New name for the school. Julia's School for Maids. Hooray, my maid arrived. Her name is Sashi. Hard to tell her age as she is Tamil and therefore quite dark skinned. Tamils always look far younger than they really are. I think she is in her early twenties. She has worked for foreigners before so she knows our peculiar ways. But the big thing is she can speak quite good English. Finally, someone I can communicate with.
Of course, the first weeks will be a little tricky as I train her to do things the way I want and what to cook. But at least she is here and I am enjoying a cup of bed tea that she made for me. No more having to make meals or clean the house.
Today I have to go and get provisions. The big thing is that although you pay the servants next to nothing, SRs. 10,000/month which works out to $80, when they live in you have to provide everything else for them. They are like a dependent. So I will be off today to get her the things she needs.
I am also going to try to flog some feta cheese to the high end hotels and restaurants. Jez brought me some feta and mozzarella samples yesterday so I am going to talk to the executive chefs at the high end places to see if we can get orders. One of the big advantages of being a foreigner is that you can just walk in and they will talk to you. Plus they seem to think that foreigners know a lot more then the locals. If a foreigner recommends something, they are much more likely to accept it. Plus the quality of the product is exceptional. So my dream of making cheese in Sri Lanka has come true.
We are producing chèvre, feta, mozzarella, holloumi, bocconcini, mascarpone, cheddar, ricotta and eventually stilton. The big news is that we have been offered factory space on the dairy farm from which we get the cow and goat milk. So the milk literally comes out of the animal and is mixed with the rennet within 1/2 hour. Raw, out of this world cheese. People in Canada would be mad for it.
The gardener is also coming today to put in the bamboo plants so the garden will look a little better.
After a couple of days of doing nothing, it is all action today. Such is the uneven rhythm of life here. I am much happier when I am busy though.
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
February 19, 2013
Breaking news from the Bardos Vocational Institute of Incompetent Trades People!
I need to set up something like this. I could make a fortune. Every tradesman that comes to the house has no idea. Case in point. Sri Lanka Telecom sent out a crew to install the phone line. They are a private contractor that handles the installs called USS Engineering. God only knows what they engineer. Chaos, I think.
5 people show up. Of those, only 2 are working. Really only 1, as the other guy is the supervisor. Their plan is to run yards of wire from a junction box over an outside wall, through some louvers and over an inside wall. First I tell them they can't do that without casing. So, they go off to get casing. Stupid me, I presumed they had measured the distance. Apparently not, as they came back with enough casing to do about 1/3 of the job. Then it turned out they did not even have a measuring tape to measure the distance. I measured the distance for them, but in doing so, I realized that they only had to run the wire a couple of feet and drill the wall to slip the wire through. So, then they had no drill. By this time, I wanted to kill them. I was on to their head office in Colombo. Their solution was to have them come back the next day. No way was I going to let them go without a connection being made. If they leave, you are not so sure you will ever see them again.
So they strung yards of wire and lo and behold, they did turn up the next day to drill the wall. But now, they brought a 3" drill when even the Colombo guys admitted that a standard Sri Lankan house wall is 9". Now their plan was to drill from one side and then drill from the other side and hook up the holes. Fat chance. 3+3 still makes 6 not 9. Add to that fact that, as I pointed out to the genius in Colombo, these houses are not built like the pyramids. They are not square, symmetrical or anything else. They would have succeeded in drilling any number of holes in the wall and no success. Now, I had to give them the number of a hardware store to discover if they had a 9" drill. They did, so off they went to get it. They come back with a 9" drill, but not 9 useable inches. No-one has accounted for the fact that the drill bit has to seat in the drill and therefore you lose 2". Back to plan A of trying to drill from both sides. You can imagine how I reacted to that.
So I got them to drill as far as the drill would go. Then I made them take the bit out. Of course, they have no tool belt. At least I discovered what one of the 5 workers is supposed to do. He gets everything they need one at a time out of the truck and throws it to the guy who is working. When I say one at time, I mean it. If they need 2 screws, this guy gets 1 and throws and anudder one, and anudder one, etc. You get the picture. So after a trip to get the lug to open the drill mouth, and another to get the hammer, we had a hole through the wall. Then the connection was made. Now it is time to put on the junction box on the inside. Their plan is to put it beside the big hole they have drilled not over it. So I point out that they need to cover the hole with the box. So now they try to stick the box on instead of screwing it to the wall. I point out they have to secure the box. They try to fit one screw which, of course, does not work as the wall is made of brick and plaster and needs a wall plug. Back to the one at a time supply dude. After 4 trips to the truck for supplies, we have 2 wall plugs and 2 screws. However, it is not clear to these guys that you cannot line up both screw holes if one of the screws is fully tight. Now I have to unscrew one screw and show them how to do it.
