Ramblings
i really don’t enjoy talking politics anymore. it’s kind of depressing to say that, because this previous semester was all politics, all the time. I read a lot of Marx’s stuff, and a lot of the background information on him and his ideals. They were disappointing. But then again, so are most ideals.
any time i bring something up about politics with teens or adults, the comments are so one sided and ridiculous that i just don’t respond. and then i feel stupid for not responding, and guilty for letting such asinine comments fall by the wayside. it’s worse when it’s a parent, because i think “you should know better. think about what you’re saying.” like, i’m not gonna sit here for 30 minutes just to make it clear how wrong your statement is. and then it always comes down to a moral/ethical issue, and being a christian really hampers the bias in that debate.
Conservative radio is brutal the more i listen to it. it’s an excellent median to receive news from (traffic, weather, current events), but that’s pretty much about it.
random note: i got a new phone, the Blackberry 9780. it’s amazing. i got the new 6 update, and it’s like i’m rediscovering my phone again. this is so much fun. it has a little red light that goes off anytime i get an update/message/email. it’s like christmas everytime it goes off.
Mayer rant: i listened through all of John Mayer’s Heavier Things last night for the first time all the way through. it was way better in one sitting than broken apart, and the songs actually flowed very well. The individual songs were always “meh” with me, but i actually thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s definitely not my favorite Mayer album (Continuum is not only my favorite album of his, but it’s easily my favorite and most solid album of anyone i listen to). I’ve listened through Room for Squares so many times that i kind of wore it out, but it’s hard not to revisit Neon, My Stupid Mouth, St. Patricks Day and Back to You. I Don’t Trust Myself with Loving You is such a great song, and his Where The Light Is version is so freakishly good. Battle Studies was such a disappointing album. I know i can’t have another Continuum, but these songs were so bland both musically and lyrically. However, Assassin is a phenomenal song, and Who Says is still my favorite on that album. When i went to his concert, and there was a whole stadium of people singing “Who says we can’t get stoned?”, it was one of those life-changing moments. That sounds so cheesy, but it was extremely powerful to see so many people united around one artist’s idea of “Who says we can’t… fill in the blank.”
Enough of that.
i went to petco the other day with ali, and i really wanted to buy a python. my roomie doesn’t like snakes (for some crazy reason), so that particular dream will have to be postponed. also on that trip i remembered that i am allergic to cats. it’s not like i’m insanely allergic, but it’s just irritable enough for me to notice the teary eyes and a runny nose. i also want a ferret. it was such a fun pet, and i think they would be a great animal to have with 12-15 year old kids. that is kind of a specific age group, but whatever.
i got better at guitar yesterday. it felt good to improve so soon after the last improvement. i’m not sure what happened or how i improved, but the feeling of being better is such a good confidence boost. my subconscious goal right now is to play smoothly in my actions, my motions, my sounds. smooth. clean. pleasing.
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I read a quote that completely changed my perspective on politics. So much so, i put it on my quotes page in Facebook, hoping that other people have the same revelation as me.
(side note: my spell-check doesn’t recognize Facebook as a noun. Not even a proper one.)
The quote has a simple concept, and it’s not revolutionary in the sense that i had never entertained those thoughts before. i just never put two and two together i guess.
I guess there’s something i really enjoy about thinking of politicians as empty-containers to be filled with popular thought. It seems a little naive to believe this is the case, but it’s fun to think of them like that nonetheless.
(another side note: i flipped where the quote and the source should go, but that’s just because i wanted the quotes to be ibolded.)
Fun food for thought for future ponderings.
"-F.A. Hayek
Extracurricular Travels……………………..
last night i went with a pastor whose name is Chaminda, and i got to experience his ministry.
first off, let me say that the poverty in sri lanka is evident everywhere you look. very seldom is there a piece of infrastructure that is not run down, outdated, or decaying. the way people act, the way they behave is the same. you can tell the general populations intelligence level is very low, and there is a lot of illiteracy.
(if you’ve ever played Call of Duty, sri lanka looks just like favela. they replicated the area to perfection.)
now all of that to say that chaminda took me to some of the worst parts in the whole country. the houses were just sticks. there was a stagnant stream or river of sewage laying in the middle of the town. children had diseases, drug deals were occuring in the middle of the streets, and groups of men were drinking all over.
his ministry helps children specifically, and it was great to see someone showing these kids love. because they NEED some love and help.
i took pictures of the area, but it was the sights along with the smells and the feelings that was baffling. it was a very powerful experience to say the least.
here are some pictures of the surrounding area:
Day 10- Evening……………………………
today in class we went over budgets. as you can imagine, it was action packed and filled with thrills and excitement….
but seriously, class was hard today. i am doing really well though, and i expect nothing less than A’s across the board.
