My new years since 2013

2015 NY Lisboa Hard Rock Cafe

Since 2013, most of my new years have been in Europe or the USA: 2013 (Lisboa), 2014 (Lisboa), 2015 (Lisboa), 2016 (Lisboa), 2017 (Zurich), 2018 (Lisboa), 2019 (Atlanta), 2021 (Kanab), 2022 (Utqiagvik), 2023 (Fairbanks), and 2024 (Anchorage). 2020 was my first new year in Sri Lanka again after eight years. Most new years have been quite exciting since I left Sri Lanka.
 
2013: Lisboa, Portugal.

Praça do Comercio/Lisboa, the most remarkable one ever.  My first new year abroad: my first one in Lisboa, with my EMDC friends. No other new year's memory could overtake that one, I am sure. We repeated this experience in 2014 and 2016.

2014: Lisboa, Portugal.

Praça do Comercio/Lisboa again, after a remarkable trip in Scandinavia. The second remarkable one was the 2014 new year. We had a cruise to Helsinki from Stockholm, then flew to Copenhagen, and also visited Malmö. But we came back to Lisboa for new year's eve. It was an eventful Christmas - new year vacation. A most remarkable year-end vacation to date.

2015: Lisboa, Portugal. 

This time in Hard Rock Cafe. We were too late to go to the Praça do Comercio and decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe instead and had some drinks with the festive mood amid a huge crowd. 

2016: Lisboa, Portugal.

Back in Praça do Comercio. Same as 2013 and 2014. Crowded metro. We arrived quite late and couldn't reach the usual spot in Praça do Comercio. But we witnessed the firework show a few 100 meters away from our ideal spot in front of the river, blocked by a happy crowd.

2017: Zurich, Switzerland
2017 in Zurich was equally exciting when we traveled to Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein. 2017 was also the first time we celebrated the new year in a country other than our resident country. No wonder 2017 became the year of travels.

2018: Lisboa, Portugal.

This time idling at home. 2018 was the first new year (since moving abroad in 2012 August) when we decided to idle at home during midnight. It also implied either we were getting used to Lisboa New Year's Eve and not too excited anymore, or we were getting old!

2019: Atlanta, GA, USA.

In SunTrust park. 2019 in Atlanta was quite fun as well. But we did not wait until midnight. The SunTrust park had countdowns for every hour since dark, at 8 pm, 9 pm, 10 pm, ..., giving a new year countdown experience early on.

2020: Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

Back in home in Soyzapura. A vacation in Sri Lanka brought back memories of 2012 and earlier new years.

2021: Kanab, UT, USA.

A road trip with a colleague. It was a small boring town. But our hotel had a good view.

2022: Utqiaġvik, AK, USA.

A walk in temperatures reaching -40 to witness the fireworks on a frozen Arctic lake. A magical moment.

2023: Fairbanks, AK, USA.

Yet another Alaska new year. This time it was frozen Chena River.

 

2024: Anchorage, AK, USA.

First Alaska new year after moving to Anchorage. In between returning from Adak and flying to San Diego. So, we stayed home during the New Year's Eve.

 

2025: Shenzhen, China.

Extremely crowded OCT, Shenzhen and a boat ride in the river, enjoying the bright LED lights. 

Immigrant Diaries

Philadelphia Chinatown

I moved out of my country on the 20th August 2012. I have a selective memory. I remember things that I want to remember, most of the time. However, I vividly remember 19th August 2012 Sunday. The night I was leaving my home to fly to New Delhi. My final destination was of course Lisboa. But first I had to go to New Delhi to get my visa stamp from the Portuguese embassy in New Delhi. We don't have a Portuguese Embassy in Sri Lanka. I was flying to Portugal to do my MSc. It was an Erasmus Mundus that I chose Portugal and Sweden, as it is a double degree. Of course, an MSc is just a 2-years degree. I never thought of anything beyond the 2 years. 

There was always a competition in Sri Lanka. I did that competition thing - but only until I entered the university (you need to get high scores in A/L to enter the good programs in a good state/public university in Sri Lanka. Not much different from China's Gaokao). By the 2nd year of my BSc, once I entered the Computer Science and Engineering program, I kind of avoided this competition mentality. I just want to be happy. In fact, I want everyone to be happy. My only benchmark, I do annually, by the year end. I judge my year against my previous years. Then I write an annual post (a habit since 2010), comparing my current year to the previous years, in metrics of happiness. I list 30 things that made the year interesting, i.e., that made me happy. It is all personal. I compare myself to my past self. Not against anyone else. I am on my own path that I carefully crafted. Not planning to follow another one's trajectory.

Italian Market, Philadelphia

I arrived in Portugal with an open mind on the 23rd of August 2012. I had never been to Portugal before. For reasons unknown, Emirates randomly upgraded my flight from DXB to LIS into a business class and treated me well. The border control agent in Portugal was extremely nice. I expected questions from him. He just gave me a smile and "have a good day." Portugal impressed me on the day-1. I met many people in Portugal. I made friends and family in Portugal. People I met in Portugal would change my life drastically. I often tell that I found myself in Portugal.

We were master students, especially from Erasmus Mundus - a prestigious mobility program under the Erasmus+ umbrella. We all had a story to share. We were also attending ULisboa / Instituto Superior Técnico, arguably the most prestigious university of the country. We all had a story to share. Portuguese people are also friendly and usually extroverts (at least compared to all the other 45 nations I have been). I was expecting to be lonely in Portugal as I left my parents and friends in Sri Lanka. But quickly, Portugal proved me wrong. I was surrounded by lovely people. Portugal also quickly made me into an extrovert. I started loving people more!

