ABDF

Well I’m home, but of course my last few days in Sri Lanka weren’t as easy and straight-forward as one would think. In fact, we ended up completing another project the day before I flew out.

One of our generous patrons, Angela, had funded a computer, multimedia projector, and a few other pieces of equipment for our friends at St. Cecilia’s Girl’s School. She had provided funds in addition to those, and as I mentioned in my last dispatch, had decided to buy musical instruments. The only place to buy instruments is Colombo, and the one and only piano salesman/repairman in the country resides there as well. So I coordinated with a friend in Colombo, Rajani, and we ended up spending last Thursday running around Colombo, arranging for a new piano and assorted band instruments. It was a very long day, but it was fun, too, going shopping with a friend all day.

Getting the piano was both easy and a pleasure. Mr. Perrera, Sri Lanka’s one and only piano man, operates out of his house. Not only does he sell both new and used pianos, but he refurbishes them by hand. He showed us his workshop, wherein several family members and other employees were busy at work. It was interesting to see the piano innards spread out. They seem so simple in construction, and yet so complex at the same time. At any rate, we got St. Cecilia’s a lovely used piano; they will be very happy with it.

The most entertaining part of the day was going to the instrument shop in Pettah. Pettah is a district of Colombo, famed for its crowded, narrow streets of shops and stalls; you can buy just about anything in Pettah. As a center of retail, the area is predominately Tamil, with most being Muslim. Walking the streets is quite an experience as the place has more noise, more hustle and bustle, than any other on the island. Our shop was on a side street and, as shopping here usually does, it took a very long time. Real shopping involves sitting, visiting, sipping beverages (in this case lime juice) provided by the shopkeeper, and lots and lots of haggling. Me, I’m not a very good haggler, which was one reason why I was happy to have Rajani with me. The Sri Lankan style of haggling sounds, to American ears, bitchy and loud, but in Sri Lanka this is considered normal. It may be aggressive, but it’s friendly. And it goes on. And on. And on.

Finally, just around 5:00, after what must have been several hours, Rajani and I emerged from the shop, triumphant in having gotten decent prices for the trumpets, drums, clarinets, etc. for St. Cecilia’s. We hadn’t the funds to get all the instruments, for example the trombones, but I hope that between Angela and me we’ll figure out how to get the rest of it.

Leaving Sri Lanka is always a lot more difficult than you might imagine. I’m talking about physically leaving, not just the emotional component. For one thing, Sri Lankan Airlines has the nasty habit of changing flight schedules without telling you. Having learned about this the hard way, I always call a week or two before my departure to find out the new schedule. This year was no exception, except that they again changed my flight time a second time – on the day I was to leave. So between the new time, the monsoon flooding Colombo’s streets right when I was about to depart for the airport, and the streets between Colombo and the airport being closed for three hours so the President could move about, I missed the flight.

That Saturday night was the worst I’ve had in Sri Lanka. Not only was I exhausted from lack of sleep due to a wild farewell party thrown by friends the night before, but it was 11 at night, my flight was departed, I was coming down with a bad head cold, and Sri Lankan Airlines was trying to convince me that my missing the plane wasn’t their fault. The best they could do was put me on standby for an early morning flight the next day. So I again got very little sleep.

Of course I couldn’t get on that flight, as I was not the only passenger who had missed that flight the night before. In the end I caught another flight that evening, but to assure my place on the plane, I had to stay at the airport all day. However by that time I was pretty exhausted, and miserable, so it really didn’t matter to me where I was.

All in all it took me nearly three days to get home, three days that contained maybe 5 hours of sleep total. I had one layover in Abu Dhabi; from what I can remember they have a gorgeous new airport. But the layover in Heathrow is pretty much a vague blur, as are the flights themselves. For example, on one flight I watched “Twilight,” the vampire movie. I barely recall it. I can’t sleep sitting up, so long flights can be a real trial. Those of you who remember my complaints about the night train from Batti to Colombo will know this already.

However, it was great to arrive back in the States, to be joyfully greeted by family and have them whisk me to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and margaritas!

I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have tons of fund raising to do. I have paperwork to fill out, financials to go over and submit, Board issues to sort out, website updates to do, and I need to find a job. Not to mention all the holiday family stuff like Thanksgiving and Christmas. All of this before March!

I would like to thank all of you who have read this through the year; I hope I’ve been able to communicate with you what it is like to live and work in Batticaloa. I also hope I’ve inspired you a little to try and make a difference in the world.

I may post one or two updates during my time here in the States, but they will be few and far between. I’ll start back up again around March next year. So check back once a month or so. See you then!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Letter from Batticaloa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.