fredag den 23. september 2011

Evigt solskin i et pletfrit sind

Solen skinner stadig i Colombo…. Ifølge de kloge, er der stadig lidt til at regnen sætter ind – here’s to hoping – for selvom mit sind ikke er pletfrit (er det i virkeligheden noget man ønsker sig), så kunne jeg godt håbe på, at monsoon’en valgte en light udgave i år, og at vi hældte mere mod ’det evige solskin’. Helt evigt bliver det heller aldrig på de her kanter; det regner typisk om natten eller tidligt om morgenen, men så regner det til gengæld også så det mærkes!!! Det er efterhånden længe siden, jeg har givet livstegn fra mig – men jeg lever altså, står op og går på arbejde (som man jo gør, når man er et rigtigt vokset menneske, der ikke længere varmer sig under CBS’ trygge vinger!)

De første par uger på job er efterhånden for længst passeret, og hverdagen har meldt sin ankomst. Sammen med den ankomst, har andre også sluttet sig til; jeg har bl.a. fået en ’rigtig’ kollega, forstået på den måde, at indtil for en uge siden, var jeg faktisk den eneste, der arbejdede fuld tid på SLDF 2011. Det er jeg ikke mere. På sin vis meget frigørende ikke at sidde i midten af det hele selv, men også en meget stor udfordring (med tryk på stor). Jeg er kommet til at arbejde sammen med en herre fra landet formet som en støvle. Sagt på en meget diplomatisk måde, har jeg, uden jeg var klar over det, indskrevet mig selv til ’italiensk for begyndere’. Jeg har jo egentligt altid godt kunne li’ sprog og fremmede kulturer, men jeg må tilstå, at lige netop dette crash-course viser sig at være lidt……… af en.......ehmmm... udfordring.  Ego’er kommer jo i mange størrelser, uanset hvor vi er henne i verden – personligt er jeg meget glad for, at jeg pt. sidder på et stort kontor, hvor vi kun er to – for vi har brug for plads, meget plads!
Det er jo faktisk ret pudsigt, for selvom det med det pletfri sind ikke rigtigt holder stik i realiteten, så er der alligevel ting som mit sind helt og aldeles har visket ud, glemt, fortrængt eller hvad der nu er sket. I hvert fald tager jeg det sure med det søde i de her dage. Jeg er glad for at være en del af SLDF, for det er et spændende og vedkommende projekt, som jeg sætter en ære i at tage del i. Når det er sagt, er der ting forbundet med arbejdsgange, kommandolinier, struktur (eller mangel på samme), vidensdeling, ejerskab, uddelegering, som til stadighed koster mig alt for meget på frustrationskontoen. Det er en hård nød at knække….


Måske jeg ender med at tale flydende italiensk, når vi når til slutningen af november – who knows. Indtil da, må jeg bare sætte alle de interkulturelle kompetencer jeg har i spil: italiensk for begyndere i en Singalesisk kontekst kræver altså sin kvinde.
For at det ikke skal være løgn, har jeg lige piftet det hele op med et mindre nord amerikansk indspark: for 14 dage siden rykkede Michelle ud af lejligheden for en kort bemærkning, jeg flyttede mig selv og alt mit habengut ind i hendes gemakker, og ind som husgæst, kom Vance. En finurlig (for at sige det på en pæn måde!) midaldrende Canadier, der netop er indtrådt som teknisk CEO i Suren’s (Michelle’s lillebror) IT firma. Uden at lyde alt for fordomsfuld, så tror jeg, jeg i de sidste to uger har delt lejlighed med en 50 MEGA it-nørd. Jeg kan ikke ligefrem påstå, at jeg begræder at han i går fik sit hus overdraget. Hmmmm…. I min verden er der kun én mand jeg deler lejlighed med. En jeg savner, så jeg nogle gange får helt ondt i hjertet. Skrækkeligt er hvad, det er! Det er måske blevet lidt nemmere, end da jeg kun havde været her et par dage, men der er dælme ikke meget bedring at spore på den front. Næ nej, jeg må tælle ned, må jeg…. 81 dage i skrivende stund. 81 dage til gensyn, ferie, Sri Lanka eventyr i 4 uger, hvor det bare handler om at opleve, nyde og dase. Er der ikke nogle kloge mennesker , der har sagt noget i retningen af ’distance makes the heart grow stronger’ ?!?! Èn ting står i hvert fald ikke til diskussion; jeg tager aldrig af sted igen alene!!