ah yes! i decided to walk to school today. i just felt like walking, even though it was a billion degrees out. well, as i crossed the street, i heard someone call my name from a trishad. i didn’t recognize the voice at all. and then i saw a local sri lankan call me out from this blue trishad, and i couldn’t believe it. he said i could take a ride with him to my college as it was on the way to his work. i asked him how i knew it was me, and he said “i see blond hair!” hahaha, yes, i’m the only blond haired kid in sri lanka. so he paid for my ride, and i felt like special. i know a sri lankan well enough to hang a ride with him. what was frustrating was that he only paid the trishad 20 rupees. a trip like that cost me AT LEAST 100 rupees. they always tell me, when i tell them to go cheaper, is i have to pay “american prices”.
i like paying them really low, and then giving them an american dollar. they love that, and it’s ultimately cheaper for me.
today we visited the world trade center in colombo. it was very disappointing in terms of size. and the trading is closed at 2, so there was absolutely no one there. a vacant room that looked like it was from the 70’s.
i found my mom something in the stores, and i think she’s really going to like it. i won’t give away what it is, but when i saw it, i knew she would love it.
i love walking around and asking for prices on things. it makes me feel rich. also, things here are SO incredibly cheap. i can’t even stress how cheap they are. they have things that are marked up four or five times its original price, but once you get to the local markets, everything is insanely expensive.
we ate a meal last night at another five star hotel. i was wearing sandals and shorts, but they let me in. i think it’s because they thought i was famous. ha! but i ordered ravioli with spinach, and a sprite. they had fancy names though, like ravioli della spinache…. so it made it sound formal.
one thing i normally don’t do is order desert, but since everything is so cheap here, we can afford it. after appetizers, my entree, dessert, drinks, i mean the works, the total per person came out to $10 a person. yeah. that’s right. a five star hotel dinner, which afterward i was completely stuffed, cost $10.
tonight is the night we finally go to the nice restaurant. i brought levi’s dress pants (levi is my brother), and his legs are way smaller than mine. hah. so it’ll be interesting. everyone keeps making fun of my zip-tie. i’ll defend it till the death, but i get grief like no other.
the girls have outshopped me like no one’s business. i can’t keep up. i “shopped” for 8 minutes, and i was exhausted. and my shopping consisted of standing in front of a shop, and picking something (that’s right mom, “something”), paying, and then aiting for the girls. the girls took me to a diamond shop. i pretended to be big money, and had them ask me if i could pay for it. hah, it was funny, because the pressure to buy something would be on me, and the owners would either hate me or look sympathetic when i told them i wouldn’t be able to afford it. in these stores there are just plates filled with precious stones. just chunks of ruby all thrown together on a plate. so much money could be spent in those stores…
today was a good day, but i’m getting homesick. i love it here, don’t get me wrong though.
Day 9- Afternoon………………………….
hey everyone!
sorry it’s taken me so long to update my blog. this weekend we were in the Kandy mountains, and internet service was very hard to come by.
the night where i last left off, i found in an amazing 5 star hotel. our bus drove around in the ghetto for what seemed like an hour, on dirt roads and backstreets. but then, out of a clearing, we see this massive hotel/resort pop up out of the third world poverty. we arrived to have our bags carried to our room while hot towels and drinks were given to us. our rooms were amazing. everything you’d expect from a very nice hotel.
that evening i went swimming in a pool. the tile was blue and white checkers, and it was almost dizzying to look at. i sat in the evening (which was cool with a breeze) and enjoyed myself immensely. it was great to sit back, and relax. especially after a hard week at school.
the next morning, i climbed lions rock. it was a fortress for a king, and i loved learning some of the history behind it. it had marble bathes that were centuries old, and a water system that still works today. i loved how not only was it beautiful, but there were also war-time preparations still made. some of the rocks were being held up by others in elaborate patterns so that they could just knock out a few, and strategically block the roads swiftly and efficiently. it’s amazing to see how crafty they were in everything they did.
one thing-segregation is alive and well in sri lanka. we have to stand in a different line, use a different entrance. pay RADICALLY different prices. for the locals to get in? 50 rupees. for us to get in? 2800 rupees. (for those of you counting at home thats 50 cents compared to $28)
it was called “lion’s rock” because the enterance to the fortress had a pair of lions paws gaurding the entrance.
when i climbed to the top of the rock, we met a group of Tamil school children. when we first saw them and talked to them, they were acting kind of strange. we were told that for them, we were the first white people they had ever seen. hah! can you even imagine seeing another race for the first time? so we ended up talking with them, laughing with them, and teaching them how to high-five! they were the funniest little children, with either an extremely out-going personality, or extremely shy.
i climbed back down the rock, and headed toward the next five star hotel. but before i did, i took a picture of the very top.
