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.