Archive for December, 2008

December 20, 2008

Saturday, December 20th, 2008

As I write this I'm on the last leg of my journey, a phenomenally long flight from Hong Kong to JFK. In the excitement that has been the past two weeks of my life I seemed to forget to find time to blog. I figured I would use this entry to give the high lights of my two week post-Sri Lanka Asian tour.

My Dad organized probably, if not definitely, the best vacation I have ever been on in my life. I got to see parts of the world that had never even crossed my mind before and now I'm sure I will remember them fondly for my whole life. I don't think I can fit all of the experiences into a blog so I'll make a list of the top three most amazing experiences and the top three funniest moments.

The Top 3 most amazing experiences:

3. The White Temple, Chiang Rai, Thailand

 I think that if I hadn't taken Buddhism class and then spent three and a half months in a Buddhist country this temple would have been nothing more than a pretty sight, and by the way it was pretty. One of Thailand's top artists Chaloemchai Khositphiphat was commissioned to design this temple. The temple was an immaculate nearly blinding white highlighted with mirrored glass to make it shine even more. The temple was the artist's vision of a Buddhist heaven. To get in you pass over the tormented souls reaching up and cross a bridge to finally enter. When inside the temple, there was a giant painting covering the wall that faced the Buddha statue. You weren't allowed to take a picture and I doubt my words can do this painting justice but I can swear that in all of the Buddhist countries there is no other depiction like that one. At the very top there was the Buddha seated on a lotus flower on top of a skull. It was very punk rock. The closer to eye level you got the more unique the painting got. There was a complex web with life like paintings of Keanu Reeves in the Matrix, a Star Wars battle ship, Super Man, some demons licking oil off a pump and other things that you would never pair up with the Buddha. Our guide looked at us and asked if we knew what the artist was trying to convey, and only because of all my time engulfed in Buddhism was I able to point to the pious Buddhist depicted in a small bubble in the corner floating up and say it's the worldly distractions that keep you locked in samsara and away from enlightenment. The guide said I was right but he didn't seem that impressed he knew I had been in Sri Lanka for a semester and if I hadn't known the answer to that question I probably should have been embarrassed. The temple is a must see for anyone who has the slightest interest in Buddhism or impressive art for that matter. Though pictures are probably easy to come across online, so the trip to Thailand may not be necessary.  

2. The Floating Village, Siem Reap, Cambodia

When my Dad and I climbed into a boat somewhere in Cambodia I was a little bit dazed from all the travel and I had no idea what was going on. Low and behold I'm about to see one of the most interesting ways a human could live. A few minutes from the dock and we are in this muddy looking water and I turn to my Dad, who hates crocodiles, and whisper, "You know this looks like a place that is covered in crocodiles." He got mad and later we would find out I was right.

Shortly after noticing that this was a likely crocodile hotspot we hit what looked like a fleet of boats from the distance, and as we get closer I saw that they were actually houses built out of old boats or on top of floating bamboo rafts. The houses were modest usually only containing one room with a few hammocks to sleep on. I figured that only a few fishermen could spend their whole lives in a river. I was very wrong; the population of the floating village is about 6,000 people. Not only do they live on the river but the village has its own floating school out in the middle of the river. When we passed it I got to see two grade school boys engaged in a fist fight, in school, in the river. I can hardly stand on a boat and they were so steady after being raised in the water they could even fight; it was wild. Then we got to a floating market which was my favorite part. The market was relatively huge and it was held up by bamboo and then built with wooden planks, it was loaded with tourists and I couldn't understand how it was holding up. As soon as we walk in there was a fence, I looked down, and the wood was cut down into a hole that was filled with crocodiles. The owners of the shop leave food there to attract crocodiles and then they sell them to be eaten or maybe used to make wallets I don't know. Inside they sold enormous live fish, stuff I had never seen before not even in an aquarium and of course they had caught it all in the river. After being in the market I made a mental note not to go in the water and then on our way out I marveled again at all the villagers who would carelessly dive out of their house and into the water. I never thought I would go to Cambodia but if ever in Asia its worth making the trip there for the village, not to mention the amazing ancient temples in Angkor Wat.  1. Mahout training, Chaing Rai Thailand  I rode an elephant as a little kid and I rode one in Sri Lanka or at least I thought I had but then I had Mahout training and realized I hadn't even come close. We were at the Golden Triangle, yes where the CIA had worked to shut down the opium trade back in the day, at the four seasons tent. Naturally, I could not afford to stay there as a college kid but I got pretty lucky and I have to say after being there if I had to save my whole life to go back and do it again it would be well worth it.

