In Colombo ( Sorry no photos yet)

Hey everyone,

well I've now been in Colombo for two days and have done an overwhelming amount of activity. I went into work on Friday to start my orientation and it turned into a full-day affair: Intoduction to the staff at WUSC, Security meeting, Dos and Dont's meeting, Cell phone shopping (yes Terry Rogocki has officially joined the 21st century), Contract signing for my apartment, etc.......Needless to say, I made it back to my hotel room at around 6pm and fell asleep until 5am Saturday morning.

I spent Saturday doing a city tour. Colombo is really a nice city once you get orientated to it. There are some beautiful buildings, lively markets, wide boulevards with amazing trees, the sounds of the TATA truck horns, and amazing smells (of food and spices). It does have reminders of the unrest present in the country though. There are random checkpoints around the city, and the Fort area, which houses many of the government offices has a few streets blocked off. I did the tour with a driver from WUSC which was great. I walked around earlier in the day for a couple of hours and almost died of heat exhaustion (okay I'm being dramatic). It's definitely going to take some time to get used to the heat and humidity!!!

After the tour, I moved my stuff into my apartment. Once I began unpacking, it hit me that I am actually going to be living and working in Sri Lanka. That thought was quickly replaced by the realization that I'm living in the tropics when I found a dead- lizard-surprise in one of my clothing drawers! That aside, I'm on a high at the moment. Lots to learn and experience, I just wish Geoff was here with me!

That's it for now. On Sunday I am going down the south coast to a town called Matara. I will be meeting some of the WUSC partners and I was told that I will have Sunday afternoon on the beach....ahh the perks of a tropical, hot country, filled with lizards.

Stay tuned for some photos!

T