Sri Lanka Days: November 2004 Thanksgiving at the Beach

We had a really nice Thanksgiving at the house of Cheryl and Jehan, plus
Jason, their 22 year old son, all lived in San Francisco and the Oakland
Hills until they moved to Sri Lanka 15 years ago (Jehan is originally from
here, though he grew up in New Jersey). Pete brings them Peet’s coffee
from Berkeley which they love. They had 16 people including children, some
relatives and some friends Lynn who works for the Int’l Red Cross
evaluating prison conditions, Anne a retired Scots headmistress now
teaching in the International School, 2 or 3 cousins and their spouses and
4 children. I bought the turkey from the American Embassy Commissary where
I have coveted privileges, 16 lbs, $3.25 a pound held up in customs due
to bird flu. But Jehan cooked the meal totally traditional except one of
the 3 stuffings was made with Jackfruit- otherwise just like home- mashed
potatoes, apple and pumpkin pies, gravy and a juicy turkey. Pete made his
guacamole, and 15 minutes after we arrived the power went out socialized
by candlelight, but (alas) half an hour later the power resumed.

Zoe was great, everyone cooed over her, and she now coos back and makes eye
contact. Her middle name of Ceylon makes her very popular among all we
meet. After dinner at about 11pm, we got into Pete’s office van loaded
with baby gear and a bike and driven by
the office driver, Charles, and drove 3 hours down to Cheryl and Jehan’s
beach house, arriving at 2AM. On the way we couldn’t see
much in the dark, but every once in a while going through a small town we
would come across a giant Buddha statue by the road, or a procession for
Poya Day, the Buddhist full moon festival fire dancers and women in
costumes, even a trumpet player in a temple with people dancing! This at
1:00am, very surreal. Went to bed, our
hosts arrived at 3am after having 2 flat tires in their Mercedes on the
way.

The next morning we awoke to a full breakfast prepared by their
wonderful cook, Gamini, who took care of us the rest of the weekend. The
house is open air in the living room spaces, looking out onto a lovely
garden and the sea just beyond their wall. I took advantage of the
quintessential hammock strung between 2 coconut palms with a view of the
sky this is the life! Every morning we got up early, went to the beach
around 9 or 10 and did some excellent snorkeling on a reef just off the
beach, lots of fish and some good corals. Zoe slept in her chair a bit, and
we dipped her in the sea for a short time which fascinated her. The sun was
hot, so we left by noon every day, coming home to refreshing lime sodas,
lunch, then evening cocktails. At sunset swarms of tiny bats and fireflies
appeared. Gamini cooked Sri Lankan meals of fresh fish and interesting
vegetables each night. Jehan is closing his clothing factory of 1200
workers due to the upcoming end of quotas. They sewed garments for
Bloomingdales among others, he has run it for 12 years but he says his
worker’s monthly $57 cannot compete with China’s $24.

We drove back on Sunday and I was able to see the country, very lush and
beautiful, no highways only a 2 lane road making passing treacherous, but
the towns were very attractive, so much vegetation, and no high rise
buildings at all. Stalls selling the ubiquitous king coconut and bananas
all along the road, and some towns with fresh fish stalls with mullet,
sardines, snapper and occasionally yellowfin tunas. Next time we’ll bring a
cooler!
Emily and Zoe relax at the beach house.