Most immigrants bring a piece of their home country with them. I usually remind everyone though that an immigrant or a tourist you meet in your country may not be the ideal representative of their home country. Some adopt themselves to fit the host country's culture. Others double down on their home country's culture. For them, they get stuck in a time when they left their country. For instance, I have met Sri Lankans who moved abroad in the 1980s have maintained their traditions sometimes more vigorously than those at home. It is like the time stopping to move. Some of them had not gone back to Sri Lanka in ages. Even if they did, that was too short of a time to observe the country sufficiently. Forget others - even myself - my Sri Lanka moments and memories largely stop at 2012 August. Even though I had been to Sri Lanka after during vacations in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020, those were just 2 - 3 weeks of vacations - too little to do anything beyond spending time with family, visiting relatives and friends, and to handle some other important matters at home.

Camden, NJ

For us - whether nomads or immigrants, often our country stops evolving ever since we left the country. We remember the songs of the country (bus songs!) up until the day we left the country. After that, even if we watch/listen to new songs online, the feeling is not the same as listening them from the bus or at home in Sri Lanka. Many immigrant towns such as Chinatowns and India towns in several western cities give the taste of home away home for many immigrants. As such, new waves of immigrants too often end up settling in the same areas.

Not all the immigrants are the same. Some had a great experience in their host country, whereas others just survived. Some were fleeing brutal regimes back at home whereas others were living a comfortable life in their home country. An immigrant's experience in the home country depends on several factors such as their life back at home and how the humans in the host country treats them. Luckily for me, everyone I met in Portugal were nice and friendly (with time, I might have met some not-so-nice-people - but by then I had already met hundreds to thousands of great ones - so that I could ignore any bad apples). It also depends on the factor who I am. I was in Portugal as part of the Erasmus Mundus double degree program. We had a clique of international students, and also very friendly local students too. When we introduced ourselves as we are from Tecnico Lisboa, we instantly got some respect due to the name of the university (arguably the best in the nation). May not be the same for everyone. I am not sure whether I will be able to replicate the same experience if I arrive there now for the very first time - 9 years later - say, as an employee rather than a student. Student life always brings the friendships quite easily. It is also often meeting the right people at the right time vs meeting the wrong people at the wrong time. Regardless of the hypothetical scenarios where I arrive first in Portugal in 2020 or 2021, what indeed happened in the real world in Portugal left me with exciting and positive memories.

I rarely have considered myself an immigrant. Rather, I liked to label myself a nomad. It made sense. With the mandatory mobility of Erasmus Mundus MSc and PhD, together with the internships, I had lived in 7 countries by the time I arrived in Atlanta in 2018 June. But, now it is 3 years since I came to Atlanta and I haven't moved ever since. Although H1B holders are legally not considered immigrants (I guess ?), I know I fall somewhere in the immigrant-nomad spectrum - but I am not sure where exactly. I am curious to see where time will place me next.

A few things that made my 2020 interesting..

Panama Canal

2020 is the weirdest year ever. Although 2020 is not close to my happy years (2019, 2017, 2015, and 2013), this post focuses on the happy moments.

1. Panamá: a lovely Central American country and wonderful people

Self-discovery on a solo trip. This country made me feel energetic.

 2. A new year in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Feeling like 2012 and before.

 3. Surviving the 2020 home alone, except for virtual meet-ups

The unexpected COVID-19 pandemic and forced separations of families due to travel restrictions.

4. Getting overwhelmed by the architectural marvels of Doha

The Katara Cultural village and Souq Waqif - bringing me back the memories of KAUST, Saudi Arabia.

5. Watching villagers walking the streets as early as 3 am in Northern Bali!

A scenic ride across this island of active and friendly people

6. Les Waterfalls, Tejakula

Getting soaked in the rain and a waterfall that reminded me of Sri Lanka.

7. Singapore with my niece and nephew

Some family time outside Sri Lanka and enjoying this small island nation.

Souq Waqif, Doha

8. The magnificent views from the canyons of Arizona and Utah

South Rim of the Grand Canyon and the weird cliffs seen from the Bryce Canyon.

9. Giving a keynote speech at MoNeTec 2020

Supposed to be in Moscow in October. But became virtual due to COVID-19.

10. Making a diverse array of cocktails and shots 

Made a collection of liquors to mix and drink during the weekends.

 11. Writing a grant proposal and sleepless nights

It wasn't accepted though.

12. Sand that feels like cocoa powder

Climbing up and down the Coral Pink Sand Dunes!

13. Developing Niffler open-source DICOM framework

My paper got accepted to IEEE Access. I also named two of my other research works after Portuguese towns, Sintra and Viseu.

A rainy night in Singapore

14. Receiving my Ph.D. degree certificates and diplomas

Those certificates from Belgium and Portugal signify the official completion of my Ph.D. double degree.

15. Summer and the lakes of Georgia

Lake Lanier and Allatoona lake have beautiful beaches.

16. The Disguiser and Nirvana In Fire

Yú Mànlì (于曼丽) has become my most favorite fictional character.

17. Attending KDD and EuroPar conferences at once virtually!

Two conferences, same days, different timezones -- thanks to the pandemic.

18. Camping in Dreher Island State Park

The airport sleeper tries sleeping in a tent for the first time.

19. Storm in Hunting Island beach of Atlantic Ocean

Who expected a storm when we walk on an isolated beach in South Carolina?

Non-touristy Northern Bali

20. Two nights in a boathouse in Key Largo

Just before heading south through various connected islands.

21. Walking on an abandoned national highway in Saddlebunch Keys

The old state road 4a felt like walking back in a frozen time.

22. The most vibrant Key West!

Key West had the Bahamas vibes, but crazier. It also had several stray hens, fondly known as Key West chickens.

