Travel

Back to Colombo

By December 14, 2010 No Comments

I feel at peace now, re-entry into Colombo life complete. It has taken me 14 days to take back the mantle of my life here. Why so long this time? I don’t know. The last two weeks were spent on automatic pilot, finalizing work with Canada, planting seeds for workshops on both continents, attending official functions while smiling and making polite conversation. I discovered some new faces while renewing acquaintances with many familiar ones at charity functions, volunteer groups, and various get togethers that multiply at this time of the year.

It finally stopped raining here, and the air is warm with tinges of cool in the shade. Anyone arriving now would declare this island to be a slice of paradise. The rains lasted seven weeks unleashing flooding and disease. I missed most of it while in fast forward mode across Canada, barely noticing the first assaults of winter.

I seem to have created superposition in my life, simultaneously experiencing two places, while having the odd sense of belonging to both and neither. I know this is common in people who travel constantly for their work, and realize it alters something fundamental in our perception. Right now I feel less worried, less hurried, more at ease with these two worlds I inhabit. If it’s a phase of transition, let’s call it the Ripening Phase.

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