Adjusting and Strange


Well, we arrived back in Canada on December 12. We left Sri Lanka on December 12. No, that does not mean a short flight. We flew into time and so, we we were in the air 22 hours! So was our poor kitty, Judge. She had been contained in a cage during the flight and for five days prior to the long flight as well.  The food we left taped to her crate was still taped to her crate on arrival in Canada.

We picked her up from the Cargo Depot at Vancouver airport shivering and hungry.  After devouring her Wiskas, she had to be caged another four hours as we drove home in a rental car across the Coquihalla Highway to our home in Kamloops, British Columbia. The trip can be likened to the Israelites coming out of Egypt. The Red Sea parted for them. The Snow Belt parted for us, allowing us to drive home on bare and dry, summer like roads. However, within hours, the clouds dumped their stored loads and over 60 cm. of snow fell over the next couple of days. Here is a view from the balcony of our condo.


My mother prepared for our arrival with a delicious dinner of all our favorite foods and a houseful of our wonderful family: children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, about 37 in all. What a joy to see them all after 2 full years.


The strange thing is this: It is like we were never away. It is like a curtain was pulled over our life in Sri Lanka and we are left pinching ourselves to remember we lived there for two full entire years of our life! It is so strange. We slipped back into our lives here, as if we were never away.

How is Judge adjusting you ask? See for yourself.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saari

Image
Sri Lankan women wear saaris. They wear other things too. Sinhalese women either wear saaris or skirts and blouses. Tamil women wear saaris and unmarried Tamil women wear salwaar kemeez. A few women wear slacks. All professional women wear saaris. As I give formal presentations in my work, I decided to purchase myself a saari At the Saari store, I selected the fabric I loved. It was tan coloured silk blend with blue, green and apricot accents. I also purchased two stretchy tank tops that are worn with a Saari. Saari fabric is sold in such a length allowing for one end to be cut off and used as fabric for a saari blouse. The salesman measured me up for the blouse. A couple days later, when the blouse was ready, the salesman phoned and Bill picked it up for me. I tried it on. First, I put it on backwards. Then realizing my error, I tried it on front ways. The darts in the blouse sharpened my breasts into cone shaped points. I had noticed women about town with sharply poi...
Read more

Knuckles Range

Image
Deep in the interior of Sri Lanka is a mountain range named Knuckles Range. This moniker, given by early British surveyors to the area, is so named as it closely resembles the clenched fist of a giant man. Knuckles Range is a UNESCO Heritage Site due to the flora and fauna found there; some species are endemic and not seen anywhere else in the world. April 12 and 13 th are the Tamil and Sinhala New Years and as the dates landed on a Thursday/Friday, a nice long weekend was created that allowed us to travel (a long and dirty bus ride) to the Kandy District in order to hike the Knuckles Range with a guide. Another VSO volunteer, Marjorie was with Bill and me. Day 1: Two hours driving into the Knuckles region in 4x4 Safari Jeep: 5 hours of hiking to base camp. Day 2: 8 hours of hiking to the caves; camp out. Porters carrying food, tents, sleeping bags. Day 3: 8 hours of hiking to home stay in the Knuckles Day 4: 4 hours of hiking to the rarely seen falls: only 3 other foreigne...
Read more

My work

Image
Handing over curriculum and books to Sri Jayawardenapura University Mental Health Training Organizational Development for Shanthiham I have had requests to write more about my work. I find it difficult due to the highly sensitive nature of the work and the usual limits of confidentiality. However, I will try to give some generalities. Many jobs or tasks arose based on my initial assessment of the organization and the needs of the community/district/province. My work was and is not assigned, but rather based on this assessment and determining where my skill set can be used to fill in some of the gaps. Job One : Train the nine member trauma team in group therapy, build their clinical skills, and develop their capacity to work with victims of torture, trauma and ex-combatants. Job Two : Train a six member community team in group therapy, build their clinical skills to work with families of the "disappeared", war widows, the displaced, and the mentally ill....
Read more