Home Sweet Home and Sari Saga

Home Sweet Home

Jenise had found a house on-line and Aruni (our embassy contact) took us to Matara to help us secure a place to live. After looking at 2 other abysmal places we stopped at an ATM and went back to the little house on the hill to put our deposit down. We had a home but not for 4 days while they cleaned and painted, so we moved into Polhena Reef Hotel.

Our new home

We happened to arrive on a Buddhist holiday, Poya or full moon day. Polhena Beach is famous as a family vacation spot and was packed with families enjoying the water. This beach has a coral reef surrounding it, so it is fairly safe for swimmers although most Sri Lankans do not know how to swim and stay very close to shore. I waded into the water up to my waist and started to swim out toward the reef which threw the families into hysterics wanting me to come back even though there was no chance I would be swept out to sea because of the reef. I returned to their great relief and just stood in the water just like them.

Holiday at Polhena Beach:  Note everyone wearing their clothes in the water

We are thrilled to have a place to call home. Our little house on a hill catches the sea breezes and is surrounded by tropical plants including several very tall coconut trees. We have two bedrooms, so we are ready for guests.

Looking out our front door

Our living room

Our little kitchen has a refrigerator and a two burner gas stove fueled by propane tanks. One of our first tasks was to get a back-up tank, so we are ready when the one in use goes dry. This required arranging a tuk-tuk to take the empty tank to the shop and trade it in for a full one.
It is quite amazing what one can get into a tuk-tuk. One of our trips into town to purchase household goods included a rather large drying rack (there are no clothes dryers in Sri Lanka), an iron (looking clean and pressed is important), a mop and bucket for the tile floors, a squeedgie for the bathroom floor (no shower curtains here), a scrub brush on a broom handle (floors get washed often because the salt air makes them sticky), a water filter (just to be safe), and laundry baskets. All this plus our landlady (who loves to take us shopping) in one little tuk-tuk.

Our kitchen

Our back yard with tuk-tuk

Our driveway and front yard

Sari Saga

I now am the proud owner of a sari. The first thing the students said to us at the University was "Why don’t you wear a sari?" All the female teachers wear saris but the men wear just a western shirt and pants. So the hunt was on to find a cotton sari. Our landlady took us shopping and it turns out most of the saris are polyester, but after 4 shops, we found Jenise a red sari and a yellow and blue one for me. Then we had to get the sari slip which has a draw string to tie it tight and a matching blouse that also fits very tight. The 5 yard saris come unhemmed so I hemmed them and washed them and ironed them. That was the easy part.

Hemming the sari

Next I had to learn how to wear the sari. Nelum my landlady was very kind to show me how to wrap the sari and make sure it will not fall off (the secret is lots of safety pins). Then comes the hardest part of all, wearing the sari. It turned out that my sari was not cotton after all the promises the shop keeper gave us. So wearing it feels like I have on my own personal sauna. But the reaction was worth it with the men along the way to work calling “very beautiful, Sri Lanka style” and the old women smiling and saying “sari good”. Even the teachers at the University were impressed that I came in a sari and set about adjusting it and repining it for me. Now if I can just figure out how to walk in it without tripping over it when I go upstairs and keep it from wrapping around my legs so I cannot move, I will be set. So far Jenise still feels the sari sacrifice is not worth the accolades, but she does wear almost to the floor skirts, which one also can trip over.

Nelum helping me wrap my sari

Do I look Sri Lankan?