Walls

People in America say "Fences make good neighbors." Well, in Sri Lanka, walls make good neighbors.  Everyone - well, at lease everyone of financial means, lives tucked behind their big ole walls with spikes or shards of broken glass cemented into the top to keep unwanted people from coming in.

As a southerner, who never traveled outside of the US before uprooting our family to Sri Lanka, this should be comforting.  But as a southerner who had an understood open door policy in our old neighborhood, this is stifling.  It feels confining and a little like being a prisoner.

I get it, I do.  The need to feel secure in your home.  And I have quite enjoyed the beauty of the architecture in these gates, the huge mahogany doors, the intricate carvings, how you even sometimes date the home by the peek of the roofline... detecting the design, the materials used and linking it to who may have been settling in Sri Lanka at the time.  (Well, Erik, and his architectural mind, and do that....me - I just say, look at the little scrolls on the roof line - pretty).

I don't know what I am trying to say with this.  This conflicting loving and hating my walled city. I guess it's just another one of those things that goes with trying to make a home in a different culture.

Anyway, during our walks, I have snapped some shots with my phone  - so I'll leave you with some shots of my favorite walls.