Adventures in Sri Lanka: "Adventures"

So I have never written a blog before, but I had promised many people that I would so here it goes...

This first post will be a bit longer as I have so many days to catch you up on.

As some of you may know from my posts on Facebook, getting to Sri Lanka was a bit of an "adventure". I put adventure in quotes because I have found in my travels that what is called an adventure in retrospect is really a stressful annoyance (or worse) while you are experiencing it. Maybe one day I will be able to laugh at a situation while it is occurring instead of when I look back at it. One day... :oP

I was lucky to not have any admissions in the PICU the night before the drive to Maryland. I was also lucky that that everything leading to getting to the airport went off without a hitch. The flights themselves were a different story. I sat in my plane at Dulles for 2 hours because of the bad weather, which isn't so bad except that it cut into the time I had with my cousin, Gayatri, and her husband, Ritul, in Dubai. I had a 7.5hr layover that I wanted to take complete advantage of! This turned into a 5hr layover in Dubai during which I was constantly stressed about not making the next flight! My cousin and her husband still managed to show me the highlights of Dubai: the tallest building and largest mall (my cousin's favorite place!). I got back to the airport in time but sat there for an extra 2 hours with many other confused foreigners headed to Colombo. The flight was okay but wrought with frustrated flight attendants trying to communicate with people who did not fly much, and with me trying to have some personal space as the lady next to me kept trying to climb over me when going to the bathroom instead of waiting for me to get up. Needless to say, it was an exhausting journey during which I slept little even though usually sleeping on flights is my specialty. It was made worse by me realizing that my baggage had been put on the flight from Dubai coming the next day! Thank God for mothers and traveling experience that lead me to pack plenty of underwear, enough clothes, and other important accessories in my carry-on bag! I received my bag the next evening with everything inside, though, so I can't complain much (in retrospect)!

Leijay is wonderful. The whole guest home is kept beautifully just like in their pictures: http://www.leijayresort.com/Yvonne/Sri_Lanka.html I am so thankful for how clean everything is and there are no bugs other than mosquitoes! Anyone who knows me knows how much I can't stand bugs and that I have had awful experiences with them in India and Malawi. I did have one large spider that got into my room one day :o/ But luckily the people I am staying here with are wonderful and killed it for me!! I am staying with an undergraduate student from Hopkins in one house in the compound. And in the two nearby houses is a graduate student from Duke and another from Hopkins. It's a great group of people! I have also been lucky that the weather is pretty cool so it has been no problem not having air conditioning.

Sri Lanka is also a really beautiful country. People have been very helpful and welcoming throughout my travels so far. The country itself is a clean, greener version of India. I imagine it is what India looked like while my parents were growing up. Maybe due to the color of my skin (lighter than the locals) or my dress or the way I carry myself (likely all of the above), I stand out more than I expected to. I don't stand out too much in India, especially not in Bombay. But what surprised me more is how fascinated the people are by me. I expect them to be fascinated by the Caucasian and Chinese friends I have made, but I am surprised when they ask me 20 questions and want to know where I am from. Partially due to this and mainly because I don't speak the language, Sri Lanka doesn't feel like home the same way India does. Though maybe this will change over the next two months!

I will be start working in the wards tomorrow morning now that I have met with the chair of the department today. I am really looking forward to the experience!!

I think I will start rambling if I talk much more so here are some pictures of what I did
during my free weekend: