One of the great things about living in a timezone like the one Sri Lanka is in is that you get to feel like you’re always living in the future. I’m sure I saw one of these flying around the other day. Great Scott!

Every once and awhile I go back and reread some of my blogs and think – “Man, I’m a sarcastic dick.”

I’m really not trying to be. I’m just trying to have fun and hopefully give a couple people a chuckle while documenting our life in Sri Lanka. To try and balance out my negativity and bad attitude a bit, I’m proud to present another short list of things that make life here so worthwhile.

  1. Sri Lankans – I’ve never lived amongst a more frustratingly delightful and wonderfully eccentric group of people. Generally speaking from my vantage point (a foreigner badly posing to be a local), Sri Lankans really are fascinating in how they live, work and conduct their daily business. One minute they are showering you with sugary tea and biscuits, and the next they are pushing you over to take the last seat on the bus. While often nothing in their world makes sense to me, I must say that the entire world could certainly use more of Sri Lanka’s. Pass the sambol with a side of crazy please!
  2. No snow shovels – The winter I missed last year in Canada was one of the mildest on record, but this year looks like it will be different as the mighty metropolis of Regina already has had over 60 cm of snow – more than all of last winter combined. In Colombo, we’ve only had a handful of days all year under 30 above and a flake hasn’t fallen in thousands of kilometres from here. Here’s hoping for an early Canadian spring to mark my return.
  3. Residents at Angoda – The regular visits I get from patients to my office in the hospital really are awesome. Whether they lie on my cool tile floor for a nap or stop by to pound some keys on my laptop, we always have a laugh. Most of the residents speak as much English as I speak Sinhala (not much), however every now and then I get a surprise, like last week when a man called Raymond strolled into the office:

Raymond: “Hello, good sir. I don’t think I’ve been told your name.”

Me: “Ahhh, hello. My name is Shaun. And what is your name?”

Raymond: “I am Raymond. I stay on Ward 9.”

Me: “And where did you learn to speak English so well?”

Raymond: ” I lived in England for 26 years and only recently came back to Sri Lanka. It was great chatting with you, but you must excuse me as I’ll be late for my lunch. Good day.”

And with that, he was gone. Great stuff.

4. The gin merchants at Laugfs – As soon as I walk in the door, no matter how big the lineup, the gin is placed on the counter with a sly grin and knowing nod. They love that I drink gin – and I love them. (Except on poyas when the counter is always locked up tight. Then, I hate them. Sorry, I’m being a dick again.)

5. Being ahead of the entire world – It’s great to wake up in the morning and have most of the world still living the night before. I feel like I’m some sort of time traveler who is observing the future – just like Marty McFly, Doc and their DeLorean.

6. The Sri Lankan space program – While Sri Lanka’s first satellite failed to launch as scheduled last week, there is still hope for this new, but mighty initiative. After all, the President’s son, and head of the program, just completed a three-week space camp at Disney World, so how could it fail? Sorry, now I really am being a dick again.

Better sign off before I get deported, or better yet, blasted into space. Awesome!

Shaun