Day 19-20 – Wrap-up

And just like that, we’ve reached the end of my mandate. My final two days at work have had a quieter pace – I’ve submitted my deliverables and am now focused on end of mandate reports, exit interviews, hand-off and final questions and of course a goodbye lunch with my partner organization here. Though my partner organization keeps reminding me I could stay… one of their original Uniterra volunteers (from two years ago!) is still here. They simply keep extending her mandate. I’ve had the same offer and assurance that they can even take care of cancelling my flight and paying any penalties! As well, I do have an open-ended rental agreement with my accommodations… and I’ve already found a favourite grocery store and yoga studio.

About living here – a challenge here for me has been exercise. Always a challenge when travelling for work (personal travel always involves a lot of exploring/walking/hiking and swimming, so less of a challenge) and it’s been no different on work days here. Weekends are easy because I’ve been able to get out of the city to explore (LOTS of walking) and swim, but in the city options are more limited. My usual activities of horseback riding, hiking and dog-walking are not available in downtown Colombo. Even walking itself is a bit of a challenge as their are’t any real sidewalks and tuks tuks and motorcycles use the shoulders as their own express lanes during rush hour (which by the way is 7:00 – 9:00 for morning commute; 12:30 – 14:30 for end of school day commute; and 16:00 – 19:00 for evening commute). Also, it’s HOT – around 35 degrees and humid so walking as a mode of transportation is just not common here. Co-worker/new friend Nishi couldn’t believe that I walked to a cute shop she sent me to (about 5 minutes from home). As she said “but it’s so easy to just take a tuk!”. Aside from that, it gets dark between 18:00 – 18:30 here and though I have felt nothing but safe here, as a woman in Colombo long walks after dark are not encouraged. All that to say getting in my usual level of physical activity during the work week has been hard.

That being said, part of the Leave for Change experience is to embrace actually living in your new country. So I found The OM Space – a wonderful yoga studio right around the corner! Easily accessible and incredibly welcoming, Leon leads a terrific intermediate level Hatha practice (great if like me you haven’t been keeping up with your yoga on a daily basis), followed, of course, by tea. Tea as an activity, naturally, not just a beverage.

Speaking of which, tea really is an activity here. When I went for my exit interview with WUSC (one of the Uniterra partners and the one who coordinates the programming here in Sri Lanka, I was offered tea. Which of course I accepted. Then when I seemed confused the interview wasn’t starting, I was reminded it wouldn’t start until after we had finished out tea, because drinking tea while completing the interview would ruin the tea experience.

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The level of multi-taking we are accustomed to at home is just not a thing here and it has been so, so refreshing. Not to mention the quality of experiences, relationships and work that is enabled by really, truly being able to focus on the present moment. Something I hope to be able to bring with me when I do get back to Canada.

And so, despite how difficult it will be to leave the country that has been my home for the past few weeks, and as tempting as it is to stay, I will be heading home tomorrow evening. But with a wonderful new perspective.