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Rennie

Rozhodnuti

Kveten/Cerven 2019

Když jsme se vratili z Colomba, kde jsme zažili teroristicky utok, ktery byl docela blízko nas, stali jsme pred velice vážnym rozhodnutim.

Steve cestoval celý svůj život s rodiči, protože jeho otec byl velitelem leteckeho vojenstvi a byl odhodlán, ze mu nic nezabrani, aby své rodině dal příležitost nového života a dobrodružství v Asii.

Každý den jsou noviny plné smutku a zabíjení nevinných lidí, tragedie je všude kolem nás a já se ptám: „Kde je bezpečno? Nikde není bezpečno! “Možná tak doma, ale nemůžete prece sedet doma po celý zbytek života!?

Misa byla stae pro se odstehovat navzdory událostem, Emilcinou jedinnou starosti byly její dvě čtyřletá morčata Melody a Lea.

Překvapilo me, ze i ja jsem se nebranila prilezitosti cestovat a vidět svět, protože jsem věděla, že to bude jenom na 16 měsíců.

Stevovi rodiče nás povzbuzovali, abychom využili příležitosti. Moje mamka nevyjádřila svůj názor, ale když jsme to analyzovali a přemýšleli, co by řekl můj táta, souhlasila, že jsme se správne rozhodli, abychom využili příležitosti – bylo to nyní nebo nikdy, děti rostou rychle a brzy budou mit zkousky/maruritu, což může být těžší udělat v zahraničí. Někteří naši přátele byli nadšeni, ale někteří moc ne.

Dalsi krok byla smlouva se Stevovym šéfem a já jsem musela požádat o kariérní přestávku u meho zamestnavatele, u ktereho jsem zamestnana od roku 2008 jako porodní asistentka, což mi bylo schvaleno. Doufala jsem, že univerzita mi taky schvali karierni prestavku, jsem u nich zamestnana od roku 2015, ale neuvedomila jsem si, ze jsem mela smlouvu na dobu urcitou do 31. července 2019, smlouvu mi bohuzel neprodlouzili a tak jsem musela odejit.  Jsem vsak přesvědčena, že každý černý mrak má stříbrny lem a kdo vi, jaké dveře se mi v budoucnu otevřou a kde!?

Když Steve podepsal smlouvu s osobnim oddelenim dne 6. června, trosku me to „vzalo“ a najednou jsem si uvedomila, ze nejde vycouvat zpatky. Musela jsem využít všechnu svou pozitvitu a energii, abych mohla dale s nadsenim pokračovat s plány na přestehovani se.

Byrokracie na Srílanském imigračním úřadu znamenala, že získání pracovního víza, pres veškerou pomoc sekretářky ve Sri Lanske kancelari, trvalo více než 5 týdnů. Predbezne jsme rezervovali letenky na 8. srpna 2019, ale kdyz vám řeknu, že 31. července jsme jeste stále nevěděli, jestli Steve získá vízum pro sebe a pro nás, když jel do Londyna na Sri Lanske velvyslanectvi, tak si dokážete představit ten stress.

„Nikdy se nevzdávej“ je dobre moto a vyplatilo se. Dostali jsme krasne lesknouci se mesicni vstupní vízum, se spoustou razítek do nasich pasu, za ktere Steve zaplatil 4000kc. Jakmile přistaneme v Kolombu, musíme požádat urady (jsme pripraveni na dalsi prodlouzenou byrokraciii a vyrizovani s urady) o vízum k docasnemu pobytu do prosince 2020. Dokoncime baleni, rozluckove vecirky s kolegy z prace a den odjezdu se blizi!

Rennie

Decision

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May/June 2019

Coming from Colombo at Easter, having experienced such a tragedy of terrorism so close to us, being so far away from our homeland, we had serious decision to make.

Steve travelled all his life with his parents before setting out on his own and was determined that nothing will stop him giving his family the opportunity of an adventure in Asia.

Every day newspapers are full of sadness and killing of innocent people all around us and I question myself: “Where is safe? Nowhere is safe!” In your home perhaps, but you can’t lock yourself indoors for the rest of your life, can you?

Misa was fine with the decision to move despite the events, Emilka’s only worry was her two 4 years old Guinea pigs Melody and Lea leaving behind.

Surprisingly, I was still keen to give our family the opportunity to travel and see the world, knowing it will only be for 16 months was giving me comfort somehow.

