Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Okay okay, so looks like I went a little squirlly with the last post...

Hey look it's a baby dressed like Hitler, awww how cute in a disturbing sort of way. Anyway mediate on that for a while, later!
(quickly runs for the door and on the waiting escape vehicle).

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A bit more serious today...

For the most part the posts of the past couple of months have been fairly fun and actually quite pleasant for the most part. Though after being in Sri Lanka for all this time, I think I've finally come to the point where some things are a bit 'indigestible' for me. A lot of it has to do with politics (sigh, what doesn't these days), and more so the lost potential of a nation as well as the belittling it receives at the 'well-meaning' first world countries. Of course there is a lot more than just that, the attitude of common people and how easily they are mislead in the simplest means sometimes (this is a problem everywhere). It has come to a point that I need to vent a little or I might explode in a cascade of assaulting verbal diarrhea on the next hapless person to ask 'how's your day going?'.

I guess I should explain a little about how it came to this point, I've been doing a lot of reading mostly for my own interest and as well to gain an understanding of this country and the habits of people. As well I've been studying history (always a dangerous area to venture) to see how things got the way they are, and if any patterns emerge. Though one thing has shown itself to be quite clear - interference of foreign powers for their own self interest.

The reason this frustrates me is that most people in the west (believe me growing up in Canada I know the attitude more than I care to admit) have this self satisfying image of themselves as the champions of democracy, selflessly going to other countries bringing peace hope and the word of god (well, not the last part so much anymore - I need another time to rant about that particular topic). People seem to think that when countries like Canada give aid, it is like giving food to the needy or, lending a friend a helping hand. I appreciate that it is a noble sentiment but the amount of damage foreign countries do - and continue to inflict leaves me in a rage sometimes. It is only through the efforts of local activists that harmful policies are rejected, I shall give a few examples of the 'generous' support given internationally.

The WB (World Bank) decided that Sri Lanka should increase exportable goods, and recommended converting vast fields of paddy (rice fields) to grow gherkins... yes gherkins. Rice is a basic staple of the local populace but the WB said it was an inefficient use of land "it would be more productive and lucrative to the farmers to grow gherkins for export". Actually they are probably right in that regard except that they are looking at the extreme short term, fortunately local community groups realized this and strongly opposed the plan, encouraging local farmers to keep growing rice.
Then the world hit a food shortage... the price of food is going up everywhere, Canada, Sri Lanka, I mean everywhere, especially when it comes to imported goods. Now, if Sri Lanka had fully initiated the WB plan we would have a wondrous supply of gherkins for export, though would have to import most of the rice people required for daily sustenance.

This isn't the only area where WB influence has caused harm, they are pressuring the Sri Lankan government to privatize the education system. Currently all levels of education in Sri Lanka is free - yes, even university. There are some problems and competition is fierce but if someone has absolutely no money but wants to study... the opportunity is there, no need for student loans or having parents save for years just to receive education. There was a network of community schools in remote areas which gave the country one of the highest literacy rates in the world at 95.7%. With the move to privatization so far 700 local community schools have been closed forcing students to travel long distances and making education inaccessible for some.

I know that some people honestly try to help but it is just so misguided that one wants to scream, and trying to convince people of how they are hurting a country by introducing half-baked or ill-conceived methods is met with some amazingly stubborn ignorance and denial. I really should devote a more thought out post for this topic but haven't had the patience to wait while the frustration continued to build on a daily basis with every person I talked to and fact I learnt. Probably what is really scary is that the west is forcing Sri Lanka to make the same mistakes they did in regards to industry, the environment and social policies. For example there are species dying across north America with wildlife habitat reducing at a steady rate. Sri Lanka has devoted one of the greatest percentages of it's land mass to national parks, even since the times of ancient kings 2500 years ago wilderness was considered precious and vital to the survival of the people entrusted as 'guardians' of the land, not owners. It was custom for farmers to always leave one section of their fields to grow freely for birds and local wildlife to use, that practice was discouraged as an 'inefficient use of land' by the WB.

There shouldn't even be a food problem in Sri Lanka either, fruit trees grow on the side of the road like weeds - WEEDS! Coming from a place where you couldn't grow anything for 6 months of the year and even then the climate and conditions allowed only a select number of viable crops - it's pretty freaking amazing.

What I find hilarious is the fact that people in Sri Lanka can lead the type of life that westerners dream about. Warm climate fresh foods and friendly people, having the option of taking it easy or working hard depending on the day. Then people in Sri Lanka wan the type of life glamorized in the west, surrounded by glitz and glamor, driving expensive cars, with high-tech electronics and modern conveniences. Actually both images don't take into account a lot of problems associated with the lifestyle choices, but trying to convince people of the reality is always a challenge.

What really bugs me, I now realize is that the west is trying to export a broken system to Sri Lanka and the rest of the world. If you don't believe it is broken, then I have some excellent sub-prime mortgages to sell ya!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Alas no photos...
Well, maybe one... though it has nothing to do with what I want to write about. The photo is a antique reminder of my ancestors liquor merchant heritage, it's probably about 100 years old. So now it is used as a prep table for cooking. As a side note the family is now mostly vegetarian and don't drink, funny how generations change.

Though to start writing about what I was to write about... of course now I completely forget. It was pretty important too, hmm. Oh well, since last post been working hard at the Daily Mirror, a local English language newspaper with their own nifty website. I get the privilege of updating the site and authorizing comments of the 'special' people who comprise most of the Internets' denizens.