23. Power cut in Atlanta!

Some darkness and Internet failure, thanks to some storm in a far far region.

24. Vultures and Alligators in the Everglades

And a lovely sunset walk followed by mosquitos.

25. A boat ride in the keys, Biscayne National Park

The waves were quite strong, spraying salty ocean water on us.

Moon shines over Dreher Island State Park

26. A long night walk under a snow storm in Flagstaff, Northern Arizona

First time enjoying several inches of powdered snow at the same time with a snow storm + some hail.

27. Exploring Orlando

Also, a day in Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, eating way too many corn dogs from morning until night.

28. A random walk in Savannah

It is a beautiful and relatively walkable town.

29. The colorful petrified forest national park and the views of the painted desert

The Blue Mesa is otherworldly.

30. INESC-ID Virtual Natal

I attended several virtual sessions by ULisboa, feeling connected although I am not in Lisboa.

Every year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous years. :) Overtaking 2020 shouldn't be too hard for 2021. But I hope 2021 brings back the happiness to the 2019 pre-pandemic level. I wish you a happy new year. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may read the blog posts of all the previous years as well.

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 32

Sri Lanka - COVID19 Cases

COVID19 cases are rising again, with new heights in new cases seen in USA, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. Although we have grown sick of the pandemic and lock down, the current trend indicates that the end is not in sight. It is quite annoying and depressing. But that is the reality. This year taught me that even perfectly crafted plans can go horribly wrong. Last November we started what we thought at that time the perfect grand Asia trip, which was cut short by an unexpected pandemic and left us oceans apart for several months (and still counting).

 Interestingly, although I left my country in 2012 August, 2020 is the first year that made me feel lonely, away from my family, my close friends, and my safe circles. Now 2020 coming to an end, yet with the COVID-19 cases climbing high every day, not too sure how will 2021 be. As of now, it seems, the pandemic will ruin the whole of 2021 as well, unless some magic happens.

Applying for a new Sri Lankan passport

So I had to apply for a passport as my old passport was reaching its end of life (10 years). Since I am in a rush, I decided to go with the one-day option. For most people, paying 15,000 LKR (equivalent to 83 USD at this moment) for the one-day service is a good deal. You can arrive in the Department of Immigration and Emigration early and receive your passport on the same day. This is colloquially known as the passport office in Battaramulla. It is in Subuthi Road, Suhurupaya, to be precise. It opens at 8:30 a.m. But people start arriving early and fill the new passport application form (should be obtained from the officer sitting right next to the entrance in the building/ground floor). I arrived at 8:15 a.m. 

After filling the form, you can go ahead to the second floor and get a token at the entrance. Make sure you have all the necessary documents, arranged in the right order before proceeding. Also make sure you have 15,000 LKR with you. I paid by cash. I did not bother to check whether it is possible to pay by a debit/credit card.

0. The filled application form.

1. The slip given by the photo studio. The studio should be one from the list of the photo studios authorized by the department. You should go to the studio the day before, get the photo, make sure they submit online, and get the slip.

2. Your national ID card and its photocopy.

3. Your previous most-recent passport (if any) and its photocopy.

4. Your original birth certificate and its photocopy. It is recommended that the birth certificate is obtained from the relevant authorities in the recent past, i.e., within past 6 months. You may get it at the nearest divisional secretariat if you are born after 1960. Otherwise, you have to go where you were born! A painful thing if you were born before 1960 and live far from where you were born. The document should be original (typically, Sinhala or Tamil). English translations are not required, and translations are not accepted in place of the original certificate.

5. Academic certificate and letter of appointment. If your academic certificate is original, you may just submit a photocopy. But keep the original with you just in case.

Your old passport and your ID will be returned to you now. The old passport will have received a stamp, "ISSUED A NEW PASSPORT". That means, your old passport will be invalid for further travels. However, keep them with you always when you travel, together with your new passport. The old one may have your valid and previous visas which will be necessary at the point of entry in a foreign country when you travel.

Once you get the token, you will go inside with the token, and submit all the documents. At this point, the officer will staple your documents, ensuring all are in place. Then you proceed to give fingerprints (unless you are <16 or="">65 in age). Finally, go to the D counter, and pay the fees (15000 LKR), by submitting your token. Keep your token safe until this point. Now you will get a new token, to retrieve your new passport.

You will definitely need a Sri Lankan mobile SIM with you, as the decisions are messaged you. You will receive the first SMS when you make the payment. This ensures that you have completed all the steps necessary to obtain the passport. The second SMS indicates that your passport application is accepted. The third and the final SMS indicates that your passport is ready to be collected at the first floor wing C. Go with your new token, which also mentions which precise counter to collect your passport from.

Please note that it may take up to another 40 minutes to get the passport. So you will have to wait in the waiting room. In a way, this is good. You have some time to come back from wherever you are - whether canteen or toilet. If you do not have a mobile phone, probably you can ask them whether you can just wait in the wing C waiting room without having received the SMS. I am not sure whether it is possible, and whether it is worth the risk. Just take a working mobile phone and a Sri Lankan SIM with you to be safe.

There are some shops including a photo studio inside the department itself. Seems it is possible to do the photo there itself. I would not recommend that though, especially if you are in a rush and if you are doing the one-day service. The photocopy costs 10 LKR per page. But I paid 100 LKR and the vendor did not have change. So I asked him for 60 LKR milo drink. He had 20 LKR balance for me, and for the rest of 10 LKR he provided me with 2 candies after confirming that is ok with me.

Once your name is notified in the notice board in the relevant counter at Wing C, go and collect your new passport together with the batch of documents that you submitted.

