A year ago today
Eyes blurred and mind foggy from lack of sleep, we touch down at Bandaranayake airport. It is approximately 1:30 pm local time and I am finally in Sri Lanka. However, there's still a chance this might not happen. We've got to get through customs first, and the visa process has been far from smooth up to this point. Thank goodness I prompted VSO to amend their original letter which had recommended I be granted permission to enter "Sierra Leone". Although, is it possible I brought the wrong letter? Did I proof read the replacement properly? What if its not correct? What if we got on the wrong flight and have ended up in a different continent after all? And what if my tired twitchy eye and general nervousness arouses so much suspicion that I am sent packing and back to the UK before getting out of the airport? It might for the best. After all, is this really such a good idea?
"OK, madam....Madam, it is OK!". I am jolted out of my travel-weary imaginings by a nod from the serious looking man at the desk. He is waving me through. He is waggling his head. I'm in. It's happening. There's no going back now! Jaffna Jo and I are greeted by a man with a VSO sign and escorted out into the stifling heat to a waiting van. Once shoes and socks have been discarded in favour of sandals, I immediately turn my attention to worrying about dehydration and dengue fever whilst gazing glassy eyed out of the van at the Colombo city sights.
The day passes in a blur. We are driven to the VSO office and given a welcome pack before being deposited at our guest house across the road. Being the intrepid adventurers that we are, we venture out to Keels. the local supermarket, to buy ourselves fizzy pop and salty nuts before returning to the safety of the guest house for our first home-cooked Sri Lankan meal. After dinner, we watch a couple of geckos chasing their tales around the verandah and I calculate that I have now been awake for approximately 33 hours. My eyes are as bulbous as a gecko's and I am starting to dribble when trying to speak. I figure it's time for bed. And so, for the very first time, I crawl under my mosquito net and onto the tiny bed that will be mine for the next 4 weeks. The mattress appears to have been manufactured for the maximum possible discomfort and stuffed with hundreds of small spiky lizards. The fan is deafening. I feel trapped under the net and am suffocating in this heat. I cannot sleep. Despite the 3 trips I have taken to the bathroom in the last 20 minutes, my bladder taunts me by repeatedly demanding to be emptied. The night appears endless, and one whole year (a full 365 nights away from home!) seems intolerable.
Today
Today is a special day. It is my anniversary. I have been in Sri Lanka for exactly one year. I have not only tolerated 365 nights, but have, for the most part, enjoyed it. In fact, I have even chosen to extend by an extra 3 months. So instead of heading home in the midst of winter, as originally planned, I am looking forward to a few more nights under my net. Thankfully I have a more comfortable mattress, and life has been good. Not without its challenges of course. But then, when is it ever?
I slide out of bed determined to make it to the hospital. Those buses will not break me! In actual fact, it turns out that today they are on my side. The 150 bus arrives within 5 minutes of waiting. I expertly wave it down with the required flappety floppety wrist waggle (performed most successfully, I find, if imagining the presence of a disgusting stench in the nearby vicinity); just one of the many abilities I have gained this year in exchange for my own special skills. VSO: Sharing skills, changing lives. This is is what its all about!
Anyway....back to the bus. So, there I am, impressed with my good fortune, about to clamber aboard, when I feel the squelch of something unpleasant underfoot. Some might say this is confirmation of my good luck. However, as I attempt to remove the mess from the sole of my sandal, the 150 starts pulling away and I am forced to run and leap onto the moving bus. For a moment, it's touch and go. But thankfully, I land safely without doing myself any great injury and find a seat by the window where I can stick my head outside to get away from the stink I have brought in with me.
My day at the hospital is a good one. I am busy, but still I find the time to tell as many people as possible that it is my anniversary. They mostly seem fairly unimpressed, and several respond by asking when I am leaving. I don't take it personally. I'm pretty sure they are simply preparing themselves for the emotional wrench.
After a post work swim, I head home for an anniversary skype chat with a certain Jaffnite. But first I must stop off at Keels to pick up some special fizzy lager pop and celebratory nuts. The internet connection is poor, and I have no idea what she is saying. However, it's good enough to allow us to toast a fantastic year well spent in Sierra Leone and raise our glasses for good times to come, whichever continent we find ourselves on.
Life as we know it? To be continued for a few more weeks. The "one year" mini-blog series? Stand down and rest easy...it is finally over.