However, also get access to the breaking news and all the news that doesn't get in pretty fun. As well have the opportunity to write for the paper, so while the routine stuff is kinda boring, the people and potential are pretty swell... I think some of them may even have this blog site address... Uhm the people at the Daily mirror are the most wonderful fantastic beings to grace the earth! Okay that was a bit too much, anyway my other projects are slowly progressing. Still working on websites and trying to find a decent server in Sri Lanka to host the sites, either they are affordable but highly questionable or ridiculously overpriced.

Another thing I noticed is this facination with having photo's on the internet, while designing the sites, the clients would want an absurd about of photos that didn't really relate to the subject of the site. It actually took a bit of convincing to show that having that many pictures on a website is really unprofessional (unless it's a porn site - was tempted but didn't say that to the client).

Getting the hang of getting around and other stuff, though in truth haven't done too much the past couple of weeks. Perhaps the 6 day work weeks are getting to me, but my English class is a lot of fun. Started to try more serious work to get them thinking with English words instead of just a conversation class. Though I think what keeps the students interested is that the class is a lot of fun, one said that she always laughed so hard from class that her face hurt when they went home... I think that's a compliment.

Well, that's about it for now, time to get back to work or at least what seems like work ;) To all a good night!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Feeling a bit like James Bond...



Well now it's official, I am a Dual citizen of Sri Lanka and Canada. Recieved passport in the mail the other day and boy is it nifty, with nearly 3 times as many pages as my Canadian one. It feels kind of cool to be able to travel on 2 different docs, though how wise that would be... is debatable. There are a few interesting things though, with the Sri Lankan passport I can visit a few other countries (such as India) without a visa though still it is a lot easier to get around on the Canadian one.

Hmm, let's see what else... been trying to take a few more pictures for the blog though it's getting more difficult with time in short supply and a excess of security in the scenic areas. Though occasionally find a nifty shot to take. Above is the 'Green Path' that runs through Viharamahadevi park in Colombo, it's next to the National Art Gallery as well so quite a few 'Artists' set up shop along the road to sell paintings. I say 'artists' because I'm not sure how much of what they paint is meant as expression versus as a means to sell, that is something I've always wondered about. If something is created purely for monetary gain with no thought behind it what so ever... is it still art? Meh, probably, after all it is 'in the eye of the beholder' that appreciation for the art is found.

Been a little busy working on a website for my Aunt's Union, had the site launch last Saturday and it was an akward experience. Firstly I'm not exactly experience building a lot of site... in fact only 2 and they were incomplete half-hearted attempts made with the built in web tools. So this time fired up Dreamweaver with all sorts of nifty photo editing plugins like Fireworks and got to work. I was surprised I could actually design somthing half-way decent but still not too happy with the result. Another problem is finding a reliable hosting service in Sri Lanka, looking on the web I found a couple that seemed reliable until I phoned them up to ask more questions. So for the demo I had to create a subdomain on my own site and show off the few pages I had done. Actually for a first serious attempt it's not too bad, though realize it will need a lot more work to properly represent the All Ceylon Union of Teachers or ACUT. I have other comments I could make about the nature and frustration in getting proper material for the site, but not wanting to say anything negative I'll just say it was an interesting and almost typical experience of Sri Lanka.


Though now I don't have an excuse to miss future posts, I have internet! A cool USB doohicky that provides 3G services (wide area Wi-Fi) so I can be blogg'n on the road or other places... I begin to debate the wisdom of writing on this subject, oh well. Anyway the device is definately a god send which is what allowed me to finally finish the above mentioned website on time - trying to build a website without internet access is like trying to drive a car without tires.

Hmm, I suppose I should explain how I got my hands on such a wonderful little gadget but I'll have to save that for another post, until then my friends. (hey that rhymed!)

Monday, October 06, 2008

Ouch, been a while

Sigh after what seemed like a regular interval of updating the posts kinda lagged there, not that I don't have quite a bit of material to use (in fact maybe too much) but slow to non-existant internet and an involvement in a variety of side projects has kept me from this pleasant past-time. So today I'll show that I haven't bummed around the whole time in Sri Lanka since my last post (though there was a bit of that too;). Below are a few pictures I managed to take but they really didn't have much place in an opinionated piece so they were just sitting on the hard drive gathering electronic dust, anyway for your enjoyment some random photos of things with a brief caption if I have the engery :)


The above picture is the road outside my house, in the community of Rajagiria Udyanaya (as well I am a figure head president of the community association by an odd series of events to relate at a later time).

On the west coast in Colombo (the urban hub of Sri Lanka), this was the day I managed to see the beach for the first time... though wasn't much beach, mostly rocks and trains. The day was a bit overcast as well but just felt the need to see the ocean and feel the salt in the air.

Now the above picture is a favourite simply because it was taken quite by chance as I was walking home, happened to look up and saw this sight... and it wasn't some exotic location, just about 30 feet from my house.

A water monitor just off a bridge close to parliment grounds, the parliment area is quite scenic but as it is considered a High Security Zone (HSZ) pictures aren't supposed to be taken... fortunately being a clueless tourist serves well to avoid any 'inconveniences'

Another pic near parliment grounds, pretty self explanatory - a buddhist temple with standing statue... or it could be an advertising thing...

That's about all I have the patience to upload right now, wish I had taken more pictures recently but sometimes it's good to not draw attention to oneself (I do that enough already ;). Anyway if I get a chance will update later with some photo and comments or if you're really luck a full length blog entry.
Ah, I do have another excuse for not being able to update in the future but that in itself is another post away... oh well. Take care all