Thursday, July 8, 2010
It has been a long time since I blogged. I went through a dry spell as I was delivering workshops across Canada this late May and June. I had to find my voice so many times in front of groups ranging from 10 to 150 people that I seemed to have none left to share with my laptop. The computer became my enemy, the constant reminder of too many questions to answer, too many files to juggle, too many folks neglected. I got overwhelmed, and forgot to breathe.
I am back in Sri Lanka now, not a restful place on so many fronts, but a place to lay my luggage for a while. It’s my first July here, and I am surprised by the cool breeze and cloudy days. I thought July would be unbearable in the southern hemisphere. My friends in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal have been melting in high noon heat, looking wilted in front of their computer screens across the Skype network. I enjoy Skype. My e-mails are finely getting shorter and being replaced by: Skype me at 8:00 AM EST, which is the cocktail hour for me. Perfect.
This last week, I have renewed acquaintances with some interesting people, both Expats and Sri Lankan. Many are going to the Northern hemisphere on holidays, so there are fewer of us here. The get togethers seem quieter somehow with less of us making our usual noise. I continue to notice how much room we Northerners take, not just in tourist sites on this planet, but in public and private venues everywhere, even when we number half a dozen. Hundreds of native people go by every day, taking little space, making little noise on their own land, while we consistently remind the world of our existence with our clothes, our laughter, our clunky shoes, our complaints.
I am back in Sri Lanka now, not a restful place on so many fronts, but a place to lay my luggage for a while. It’s my first July here, and I am surprised by the cool breeze and cloudy days. I thought July would be unbearable in the southern hemisphere. My friends in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal have been melting in high noon heat, looking wilted in front of their computer screens across the Skype network. I enjoy Skype. My e-mails are finely getting shorter and being replaced by: Skype me at 8:00 AM EST, which is the cocktail hour for me. Perfect.
This last week, I have renewed acquaintances with some interesting people, both Expats and Sri Lankan. Many are going to the Northern hemisphere on holidays, so there are fewer of us here. The get togethers seem quieter somehow with less of us making our usual noise. I continue to notice how much room we Northerners take, not just in tourist sites on this planet, but in public and private venues everywhere, even when we number half a dozen. Hundreds of native people go by every day, taking little space, making little noise on their own land, while we consistently remind the world of our existence with our clothes, our laughter, our clunky shoes, our complaints.
// posted by Dominique Dennery @ 4:43 PM 
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