Eyes blurred and mind foggy from lack of sleep, we touch down at Bandaranayake airport. It is approximately 1:30 pm local time and I am finally in Sri Lanka. However, there's still a chance this might not happen. We've got to get through customs first, and the visa process has been far from smooth up to this point. Thank goodness I prompted VSO to amend their original letter which had recommended I be granted permission to enter "Sierra Leone". Although, is it possible I brought the wrong letter? Did I proof read the replacement properly? What if its not correct? What if we got on the wrong flight and have ended up in a different continent after all? And what if my tired twitchy eye and general nervousness arouses so much suspicion that I am sent packing and back to the UK before getting out of the airport? It might for the best. After all, is this really such a good idea?
"OK, madam....Madam, it is OK!". I am jolted out of my travel-weary imaginings by a nod from the serious looking man at the desk. He is waving me through. He is waggling his head. I'm in. It's happening. There's no going back now! Jaffna Jo and I are greeted by a man with a VSO sign and escorted out into the stifling heat to a waiting van. Once shoes and socks have been discarded in favour of sandals, I immediately turn my attention to worrying about dehydration and dengue fever whilst gazing glassy eyed out of the van at the Colombo city sights.
The day passes in a blur. We are driven to the VSO office and given a welcome pack before being deposited at our guest house across the road. Being the intrepid adventurers that we are, we venture out to Keels. the local supermarket, to buy ourselves fizzy pop and salty nuts before returning to the safety of the guest house for our first home-cooked Sri Lankan meal. After dinner, we watch a couple of geckos chasing their tales around the verandah and I calculate that I have now been awake for approximately 33 hours. My eyes are as bulbous as a gecko's and I am starting to dribble when trying to speak. I figure it's time for bed. And so, for the very first time, I crawl under my mosquito net and onto the tiny bed that will be mine for the next 4 weeks. The mattress appears to have been manufactured for the maximum possible discomfort and stuffed with hundreds of small spiky lizards. The fan is deafening. I feel trapped under the net and am suffocating in this heat. I cannot sleep. Despite the 3 trips I have taken to the bathroom in the last 20 minutes, my bladder taunts me by repeatedly demanding to be emptied. The night appears endless, and one whole year (a full 365 nights away from home!) seems intolerable.
Today
Today is a special day. It is my anniversary. I have been in Sri Lanka for exactly one year. I have not only tolerated 365 nights, but have, for the most part, enjoyed it. In fact, I have even chosen to extend by an extra 3 months. So instead of heading home in the midst of winter, as originally planned, I am looking forward to a few more nights under my net. Thankfully I have a more comfortable mattress, and life has been good. Not without its challenges of course. But then, when is it ever?
I slide out of bed determined to make it to the hospital. Those buses will not break me! In actual fact, it turns out that today they are on my side. The 150 bus arrives within 5 minutes of waiting. I expertly wave it down with the required flappety floppety wrist waggle (performed most successfully, I find, if imagining the presence of a disgusting stench in the nearby vicinity); just one of the many abilities I have gained this year in exchange for my own special skills. VSO: Sharing skills, changing lives. This is is what its all about!
Anyway....back to the bus. So, there I am, impressed with my good fortune, about to clamber aboard, when I feel the squelch of something unpleasant underfoot. Some might say this is confirmation of my good luck. However, as I attempt to remove the mess from the sole of my sandal, the 150 starts pulling away and I am forced to run and leap onto the moving bus. For a moment, it's touch and go. But thankfully, I land safely without doing myself any great injury and find a seat by the window where I can stick my head outside to get away from the stink I have brought in with me.
My day at the hospital is a good one. I am busy, but still I find the time to tell as many people as possible that it is my anniversary. They mostly seem fairly unimpressed, and several respond by asking when I am leaving. I don't take it personally. I'm pretty sure they are simply preparing themselves for the emotional wrench.
After a post work swim, I head home for an anniversary skype chat with a certain Jaffnite. But first I must stop off at Keels to pick up some special fizzy lager pop and celebratory nuts. The internet connection is poor, and I have no idea what she is saying. However, it's good enough to allow us to toast a fantastic year well spent in Sierra Leone and raise our glasses for good times to come, whichever continent we find ourselves on.
Life as we know it? To be continued for a few more weeks. The "one year" mini-blog series? Stand down and rest easy...it is finally over.
Book title: "The One Year mini-blog series".
ReplyDeleteI just know it would be a best seller! Fantastically written Beth!
So clever :-D
Totty (Totti)
xx
The next cheque is in the post to you Tots, keep the comments coming.x
DeleteI'm pretty sure the title was mine, so I'll be expecting a share of the fortune that you'll be making out of your mini-series, Beth.
ReplyDelete