The tents have something like 50 elephants all rescued and well cared for. I know I was shocked to know that the Four Seasons was active in animal conservation but I was happily surprised. What they do is they take you down and you get to meet six adult elephants, well that is after you've eaten your breakfast and maybe thrown some bananas to the baby elephants that come to the restaurant to eat with you. You get to pick an elephant you like, mine was a no brainer she was wild, loud and never stayed still; kind of like me. Her name was Dancing Girl and for me it was love at first sight. She tolerated me because I kept the bananas flowing. Dancing Girl was definitely the matriarch, if elephants have matriarchs.

First thing they make you do is get on the elephant in the stable or wherever it is where they live with the man who is actually their mahout, which is like a trainer. The elephant lies down and you hop on by grabbing a rope while all the mahouts kind of shove you on. That wasn't so hard but then I learned it's the last time you get on or off like that. Then you scooch up to the elephants neck, lock your knees in behind her ears and drive with your feet. After the morning training class we came back in the afternoon and we were now expected to get on and off the elephant by jumping on or sliding off the head, and no it doesn't hurt them I asked a million question because I was so worried about hurting the elephant. Oh and by the way at this point all the ropes are gone it’s just you and the elephant; very jungle style. Then the elephant and you have a bath, take a walk through the jungle and end up in the river. It was an amazing experience.    Now to the follies of my Asian adventures/bonding time with my Dad.

Funniest moments:

3. My Broken Bike

My Dad, a guide, and I were mountain biking in Chaing Mai, Thailand, on our way to white water rafting. Neither my Dad nor I had been on a bike in at least a decade, yet that didn't stop us from pretending we knew what we were doing. I was going way faster than my Dad which clearly offended him so he speed up and past me, which in turn offended me, so I tried to pass him to prove I was the better biker and in the middle of my sprint past my Dad I kicked the petal and the metal thing that holds it off
the bike.

The best part was that I had broken the bike in the middle of nowhere Thailand and the guide couldn't get cell service to call the driver to come for us. He blatantly pretended to fix the bike and told us to go ahead and that he would take my bike and catch up with us. My Dad used this as an opportunity to prove he was faster and took off, however, I knew how well I broke that bike and I knew it wasn't getting put back together that quickly. I stayed with the guide and in thirty seconds it fell off again. I told the guide to take the bike and find the driver and that I would walk the broken one till they came back for me. This seems like a great plan till I find myself in a pack of dogs. There are some viscous dogs in Asia, if my previous blogs didn't make that clear. I'm trying to walk by them without looking at them in hopes they'll go away when these men started screaming which caused me to jump and the petal to bang loudly on the road which was enough for the dogs to leave. The men who were construction workers came rushing over at the sight of my broken bike gesturing that they would help. I didn't speak a word of their language and they didn't speak a word of mine so my refusal was not understood and my bike was beaten with a knife in an attempt to reattach the petal until my guide returned cracking up at the situation I had found myself in. It was just one of those moments when things were so far out of my control I was laughing by myself in the background. 

2. My Dad Falls of the Elephant

The elephants took us to the Mekong River on the border of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand to take a quick dip. The Mahouts had hoped on the back of the elephants to urge them to get us wet. They were commanding the elephants to dunk which is funny because my elephant paid no attention to the command and just let me watch as my Dad's elephant dunked him. All of a sudden the elephant dunked a little too quickly and I watched my Dad soar off the elephant and into the water. I was in tears laughing until I noticed everyone else was panicking. Three of the Mahouts dove in the water after him. My Mahout looked conflicted as he had confided in me earlier that he didn't know how to swim. My Mahout jumped onto the back of my Dad's vacant elephant so as to help out as much as he could. My Dad was fine so I continued laughing and eventually Dancing Girl got bored so in the midst of the commotion she left the river and took me for a walk. The people swore that no one ever fell off before, somehow I think that isn't true.