Nå, men altså lige om lidt er det weekend, og den skyder jeg i gang med en omgang yoga. Nu har jeg jo lige prist Auntie Ouida…. Og jeg føler næsten også at det her grænser til utroskab, men jeg har fundet en ny yoga dame….. Bare at skrive det, giver mig dårlig samvittighed!!! –men altså, lige så meget som jeg beundrer Aunite og det livsstykke hun er, så må jeg konstatere, at Sam’s timer bare lander i en helt anden kategori. Jeg tror, jeg har vedtaget, at jeg må prøve at balancere lidt i mellem dem, så jeg ikke svigter Auntie helt.
I morgen er det lørdag, og jeg skal til Michelles brors fødselsdag, men først efter lidt pool-tid med Annelies, der stadig er her lidt endnu. Søndag, ja…udover Skype-tid kan jeg næppe komme udenom at slå et smut forbi Barefoot. Alt i alt er der faktisk meget der er anderledes i Colombo i den her omgang. F.eks. er Line i fuld gang med at sikre ro og orden i nord-afrika, så Barefoot er uden hende i de her dage (OG HUN MANGLER!!!). Men Sebastian er her stadig, og det er jo dejligt J


Pønser lidt på at stikke af næste weekend måske til Kandy, og til det meditationscenter, der aldrig skete for nogle uger siden, måske sydpå og undersøge om strandende stadig er dér… Tough, men nogen skal jo gøre det.


torsdag den 8. september 2011

Auntie Ouida




Out of this exotic context, many things are strickingly familiar to me, it seems. The girls at my supermarket are the same. I still get annoyed by people just standing there, looking at the checkout girl, waiting until she has run through all of their goods, and instead of putting their stuff into bags (which lay right infront of them), they wait for her to do that as well - regardless of their quatities! I don't get it!
I don't get either, why the busses around the city seemingly are all driven by raving maniacs; driving like there are no other vehicles on the road (and believe that is VERY far from reality), honking their louder than life horns, causing close to a permenant hearing damage to anyone unfortunate enough to sit in a three-wheeler next to it!I mean come on - when everything - pretty much - else can be handled with a 'what to do', why can't the darn busses to lay off a bit.
For some reason this time around they just REALLY get to me!
In the mornings, Siri, my ever fateful tuc driver picks me up, and we head out into the morning traffic aorund 7.50. He's, obviously, familiar to me as well. Such a nice man. Always, sits in his tuc (which now is a brand new black of its kind, and quite snazzy too) impeccably dressed, in his crisp, newly ironed shirts, and long dark pants - what can I say; apparel makes the man, regardless of the collar of the trade.
In the evenings, I have another and even more distinct pleasure.... Some might remember the mentioning of a very special Yoga lady from my first stay in Sri Lanka. Well, Ouida, or Auntie, which is a respectful way of addressing people, who senior to you, is still going strong.
She is now 82, and still hosts at least 3 yoga classes of one and a half hours per class. She does it with such ease and elegance, despite her complaining of her arthritic knees.... Well, I wouldn't even go to that extreme, because she doesn't really complain. She merely states; 'me knees won't allow me to do this or that pose'. She still does the splits totally effortless.
She is very slender, has short curly silver hair, was a classical danser in her younger years, which is seen distinctly in her way of movement and execution of the different asanas, and despite her 'mere' 82 years of age, she has these girlish features and sweetness that is just endearing. I'm totally smitten by her-if I can be a live wire like her, when I'm 82, all I can say is; 'bring on the Third Age'.

(The pics are for some reason not being very co-operative and insist on laying down!! They of the lovely Bawa buliding, where we do the classes on the the very top floor)

lørdag den 3. september 2011

You have a plan...






Until it changes. 5.30 am my alarm went off. The reason for this early start, was that I was going to Kandy by train together with Linda (whom I'm working for at AOD). We were eloping from Colombo for the weekend to go to Kandy - or more specifically Nilambe, which is a meditation center just out side of Kandy. Getting up at the crack of dawn, not really an issue, standing in line at the train station waiting patiently to get to buy our ticket, not an issue either. What turned out to put at damper on things though, was train tickets getting sould out just, when we could acutally see the box-office window! So, what to do....Change plans. So here I am, getting a head start on a Saturday,and with a whole weekend ahead of me.
On a seperate note, I came across these lovely pics. Some of them are from Colombo and some from the South. Sadly, I can't take the credit for them myself (- I can provide a link though http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sri-Lanka-2008/210521)

tirsdag den 30. august 2011

Downpour...but with the heat on!