this one was admittedly not as nice as far as our rooms go, but the place itself offered amazing views. my camera had died for that day, so i didn’t get to take many pictures of anything. i know, i’m disappointed too.
back to this hotel… it had a helipad, you know, for those of us with helicopters. the wildlife was also exotic. tucans flew around, mongooses and monkeys and ferrets were playing in the trees. the bugs here are bigger, and more dangerous.
all the pools have to be adjusted for the hills, so we got to swim in this pool in the side of a hill. it was very cool, how it sloped down into the hills. it was kind of a weird feeling to swim into a hill.
we had a buffet dinner at this last resort, and it was amazing food. a whole wall, 200 feet long, all full of delicious food.
more amazing things happened today, but i will post them in a blog later today. :)
pictures take too long to upload when i do a lot of them, and i only have an hour or two to be on the internet. please hang in there with me, i will try and inform you as much as i can. :)
Day 5- Afternoon…………………………
Sorry guys! i haven’t been able to get on lately, as we’ve had internet problems.
These last few days have been amazing. We’ve done so much it seems like, and it’s only day five.
We are in the middle of a huge sri lankan holiday. it’s like christmas on steroids. in colombo (the main capital) there was usually really bad traffic 24/7. but sri lanka has effectively shut down every store, business, service. everything.
it’s a huge Buddhist holiday celebrating the birth of Buddha. All of sri lanka has made their COUNTRY a “dry country”. it’s insane. no one is serving, drinking, or doing anything related to alcohol. they also prohibited smoking. haha. can you even imagine?
on the first night of the holiday, i went out and got to party with the sri lankans. my group wasn’t very excited about leaving, and they were all tired. but there was no way i was gonna miss an opportunity like that. The whole party (which was essentially the entire city, and didn’t end till four in the morning) was broken down in three parts…
1. The Temple- everyone inside the temple (which was like 10 copperfield churches put together) were all very serious. praying, paying homage, and things along those lines. i was allowed into the temple and (to my amazement) was allowed to take pictures. but i had to take off my shoes, which i thought was an alright requirement. hah. i took thousands of pictures. inside the temple they had countless statues and about five museums. this was definitely the most fascinating thing i’ve ever seen. our guide asked if i was christian, and when i said yes, everyone turned and looked at me. good thing i’m bigger than everyone. :P oh, there was also an elephant inside the temple. hah.
2. The Contest- Directly outside the temple were were people building these six or seven foot statues out of little sticks. they were mechanized and rotating, and they had lights and everything. it was very impressive.
3. The Party- Easily the most fun. the temple was intruiging, the contest was impressive, but the party? woo!!! we listened to music, danced, and just had fun being around thousands of people getting down to music. they had trucks of people playing dozens of instruments. i would scream (along with the locals) “eh!!!” and everyone would shout. it was the perfect definition of “merry-making”.
Today we went to an elephant orphanage. it’s where they take the crippled, or the dangered elephants and house them. they weren’t little indian elephants either, they were the big african ones.
there was a salesman who kept peddling his lotion. he called me up, and he told me to put this cream on my leg. i didn’t know what it was. after i applied it, it was “hair removal cream”. WHAT?!?!?! i was apart of his demonstration. so i rubbed it off, and apparently pissed him off. who cares. he was making me mad….
right now we’re in the middle of the Kandy mountains. i’m amazed that there’s wi-fi in the middle of the mountains. amazing.
thank you all for following, reading, and enjoying!
Finishing Day 3…………………………
at night i got to walk on the beach, and i ended up taking a picture that i’m really proud of. i never try to get artsy with my pictures, but this one turned out REALLY good. i am proud of this one. :)
tonight is our big shopping night. for the girls i’m gonna bring home some jewelry. for the guys? hmmm. some reeboks. hah.
one thing i want to do is bring back their coins and use them as poker chips. they have some of the coolest currency i’ve ever seen.
ruan said he was gonna take me to a famous guitar store. i hope i get to go.
for dinner tonight i think we’re just gonna go to some random place in one of the many shopping malls.
as of right now (it’s 4:31 pm here), i am exhausted. i’ve been getting up at 5 am (again, sri lanka time) every morning, and going to dinner early. it makes for a late day. i’m with my roommate in the computer lab right now. just chilling. the girls are leaving to go shopping in an hour or so, and they’re converting my money right now.
one weird thing- the sri lankans agree with you in a weird way. when they agree, they don’t nod like we do. we move our heads up and down when we say yes. they shake they’re head from left to right. they don’t shake their head sideways or up and down. the way your hand moves when you wave goodbye, that motion, is how they shake their head. it’s so weird, because for us that’s a sign of “eh….” but to them it’s extreme agreeance.
i tried learning how to count. it’s hard. eka, deka, tuna! haha, anything past 3 is ridiculously hard.
well. i’m gonna head out soon, shop, eat, watch the suns and lakers game (even though i know the outcome) because they get the games later here, wake up, and start all over again.
on friday we leave for kandy, the elephant orphanage, and this rock that every sri lankan loves. hahahaha. i miss all of yall, and i’ll be seeing you soon.
