Saying goodbye
It is much cooler here in Colombo than it is in Mannar, but I would gladly welcome that heat again. I wish I had been in Mannar longer to learn more about the context and myself within it and make the changes that come from that reflection. Today, or rather early tomorrow morning, I will leave Sri Lanka instead.
Today is meant to be a relaxing day. I woke early, but with no alarm, my body still used to preparing for school before breakfast. I repacked my bags, setting aside space for the gifts that I have yet to buy. I watched some news stories. I chatted with my partner. Sent a few emails. Re-graded student papers. In a moment, I will shower and dress. On the agenda for today is a late breakfast, working with an English class, lunch, shopping for arrack (the local liquor) as gifts, rest, English class with a small group of lawyers, short rest, dinner with the lawyers, and then re-packing once more for the trip. We will leave for the airport around 10pm with an expected arrival of 11pm. 2:10am on Friday we will begin our transit to Singapore and then on to Hong Kong and later to San Francisco. It's 36 hours of Friday for us, as we will arrive at around 12pm that day.
When I arrive, I will go to a hotel for a night. I want a long bath with bubbles. At the hotel where I will stay, there is no on site dining, so no room service for me. A block away there is a sushi restaurant, so I will go there for sushi and perhaps oysters, cool foods that are so different from that which I have had and loved here. I'll watch Law and Order and silly American television, most likely some reality television. I will try not to mourn not still being here in Sri Lanka. I will try to celebrate the time, the lessons, the great people that I have met.
On Saturday, Donald will pick me up. He has my house and car keys as I was afraid that I might lose them in transit somewhere. The plan is to have a week of time to transition back to the States before I go back to work. I have the Acentos anthology to work on, submissions for the summer issue to review, my first job review to prepare, a class to prepare, and a very long list of tasks to conquer. On a more personal level, I have self-care appointments scheduled in the next week, a cello lesson, a foster care and adoption orientation to attend (I want to learn about the process should I decide on that route to have children). All of that within the next two weeks and more on the agenda after that. It has been good to get away and focus on service and learning only.
I will miss Sri Lanka.