Sri Lanka baby

I am currently sitting in Kuwait, waiting for my plane to leave in a few hours.
The month of February went by in a flash, it seems like I was updating my blog a few days ago.. Freaky..
It was a good month.
I got to relax, talk about my problems to my parents and not think of work AT ALL.
Well, I should actually since well...I need to decide what to do. I think I'm giving freelancing a try. I mean, what can I lose ? But more importantly, what can I learn from the experience?

So, Sri Lanka!
I arrived a day and a half earlier than my two companions so I go to take a breather and discover Hikkaduwa with my parents before setting off on our two week tour.
I have to say, their place is beautiful.
It's like paradise. The first time I saw it I was just at awe.
Flowers everywhere, a swimming pool, fruit hanging from trees, birds singing.. Whoa.
Officially they have one dog, Happy, and one cat, Onni.
Unofficially there are 3 more dogs.
They are all cute and nice,

Marja and Olivier came on the same day, just with 4hs difference.. No biggie, with Marja we talked and tried to stay awake during the wait, finally starting to converse with a curious American sitting at the table next to us in the café.

Once Olivier arrived, we hopped in the taxi that had brought me (and hence waited 5 hours to drive us back) and arrived at Hikkaduwa round 8ish. We took a nap and then started planning and discovering the beautiful country.

We had decided on hiring a van to take us places (huge time and hassle saver) and my stepdad had asked one of his local friends, Lal, to take us. He seemed nice at first but on a few occasions during the trip and after he reeeeaaally bugged me.
Mom can't stand him and I almost regret buying him a Rs 5000 book. Oh well, it's done so nothing to cry about.

Our plan took us from the South to finally stop at Colombo, where our parts with Lal and Marja would part and with Olivier we'd continue on alone.

We stayed in Hikkaduwa for a few days before departing early on Wednesday morning armed with Lonely Planet and Petit Futé.
We first went to Uda Walawe, a nature resort where we got a nice view of elephants and birds (to be honest, I had a hard time seeing any of the birds our guide pointed out to us but I pointed my camera in the direction indicated and got it over with).

We slept in a cosy and clean place called Superson's. The food was excellent and we slept well.
From there we continued to Ella and had a small crisis on the way. We told Lal about wanting to call and reserve a hotel, but he just laughed and told that everything would already be booked and that we should've thought about it earlier.I told him that as our guide HE should've told us to book before but he just laughed.
We were all pissed at him after that.
We then decided to take the train from Ella to Nanu Oya, where Lal would pick us up and take us to Hatton and then Adam's Peak.
There was a mishap with the tickets too and we were really tense. We even contemplated abandoning his services after Ella and continuing on our own from there.But alas, we have a conscience and couldn't "leave him stranded" after having planned on using his services up until Colombo.

So we swallowed our anger and later on realized we had overreacted a bit. He's still a douche tho.
In Ella we tried out the ayurvedic treatments used for shoulder and scalp massages.
It was boring, repetitive and unprofessional. I had hoped for more.

Whilst in Ella we went for an evening stroll, just the 3 of us, and climbed what they call "Little Adam's Peak". Nothing to do with the real one a frankly, they should call it "Adam's Peak's Microscopic Shadow" because the real one, WELL, that took us +3 hours to climb, 1h to wait for the sunrise and 2 hours to run down.
I was really happy that my damaged knee (thank you Mont Blanc) didn't sting at all. :)

Prior to Adam's Peak Lal insisted (well he just drove us there without asking us) on having us blessed for our hike. So we went, had a priest chant-mumble a few prayer lines, a red dot pressed on our foreheads and Rs 150 cashed out of us.
Well, we didn't hurt ourselves or die so it MUST have worked.
We did lose Marja on the way down and with Oliv we panicked only to find her safe and warm in our van. I was furious with anxiety :D

After Adam's Peak we left for Colombo. We all slept during the 5 hour trip since the night before there was only 2 hours of sleep in store for us.
In Colombo we were greeted by a huge rainstorm.
So huge that the hotel room we were supposed to get was flooded (but for them it posed no problem). I proceeded to rant and rave until he finally gave us a new room and Rs 1100 of reduction.

Marja left early the next day and we proceeded to the bus station with Oliv where we found a bus to take us to Dambulla (5h bus drive). From there we took a tuk-tuk to Sigiriya and checked into our rooms.

We were supposed to go climb Sigiriya Rock the following morning, but since our leg muscles were still stinging from the climb of Adam's Peak, we decided self-torture was the way to go. It was really beautiful, I took a ton of pictures but you'll never see the real beauty reflected in them. It's in my mind so that's enough.

The following day we went to have breakfast at the local diner we had discovered the previous evening. The owner liked to hand his customers a marker and let them leave their marks on his walls. I wrote something in Finnish and Olivier wrote his during breakfast. It was raining cats and dogs and we were really glad we had climbed the Rock the previous evening.
From there, our journey took us to Kandy, where we hopefully looked for anything rugby related. We had booked something beforehand, but changed our minds after a local sir came to ask us if we were looking for a place to stay. It was cheap and they served by far the best home-cooked curry I had tasted (if you don't take in account the buffet at the Lighthouse; the mutton curry is to die for).We even saw at the local sports stadium people playing rugby so we were really hopeful. We approached a athletics trainer who for the following 2 hours took us to every shop in Kandy selling sports goods, but in vain.
He afterwards told us that his former trainee was now the captain of the Kandy team and that he'd have 2 shirts for us the following morning at 8h30.
Except that he didn't.
He then promised that he'd get them in a few days and that he'd call.
He didn't, we did.
Two more days.
Still no.
In a few days.
Are you kidding me?
Soon, soon.
Ok, bye.