1. Culture Shock from Sri Lanka to Hong Kong

I got to Hong Kong which I should mention is fashion city in what I think is my best if not least soiled outfit left from Sri Lanka. I can actually hear the jaws drop as I enter the hotel. I allegedly look homeless and everyone else is rocking Armani and what not. We try and get lunch where with one look at me the hostess said, "We have a dress code."

I was really hungry and apparently if I wanted to eat first I had to go shopping. This meant I had to go shopping at designer stores which I had never done in my life and also they were stocked with clothes that had a size 4 as an extra large. I figured clothes would eventually happen and they did but shoes were the real frontier. I was embarrassed to tell my shoe size at one store so my Dad asked while I was in the dressing room. I can hear the girls cracking up as they tell him no. Eventually, and with huge amounts of effort I put an outfit together and was admitted to the various fancy restaurants that plague Hong Kong.

December 5, 2008

Friday, December 5th, 2008

Today was our last Sri Lankan event, final tea. It was mainly an opportunity for the host mothers to bond with their host daughters, the sons were a little left out. All of the girls were dressed in their mother's most beautiful sarees and jewelry. The boy's could have worn khaki's and collared shirt, however, Jared took this as an opportunity to wear the Sri Lankan national dress; a floor length bright white sarong and a matching button down shirt. I can’t attach the pictures now but when I get back to America I will be sure to attach a few.

We all came to the ISLE center with our host families. Naturally, my family blended with Maria’s family and we formed one large Kiribathkumbra family. Maria and I both shared the same sentiment while we walked in together which was we couldn't walk, nor breath that well. After wearing the traditional Kandyan saree I am in awe that the women of Sri Lanka perform their day to day task in a similar outfit. My host mother's helper never wears anything but a Kandyan saree while she cleans the bathrooms and does the laundry. Now granted we were wearing fancy sarees so they are a bit heavier then the standard one but all the same I can't understand how these women get anything done.

After my host mother had dressed me, which took at least twenty minutes. She left to dress herself and I collapsed onto the bed; owing to the fact that I couldn't move I laid still like I had been mummified. At the tea my older host brother was laughing with Maria's older host sister and I heard my name so I asked what was funny and he told me that he had seen me collapsed on my bed totally unable to move. My host mother couldn't understand why I had so much trouble moving but all the same I swear it is really hard. However, as soon as Jared walked in his all white dress the attention shifted.

When tea and pictures ended it was time for me to say goodbye to Rosemarie who runs the ISLE center and our director Nancy because I won't see them again. My flight is two hours earlier then everyone else's so I am getting picked up at my house earlier on Saturday and traveling everyone's luggage as my only companions. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. All I have left to do in Sri Lanka is pack and of course have the sure to be depressing departure from my host family who really have grown into a second family.

December 4, 2008

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Oconnors-post

Well, I have some catching up to do! Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, Firenze has never seemed more festive in all of my time here! I cannot even describe how absolutely wonderful it is to be going through the hectic preparations for “Natale,” popping in and out of little specialty shops and walking through the grand open markets of Saint Ambrogio and Santa Croce. Although the Italians surely know how to celebrate their Christmas holiday, it sure is strange how they don’t quite understand the Thanksgiving holiday. Half of them seem to believe that it is just a big eating day once a year, yet they also can’t fathom why we wouldn’t have pasta as our first course and then our turkey afterwards. The other half thinks that we are either celebrating our independence after the war from the British or something about the Native Americans. Either scenario is comical, especially since most of the restaurants attempt to make some close resemblance to a turkey (tucchino) with stuffing (ripieno), and in their valiant efforts, they cook it the day before and the majority of Fiorentini — the people of Florence — were saying “Happy Thanksgiving” on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Despite all of these comical cultural differences, Thanksgiving was a huge success, and I felt completely fulfilled as having a half American, half Italian celebration.