So I guess, it's not all bad - it is raining though - cats and dogs in hords!!! So, in that respect Sri Lanka doesn't differ that much from DK. All resemblance pretty much stops there though, I think. For example, I had rice and curry for lunch today. Sitting all by myself in the food court of Majestic City (Colombo's counterpart'ish to 'Fields'), in the midst of lunch rush-hour; me, my white self and my curry. Yup, white people eat curries too - even on their own. Judging by the looks of the co-lunching Lankans, I wasn't a frequent sight :) Curry was a tasty reunion, and one that has been missed too (Many thoughts went to a very special Machang).
I started work today, slowly slowly getting a glimpse of what the next few months might have to offer. Other than settling in, the past few days havn't really been all the actioned- packed. It too, was a happy reunion,catching up with Michelle again. I landed Sunday before noon, and was picked up at the airport in what I believe to be THE smallest, tiniest actually, car I've EVER been in. It litterally only had room for Ranil, the driver, my suitcase and I. But it served its function, and the drive even included a small pit-stop along the road side picking up a long awaited king coconut. Totally drained from the flight, it was all I was dreaming about after touching ground again - and it was gooooooood !!
I caught a few hours of sun and pool Sunday afternoon, after having lunch with Michelle, and after that, I had little energy left. Flight outbound started out flying.... Well, the good-bye, not so flying (insert a huge SOB here....and love) We managed though and as some form of consolation, I got upgraded to business class (something not toooo difficult to get used to, I might add). Thank you Emirates. A few hours transit in Dubai and then of at 2.45am... But then the delay, and then the full plane of eager Sri Lankans, when all I wanted was to sleep.... Did not happen.
Anyhow, I survived, and am happy to be back. Still settling in, awaiting some sort of daily rutine, still needing, and looking forward to catching up with familiar faces around here (even though some VERY important ones are missing). I still have 4,5 months to look forwrd to, so I'm sure all of the aboved mentioned will be met.
Tomorrow is Eid, and hence a holiday in Sri Lanka - one I accept enthusiastically, obviously. So happy Eid Mubarak to all!
(Just a quick note to illustrate the weather situation: it just thudered so violently that two car-alarms went off outside me flat!! Crazy ##s thunderstorm)
Now contemplating what to do with this welcome daybreak.....I'm thinking......Pool & book - if weather permits it, that is !

mandag den 29. august 2011

torsdag den 25. august 2011

The return

It's official - a Lanka reunion as almost so close, I can feel it. In three days, I will be in Colombo once again.
Excited, to say the least !
I will be returning the familiar surroundings, as I will be staying with Michelle again, for which I am more than glad - just feels a bit like home in CMB.
Starting Monday, I will be having my first day at AOD, where I will be working until early December. Sri Lanka Design Festival (http://www.srilankadesignfestival.com/) is almost here again, and at the time of writing, I'm pretty sure, it'll be in connection with this, I will be putting my energy and efforts - pressing the repeat buttom now; Excited, to say the least!!!
First, though a minor packing to do (or maybe not so minor!).
I will try my best to keep coffee-ladies, friends, familiy and loved ones up-dates through the blog.

See you in the blistering cold of mid January!!! Can't wait ; )

torsdag den 17. marts 2011

January....February....March....












And soon awaits having a real life again... Time is racing by, and soon - the 4th of April to be precise - the more or less dreadded Thesis will be ready to hand in!!! Well, handed in - yes! Ready.... Hopefully : )
It has been a long process. Fun at most times (especially for the first few months, when it brought us back to Lanka twice!) Since January, it's really been TOUGH, and I guess the last few weeks will just have to grit our teeth and endure. It's not up-hill per se, but tough for sure.
Anyways, I know, what will come out of it, will fill me with a great sense of satisfaction, because I know, we've put all we have in it.

Spring officially came on March 1st, but so far we havn't seen much of it IRL. Personally, it hasn't really bothered me, since my everyday has involved just about nothing but; my lap-top, Sandra, our notes and information from SL - PERIOD! (well, a few displacement activities too, but exaggeration furthers understanding, right)
On Sunday, we returned from a weeks stay in my parents holiday home on the coast of North-East Jutland, which did allow for some time to stroll the beach, and eventhough, it was cold, it was still a beautiful sight : )

All in all, I guess, I'm just really looking forward to putting closure to my time at CBS and hence the thesis. I have to admit though, that it is too a bit frightening. What to do next ??? Find a job, and act like a proper adult, most likely... But which job, and even more importantly WHERE to find that job....
I will have my work cut out for me in doing some proper research, and hopefully find a shelf that's right for me. But first things first !