ABDF

In my last letter, I talked exclusively about projects; current, considered, and applied for. I also talked a bit about how we go about choosing those we choose, and the trials and tribulations involved. In this letter I’m going to keep project talk to a minimum as, well, there isn’t much new to discuss. Instead I’ll catch you up on other interesting things going on right now.

A storm approaches

In terms of projects, I’m waiting for this batch of current work to finish up. To a large extent this has to do with funding. I want to make sure we finish what we’ve committed to, before committing ourselves to more. We have a good reputation for following through on our promises, unlike many of the agencies here, and I want to maintain that. So until we get more money in the account, new projects are on hold. I also need to take care of some business outside of Batti, mostly in Colombo, and I think it could take a week or two. That means, of course, that I won’t be here to keep an eye on things.

But enough about projects.

We’ve been having some pretty funky weather for the last week or so. It’s the monsoon in the Western half of the island, but occasionally we get bits of it clear over here in the East. Thrice we’ve had massive thunderstorms barreling down on us from the central highlands. It happens in the evenings, which is great for me. My work for the day is usually finished, so when the electricity goes out, as it usually does during a storm, I can grab a beer, pull a chair up to the front of my balcony, and watch the light show. If you’ve ever lived in the Midwest or South, you know how violent thunderstorms can be (in California thunder is very rare) and how spectacular the lightening gets. So for an hour or so, I watch as the storm come up from behind (my balcony faces east), flows over, and then rages out over the Indian Ocean. It’s pretty cool.

These occasional storms have one good effect and one bad. Assuming the storm brings rain, which they usually do, the temperature drops as much a 10 degrees, and it become quite comfortable. Believe you me, I get my best sleep on these thunderous, stormy nights. The next day, although storm-less, is often five degrees cooler than usual. That means the indoor temp falls from 90 degrees of so to around 85. It doesn’t sound like much, but you really notice the difference.

On the other hand, the rain really brings out the insects. Hordes of them. I guess their eggs, or whatever, sit patiently, waiting for the right conditions, then WHAM! The next week or so we’re spending most of time swatting all sorts of bugs and scratching at the bites. It gets really ugly, especially starting around sundown. The mosquitoes are particularly bad; they even mysteriously show up in my bathroom, making toilet use a rather stressful event. But really, we only have to endure this for around two weeks. Then, baring more rain, the nasties start to go away, or die off, or whatever it is they do when it gets hot and dry again. Still, till now I’d been surprised and happy at the lack of bugs and their bites. Sigh. Nothing lasts forever.

In a move that surprised me as much as it will surprise others, I joined a gym. As many of you know, I’m, well, a big boy. I also, as mentioned above, have free time in the evenings. So I figured why not? Now before you go thinking about a nice shiny gym with the latest machines, a sauna, blaring Hi-NRG music, and the latest cardio-Disco-Jazz-aerobic-spinning classes, I have to tell you that my gym is nothing like that. It is, to be blunt, and old converted garage with the cement floor coming up in patches, the sauna is the fact that it’s damn hot and humid here and there’s nary a fan in the place, the music is mostly Tamil movie music (although once to my surprise there was a Ricky Martin song), and there are only free weights – no cardio aerobic anything. And so far I’m having a great time.

Physical culture is only beginning to make inroads into Sri Lanka. There are a couple of modern gyms in Colombo, but they are used by the expat community and the local elite class. Here in Batti, there are two: one at the YMCA, and the one I go to. Mine is run by a guy named Ronnie. Ronnie is around 30, and has been lifting weights for I don’t know how long. Before the tsunami, for sure, as that’s when I first met him, and he was pretty buff. Back then he was the only body-builder guy in town. He’s also particularly handsome, and so he’s not only one of the most sought-out bachelors in town, but a lot of guys look up to him. So he’s his gyms’ own best advertising.

Ronnie owns the gym I joined

Unemployment is very high in Batti. Ronnie, loving the fitness thing, decided to start his own business. So he has been slowly building it up, and now it earns him a decent salary. I’ve always respected him for this; taking initiative is not part of the culture here. Instead of waiting around for a job to plop into his lap, he went out and created his own; very unusual for this place.