Amanda, one of the other students in our Holy Cross group and one of my good friends from school, went to the English speaking mass at the Duomo two weeks ago and stumbled upon a religious group for American students studying abroad called the St. Thomas More Society. It’s run primarily by students and directed by Fr. Mario, an incredible young priest who is from America but also speaks five languages and is a serious advocate of having active youth in the Church, including while studying abroad! Amanda and I have been attending some of the events that are offered, and we signed up to help with the baking for the big Thanksgiving feast. Most of the weekly dinners are held at this cute little restaurant, “Gusto Leo,” a two-minute walk from the Duomo where the owners always reserve a full room just for our group to meet. For Thanksgiving, we had an entire room with two long tables for almost 30 people, including students from Fairfield University, California State University, and other places scattered throughout the U.S. There were also two Italians interested in having a little English-Italian conversation, Jada and Marco. Amanda and I met up with one of the student coordinators, Jana (pronounced “Yana”), in the afternoon, and together with her friend from the States, Kaitlyn, we concocted our own versions of apple pies, pumpkin pies, and chocolate chip cookies from the available American-type ingredients that Italian supermarkets offer. Quite the entertaining experience! And with a house smelling of all the “homey goodness” of the holiday season, who wouldn’t be in the festive spirit? As we took our many pies and cookies on the city bus with us, all heads turned to what we were holding with complete interest until one Italian finally asked about the pumpkin pie. When he heard that it was pumpkin, he had a look of complete shock and he exclaimed, “Ma come si fa???” In other words, but how can you do that?!

The dinner itself was nothing short of a dream Thanksgiving celebration for me. Surrounded by not only this wonderful group, and with Amanda, Jen, and Jenny’s company from Holy Cross, we feasted like no other Thanksgiving. And I’m being completely literal because we not only had a turkey and potatoes; but we also had pasta, cheese, and foccacia bread due to the Italian chefs’ insistence. As the Italians say, “Sempre cosi,”or,“This is always the case.” We finished the meal with our delicious desserts, and by the end, it was midnight before the chefs were wishing us a good night and a happy end to the holiday. I’ve always said that the Italians know how to enjoy themselves, and after that night, I definitely learned how true I was!

Now, only two weeks before I make my big homecoming to Pennsylvania, I can’t get enough of Florence. I would absolutely love to see all the celebrations here, in the piazzas, by the Duomo…it must be beautiful! As the lights are being strung throughout the streets, walking through the city always feels right out of a movie. I recently had a house change into the downtown area, and although I’m still adjusting, being closer to all the action of the city has been incredible. My new host family, Katia, and her adopted 12-year-old daughter, Ami, keep the apartment alive and hopping everyday. It’s always reminding me of life back in high school where my brother and sister and I were always out and about with my parents going from one event to the next. The only challenge is that I have to keep up with their fast-paced talking! This upcoming weekend is one of the biggest religious festivals in Italy, the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8; many Italian families get their Christmas trees at this time and everyone has school and work off! My cousins from Foligno invited me to spend this time with them and do some Christmas shopping for my family away from the hustle and bustle of the Florence streets. I’m so excited! I’ll make sure to have lots of details about the festival as soon as I get back.

A presto!   

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December 1, 2008

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Things in Sri Lanka have been tame compared to the trouble in the surrounding parts of Asia. A few of the students were supposed to leave for India on the 6th and I was supposed to be on my way to Bangkok. Obviously, neither of those things are happening now do to the violence in India and the riots at the Bangkok airport. The other students are at the travel agent right now trying to find a flight back to America, but I am not headed back to America.

I had the luxury that I was supposed to meet my father in Thailand so he is dealing with all the flights and things which is why I am not in town right now arguing with air line personnel. Now, at midnight on Saturday night I am flying from Sri Lanka to Hong Kong with a lay-over in Singapore. I am supposed to meet my father in Hong Kong — it is one of the only free ports in Asia, which means I can get in without a visa. We will spend a few days in Hong Kong which is a much unexpected addition to our trip then we will head to Cambodia and after a few days drive to northern Thailand. Pretty wild, right?

Now, that all the travel questions have been for the most part dealt with I have to get back to reading all the other student's independent studies. That is all we have left for academics in Sri Lanka just talking about each other’s independent studies.

I can't believe we have been here for over three months! I will try and write at least one more entry before I leave Sri Lanka, and then I don't know when I will have internet again. I'll keep track of what I'm up to though, and be sure to post when I get back to America if I can't post along the way.