A few things that made my 2019 interesting..

UFOs and Bratislava

2019 is my best year so far, followed by 2017, 2015, and 2013. This post lists 30 things that made my 2019 interesting.

1. The finishing touches of my Ph.D.

Final moments of my terminal degree that lasted almost 5 years.

2. Successfully defending my thesis in ULisboa.
I got a Pass with Distinction.

3. UCLouvain Public Defense of my Ph.D.
As a double degree, I had to defend my thesis twice. My defense in Belgium officially concludes my Ph.D. of 5 years!

4. 10 Years of many things.
Time to reflect on the goods and bads of the 2010s, now with a little one.

 
5. Hosting a RIPE NCC Atlas Probe.
Fascinating to contribute to the Internet measurement community.

View from the Zugspitze Summit

6. Watching the Lunar Eclipse in Atlanta.
I was also present in Colombo during the Solar Eclipse. But did not dare to watch it.

7. Leuven twice - the second time was the charm.
Starbucks Leuven has also become my most favorite Starbucks.

8. Finding the Louvain-la-Neuve lake completely dry.
It was sad to see my favorite lake missing - although it was temporary.

9. Porto after exactly 6 years.
It was a magical experience, being in Porto on the same 3 days.

10. An overnight stay in Charleroi Sud, Belgium.
Realizing there is more than just a cheap airport in this region.

11. Time travel - Lisboa version.
The feeling of saudade was so real.

Panevėžys Train Station

12. Transcontinental boat ride in Istanbul.

Consistently chased by an army of seagulls.

13. Praia das Maçãs - The Apples Beach in Sintra.
A place where my favorite song from Romania was shot.

14. The bright and energetic Antwerp.
Probably the most random trip of the decade.

15. Random walks in Bratislava, Slovakia.
A cheap Ryan Air flight after a long time.

16. Getting a new passport.

For another decade, until 2029!

17. Hot summer days in Houston, Texas.
It was special as our first trip with our infant son.

The Hollywood Sign

18. My second GSoC Mentor Summit, after 8 years.
This year we successfully resurrected Emory BMI as a mentoring organization.

19. Cold evenings in Riga, Latvia.
Our first city from the former USSR.

20. A day in a "ghost town" in Estonia.
Pärnu, a summer resort that hibernates during autumn and winter.

21. Panevėžys, a way of travel.
Who guessed a boring town would influence us this much?

22. Zugspitze, on the top of Germany.
At 2950 meters, it is literally the highest point I have ever been in my life.

23. The majestic Salzburg.
It has this true European vibes.

Crowded Istanbul

24. Daily Duolingo lessons of Portuguese.
Because I don't want to forget the language.

25. Apple Picking in Ellijay.
It was an unexpectedly nice and refreshing activity.

26. Batu Caves, Malaysia.
It was also my first visit to Kuala Lumpur and South East Asia.

27. Long metro rides and walks in Los Angeles.
Evening rides to Santa Monica and Long Beach, and hikes in LA.

28. Postdoc life in Emory.
I presented my first conference paper as a Postdoctoral Researcher at BigData conference in LA.

29. Döner Kebab and Sahlep in Istanbul.
After some long walks during the Christmas vacation.

30. A "direct" flight via Male.
It was my first direct but not non-stop flight, from Istanbul to Colombo, via Male.

Every year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous years. :) I already have high expectations for 2020. I wish you a happy new year. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may also read the blog posts of all the previous years as well.

A few things that made my 2010s interesting..

View from my apartment in Rijeka, Croatia

We are reaching the end of the 2010s. Easily my most favorite decade in my 3 decades of life (not counting the 1980s when I was still an infant). It is also 10 years since I started my blog Llovizna in 2009 March. These all make 2019 an interesting point in my life to look back and reflect. I also blogged about my life of 7 years in Lisboa and similar stories from the other cities that I lived during my MSc and Ph.D. I have the habit of summarizing a year when the year comes to an end, in an annual post, since 2012. This time, I decided to summarize 30 things that made my 2010s enjoyable, starting the tradition of a decade post.

1. Graduating from my BSc Engineering

Cruise to Sthlm from Helsinki, the return trip

I graduated with a first-class in Computer Science and Engineering.

2. Paris in 2010 December

Witnessing snowfalls in Paris on my first trip abroad. It was also my best conference experience so far, in terms of social activities.

3. Open Source at WSO2

WSO2 was like a family in those days.

Biyadhoo Island, Maldives

4. Leading the Local GSoC promotion

I did some evangelization around GSoC and open source, touring 7 Sri Lankan universities.

5. GSoC Mentor Summit 2011

My first solo foreign trip. I also had the DXB -> LAX flight, which is one of the longest non-stop direct flights.

6. Applying for a Portuguese visa

It required me to travel to New Delhi, twice.

