Week 1: July 17 2018 My first visit /Finger Food
Finger Food
In Sri Lanka everything is finger food. Rice and curry, fish, lentils you name it, its all finger food. (Personally I think food tastes sooo Much better from your hand). Because of this, very early on I realized that almost every house has a sink in the dining room, or near the dining room. At Auntie Chuti's, who is my Grandmother's niece, she brings out a finger bowl and a towel to clean your fingers after you eat.
Quick Background: I am staying in Maharagama which is about 15 km from the Capital city of Colombo. Maharagama is very near to Nugegoda, which is where my guru lives. (Now that that's all cleared up)
I went exploring Colombo with my distant cousin whom we shall call Sadhu-aka. She introduced me to her friend who, as it turned out, knew my grandmother from 17-20 years ago. He knew her from church as the Christian community is quite small in Sri Lanka. (he looks like he's 30, but he must be in his late 40's). He was a family friend of my cousin. He insisted on taking us out to eat and explore Colombo district 4. (Colombo is a series of concentric rings that gets larger as the city expands).
We went to a food court and got different kinds of rice and curry. He also insisted on paying (that's Sri Lankan hospitality for you). Both him and Sadhu-aka showed me where the forks and knives were but I insisted I wanted to eat with my hand. I was very proud to be eating with my hand.
As a kid I watched my mother eat with her hand and tried to mimic her. For years she wouldn't let me eat with my hand. When I asked her why she said
"It's Rude, and it's un-american."
"well why do you eat with your hand?" I asked.
"Because it's apart of my culture."
"if it's apart of your culture, than shouldn't it be apart of my culture too?" To this she got annoyed and would insist I use a fork. Eventually (a few years later) I won out and she finally said
"If your going to eat with your hand, at least do it properly!" And she instructed me on the etiquette of eating with my fingers.
Usually I was very self-conscious whenever I wanted to eat with my hands because I was in the US. I really do like to eat with my hands, because food really does taste better. Needless to say, I am thrilled to be in Sri Lanka where I can eat with my hands. At some point Uncle (the family friend) tried as gently as he could to point out that I terribly messy. (Okay he said it a lot nicer).
I was so embarrassed. Clearly I am not as goof as I thought I was eating with my hands.
He clearly could tell I was embarrassed and sort of laughed. He then tried to show me how to eat the food, as one would show a child. He said that you scoop the food making the fingers into a cup like shape, and push the food into your mouth with your thumb. Also you only eat with the tips of your fingers. The food should not come past the first line on your finger. I looked down and realized I had food all over my hand. >_<
This whole conversation was in a mix of broken English and Sinhalese (making it a rather comical event)
(Sri Lankan Etiquette ProTip: you call everyone uncle, auntie, elder sister, or elder brother, you only call some mister, or miss when you are in a formal setting, even then it might be better if you're familiar with them to say Uncle or Auntie. In Sinhalese older sister is Aka, so for example if I want to ask woman a question who is a year or 2 years older than me. Like my my dear friend Fatima, I would say Fatima-Aka especially if I didn't know her well, etc).
Now I'm on to Kandy, where my grandfather's side of the family lives. Below is my first visit to Kandy.
Random tidbits:
I woke up to a monkey playing on my roof the second day. I am staying in a small 1 room Annex with a tin roof. All and all the room is very nice. The toilet has to build up pressure to flush though, so you can't flush it back to back. And all showers in Sri Lanka are cold. Anyways the monkey was clambering on my tin roof quite loudly so I went outside to ask him to stop. He was in a tree near my front door and exactly at my eye level. He looked at me like those college squirrels or Camping raccoons look at you. His look was as if to say " Yo, I'm not gonna move whatcha gonna do about it???"
I very respectfully backed away and told the monkey to carry on. I went back inside and locked the door. (I actually asked the monkey for a picture but he didn't stay still long enough).
Second random story: I almost insulted Auntie Chuti. You see, I was trying to be cognizant of the fact that it costs money to keep feeding me, and it's not like people in Sri Lanka have money to waste. Since I had already tried to ask Auntie if I could help pay for food, or groceries and she had insisted "no I could not" I thought I would not eat at her house so often. I told her I was going to explore Maharagama and that I will get food while I'm out. This was on a Friday. (Later that day I was being picked up to go to Kandy). The conversation goes as follows:
"Don't worry about lunch for me Auntie, I can get food while I'm out".
"What? Ne- ne, you come here for lunch." She responded mildly confused. (Neh means no in Sinhala).
"No, no its okay I can get lunch. I don't want you to worry."
"WHat?! You don't like my food? You want to go out?" She said indignant.
"Neh-ne, Mama asigh, I like your cooking". I reply in english and broken sinhala.
"Okay, then you come here for lunch. Why do you want to go out?"
"Because I feel bad. I don't want to bother you." I say innocently realizing my dastardly mistake.
"It's no bother. You are my relation. I love your mother and grandmother very much. No bother."
Thus I went out and explored and came back for lunch. I also got pooped on by a bird while I was out. I almost had insulted her cooking. Thus always accept hospitality.
Also I scheduled my first training session for Angampora with my Guru for this coming Friday te 20th!
Now please read Week 1: July 17 2018 Kandy to see my Kandian adventures. My first trip to Kandy is below.
First Visit
In the picture below I am with my mother, we are getting into a Tuk Tuk, or a small 3 wheeler car that act as taxis. Now, full confession both these pictures were taken when I came to Sri Lanka my first time in December.
After I had made up my mind to go to Sri Lanka, I was applying for a series of fellowships ( until we I was so fortunate and blessed to have received the Rockefeller). I also think I really wanted a year of self introspection, but that's besides the point. My mom realized I was serious and decided that we should go to Sri Lanka together. So, in December after my graduation I went to Sri Lanka for 2 full weeks with my mom. Any picture you see with my mom (on the left) is from December and Not my current trip. I will be occasionally mixing the two, since I'm not sure when I will be visiting these places again.
I've decided to try to write my blog in themes (I guess) and label them. Please if you have done this sort of blogging thing before leave a comment and give helpful critiques. Or if you want to know more about something please let me know In the comments.
For more pictures https://www.flickr.com/photos/142506689@N05/
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