- When I run out of curry powder, I freak out and wonder how I’ll ever manage to cook anything the least bit decent without it.
- I stop taking cow pictures.
- It doesn’t even cross my mind to mention the cows stopping traffic in my blog.
- Or the water buffaloes stopping traffic, either.
- I stop whining about the heat.
- I get cold at night and have to cover up to get back to sleep.
- I can remember Lankan names now – names like Ranuka, Radha, Srikanthi, Lakshmi, Shanika – without causing major brain farts.
- The really really long names don’t freak me out any more – names like Sri Bodhi Sambuddharamaya or Niwattakachtiya or Harischandra or Anagarika Dharmapala.
- I can tell that Srimath Ramanathan Mawatha or Ratnajothi Saravanamuttu Mawatha or Sri Jayewardenepura Mawatha are streets. Even when I see them when they’re not on maps or street signs. See, it’s that Mawatha tag at the end of it that gives it away. (Mawatha means street – which is interesting, because streets here are also called "streets" as well as "mawatha".) And no, Fahim didn’t tell me that. I figured it out all on my own. 🙂
- I can tell that Wickramasingheramaya and Diyawannaramaya are religious places of interest (Buddhist shrines).
- Date & Honey or Coconut & Jaggery seem like perfectly normal ice cream flavors.
- I look forward to watching Alf every Thursday night.
- I can pick out the sounds and even some words when the locals talk – and they always talk really really fast.
- I’m disappointed when there isn’t a beautiful sunrise.
- I don’t notice the birds chirping in the morning.
- I’m surprised when I see a caucasian exiting the Seven Plus Take Away place that Fahim goes to for our lunch packets.
- The smells don’t startle me anymore, making me think my house is burning down or I forgot something on the stove.
- I stop complaining at shutting all the windows at 5 pm.
- I can no longer remember which side of the road is the side they drive on in North America – and the thought of it confuses me.
- The driving here doesn’t scare me.