I won't even go into the fact that they are running a drill off a 220 volt plug using only bare wires and no ground. No tool belt, not even closed toed shoes, let along steel toed. They all wear rubber flip flops or bare feet.
However, no dial tone. That took innumerable phone calls, a trip to Sri Lanka Telecom in Kandy, more phone calls to the Director of the Central Region for Telecom and a visit from a crew who discovered that the feed from the main street junction wasn't working. Now I had dial tone, but no broadband, which is why I got the phone in the first place. That took another 5 phone calls and a visit from the only competent person available. After 3 weeks and a lot of aggravation, I have a phone and broadband.
Then it was the electrician. My oven went haywire and kept tripping the 15 amp breaker. I called the electrician as I thought that the breaker was the problem at first. He discovered that it was the oven, but his solution was to install a 20 amp breaker. I had to point out to him the purpose of a breaker in the first place which is to prevent the house from burning down. He was amazed.
One of the fan remote controls broke down after not even 3 weeks. He claimed that it was not warrantied and that the store would not exchange it. Needless to say, they agreed to do the exchange after I talked to them.
Amal's mother Manil is in the hospital awaiting surgery, so I have been visiting her daily. The other day, I have the tuktuk guy drop me off. After a few hours, I phone him to come and get me. I even have Avanti talk to him so that he is clear. I guess not. Instead of coming to the hospital, he went to Gunfire. Then his phone wasn't working. We finally tracked him down in front of the gate at Gunfire and told him to come the hospital. He comes, doesn't contact me and leaves and goes back to Gunfire. He is like a homing pigeon, except the pigeon has more brains. Finally, at 8:00 at night he makes his way to the hospital. By this time I have been there more than 8 hours and now it is monsooning like there is no tomorrow. I was a wet and unhappy camper by the time I got home.
Today I was supposed to receive my live in maid and go up to the estate with my partner Jez. He is incommunicado, so the whole day is shot. At least I managed to update this blog, get my airport express working and snuggle with my cat.
So that is life here. Frustrating but at least it is warm and sunny today and most days. The other night there was the most spectacular sun set. My bedroom faces due west overlooking a high hill covered in fabulous vegetation. The top of the ridge was flaming red and orange and then changed to a deep shade of aubergine. Fantastic! Makes it all worthwhile.
I need to set up something like this. I could make a fortune. Every tradesman that comes to the house has no idea. Case in point. Sri Lanka Telecom sent out a crew to install the phone line. They are a private contractor that handles the installs called USS Engineering. God only knows what they engineer. Chaos, I think.
5 people show up. Of those, only 2 are working. Really only 1, as the other guy is the supervisor. Their plan is to run yards of wire from a junction box over an outside wall, through some louvers and over an inside wall. First I tell them they can't do that without casing. So, they go off to get casing. Stupid me, I presumed they had measured the distance. Apparently not, as they came back with enough casing to do about 1/3 of the job. Then it turned out they did not even have a measuring tape to measure the distance. I measured the distance for them, but in doing so, I realized that they only had to run the wire a couple of feet and drill the wall to slip the wire through. So, then they had no drill. By this time, I wanted to kill them. I was on to their head office in Colombo. Their solution was to have them come back the next day. No way was I going to let them go without a connection being made. If they leave, you are not so sure you will ever see them again.
So they strung yards of wire and lo and behold, they did turn up the next day to drill the wall. But now, they brought a 3" drill when even the Colombo guys admitted that a standard Sri Lankan house wall is 9". Now their plan was to drill from one side and then drill from the other side and hook up the holes. Fat chance. 3+3 still makes 6 not 9. Add to that fact that, as I pointed out to the genius in Colombo, these houses are not built like the pyramids. They are not square, symmetrical or anything else. They would have succeeded in drilling any number of holes in the wall and no success. Now, I had to give them the number of a hardware store to discover if they had a 9" drill. They did, so off they went to get it. They come back with a 9" drill, but not 9 useable inches. No-one has accounted for the fact that the drill bit has to seat in the drill and therefore you lose 2". Back to plan A of trying to drill from both sides. You can imagine how I reacted to that.