Day 3- Afternoon………………………
Last night i went to one of the most amazing restaurants i’ve ever been to. it was this restaurant that was literally on the beach. they took off all the walls, and it was just the framework and the floor.
the beach was a billion times better than galveston. hah, to say the least. the waves that you have to go out 100 yards to find in galveston were right on the shore in sri lanka. there were four foot waves that were the ones crashing on shore.
for drinks i ordered ginger beer, sprite, lime juice, and this drink called ‘lassi’ (it’s this amazing mixed fruit drink with something like yogurt). no tea this time, i was gonna venture out a bit. then we than had cuttle fish and vegetables brought to us for our appetizer. for my entree i ordered King fish. they put some kind of cheese and sauce on the king fish (which was already amazing) and put it on potatoes and vegetables. it was easily the best dish i’ve had in sri lanka to date. it was phenomenal.
this whole thing was even better that it was at night. the lights, sounds, food… all of it was very special.
today i started picking up on the language. it is one of the coolest languages i’ve ever seen written. it’s really a pretty language when written. the people here speak SO FAST though. i have to ask them to slow down, because i have literally NO CLUE as to what they are saying. i’m starting to find some commonalities, and with the help of local sri lankans, i can start a basic conversation.
today we started our service learning project. we are helping this lady with her salon. we has literally no financial records for the past two years. kind of a bad thing. and she wants something simple. so i think we’re gonna set her up with some excel spreadsheets.
the town is preparing for a HUGE festival, and from all the decorations, it looks like it’s gonna be a huge party. the whole city of colombo is essentially shutting down for these 2 days.
k’naan is a very well known artist here. i was humming “waving flag” on the streets, and people recognize and laugh at me because i’m an american and i shouldn’t know who k’naan is. haha!
today i felt like talking to a local person, and i ended up striking a conversation with a wealthy business owner. he owned a big store of jewelry, and he gave me a business card and talked to me for a bit. i am already used to the communication barriers, so it’s getting easier to understand and explain things to local sri lankans.
Day 2- Afternoon…………………….
hello everyone!
last night we went to this place called The Cricket Club. it was cricket themed (the sport, not the animal). it was really famous, and it had all sorts of autographs and photos from famous cricket players. the sri lankan team is very good, so the sport is a huge deal here.
well. today has been crazy to the extreme.
we finally got the whole internet thing situated, and about this time every day i will get on. perhaps in the morning i will also have a chance to get on (which is consequently night time for yall) but it’s not very likely.
i walked to class today, and class went really well. i’m really understanding everything we’re doing and i am doing well. i got a 44 on my first test today. hahaha, it was out of 50 points though and i only missed one question. it’s a good start so far.
for lunch we went to this mall called Odel’s. we ate in a really cool mall called DeliFrance. it was a french restaurant, as you probably guessed, and it specialized in desserts and pasteries. i got this ciabatta spicy chicken thing, which was awesome. but the exciting thing was i got a brownie and a cheesecake slice. oh. my. goodness. it was the best cheesecake i have EVER had. and the brownie was great too. the tea, again, was my favorite part. it was so sweet, but it didn’t upset my stomach. i might move here strictly for their tea. it’s out of this world. i would like you to notice there are TWO glasses of tea :)
tonight we’re going to this really nice restaurant on the beach. i don’t know what they serve, so i’m prepared for anything.
in the future (i believe tomorrow night), we’ll be going to a five star restaurant. my teacher told me to dress nice. hah.
i’ve really enjoyed walking everywhere. it’s kinda neat. i get to expereince the culture firsthand, and in great detail when i’m on foot.
riding in a trishad feels like second nature now. i can just call one up. and everything is close enough to where the cost is only like 100 rupees. or a dollar. so it’s not expensive at all to travel.
i can’t explain how big of celebrities we are here in sri lanka. it’s kind of hard to imagine, but word has spread that we’re here. it’s so cool. whenever we walk in the room, people crane their necks and stop everything to see what we’re doing. it’s really cool.
also, there are LOTS of servants here. one guy we see frequently has a servant whose job is strictly as a chauffer. you can afford things like that because the labor is so cheap.
Day 1 Photos………………………………….
my view from the trishad. my driver was a grumpy old man in this one. he was not happy about lugging around this hippy american kid.
me enjoying some delicious tea. i can’t get enough of this stuff.
an aerial view of downtown colombo. this was taken from the window of my classroom. my hotel is by the brown building on the top right of the picture. (the tallest building)
here’s me throwing around 1000 ruppees like it’s no one’s business.