7. Getting selected to EMDC master program

Erasmus Mundus single-handedly changed my life.

Bairro Alto, Lisboa, by night

8. Feeling young in Lisboa

We had a group of friends, and we had terrific memories -- especially the first semester. "Portugal" also became the one-word summary of my 2010s.

9. New Year's Eve celebration in Lisboa

It was a romantic and remarkable new year celebration.

10. EMDC winter event in Nuria

It was snow everywhere and the first time spending days and nights in a ski resort.

11. Regular walks in the woods of Stockholm

Stockholm was my second city outside Sri Lanka. It was dark in winter. Still, it left many pleasant memories.

Woods of Farsta Strand, Stockholm

12. A Christmas vacation in 3 Nordic countries

Including a cruise to Helsinki from Stockholm, and a flight to Copenhagen from Stockholm and a train to Malmo.

13. London in Winter

It was a pleasant experience presenting the full paper of my MSc thesis. It also marked the successful completion of my MSc.

14. Biennial visits to Shenzhen, China

I enjoyed my visit to Shenzhen every other year, starting from 2014 (2014, 2016, and 2018). 

15. EMJD-DC Ph.D. program
I started my Erasmus Mundus Ph.D. program from Lisboa. This made me stay in Portugal for a total of 6 years (2012 - 2018) - much longer than I ever imagined.

Early dinner in Puerto Penasco, Mexico

16. Crossing to Mexico by land
During the SDS 2015 conference in Phoenix, I started the habit of visiting nearby countries when possible.

17. Spending a summer month exploring the Balcans
It was a short-term scientific mission (STSM) research visit to Croatia. I ended up traveling to nearby countries, Italy, Slovenia, and Serbia during the weekends.

18. Calm and warm Maldives beach
Enjoying a sunny island of Maldives.

19. The Caribbean sea of Nassau
It was fun in the Bahamas, although one day was raining and ruined part of our trip.

Calm waters of Nassau

20. The beautiful Rhodes island in the autumn
I was there in Greece to present my papers. However, the island was too tempting not to explore. The conference was in the Greek touristic island, and it was fun.

21. Chasing snow in Liechtenstein
Determined to witness snow for the Christmas/New year vacation, we traveled all the way from Zurich to Malbun in Liechtenstein, eventually reaching the snow-capped mountains.

22. Daily walks along the beautiful Louvain-la-Neve lake
The Belgian village was self-sufficient with everything we needed.

The Belgian village of Louvain-la-Neuve

23. A train ride from Oslo to the sunny Karlstad
The Swedish town instantly became one of my favorites.

24. When a huge fan of Romanian music finally arrives in Romania
Romania was stylish and much better than what I anticipated. And I love Romanian music.

25. Exploring Saudi life
KAUST was like a country on its own. We enjoyed the canteen food and frequent visits to the cinema.

Atlanta getting ready for Christmas

26. Getting into random buses in Jeju
Yet, we eventually reached the destination!

27.  Thiruvannamalai
This temple is special for me as I always wanted to visit it from my young age. We had a chance to visit Chennai and temples around.

28. Exciting moments in Atlanta
It was a special feeling, becoming a father.

The Red Sea, KAUST, Thuwal, KSA

29. Successfully defending my Ph.D. thesis with a distinction
I had to defend it twice since it is a double degree - first in Portugal and then in Belgium! Now, I am finally done with all my higher studies.

30. GSoC Mentor Summit 2018 and the Baltic Adventures
It was quite a packed crazy trip, spanning 5 countries, out of which 3 countries were the Baltic nations that I have never been to before.

A photo summary of each year in my 2010s can be found here.

I find it exciting how events look different from a longer perspective such as a decade. This is the first time I looked back at a decade. This was also the first decade I was independent on my own, as before I was always with my parents. I hope the 2020s will be more interesting than the 2010s. I am looking forward to the 4th decade of my life! See you again with a similar post in 2029.

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.

Christmas in Istanbul

A bridge that connects continents

Flying from the USA to Asia is tiresome. Usually, it involves a layover in Europe or middle-east. This time when I flew from Atlanta to Colombo, I had a transit in Istanbul - my first ever flight with Turkish Airlines. I decided to stay in Istanbul for 3 nights since such a multi-city option was cheaper than flying directly. I also have never been to Istanbul before anyway. Istanbul was lovely and was different from all the cities that I have visited before. I also had a transcontinental cruise journey in Istanbul. This was also my first Christmas alone. I visited a lot of places in Istanbul by foot, including Sultanahmet, Eminönü, and Taksim Square. Overall, it was worth the stay.

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2020 for mentors

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a summer program hosted by Google where students work remotely on their favorite open source project and get paid! This presentation is an attempt to introduce GSoC to new mentors and mentoring organizations.

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2020 for mentors from Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.