So I got them to drill as far as the drill would go. Then I made them take the bit out. Of course, they have no tool belt. At least I discovered what one of the 5 workers is supposed to do. He gets everything they need one at a time out of the truck and throws it to the guy who is working. When I say one at time, I mean it. If they need 2 screws, this guy gets 1 and throws and anudder one, and anudder one, etc. You get the picture. So after a trip to get the lug to open the drill mouth, and another to get the hammer, we had a hole through the wall. Then the connection was made. Now it is time to put on the junction box on the inside. Their plan is to put it beside the big hole they have drilled not over it. So I point out that they need to cover the hole with the box. So now they try to stick the box on instead of screwing it to the wall. I point out they have to secure the box. They try to fit one screw which, of course, does not work as the wall is made of brick and plaster and needs a wall plug. Back to the one at a time supply dude. After 4 trips to the truck for supplies, we have 2 wall plugs and 2 screws. However, it is not clear to these guys that you cannot line up both screw holes if one of the screws is fully tight. Now I have to unscrew one screw and show them how to do it.
I won't even go into the fact that they are running a drill off a 220 volt plug using only bare wires and no ground. No tool belt, not even closed toed shoes, let along steel toed. They all wear rubber flip flops or bare feet.
However, no dial tone. That took innumerable phone calls, a trip to Sri Lanka Telecom in Kandy, more phone calls to the Director of the Central Region for Telecom and a visit from a crew who discovered that the feed from the main street junction wasn't working. Now I had dial tone, but no broadband, which is why I got the phone in the first place. That took another 5 phone calls and a visit from the only competent person available. After 3 weeks and a lot of aggravation, I have a phone and broadband.
Then it was the electrician. My oven went haywire and kept tripping the 15 amp breaker. I called the electrician as I thought that the breaker was the problem at first. He discovered that it was the oven, but his solution was to install a 20 amp breaker. I had to point out to him the purpose of a breaker in the first place which is to prevent the house from burning down. He was amazed.
One of the fan remote controls broke down after not even 3 weeks. He claimed that it was not warrantied and that the store would not exchange it. Needless to say, they agreed to do the exchange after I talked to them.
Amal's mother Manil is in the hospital awaiting surgery, so I have been visiting her daily. The other day, I have the tuktuk guy drop me off. After a few hours, I phone him to come and get me. I even have Avanti talk to him so that he is clear. I guess not. Instead of coming to the hospital, he went to Gunfire. Then his phone wasn't working. We finally tracked him down in front of the gate at Gunfire and told him to come the hospital. He comes, doesn't contact me and leaves and goes back to Gunfire. He is like a homing pigeon, except the pigeon has more brains. Finally, at 8:00 at night he makes his way to the hospital. By this time I have been there more than 8 hours and now it is monsooning like there is no tomorrow. I was a wet and unhappy camper by the time I got home.
Today I was supposed to receive my live in maid and go up to the estate with my partner Jez. He is incommunicado, so the whole day is shot. At least I managed to update this blog, get my airport express working and snuggle with my cat.
So that is life here. Frustrating but at least it is warm and sunny today and most days. The other night there was the most spectacular sun set. My bedroom faces due west overlooking a high hill covered in fabulous vegetation. The top of the ridge was flaming red and orange and then changed to a deep shade of aubergine. Fantastic! Makes it all worthwhile.
Monday, 11 February 2013
February 11, 2013
I am sitting on the rooftop of my wonderful hotel in Colombo overlooking the Indian Ocean sipping on a double espresso. Rather surreal after what I did earlier this morning.
This morning, it was immigration bedlam. I went to get my visa renewed. Thank god I went with someone. Without him, I wouldn't even have found the entrance. You enter through what looks like a hawker centre. For those unfamiliar with Singapore, a hawker centre is a place where they sell food. Good thing too, as it normally takes all day to get a visa. Long story short, I only got a 1 month extension. So now it's back to plan A which is to get a letter from a cabinet minister sponsoring me and/or some other fast footwork. My partner Jez, who I call my Sri LanCAN (as opposed to Sri LanCAN'T) says not to worry. That we will work something out. He is usually true to his word. So between him and Devaraj I should be OK. A bit of a hassle though.
Now I just have to chill and enjoy this nice place. I book my hotels through Agoda which is an online hotel discount provider. I book into this rather old place called the Pearl City but every time I get upgraded to their brand new sister hotel called the Pearl Grand. Not bad for US$47/night.