If you do not drive, you can go to the passport office from Dehiwala using bus 163, which goes directly there. It costs 32 LKR per person. The bus goes with the board "foreign employment" or "විදේශීය ශේවා". Alternatively, just hop on to a metered threewheeler/taxi - just what I did from Moratuwa.

I left home around 7:30, arrived around 8:15 and received my passport at 13:45. So this takes almost a whole day! But I am happy that I managed to get it done in a day. Thanks for the one-day service.

கரை வந்த பிறகே பிடிக்குது கடலை

When I finally defended my thesis in Lisboa in July this year, I decided to revisit most of Lisboa that I enjoyed during the past 7 years. I even managed to spend 3 nights in Porto, a city that I loved, but I visited only once before - in 2013 summer. I was of the opinion that this departure would make me slowly move away from Lisboa. I knew that I cannot forget Portugal completely, the country that I love the most. However, what I did not know was that I will actually grow more fond of Portugal after my final goodbye. I even started to freshen up my Portuguese knowledge since I always like to learn something and now I am not a student anymore after my Ph.D. defense. Of course, the cultural shock of moving away from Portugal - where almost everyone was nice and kind. After there for 7 years, I had well-aligned myself culturally to Portuguese culture, and arriving in the USA was indeed a cultural shock.

This brings me to the first life of the song "The Life of Ram" from the Tamil movie "96". கரை வந்த பிறகே பிடிக்குது கடலை. நரை வந்த பிறகே புரியுது உலகை. - I started to like the sea only after I reached the shore. I understood the world only after my hair turned gray (a loose direct translation).
 

7 years ago, I randomly ended up in Portugal, a country that I did not have much clue about (except they conquered the coastal towns of Sri Lanka in 1505, until 1658. Read, Portuguese Ceylon). Now I focus on Portugal. I am confident I will return to the country that I love so much, at some point in my life. Until then, I don't forget you, Portugal, and please don't forget me either. :) Ciao e beijinhos.

Memories of Sri Lanka

It has been more than 6.5 years since I left Sri Lanka. The country that gave me the best of everything. I was lucky to study in arguably the best boys school in the country, and then one of the best universities and departments - all without spending money thanks to our free education! That's great for me as I come from a very humble background. If we had to pay for education, I might not have had this opportunity. I received my undergraduate education from the best of the teachers in my department. Some of my lecturers treated us like their own sons. Does it sound weird to you? Then probably you are not a Sri Lankan. ;) For us, teachers are family! Not a single day, I felt poorly treated in my university - based on the language I speak or my religion. I am a Hindu. But I loved spending Christmas time with my friend's family and enjoying the prayers and family meals. I enjoyed Watalapam (that sweet dessert that only Sri Lankan Muslims have a secret recipe ;) ) shared by my Muslim friends. I enjoyed the Avurudu (Sri Lankan new year) with our (mostly) Buddhist neighbors who were always there for us whenever we needed them! Of course, we shared our Thai Pongal celebrations with them too!

My memories left me with a strong association and fondness towards my country. Time passed, and now my memories are also filled with the memories of me in 6 other beautiful countries where I lived. Still not a single day I felt bad about Sri Lanka (opinions about the politicians do not count as an opinion about the country). OK, maybe only when I had to apply for a visa. Unfortunately, Sri Lankans need a visa to go to almost anywhere, except maybe around 40 friendly countries. :) I hope that improves so that we all can move around freely.

I love Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans, and I want everyone to be the same, despite their current location. We all originated from that island. :) One common mistake many Twitter users do when talking about Sri Lankans abroad is using a broad brush. Some of us have spent most of our lives in Sri Lanka and have a loving relationship with the motherland. Others have escaped the war and may have bad memories. Some are born abroad and never had the chance to experience anything Sri Lankan beyond what is taught by their parents. They may not even hold a Sri Lankan citizenship. So our opinions are shaped by our different experiences - some of us are lucky to have good memories. We received the best in our country - we had fun. Others may not. Don't check the Twitter location and judge someone as diaspora just because he/she is currently in a foreign country. It does not help your argument.


Ideally, I want everyone with SriLankan origin to associate with SriLankan identity strongly. It does not matter even if you never had a SriLankan citizenship. SriLanka was not a perfect country in the past. But which country was? We all had our faults. I don't want our next generation to be divided and live in hatred. If your parents/grandparents are from Sri Lanka? You are Sri Lankan. Did you lose someone you love to the war, terrorists, or the military? Still, you are Sri Lankan. I have seen vast divides between the Sri Lankan communities in countries such as France and Switzerland. We (including we personally and our elected leaders) must act to reconcile. I think, with a strong distributed presence of Sri Lankans globally, we will have a collective advantage, if we all work together, rather than spending time attacking each other or discrediting each other. I am just a person online sharing my opinions. But I hope I share some positive vibes on the Internet.

A few things that made my 2017 interesting..

Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India

2017 is my best year so far, followed by 2015 and 2013. In this post, I list 30 things that made my 2017 interesting.

1. A day in Thiruvannamalai, India!
The best of 2017.

2. A fast-paced year full of déjà vu.
Too many things happened in too little time.

3. Winning a projector from Teradata in a Twitter contest at VLDB 2017

I love this Mini Android Smart Portable Projector.

4. A midnight walk in Timișoara with just a paper map
Finally, a huge fan of Romanian music visits Romania!

5. My first book published.
It was nice to publish my first book, and receive its hard-copies.

6. My first book chapter, ready for publication.
My book chapter was accepted for publication before my first book, but my book was released first.

7. Reviewing books and papers.
Received a few printed books as a result.

8. ACRO2017 in Karlstad, Sweden.
My first (and probably, only) summer school. And making friends!

Spring flowers of Keukenhof

9. Beautiful Oslo
This city is as beautiful as Stockholm.

10. Sunny Szeged
It is a pity I did not collect some Hungarian Forint (1 USD = 262.611 HUF) back home to give them to scammers.