I meant to start last year. No, really, I did. It’s just that between my own insecurities about my weight, and an incidentally (?) concurrent bout of laziness, I just sort of never got around to it. You know how that goes. But this year, or rather, last week, I just decided to up and do it. And so I did and I’m glad I did.

Normally I’m going in the evening for an hour and a half at 6:30. Ronnie is great; he walks me through the workout, giving advice, and quietly encouraging me. The other guys there, all 20-somethings and very fit, are also very cool and supportive. Many of them have seen me on my motorcycle around town, but had never talked to me. So it turns out that I’m making a lot of friends.

Oh and get this; it’s ridiculously cheap. To join cost me 300 rupees ($2.70) and each time I show I pay 20 (18 cents).

So I’m pleased. I get exercise, I’m supporting a friends’ business, I’m making friends, and I’m practicing my Tamil lessons.

Yes, I’m taking Tamil lessons. As with the gym, last year I had vowed I would FINALLY take actual lessons. But the same laziness struck, and it never worked out. This year however, the person I most wanted to take lessons from had the free time in the evening, and so I’ve been at it for about a month. My teacher’s name is Kala; she’s an English teacher at St. Cecilia’s Girls School, and it’s through her that we have done our various projects there; the library, the music instruments, the multimedia project etc. So every Tuesday and Thursday, before the gym, I go to class from 4:30 to about 6. It’s fun but very challenging, a lot more so than lifting weights.

Tamil is an ancient indigenous language unrelated to the Indo-European language family, of which English is a member. As a result, the language is completely different in every way, from sentence structure to verb conjugation to the way Tamils think in their language (for example, we think of words in syllables: San Fran-cis-co, whereas Tamils see their words differently: Ba-at-ti-cl-oe for Batticaloa). Sorry, not the clearest example; I’m not sure I’m explaining this well, or what the linguistic terms would be, but I hope you get an idea of the difference.

Kala and I

Pronounciation is the hardest part for me, along with its opposite, hearing. I’m not sure who decided these things, but transliterated English-written Tamil doesn’t seem to make much sense to an English speaker. For example, “I talk” is written kathaikkiran, but pronounced (American English) kadeykren, and enuthaiathu (“mine”) is spoken inudaydu. This is the closest I can get the actual pronunciation; there are sounds which we don’t have and I can’t reproduce. For example, there’s a sound midway between D and R. Try it; it depends on where you put your tongue on your palate, and the way you aspirate. There’s another one, half way between an S and a SH.

To me, Tamil words seem very long and rhythmic, so it’s easy for my tongue to get tripped up. So try this one (my transliteration into American English): Eeppa nawn Izzadeen-oda kadeykren condu-eerkren. (I’m talking to Izaadeen right now.) Now say it again, fast. See what I mean? Naturally all this means that it’s difficult to hear someone speaking as well. Sometimes one letter change can change to word itself. For example, the difference between “his” and “hers” is buried in the middle: aveRudaiya versus ave(noR)udaiaya. Say them both fast and you’ll see the difference is very slight. A native speaker talks fast, and so it’s hard to understand.

On top of this there are a whole series of differences which I’m only just beginning to lean about. In Tamil, there and two words for “you,” and it depends on context as to which you use. Neenge (neen-guh) (you) is used for facts, such as “You are American.” But ungalluke (oon-gul-ick-keh) (you) is a bit more intangible, and used to describe abilities, desires, and so forth: “Can you speak English?” Of course, this isn’t a solid rule, and actual use is a lot more varied between the two.

This is just stuff I’ve learned in the past month, and I’m only at the very, very, beginning of things. I’m not even going to try reading and writing; with 240+ letters, many of which have the most subtle of differences between them, I think I’ll remain illiterate.

So that’s the most exciting stuff going on here in Batti, outside of project work. I hope you found this stuff interesting, and a change from the usual shop-talk.

OK, time to go to the gym!