I made another curry!  I should probably re-title this blog, "Culinary Expeditions of a Fulbrighter in Sri Lanka."  This time, it was a chicken curry with cinnamon sticks and cardamom in addition to the roasted curry powder, turmeric, and curry leaves.  Amazingly, it was even more delicious than the first curry.  For dessert I mashed up some microwaved butternut squash with butter and salt.  And for second dessert, an orange.  I make do with what I have. 

I have rediscovered curd, and it is better than ever.  I'm not sure how curd is made, but it's a dairy product similar in taste and texture to Greek yogurt.  Paired with kithul treacle (a syrupy product of the kithul tree), curd is exceptionally delightful.  Unfortunately, my fridge is broken.  It's not nearly as cold in there as it should be, so all my dairy and meat products are going in the slightly colder freezer.  With my big tub of melted strawberry ice cream.  Breaks my heart.

In other news, I made a friend(!) in my Sinhala conversation class and she invited me to an exercise class in the park.  So on my day off of dance, I dragged my exhausted backside to the park dreading the exercise but hoping to make more friends.  By the end of the class, my red Mathnasium t-shirt was drenched (shout-out!) but I had some new potential friend material.  I feel like a wild Sri Lankan leopard stalking my friend-prey and waiting a socially acceptable amount of time to pounce on the opportunity for a coffee date. 

I'm keeping busy enough to keep from being homesick most of the time.  However, there are some aspects of life here that get to me at times.  Like tiny biting ants all over everything in my apartment.  Or tuk tuk drivers who can't get a hint that I'm not in a talking kind of mood.  Or being sweaty all. the. time.  But despite these inconveniences, this place is starting to feel like home.

Triumph of the month:  I made curry.  And it was delicious.  Today I shelled out for a $30 cookbook, but I needed help, and badly.  In it I found a recipe for a cauliflower, cashew, and green pea curry that looked doable.  So off I went to the supermarket, where the exceedingly helpful staff marveled at the fact that I was about to make something quite possibly edible.  I had to find such ingredients as coconut milk powder and karapincha, which are fresh Sri Lankan curry leaves.  The cashews got a bit toasty and I can't say that no cookware was harmed in the process, but I came out with a delicious meal and leftovers for days.  (But not too many days.  Thanks for that lesson, lasagna.)

I am still incredibly sore.  The entire Kandyan dance technique is based upon one position called the mandiya.  This is a turned out, very deep second position plié.  In other words, you stand with your feet far apart and turned out and then bend the knees at a 90 degree angle.  I'm getting quite the quad workout, to say the least.  We also work out our abs, arms, backs, faces, and eyebrows.  I'm especially good at the eyebrows. 

I had the opportunity to take a private ballet class last weekend with Niloufer Pieris, a Sri Lankan woman who was the first Asian to join the Royal Ballet.  She noted that I had good training and lamented the fact that there is no good ballet to be seen in Sri Lanka.  Having studied Kandyan dance as well as ballet, she had some fascinating opinions and projects in the works. I certainly hope to spend more time with her. 

Living alone in a different country can be very lonely at times, but I've been making a few friends.  By chance, I met the entire American embassy staff at Sri Lankan Oktoberfest.  I had tea with an artist from New York living in Colombo who is helping me figure out how to cook.  I just dropped by for a glass of wine with my neighbor, a beautiful but eccentric Austrian woman who used to be a flight attendant.  It's easy to relate to foreigners but it's more difficult to make friends with the locals, who aren't necessarily looking for a giant, clueless, American friend.   I can only hope that someone will find me endearing.  At least I could make them some curry.

I made this!

A temple on a lake in the heart of Colombo

 

I haven't been this sore in a while, and I feel great.  Yesterday was my first class at Chitrasena School, which just happened to be a fitness/conditioning class.  It may be a sign you're out of shape when the first thing the teacher says to you after class is, "Are you okay?"  It was difficult to physically keep up with the other students (all college-aged), especially because of the climate.  Today's 1.5 hour private lesson was a bit lighter on the cardio and more focused on basic dance exercises.  Many of the warmup exercises were influenced by ballet; We did movements comparable to plies, releves, and rond de jambs (for you dance folks).  Both yesterday's and today's classes incorporated yoga and floor exercises.  If I don't have a sixpack when I get back, I'll be a monkey's uncle.  I have the day off tomorrow, but Thursday I have a private class in the morning and then a group class in the afternoon.  With nine year olds.  I sincerely hope I'll be able to keep up.

 

I enrolled myself in a Sinhala conversation class, the first of which was tonight.  It was great to practice my Sinhala and review what I learned this summer.  Plus, there's endless milk tea.  I'm also hoping to take private lessons to learn some dance vocabulary, among other things. 

 

Other tidbits:  I miserably failed at making stir fry last night.  A cockroach showed up in my apartment for the first time but I was too scared to squish him so I just let him be.  I can only assume he scuttled back into the hellish abyss from whence he came.  I've found a vegetable guy and a fruit lady and made friends with the mechanics at the garage in my neighborhood.  Now it's time to wind down by watching CNN and eating my nightly orange.  Who knows, maybe I'll even cross stitch.  

       

It's been a week now since I arrived in Sri Lanka, and for the most part things are swell.  After a brief stay in a quaint guest house I moved into my apartment in Nawala, a neighborhood south of the heart of Colombo.  I'm in the lap of luxury here with Wi-Fi, hot water, and a delightfully pink mosquito net.   The apartment sits atop the home of my landlords, who I'm sure are growing weary of coming upstairs to show me how to turn on the oven or use the TV.  I still can't figure out the microwave, but I've limited myself to at most two technical revelations per day for sake of my landlords' sanity.

Indeed, my most profound questions so far have all started with, "How do I _____?"  For example, how do I cook here?  Many of my dietary staples in the States are either very expensive or unavailable. Because I'm not sure what to do with what ingredients are available, each shopping trip results in a rather eclectic assortment of goods.  The supermarket workers are kind and helpful, but they must wonder what I'm going to cook with eggplant, grapes, and pineapple jam.

Alongside learning the basics of living on the opposite side of the world, I'm diving right into my research.  Tomorrow I begin Kandyan dance lessons at the Chitrasena school.  Chitrasena is the most famous professional dance company in Sri Lanka, and many would say it's the best.  My first class is an hour-and-a-half private lesson with their principal dancer.  Holy moly, to say the least.  That said, I'd better switch off the Sri Lankan version of "Dancing With the Stars" and climb underneath my pretty pink mosquito net into bed.