11. Valencia - once more Spain!
I visited Spain and Sweden in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Following this pattern, I predict that I will revisit them both in 2019. ;)

12. Memories of Louvain-la-Neuve 

When I arrived in Louvain-la-Neuve in February, I did not realize that my entire year is going to be in this Belgian village!

13. Walk across the castles in Luxembourg

I love these small EU countries.

14. Spring flowers of Keukenhof

We were right in the season. Perfect timing.

15. A day-trip in Dubai

Short. But surprisingly nice.

16. Two months in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As a visiting student / Government Visitor to KAUST.

17. Sleepless nights in Colombo
Deadline-oriented motivation. This year is full of that.

18. Turning 30
I think that is a big achievement to reach my 30s.

19. A day in the streets of Prague
A day full of random metro rides and walks.

20. New Year's Eve in Zurich!
Enjoying the view of the moving flights from the ZRH Airport Observation room on the 1st of January!

21. Attending VLDB in Busy Munich
Loved attending a top conference for the first time. Berlin is still my favorite city.

22. Colorful Bruges, Belgium.

Summer in Bruges

It is so colorful in the summer.

23. Experiencing Chennai, India
After watching several Tamil movies from India, it is nice to be in Tamil Nadu for the first time.

24. Dissecting various scams in Portugal, Sri Lanka, and Belgium.
Fell victim to a few. Dodged a few. A scammer may come in various shapes, jobs, and genders. But usually, he is a taxi driver.

25. A sunny day in Fonte da Talha
Spending a whole evening in this Portuguese beach once more before the summer runs out!


26. Staying in a hotel room in Faro just to connect to the Internet before a flight
Luckily the Internet was reliable enough in my room to connect to an important meeting that I was part of.

27. Working on Óbidos and Évora
This time I am talking about my research papers. Not the Portuguese cities.

28. Attending EMA GA in Brussels.
Been the PR several times for both EMDC and EMJD-DC. But first time in the GA representing both.
  
29. Half-decade of Memories
It has been 5 years in Lisboa and with IST/INESC-ID!

30. Two Christmas Parties!
Joined the parties in UCLouvain/Belgium and INESC-ID Lisboa.


Every year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous year. :) The bar is very high for 2018. I wish you a happy new year everyone. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may also read the blog posts of the previous years as well.

Tales of Currency Conversion.

Enjoying my dinner at a restaurant in Rocky Point, Mexico.

Each travel teaches us something new. When I live long enough in a country, I get used to the environment and life style, and start to feel the pattern. A travel to a foreign country makes us question our own assumptions. Till last year, I was not aware that currency conversion can be complicated. Interestingly, I learned that during my trip back to my home country. When I queried how much would they give me for 1 Euro, the guy at the reception of Prasanna Money Exchange in Wellawatte mentioned 157 Rupees. I said, "ok, I have 400 Euro". He said that is fine. When I showed him 20, 20 Euro notes, he changed his word "No, I can only give 155 Rupees". I could not understand. He said, 157 Euro for 100 and 50 Euro notes. For the notes below (such as 20 and 10 Euro notes), he can only give 155 Rupees per 1 Euro". I did not understand. He did not like my questioning, and stopped serving me. So I decided to go to the nearest money exchange, "Royal Money Exchangers". 

They also said, "157 Rupees for 1 Euro". I asked, "Is it the same for 20 Euro notes?" The cashier mentioned, "No, it would be a bit lesser". I asked how much that would be. He checked and told me "156.50 Rupees". I accepted that offer. So I recommend, Royal Money Exchangers. They give more value, and more polite, compared to Prasanna.

Another interesting observation. While I was waiting in the queue, a western couple jumped the queue, with their local host. I told to my mom (in English), "When westerners come to our country, they also learn to jump the queues". Embarrassed to hear what I said, the gentleman from the western country looked back and said "oops, sorry. I did not notice you were here", and he moved backwards to follow the queue. We, humans, are the best adaptive systems in the world.

When I told my Serbian friend how I was charged more at Mexico when paid in USD, she reminded me, "You should just have paid using your bank card. Usually the card machines charge in the local currency". It just did not come to my mind. All I was thinking - it was unnecessary to convert some USD to Mexican Peso.


Update on 18/08/2017: After ending up with around 300 Romanian Lei after my visit to Romania, I have this essential question. How effectively convert money to the local currency, and how to spend them all! Using debit/credit card may not work for multiple reasons. First, the bank does not give you the best coversion rate. It is more economic to convert in local converters. Second, not all the places accept the card. So you still need the cash. I used to convert the remaining currency back to Euro at the airport. However, I ended up losing more money as buying and selling rates are different, and airports and Travelex give the worst of the coversion rate. For example, we got 4.45 RON for a Euro in Romania (Timisoara city center), where Travelex gave only around 3.9 RON for a Euro, even after we booked online! They all claim 0 commission, despite this joke of a conversion. I keep the remaining change with me in the hope of returning to the country in a latter day. It worked for countries that I visit frequently, such as USA and Sweden. But not sure whether it will work for Romania, as it is not a country that I am going to visit multiple times. Let's see. We do not know what might bring me back to Romania.

When a search giant abandons your country

Google "sri lanka news"

I am not sure what is going wrong. Is my country, Sri Lanka, just cricket, or is it something wrong with Google? When the entire country is suffering due to floods and land slides leaving up to 1/20 of the country's population affected, Google search on "Sri Lanka news" just returns news on Sri Lanka cricket.

