that one of the girls I lived with, I had travelled around Europoe with and she was the craziest chick I've ever met. She lost her virginity to Mr Tickle - and I embarked on telling the story, when a guy sitting at the table, whom I had met 30 minutes ago says - "Wait a minute - I know Dana!! I dated her for a year until about a month ago."
I haven't seen or spoken to Dana since 1999.. Weird!

3. Is the fact that everyone has their ipods plugged into their earholes at every opportunity, breeding a culture of disengagement with the external environment?

Aloha

2006-10-10T07:22:00.000+05:30

Well, Hi.

I have been a terrible blogger (bad blogger bad)... But here I am.

So.. How bout an update?

So, in August I travelled around the wilds Bali and Lombok with Partner (Jason) and Friend (Bennos).

Highlights as follows:
Lombok
- Snorkelling in the Gili Islands with sea turtles, cuttlefish and sunfish
- Climbing 3000m to the summit of Mt Rinjani (an extinct volcano)
- Finding an uber-cool punker clothing store in the back streets of Mataram, and
- Learning how to play dominos like an Indonesian fisherman at Using's house in Awang.

Bali
- The people are just beautiful
- The $1.20 longnecks of Bintang
- Ubud (all of it)
- The Penang food (really cheap traditional balinese food ie. a hunk of tuna with curry and rice for $1), and
- The hibiscus flowers put on our front door and lining the pathways of our bungalows every morning.

So now I am in Sydney. I have been here since the beginning of September, living at Jason's house in Harbord with his dog (Brad) and Dad. However, I am just about to move into an apartment with a girlfriend (Kimmy) that is closer to the beach. So it looks like it will be a great summer!

Highlights of Sydney so far:

- Its not Canberra
- I am no longer under the yoke of "the Man" as such (although finances do not allow this to go on for much longer), and
- I live about 15 mins walk from one of the most beautiful beaches in Sydney (freshwater).

Downsides:
- I miss my beloved friends in Canberra
- I don't have a job (and fearing that I am becoming a connoisseur of daytime tv)
- I am living with two guys (my partner and his Dad) who do not know the meaning of "algal bloom", "incubation" or "disinfectant" (but I love them both dearly), and
- The whole Sydney arrogance thing.

Its funny the number of times people say "oh your from Canberra right" and I correct them and embark on the whole " oh well no, I just moved down there for uni and ended up being there for... 7 years". All of a sudden, I feel weird because I feel judged and they have already lapsed into the whole Sydney-snobbery induced coma from listening to someone who, to them, is so obviously from Canberra but trying to deny it. But you just gotta laugh..

Well, I shall figure out how to post pictures shortly. But I would like to direct you to my sister's blog http://3kraushouse.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to Grace and Cameron on the birth of their beautiful little guy, Hugh Daniel Kraus. He is just the sweetest little rosebud.

Thats me, signing out for now.

Peace,

Maja Rose xx

Mediocrity

2006-07-14T04:54:00.000+05:30

Hi.

Well, here I am.

I have now officially entered a new realm of existence. The Blog.

I jet off to SE Asia in 1 week, and unshackle myself from the Canberran winter. I am feeling apprehenisve about what to expect living in SE Asia, as well as excited about the prospect of exploring a new space and time.

Adventure and exciting instalments to follow. Stay tuned.

MR