Thursday, August 6th

It was definitely an interesting day. It began with a conference call with USAID, that went over our already known restrictions on what we should discuss, which obviously I can't discuss.

We then met with the folks at the American Center to learn about their initiatives in Sri Lanka. It an interesting meeting that I can't talk about, but was fun. We learned that the new Ambassador to Sri Lanka was appointed yesterday (although I can't for the life of me remember what her name was).

Following an uneventful lunch at the hotel we went and met with some of the folks at ICES-Colomobop (International Center for Ethnic Studies). You might remember that we met with their office in Kandy. This meeting wasn't nearly as free flowing, but it was still interesting. We learned about their research regarding the Sri Lankan Diaspora community (which i found particularly interesting). Sri Lanka has a unique challenge in engaging their diaspora community, many of which have been gone a long time. They are definitely trying to engage them on a more grassroots level. It feels very similar to the challenge that Israel has with its Ex-pat community (just my thoughts).

Really, we are waiting for tomorrow when we are busy ALL day. We have meetings back to back to back and then in the evening, i get to go see my first ever cricket match. Although i don't quite understand how the game is played, i'm looking forward to being a part of it. It's Sri Lanka vs. Pakistan and I hope to devote an entire story into it.

So, that's where we are. After i finished posting all of yesterdays photos, i've got nothing for today.

I'm still learning a lot and look forward to the continued opportunities.

We are finally a complete group. Brooke, from CIPE arrived yesterday.

I tried to identify a list of interesting foods that I've eaten, but unfortunately, nothing really comes to mind.