I am not sure whether this is done systematically through some hidden involvement. It annoys me a lot. Are we really addicted to Cricket that much? Seriously? We have bigger problems and more important news at the moment. How can I trust the Internet, when the most popular search engine returns irrelevant news?

Please note that I used the private mode. So my results are not affected by my past views. So you cannot give the excuse that my search results are based on my previous clicks. If I want to read about Sri Lanka in cricket, I would search for "sri lanka cricket" instead. When I search for news, I want real news. Not stories of a certain sports or gossips about actors. This is not a one-time event. I tested Google several times for Sri Lanka news over the past years. It always disappointed me with cricket news. News is something that affects the people. At least they are the news that should pop up as the top stories. Google fails Sri Lanka miserably here.

On the other hand, duckduckgo, a newer search engine performs better, returning more relevant real news on Sri Lanka for the same search. Probably we all should switch to duckduckgo as our search engine.

duckduckgo "sri lanka news"

Beware of Robbers in the Public Transport

Colombo, feels just like a very familiar city. Deja vu.

So I was in this bus during a recent visit to Sri Lanka. This conductor guy was standing next to me when I was about to get down. I felt he was too close and some touches in the backside of my backpack. I assumed he mistakenly was touching as the bus was moving. As I got down, my glass box fell down from the small front pocket of my bag. Now it all made sense to me. He assumed that was my wallet in the small pocket. He thought I was easy prey. Because of his stupidity, the box broke falling down. He kept staring at me as the bus moved on - he probably did that involuntarily as he noticed me taking the box from the ground, or probably he wanted to see whether I identify his trick and react (how? by chasing the moving bus? or by shouting? I did not react except giving an angry face at our failed system). He managed to wide open the bag though nothing valuable was there for him to steal. It is a sad state - the conductors are expected to serve the passengers, not to rob them. Next time when you are in Sri Lanka, beware of these bus conductors. From my overall experience, most of these guys are unpleasant. Based on the last experience, some can be robbers too!

A similar incident happened in Brussels Nord train station too. We were boarding the train, tired after a long flight. One middle-aged woman (~35) presumably of east European origin based on her looks, jumped the queue. Then another 2 of her friends, jumped in front of me, making a distance between me and my girl. We were with luggage. One woman, inside the train, was pulling my girl's big luggage talking something in a language that sounded new and strange, as if she was helping her (but actually she was merely dragging. not helping). In the mean time, the 3rd woman in front of me, was pretending to help me drag luggage too. I was kinda annoyed by that time. No one jumps queues in Europe usually. At least in the west. These were women. So I tend to let them pass. However, we were with luggage. No reason to make us suffer. But when I got in, I noticed my girl's front bag (where she had her cash, mobile, and all other valuable items) was wide open. 

While one woman managed to distract her by pulling her big luggage, and other doing the same trick on me, the other one in the middle managed to wide open her small front bag (that usually is for passport, documents, and cash during the flights). Luckily for us, as soon as I boarded the train, I noticed the bag open. I loudly announced, "Your bag is open. We have robbers in this bus". I looked at the women. Not because I immediately guessed they were the robbers. But they were the ones interacting with us. It took me a second to realize what is going on. By this time, sensing a retaliation, one of those robbers told me quick, "Oh, we are going to airport. Wrong train", and all 3 robbers jumped the train and disappeared in a second!

My girl confirmed she did not lose anything. The robbers almost rob us. So it can be decent looking women too. Don't assume the robbers are usually ugly men. The sad part of the entire story - no one in the train was bothered to listen, interfere, or react while we were having these conversations or when I announced that we were almost robbed. Probably they are used to all these dramas. Or probably they thought we all belong to a same team, giving a performance to rob someone else? Who knows.

This is the second scam we encountered in Brussels. To read more about the first one: How to Overcome an Uber Scam.

Back to my EMJD-DC busy life.

Finding your student apartment in Lisbon and Porto..

Originally written in 2014, this post was later updated recently.

It is not always an easy task to move to a country, which doesn't speak a common language as you do. Moreover, the visa requirements make it a time consuming process. Following my blog post on how to apply for a visa to study in Portugal (mostly focusing on Sri Lankan students; but also applicable to many other third countries), I started to receive questions from students seeking information on apartments and studies in Lisbon. There are a few issues that you may have to face. This post tries to discuss those concerns.

1. Universities provide a list of landlords to the students. But in my observation, these apartments tend to get booked faster and are also more expensive than the other available options. You are left with no choice other than to follow this list, as it is safer to reserve a room that your university recommends, than a random one as you will have to send one month of reservation/deposit of the room to the landlord. You will also have to be quick for the visa processes and also to make sure that you are not running out of the good and affordable apartments.

2. Not all the landlords will be able to understand English, and communicating with them regarding the visa requirements such as accommodation letters may be hard.

3. You are reserving a room without seeing it yourself, unless you are already there in the city. Mostly, descriptions by words are available, which are written by the landlords themselves.

4. It is very hard to send money to a third person by bank-transfer from Sri Lanka, due to the local regulations. This is done by the banks, case-by-case. It took me a considerable effort to send the reservation fee to the landlord. A transfer by paypal would be more convenient, though not many landlords would accept that. This issue may be specific to Sri Lankans. 

UniPlaces provides solution for these issues. UniPlaces.com is a third-party web site that provides accommodation options to students away from home. It lets the landlords list their apartments for free.

1. UniPlaces is partnered with the major universities in Lisbon, including the University of Lisbon (ULisboa). This makes UniPlaces a trusted web site for the students. It also includes a large number of options to choose from.

2. Having a proactive support service very fluent in English (and Portuguese, of course), it makes it easier to communicate via their support system (chat) or phone. If you need some assistance you may drop your number and information for UniPlaces to contact you.

