Sunday 9^th August 2020

We celebrated our first anniversary of living in Sri Lanka by going to a friend for lunch and opening a fabulous bottle of Malbec.  Even I had a glass, rather than just a sip from Steve’s; unheard of!

365 days ago today, we arrived in Colombo and our adventure really began. Time flies when you are busy and experiencing a different way of living, as it is all so new and exiting.  Of course, the beginnings are never easy.  For the first time living in such a diverse country is a challenge for anyone, but I think as a family, we conquered that pretty well and settled down very quickly.

New opportunities, new friendships, new insights, new feelings, new food to taste, new ways of doing and being (the humid weather is a killer), new challenges, new obstacles and  new life basically. Covid-19 has brought our adventure to another level and being in Sri Lanka brought a totally different set of challenges to living in Czech or England; some absent but others present.

All four of us have identified benefits and dis-benefits of the past year.

Rennie

Benefits:

1. Opportunity to see things and explore Sri Lanka and adjacent Asian countries
2. Meeting lots of different and interesting people in different positions in society (high commissioners, medical professionals, businessmen, maids, tuk tuk drivers)
3. Everyone is wearing flip flops all year round (when rainy season the water just runs out)
4. As I am not working, I am giving 24/7 attention to my family
5. Being able to be an active member of an international organisation and giving back to Sri Lanka community by raising funds by organising events – IEA board member
6. Supporting pregnant woman (Sri Lankan and expat) during pregnancy, birth and postnatally in a capacity as a Doula
7. With my perseverance I managed to get involved to do some midwifery stuff and was assisting at the first waterbirth in Sri Lanka
8. No demands of looking after a house and garden, two cars and two motorbikes give us family weekends and the chance to go out to places and experience things

Dis-benefits:

1. City pollution (cars, construction noise, dust)
2. Visible poverty and not working health system (malnourished elderly, teeth of people in dreadful state), and social system (unemployment, people on street begging, no government support for people in need)
3. Extremes of everything (for example obscenely rich and very poor; they don’t like to take risks, but on the other hand will leave live electricity wires out on the street as they didn’t finish the job)
4. SSL – two meanings: SO SRI LANKA – such a beautiful country with stunning scenery and sea, and SOOO SRI LANKA – oh no, they try so hard, they know what to do, but it is never quite finished properly
5. Not seeing friends and family in England and Czech for over a year now (due to Covid)
6. People see us white Caucasian as easy money, pestering us wherever we go; not surprising as the poor are very poor and even some regular jobs don’t pay well enough to survive on
7. Humidity – you are sweaty as soon as you leave an air conditioned place

Misa

Benefits:

1. The climate is lovely
2. As we live in the city centre, so many things are on our doorstep
3. Sri Lanka is a small country so it is easy to travel to places (elephant’s safari, snorkelling, hill climbing)
4. We are living amongst so many cultures and religions as part of one community
5. We can eat exotic fruit
6. I go to an international school with 54 different nationalities
7. I have friends from so many different countries – I have not a single English friend
8. Tiny risk of Covid-19
9. Swimming pool is available every day
10. Living close to my friends makes it easier to be with them

Dis-benefits:

1. Restricted Western food choices (you can’t get good pork. NO HAM for 12 months!)
2. People are taught just to “do” and not to use common sense
3. Street dogs are everywhere and some of them are adorable however we are not allowed to touch them as there is a risk of rabies
4. As I am a white person I stand out and am more visible
5. Pollution (noise, dust, cars)
6. Colombo is dangerous with pot holes in roads, uneven pavement, electrical cables often visible and hanging in reach to be touched
7. Healthcare is inferior to what we are used to 

Emilka

Benefits:

1. I made lovely new friends (Turkish Kurd, Korean, Spanish, Sri Lankan)
2. I am getting used to new foods (spicy ones)
3. We have time to travel to places with nice hotels
4. We can use the swimming pool every day
5. Low risk of Covid-19

Dis-benefits:

1. Beggars on the street everywhere, even approaching you while you are stopped in the car, it is horrible
2. Poor choice of clothes – I don’t like saris and polyester clothes
3. I can’t get cosmetic products which I am used to
4. Friend and family left behind and not seen for over a year
5. I have no pets with me and my UK guinea pigs Melody and Lea died during the year
6. The second you get outside you get sweaty
7. Pollution (cars, dust, construction noise)
8. We can’t just jump in a car, and instead rely on taxis and tuk tuks

Steve

Benefits:

1. Sharing what has been such a huge part of my life with Rennie and our children; introducing places and people from the past 13 years of Sri Lankan travel as well as making new experiences together
2. Helping our children to become outward looking and inclusive global citizens in a world that is becoming dangerously inward looking and intolerant
3. International friendships
4. Sri Lankan culture, as well as cultural diversity
5. Local cuisine
6. Oh yes; business – the actual reason I am here!
7. A fabulous island to explore – and of course, to photograph
8. A springboard to exploring Asia – but apart from India just in the nick of time, Covid-19 has so far put the kibosh on this
9. A rented apartment with no maintenance responsibilities bar picking up the telephone to report a need, and no garden to consume my time
10. A huge array of wonderfully fresh fruit and vegetables

Dis-benefits:

1. Not having been able to visit family and friends in Europe due to Covid-19 – and likewise no visitors here beyond my parents and two Czech friends
2. No Honda Hornet or Triumph Thruxton R to enjoy riding; just their photographs to look at
3. No home maintenance to gain tangible satisfaction from, or garden to enjoy tending
4. Poor postal service where things arrive, but only eventually
5. City centre noise and pollution vs countryside tranquility and fresh air that we left behind
6. Disjointed healthcare – even privately
7. Astonishingly and frustratingly bureaucratic for a country that so readily embraces technology
8. Very embryonic and rudimentary internet shopping – so you actually have to plan; there is no Amazon catch-net at a day or less notice! 
9. Good cheese and wine is hard to find – and when found, very expensive due to high import taxes