Well, it turns out that Gilly is a boy. He ran away after the first day. I found him having a fight with Baby under my landlady’s concrete overhang, covered in poop. He ran off over the neighbor’s roof. My maids found him on their way to the bus stop and brought him back after a day and a half. I locked him up in his room again and then he escaped out the window. Before you think I am negligent in leaving the window open, it is a fixed louvered set up and I was shocked that he could squeeze through. Since then he has come back once and spent the day snuggling with me. Then he was off in the night. My landlady said she saw him around her place a day or two ago just sitting there watching her. I have had no sign. I am sure someone is feeding him and he is safe, but I wish he would come home.
It is interesting how the news cycle works. I have been following Associated Press every morning since before the bombings here. Sri Lanka is now completely off their radar.
Things are slowly going back to normal here, although tourism is devastated and will take many years to recover. At least two 3 star hotels have been closed here and everywhere is virtually empty. Apparently tourists have dropped by 86%. I don’t think that anyone will rest really easy until after Vesak which is on May 18. It is usually a major Buddhist festival celebrating the 3 important life stages of the Buddha; birth, enlightenment and death. Usually people hang elaborate lanterns and the place is lit up just like we would do a Christmas. Everything has been cancelled this year.
I was feeling uncertain for about a week or so. There were arrests quite close to where I live and the police were checking every Muslim household. I have Muslim neighbors directly beside me and others 2 doors down, so it was a bit unsettling. However, my classes resumed this last week and although there is a heightened police and military presence, things a slowly normalizing . Only the upper schools are back with the primary schools scheduled to go back this coming week. Most parents have been keeping their children home regardless and likely will not send them back to school until after Vesak.
I have been busy this last week helping one of my students edit her MBA thesis. It has turned into a total rewrite which means delving into the field of statistics which I find overly complicated and boring. Oh well, it never hurts to learn something new.