3. UniPlaces provides neutral descriptions on the apartments, with photos. Searching for your apartment with specific requirements such as price, room type, and other features is very promising. As you may not be able to see your room before arriving at Lisbon, having a verification from a third-party makes your journey to Lisbon stress-free.

4. UniPlaces provides secured payment option via PayPal. Nevertheless, for those who have trouble with PayPal, UniPlaces still offers an option to pay through bank transfer.

5. As a start-up consisting of an international team of geeks, fresh graduates and students, UniPlaces has managed to have the student-feel in their listings. Learn more about the recommended areas in Lisbon, from UniPlaces.

Apart from Lisbon, UniPlaces lets you find apartments in London currently.

Later update on the 8th of September, 2016

It is expected that as a company grows, its approach changes considerably. Recently I was able to book an apartment through UniPlaces. The landlord accepted the booking, and hence the full charge of the first month rent as well as the service fee was reduced from my account.

However, after 10 days, the landlord cancelled the booking through UniPlaces without even letting me know for as a matter of courtesy and professionalism. It is funny that after accepting my payment the landlord also claimed one of the room mates has a dog, and asked whether I am fine with that. I mentioned him I am fine with the dog. It is contradictory with his UniPlaces posting where it indicates "No Pets Allowed"

 

Also after cancelling my booking for no reason, he immediately made the same apartment open for the same dates! See (October 1st, 2016 listed as available - the same dates I booked before).

I suspect there is a strong scam going on here with this landlord. Probably he is collecting the tenant details. Probably he is plain crazy and nasty.

But what saddens me is the UniPlaces' don't care policy. I warned them with all the details on this, to no proper response. The landlord now will go on to scam other students, wasting their time, and making their money locked between the bank transactions. I am awaiting the money to be refunded to my account. UniPlaces claimed that it has been refunded already - so I guess I will get it back again.

While I will still use UniPlaces for booking as I know the team and they are legit, I must warn them to be more caring regarding students. I mean, if as a student I cancel my booking, my service fees is gone and in most cases I won't get the security deposit (the first month rent paid to the landlord through UniPlaces) back. But on the other hand, the landlord can get away with his tactics by accepting the student/tenant at will, and rejecting later at will - with no reason whatsoever.

Users are the major pillar of any business. I hope UniPlaces will learn to respect the user reviews given to them in a private manner more positively, hence not requiring me to update this blog post.

For students, if you are searching for apartments, feel free to use UniPlaces.com. However, be aware of the scam artists as landlords. On the other hand, be warned that the prices are increased (which is reasonable for multiple reasons: UniPlaces needs to be paid for their services and employees. Second, there is an 8% flat rate per monthly rent charged on the landlords, which the landlord in turn collects back from the student by increasing the price. In addition there is a 25% charge for the first month as well). In addition some landlords tend to increase the price arbitrarily further more - as an unsuspecting student may pay more - why not. If you compare the price, I was able to find an almost identical studio for 450 Euro in Alameda listed as 675 Euro.

I wish the services be more transparent and caring of their all customers, than focusing on a specific subset (in this case, only the landlords, as the landlords tend to be the permanent customers with students being the one-time tenant customers).

In case, if you are looking for an apartment in Lisboa, NEVER find this landlord, who hides the existence of a dog (going to an extent to say "Pets are not allowed" in the listings - double standards!) and informs later after paying, and also cancels the booking once you have paid! Most probably his descriptions are fake too.

I wish good luck and success to my colleagues at UniPlaces despite these issues. Hope they will filter out these scam landlords sooner, and be more caring towards their student customers too, as they used to be - in the good old days.

Moringa Leaf Powder from Atlanta YDFM

Moringa leaf powder, the "super food".

Some marketing material, back side.

Your Dekalb Farmers Market (YDFM), one of my favourites in Atlanta. Every visit, I find something new. During the last couple of visits, I noticed something called "Moringa tea" and "Moringa Powder" from Africa. This time, I decided to buy it. I thought it was 8.99 USD. But at the cashier, I realized it was 18.99 USD. However, I still bought it. I came home, and attempted to consume it mixing with some warm milk. It turned out to be the powder made from the leaves of drumstick or horseradish tree, which in Sinhala called "Moringa". Moringa leaves are something which are readily and freely available in Sri Lanka.

While we consume the drumstick itself, I never thought we eat the leaf powder. It is bitter, and funny I spent this much for the leaf powder (probably 100 times more expensive than in Sri Lanka). This powder also tastes like the bay leaf powder, which I also bought in YDFM for just 1 USD (around twentieth of the price). Probably I am the only one who bought this overpriced item in the recent days. Surprisingly, being a Sri Lankan, I should have known what does moringa mean. :)

Colombo by tuk-tuk

[14th November] My 2016 diary

I had some adventures in 2012 from my journeys in New Delhi by tuk-tuk.. Usually tuk tuk drivers have been nice to me in Sri Lanka, and specially the ones with meter never asked for more than what is shown in their meters unlike in New Delhi. They often claim that they do not have change and try to keep the 10 - 20 rupees change to themselves. But usually that is it.

This time I experienced some differences as I was travelling with a foreigner. First, we were going from Bambalapitiya to Thurston. The driver diverted the three wheeler to Dimbrigasyaya - Jawattha. I asked him "Why are we going here, when Thurston is not this side?" He claimed that he was avoiding the traffic. He took a round trip and came back from Reid Avenue, Colombo Campus, and back to Thurston. It took me some time to realize that he intentionally took us on a long ride to charge more money. However, since this was my first negative experience, I decided to be more careful. The next time another three wheeler driver started the ride without actually resetting the meter, and hence charged for 1.9 km that we did not really travel. After that I always ensured that they reset their meters.