This morning, it was immigration bedlam. I went to get my visa renewed. Thank god I went with someone. Without him, I wouldn't even have found the entrance. You enter through what looks like a hawker centre. For those unfamiliar with Singapore, a hawker centre is a place where they sell food. Good thing too, as it normally takes all day to get a visa. Long story short, I only got a 1 month extension. So now it's back to plan A which is to get a letter from a cabinet minister sponsoring me and/or some other fast footwork. My partner Jez, who I call my Sri LanCAN (as opposed to Sri LanCAN'T) says not to worry. That we will work something out. He is usually true to his word. So between him and Devaraj I should be OK. A bit of a hassle though.
Now I just have to chill and enjoy this nice place. I book my hotels through Agoda which is an online hotel discount provider. I book into this rather old place called the Pearl City but every time I get upgraded to their brand new sister hotel called the Pearl Grand. Not bad for US$47/night.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
February 10, 2013
There is some time to blog this morning before I start getting ready to go to Colombo to get my visa renewed. I am going for the 12 month residence visa. Wish me luck.
My little Dharma is great. It seems that her starved system is finally getting used to regular food. At first, I thought I had to rename her Farting Dharma instead of Smiling Dharma. He body was not used to digesting all the food. You could have set up an effective biogas plant from her emissions. How a little cat like could eat and fart so much is beyond me. However, now she seems to have settled down. She still eats lots, but at least she is less smelly.
I was woken up this morning by something playing tag on my roof. I think it was too big for squirrels. Maybe bandy coots or polecats. This is what they look like:
All you ferret fans will love that. They are a lot bigger than ferrets however.
The other day when we were out at Moorock we saw a squirrel that is huge. They apparently eat the coconuts. I didn't really see it, just the impact it made when jumping from tree to tree. So now Jez wants to get Amal to buy a shotgun to shoot the things with. I am sure that there is no way Amal, a devout Buddhist, will go for that. We may have our first religious conflict brewing.
The fur/claw day went well. They had to cut my hair really short as my last hair cut was so bad, they could not blend it without cutting it. Now I look like a boy with long nails. Oh well, it is only hair. It will grow.
The good news is that we got to talking about the coconut beauty products and they can hardly wait to put them into the salon. That is great as this is part of a group of salons and a beauty school that has a good reputation with high end clients.
The maid came and cooked and cleaned for a day. It was nice to have a clean house. She is coming on Monday and Tuesday to look after Dharma while I am in Colombo. The only problem was that I had her make up some roti that I had had in the fridge for a while. It was bad, so I got nice and sick. So no food for a day. Even yesterday, I couldn't eat much. Great diet plan.
Went to the railway station to pick up my ticket to Colombo. I am standing in the queue for 15 minutes when 2 sets of people jumped the queue. I lost it. Started yelling at them to get to the back of the line. It was surprising that no-one else started shouting. Normally, people will not tolerate queue jumpers. I think it was because there were 3 rural women at the front of the line and they were either too shy or didn't know what they were doing.
The first stage of the granite counter top was finished yesterday. The plywood was fitted. Of course, they show up unannounced. Lucky thing I got home just then from my trip to Arpico, a girl's best friend.
Thursday, 7 February 2013
February 7, 2013
I have trying to post something since February 3, but have been too busy to get anything up.
The first thing that kept me occupied is that I got the dog that I was supposed to look after for a few months. Well, that lasted exactly 2 1/2 days. Her name is Bo, but I renamed her the hound from hell. She is young, only 3 1/2 months old and I think she just missed her pack. She went crazy. There was not 1 hour that she did not get up to something. I would take her outside to do her business. She wouldn't go. Then when I brought her back in, she would pee and poop inside. If I left her outside, which I can do as the yard is fully fenced, she would dig up the whole yard. If I locked her out of some rooms, she would either pee or poop to show her displeasure. Dharma, the cat was also terrified to her, even though all she wanted to do with the cat was play. So Dharma could not get outside to do her thing and was using the indoor garden room as her big litter box. After 2 days, I called her owner to say he would have to take her back. I was almost in tears and could not get anything else done. All I was doing was yelling at her which also made me feel bad.
So, she went with Jez and is now happily living in Gampola. He says she is fine and must have just been missing all of them.
After Bo left, the gardener came and put my garden in order. He pruned the mango tree so that it looks great now. He made it into a perfect ball. He brought a bunch of plant cuttings with him. Coleus and some other things that I don't know the name of. He works at the Peradiniya Botanical Gardens and therefore has access to a lot of plants. We went out and bought bougainvillea to run up the wall and fence, palms to shield the garden from the driveway and have bamboo and some cascading stuff coming to block out the neighbors and cover another wall. He also cut and weeded the grass, so now things look really good.
