Long overdue update

Okay, so I’ve been a bit negligent in updating this blog. Okay, quite negligent. Yes, I know I haven’t written a thing since early October. I’m bad, I know. Stop looking at me like that. I KNOW. The problem hasn’t been a lack of things to write about; there has been so much happening and I have had so many new and interesting experiences that when I sit down to write something here, I never know quite where to start. Plus I get a bit self-conscious at the thought of people I don’t know reading what I’ve got to say, and it just became an easy thing to keep putting off. I hope I haven’t disappointed anyone out there…  So are we cool? Okay.

It’s January 26th today, which means I arrived in Kalmunai exactly four months ago. It’s strange now to think back to that early morning drive down Main Street, because so much of what shocked and amazed me on that first day has become so normal and expected that it’s hard to imagine things any other way. I can see myself getting back to Vancouver and saying, “Where are all the mangy dogs and banana shops and sidewalk garbage fires? Where are all the cows?” I barely take notice now as I weave between roaming cattle on my bicycle, but it when I first arrived it felt as if I’d stepped into a different world. I couldn’t believe how different it was! And it is different in a lot of ways, but the more I’ve gotten to know this place and its people, the more similarities I’ve been able to recognize between here and home; between people living in Eastern Sri Lanka and people living in at least parts of Vancouver –Yaletown really is incommensurable. I’m kidding. There may be vast differences in our lifestyles, our religious customs, our economic situation, but on an individual level we’re all after the same things. I made some great friends here and I’m sorry to be saying goodbye to them.

I’ve got more stuff to talk about, but it’s getting late now and the mosquitoes are biting my feet. To be continued.