From my overall negative experiences this time, I realized, wherever the country, there are people who try to cheat the foreigners. Their logic is usually the foreigners have more money - and charging them more is  reasonable. I hope for a world where people treat everyone equally without such a double standard - foreigner or not. I have always been under the impression that Sri Lankans treat the foreign visitors better. It was a bit disappointment for me to observe the contradicting behaviours from my fellow citizens. 

After 2 years away from my country, I felt many differences in the country. Also feeling a bit more like a tourist in my own country. This was just a short trip of 25 days, and finally I returned to Lisbon to continue my regular daily life. This year was full of trips. I am now waiting for 2016 - full of events and travels, I suppose.

Seasons of Portugal

Tagus River, cloudy in Vila Franca de Xira

When I was in Sri Lanka, it was not really easy to differentiate each of the months. However, in Europe I am able to remember each events easily in a time line. This is, I recognize, mostly because of the different seasons. In Portugal, summer represents life. Winter is usually wet and boring, with many rainy days. My October visit to Lisboa - cloudy and drizzling. Winter is not here yet. The autumn days! Missing summer.

Moments with Twitter - III

After a few months, I did another round of tweet analysis, on my own tweets. I have shared quite a few interesting links, over the past couple of months. Also have a look at Moments with Twitter.. and Moments with Twitter - II to see some of my previous tweets.

Agia PDF Search is a useful search site that lets you search and read the PDF documents online. Oct 15, 2012

Just enter your academic email address to increase the space in your existing #Dropbox account by 3 GB or more https://t.co/GPKJrJPu Oct 15, 2012
Dropbox is interesting, and their business model is even more interesting! All the students love Dropbox, which is mostly a free cloud storage system, though paid premium packages are available.

End of Day Light Saving Time!
DST started on Sun, 25 March, 01:00 local standard time; Ends on Sun, 28 Oct, 02:00 local daylight time - http://t.co/prM3aRj4 Back to GMT. Oct 21, 2012
From the coming Sunday onwards, we will be back from the natural time, from the daylight saving time. This will make Portugal to go with GMT, and this will make the time difference with Sri Lanka, -05:30.

Changed my #twitter profile picture for the first time, since I created the account. Almost 4 years, and I didn't change much though. ;) Nov 02, 2012

Changing the profile pictures and the short bio in these profiles are becoming a harder task considering the ever increasing online presence of myself in multiple social media platforms.

An interesting, yet idiot's way to grab more visitors to your blog - Write a blog post titled, Is {SOMETHING} dead? For e.g., "Is SEO Dead?" Nov 30, 2012  
Another way, Write a silly post with a numbered title, with superlatives. For e.g: 7 worst mistakes that horse owners make in the night. :D Nov 30, 2012
OK. We all have this curiosity to click that link!

The adventures of young student backpackers with Eurail passes, 1970. 1970's photos of train travels in the Europe. http://t.co/EMN3IIMk Jan 03, 2013
Student backpackers - this term probably fits the Erasmus Mundus / Erasmus students, at least in some points of our life. One of my favourite backpacking blogs is, Breakaway Backpacker.

A ҉ Y ҉ U ҉ B ҉ O ҉ W ҉ A ҉ N ҉ Mar 03, 2013
Hello, Sri Lankan Style!

Shenzhen Window of the World.. http://t.co/w9DQqOyXct Mar 11, 2013

What is my #IP? http://t.co/DPaIw2cMtB Jul 26, 2013

CHINAKNOWLEDGE - a universal guide for #China studies http://t.co/2whemOIDrw Jul 30, 2013
This is an interesting resource to learn about China, its culture, and the Chinese language. MIT OpenCourseWare too has Simplified Chinese and other Chinese courses under the foreign languages and literature section. For me, listening to Chinese songs with the lyrics written in pinyin appears easy. Everything else seems just Chinese. :D

Collection of oddities.. the odd stuff.. http://t.co/GcXkqAP7iP Aug 02, 2013
These odd stuff are interesting. Bored Panda is a similar online magazine. However, I don't find anything these articles report odd. I find the mainstream news these days more 'odd'. One news was "Vietnam to ban discussion of news on social media sites". The situation globally doesn't look nice to me. Have a look at the Press Freedom Index of 2013.

Lisbon - Week43

My posts at the zones, after a break!

[21/06/2013] - It has been a while since I wrote a weekly blog post on my stay at Lisbon. The last post was on Lisbon - Week29. Later I started writing fortnightly posts, or even once in three weeks, as I got busier with studies. As I have got some free time and content to write after the exams, here comes this weekly update.

Campo Pequeno

This week was full of movies, eating out, frequent drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe - Restauradores, varieties of hamburgers at h3 new hamburgology at Campo Pequeno, and some parties. I specifically enjoyed the movies at the Cinema City - Campo Pequeno. The City bar, adjoining the cinema city is very stylish and unique. It was unfortunate that I haven't watched any movies here previously, considering that Campo Pequeno is next metro station to the one close to my apartment (Saldanha), and also in a walking distance from my apartment. 

Llovizna

During this week, I managed to update my blog with some technical blog posts on Jikes RVM, something I researched for our AVExe group project. Most of these posts managed to get into the Architects Zone and Javalobby of DZone. I hope these posts will be of use for a bigger audience. Without the technical blog posts, recently my blog hits was facing a downfall. This helped me realize the readers of my blog.

Cherries!

In Sri Lanka, I have never enjoyed the cherries. It always has reminded me "Lama Panadol" (The Paracitamol brand made for the kids). However, I have started to enjoy the cherries in Lisbon. They are much fresher and sweeter here, naturally.