I put up curtain rods on all the windows and bought 53 yards of mosquito netting to make sheers from the netting. They will look good and serve the dual purpose of keeping the mosquitos out. I just have to find someone to sew the netting.
The coconut project has really gotten underway. Jez and I went out to Moorock yesterday and walked some 15 acres where we are going to starting intercropping. We will have 5 acres each in banana, papaya and pineapple. We are starting this 15 acres out as organic so that the intercrop will be organically grown from the outset. Then we will slowly convert the rest of the 77 acres.
We also reexamined the site for the oil and beauty products plant and gave Chuminda, the plantation manager instructions as to what to do. He does not move very quickly, so we will have to keep on him to make sure things are done.
We have also found a small ceramics plant that can make our cheese pots, vinegar bottles, and beauty products containers for us. Yes, we are making goats milk cheese and will start to make coconut vinegar as well. We should be seeing some money coming in by June or July.
We used my car to go up to the plantation. It runs great. Just a couple of things that have to be adjusted. It idles too low and keeps stalling out, the AC belt is squeaking and it needs seat belts that work. So it has gone back to Gampola with Jez to have that done. He thinks I should be driving myself in town at least. I think I need a GPS as I have no clue where I am going. I will look for one in Colombo when I go down on Sunday to hopefully get my 12 month visa.
That is the update. I am off for fur/claw in Kandy today. I hope this will do it. I don't want to go down to Colombo once a month just to have my hair and nails done.
The first thing that kept me occupied is that I got the dog that I was supposed to look after for a few months. Well, that lasted exactly 2 1/2 days. Her name is Bo, but I renamed her the hound from hell. She is young, only 3 1/2 months old and I think she just missed her pack. She went crazy. There was not 1 hour that she did not get up to something. I would take her outside to do her business. She wouldn't go. Then when I brought her back in, she would pee and poop inside. If I left her outside, which I can do as the yard is fully fenced, she would dig up the whole yard. If I locked her out of some rooms, she would either pee or poop to show her displeasure. Dharma, the cat was also terrified to her, even though all she wanted to do with the cat was play. So Dharma could not get outside to do her thing and was using the indoor garden room as her big litter box. After 2 days, I called her owner to say he would have to take her back. I was almost in tears and could not get anything else done. All I was doing was yelling at her which also made me feel bad.
So, she went with Jez and is now happily living in Gampola. He says she is fine and must have just been missing all of them.
After Bo left, the gardener came and put my garden in order. He pruned the mango tree so that it looks great now. He made it into a perfect ball. He brought a bunch of plant cuttings with him. Coleus and some other things that I don't know the name of. He works at the Peradiniya Botanical Gardens and therefore has access to a lot of plants. We went out and bought bougainvillea to run up the wall and fence, palms to shield the garden from the driveway and have bamboo and some cascading stuff coming to block out the neighbors and cover another wall. He also cut and weeded the grass, so now things look really good.
I put up curtain rods on all the windows and bought 53 yards of mosquito netting to make sheers from the netting. They will look good and serve the dual purpose of keeping the mosquitos out. I just have to find someone to sew the netting.
The coconut project has really gotten underway. Jez and I went out to Moorock yesterday and walked some 15 acres where we are going to starting intercropping. We will have 5 acres each in banana, papaya and pineapple. We are starting this 15 acres out as organic so that the intercrop will be organically grown from the outset. Then we will slowly convert the rest of the 77 acres.
We also reexamined the site for the oil and beauty products plant and gave Chuminda, the plantation manager instructions as to what to do. He does not move very quickly, so we will have to keep on him to make sure things are done.
We have also found a small ceramics plant that can make our cheese pots, vinegar bottles, and beauty products containers for us. Yes, we are making goats milk cheese and will start to make coconut vinegar as well. We should be seeing some money coming in by June or July.
We used my car to go up to the plantation. It runs great. Just a couple of things that have to be adjusted. It idles too low and keeps stalling out, the AC belt is squeaking and it needs seat belts that work. So it has gone back to Gampola with Jez to have that done. He thinks I should be driving myself in town at least. I think I need a GPS as I have no clue where I am going. I will look for one in Colombo when I go down on Sunday to hopefully get my 12 month visa.
That is the update. I am off for fur/claw in Kandy today. I hope this will do it. I don't want to go down to Colombo once a month just to have my hair and nails done.
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