So that was a disappointment.
Luckily a week after Olivier had left, I searched far and wide to find e-mail addresses of rugby teams and unions.
I struck gold ! But about that, a bit later.

So back to our trip. Kandy seen and done, we headed to Colombo. Our plan was to stay one night and go back to Hikkaduwa the following afternoon.
We changed our minds and went straight back to Hikkaduwa, passing by Colombo.
There we just lazed around and burned our skins in the swimming pool.

on a side note, I tan ugly. Uneven and ugly colored. Bleh. Every time I tan I tell myself the same thing, it's ugly, stay pale like a ghost ! But alas, 5 mins of applying sunscreen is too much to ask. So I burn.
Intelligent.

After Olivier left, I spent my days with my parents, often running errands with my step-dad, sitting on the back of his scooter and drinking in the scenery (and fearing for my life everytime I saw 3 buses vaulting towards us on a 2 lane road, trying to compete on who gets to the bus stop first). It really did me good.
I spoke to him about my mental issues and the psychiatrice and my work etc. It felt good to be understood.

I actually told mom about everything.
We spoke of the abuse I had suffered in school (I never really told them about it, or how bad it actually was or how I coped with it) and the self-esteem issues I still had because of it.
We also spoke of my my parents' divorce and the life they had before. Mom suffered quite a bit of mental abuse from dad, I'm really sorry I couldn't help her. But I was but a small child and I was pretty much left in the dark about the whole situation. I felt abandoned. I ever revealed that I felt that with mom we hadn't really been very close when I was growing up, that we only started hugging when I moved out of the house.She was going through a lot which of course reflected on her everyday life.
I told her that I blamed no one about my problems and in no way was I trying to make her feel guilty of anything.
It just felt good to let her know. I even told her about the times I had contemplated suicide, the last one not so long ago because of my growing anxiety and distress about work.

I hope I didn't scare her. She told me that if I ever thought like that again I should immediately ask for help. Hence the psychiatrice.
I told her I was doing better, really I am. That I hope a lot of stress will disappear from our couple and I can start loving fully again.

It was a really good talk, it made both of us laugh a few times :D

I just realized I'm writing in shambles !  The chronological order has not been respected! And I'm no longer in Kuwait, I'm on the plane now.
I might as well tell you about the time I struck gold with the rugby shirt !

So I had contacted a bunch of people, found well hidden pictures of Sri lankan rugby players in their jerseys and used all my pleading power to make someone pity me enough to answer me.
A certain Lasitha G. answered my prayers.
This fine sir is the Vice President of the Asian Rugby Federation Union.
He gave me his number which I called on Tuesday, preciding Poya (full moon, holiday).

I called him a few times before he finally managed to found a jersey for me.
The thing was, I'd have to go to Colombo to collect it (about 3hs one way). I told my parents about my plans to go collect them, but Timo decided we should all go. Mom wasn't thrilled, it meant a lot of sitting in the car we hired with the driver. But she acquiesced at the end.
I couldn't sleep that night.
I was so worried of making my parents do something weary for nothing AND that I'd be disappointed again.
So we set out early and met this lovely man near his work place. He works not far from Royal College so it was kinda easy to find.
He didn't want anything for the jersey, since it wasn't one that they sold (that actually led to some confusion on the phone;
-You have a jersey ?? "Yes" -Oh yay, how much?? "Oh it's not for sale." - Oh, so no jersey... "No no, I will give it to you!" -Really!? How much do I owe you ?? "Oh I can't sell it!" - Oh... but... "I don't need anything in exchange." - Oh but I must repay you somehow ! What can I get you? "Oh no no no *laughs*"
You get the drift.)

Timo gave me a bottle of whisky to give him. So he and us arrived at their club house by car and the others stayed in the vehicle while I ran to meet him. In the end we talked so much that after the second time he asked whether we'd want coffee I had the courage to ask my parents if they could be bothered to spend some time with him.
They were delighted.
He was really a nice man, he invited us for tea in their club house and we all talked. About rugby, Sri Lanka, my parents, Olivier etc.
At the end when I looked at the shirt (he proposed to exchange it for a smaller size if it was too big) he told me to keep in touch, "please".
We were all so impressed by him, we really had a nice time and the jersey is great !
It's a super limited edition, only 35 were made by the brand Gilbert and NOBODY has one (well apart him and some other member of the union). The jerseys were supposed to be distributed to players, but he decided against it. Muahahahahahaaa !
Once I get back home I'll need to send him a picture with Olivier wearing the shirt :D
I bet he'll like that. I do !

So to sum it up, the month I spent in Sri Lanka was really important. I felt free and without a care in the world, I smiled all the time, I ate good spicy foods (and gained 2 dress sizes, my fingers are so swollen I can't even put my engagement ring on) and bonded more with my parents.
I also achieved a minor victory.
I had learned that the nutritionnist that I was supposed to see on Monday had cancelled my rdvs. I learned 3 weeks after.

So when I called the earliest dates were starting from mid-April.
I had put some much hope in that initial rdv that it just broke me and I started crying. Like I always do when I hit a bad spot, I isolate myself.
Timo had asked if I wanted to go to Galle with him but I refused.
My parents didn't understand because up until that moment I had always been ready to hop on the scooter.

I started to wallow in self-pity (for a silly thing like that) but something fought it.
I looked at Timo preparing to leave and thought of really wanting to go. I mustered up all my courage and asked if I could still come.
It did me a whole lot of good.
We spoke of my depression and the wonderful feeling of self-pity and really, I calmed down instantly, all my troubles blown away by the polluted wind that hit my face on Galle Road.
I called the nutritionnist back and took the first rdv he had to offer.
As simple as that.

So, in short;
Good times.