December 1, 2004 New Life in Colombo

In Colombo I mostly run around doing errands to
bring the house up to snuff. Bought a new refrigerator and a full size
dryer, since the air is so moist and it usually rains every afternoon, line
drying clothes is not practical. And because it is so humid, you must wash
your clothes more often. Tonight we let our housekeeper go which was a bit
painful but necessary, after a month here it was clear that we/I need a
live-in cook more than anything, since I find it hard to cook what I know,
and I don’t have time to figure out the local cuisine. So we have lined up
a cook/nanny from another American family who is leaving 12/13. She will
live-in, allowing us some flexibility of leaving Zoe at home rather than
having me schlep her from place to place which gets to be hard going as she
gets heavier, and interrupts precious nap time for her. She is also an
excellent cook of both Sri Lankan and Western food. Tomorrow I start the
hunt for a live-out maid to take care of laundry, ironing, and mopping
floors. We have a very good driver who takes me everywhere, and helps me
figure out handyman things around the house. We will sell our ’87
Mitsubishi Wagon in February when we get a ’93 Mitsubishi Galant Sedan
instead, from a departing Embassy couple ­ this will be more comfortable
for us, and with the time we spend in the car this is crucial. You don’t
walk around much here, especially with a baby ­ it’s pretty much door to
door delivery.

We have a jackfruit tree in the front yard, and the other
day it attracted 4 huge fruitbats of the flying fox variety, we stood out
there watching them walk around the tree using their wing/claws like arms ­
so strange. Today we left the house as it was sprayed for insects, which
has to be done monthly to keep ants and mosquitos down, and we had to place
rat bait for the (mouse-sized) rats we have spotted in the kitchen. This
is why people live in high-rise apartments.


Our US shipment arrived 2 nights ago, and with a gift of whiskey cleared
customs with no problem. We are happily unpacking Trader Joe’s truffles
(what a great idea I had!) and slept on our mattress last night (heaven.)
The people I have met through the babies group seem very interesting, and I
have gotten together with some of them individually during the week. I
particularly like a Finnish woman, Annika, who has a baby 6 days younger
than Zoe (and so much fatter!) and her partner Philip from Britain. She
works for UN overseeing refugee camps. They have been all over the world in
hotspots like Afghanistan, Cambodia, etc. We met taking our babies swimming
at a large hotel pool, and now we meet regularly to take them swimming.