So, the party last night was hosted by my mom's friend, Padma (pictured above.) She held it at her son, Pradeep's house. I guess it was a party for all the ex-pats that were in town. The Hi!! magazine editor and photographer were there. Probably the closest thing to a red carpet entrance I'll ever make. It's strange having someone snap photos of you just standing around. (My apologies to all those I have and will harrass with my camera.) The magazine editor is a civil engineer and when she heard my mom was also an engineer she decided to interview her. So, keep your eyes out for the next edition on newsstands everywhere...in Sri Lanka! The house was pretty spectacular. (Of course, I have pics and will post them when I get a chance.) It has a swimming pool on the third floor and his closet and bathroom are each about the size of my bedroom. Pradeep is a really nice guy and a great host. He and his fiancée promised to take me out and show me around. Apparently, he knows my cousins, Dinasha (or Dinghy as he calls her) and Anjali very well. (He says hi and is really sorry he can't make it to the wedding!)
Be careful what you wish for. In yesterday's entry, I wished for single friends my age. At the party last night I found out that some family friends from LA are here - Taryne and her brother Droovy. I don't know if that's how you spell Droovy, but that's how you pronounce it. Anyway, it was nice to see some young people that weren't chained to their kids. (And you know I love kids.) Too bad I was too sleepy to go out with them after the dinner party. They were meeting up with some friends at a club called Taboo. There's this huge wedding (450 guests) at the hotel I'm staying at tonight and Taryne and Droovy will be there -- it's their last night. We're supposed to go out after the wedding. Maybe I'll finally get to experience the Sri Lankan nightlife I've heard so much about. They were telling me about their NYE shenanigans partying until 6:30am and getting home just as their parents were going to bed. Our parents know how to party. Hanging with them can be exhausting really.
A few words on what stuff costs here. I think my hotel room (one of the nicest hotels in Colombo) is about $80/night and includes a huge breakfast buffet that doesn't end at the buttcrack of dawn and includes a waffle bar, eggs and hoppers made to order, a fresh juice and smoothie bar, string hoppers, curries, sambols, miso soup and some other japanese foods, and all the standard american/english breakfast foods (breads, cereals, etc.) I bought some Zara pants at ODEL for about $6.75 (US) and had them altered for 50¢! The internet costs me about $1.50 an hour. (Of course, it's $6 for 30 minutes at my hotel.) I had my hair and makeup done for something like $14 total last night. And that was at the salon in the hotel, so they were ripping me off at that rate. You can have someone come to your room and give you a massage for about $7. Hopefully going to check this place out tomorrow. I think an hour long massage there is about $30.
There was this wedding at our hotel this morning and there were these Kandyan dancers (and drummers) that brought the groom and the bride in. It was pretty cool. I love drums. I got some video footage. I felt bad though because there were all these tourists (myself included) running around with cameras. Reminded me of Sashi's wedding at the Music Center in downtown LA when all these tourists were just standing around watching Roshanna get all weepy as her sister got married. ;) Little known fact about me: I performed a Kandyan dance in college AND I may or may not have it on videotape.
One final observation about being in Sri Lanka and then I think it's naptime so I can try to outlast the parents tonight. I see so many familiar faces. Now, a lot of them really are familiar because I actually know them from home. But a lot of them just look like people I know or could be related to. It's strange to come to a place on the other side of the world and see people that look familiar. And yet it's not like I feel like I belong here. I mean I'm very much a foreigner here. But then I don't always feel like I belong at home, either. If you don't look "American" and you are, you know what I'm talking about. Here I'm asked if I'm Sri Lankan, and at home I'm asked where I'm from (and they don't mean Los Angeles or California). At home, I have to remind people that I'm American. Not all the time, but enough. I've spent my whole life identifying with being Sri Lankan. And then I get here and it turns out, I'm American. Way American.
1 comment:
Where are you from? L.A. No, I mean, where are you REALLY from? I hear ya, sista.
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