Steve’s parents encouraged us to take the opportunity. My mum has not voiced her opinion, but I knew, she was torn inside. When we analysed it thinking what my daddy would say, she agreed we are making the right decision to take the opportunity – it was now or never, as kids are growing fast and soon will be in their exam year, which may be harder to be abroad at that time.  Some of our friends were excited for us, however some were not that keen for us to go.

Now Steve had to sort the contract with his boss, and I had to apply for a career break with my NHS trust I have been midwife since 2008 which was agreed. I was hoping for a career break from my university I have been employed since 2015, however unknown to me, I was on a fixed contract till 31st July 2019 – what an unfortunate timing. I am great believer that every black cloud has got a silver lining, so who knows what door opens for me in the future.

When Steve signed the contract with HR on 6th June, I had a little bit of a wobbly and suddenly, the impending move, has “hit me”. I had to use all my strength and imagination of a successful move to carry on with the plans to relocate.

Bureaucracy with Sri Lankan’s immigration office meant it took over 5 weeks to get a working visa with all the help from Sri Lanka’s office secretaries. We had to book an open flight tickets for 8th August 2019, but if I tell you, that on 31st July we still didn’t know if Steve gets the visa for himself and for us when he went to London to Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner, you can imagine the stress running high! 

Never give up is a good moto and it paid off. We got nice shiny entry visas valid for a month with lots of stamps in our passports. Whilst waiting to learn if the visa’s had been granted, Steve walked around Bathurst Mews and Hyde Park in the rain, seeing London in a different light knowing he likely won’t see it again for some time. 

Once we land in Colombo, we have to apply for residency visa till December 2020 so more bureaucracy and filling in forms with information already supplied countless times waits for us.  Now the final stretch of packing, goodbye parties and departure day is in sight!

Rennie

Rennie

2 tydny v Cechach

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  1. – 25. Cervenec 2019

Jako cast naseho planu stehovani se do Sri Lanky na 16 mesicu, jsem se rozhodla s detma prijet do Cech na dvou tydenni dovolenou se videt s prateli a rodinou a rozlucit se, hlavne s maminkou. Steve zustal v Anglii a dale balil krabice.

Mela jsem stesti, ze jsem dostala dovolenou z obou zamestnani, Misa skoncil ve skole uz 5teho Cevence, Emilku jsme museli vzit ze skoly o tyden drive a jeji posledni den byl den naseho odjezdu, kdy tridni ucitelka pro ni udelala malou rozluckovou party a vsem koupila americke koblihy.

Nase zlata znama Vanessa nas odvezla na letiste, nebot Steve byl pracovne pryc. Leteli jsme vecer, tak jsme museli prespat u kamosky Soni, ktera nas rano odvezla na vlak jak jela do prace. Deti cestuji v pohode, kdyz jsou ted vetsi a uz ten dril znaji –  nosit si tasky a kufry, cekat v jakokoliv fronte (na nastup do letadla, na pasy ci cekat na vlak.

Steve nam na posledni chvili zamluvil auto z pujcovny, pro ktere jsme jeli na letiste do Ostravy, museli jsme vsak 2 hodiny cekat v Ostrave Svinove na dalsi vlak a to cekani jsme si zprijemnili u kavicky a prokecaly s kamoskou Pavlinkou, ktera za nama dosla, nebot bydli v Ostrave.  Nenam na mobile na navigaci Ceske mapy, tak jsme si to musela vyhledat na internetu a cestu jsem si vytiskla na papir a Misa navigoval. Ono cloveku vsak trva nez si zvykne na jine auto, chtela jsme se vyhnout Ostrave a jet pres vesnice, ale bloudili jsme, nebot u toho noveho letiste nejsou poradne znacky, v letnich mesicich je hodne prace na silnicich a vsude objizdky. Na benzinove pumpe, kde jsem zastavila a prosila o mapu, zadne mapy nemeli, tak jsme nakonec jeli podle znacek smer Ostrava. Nez jsem do ni dojela, tak jsem se s autem jiz dostatecne seznamila a domu jsme nakonec dojeli. Misto puvodnich 63 km jsme vsak ujeli uctyhodnych 110 km! Ale deti se aspon po ceste vyspaly!

Mamka byla moc rada, ze nas ma zase doma, dalsich dva tydny jsme relaxovali, prokecali, jedli a hodovali a deti vegetovali na pocitacich! Pizza, kurci rizky, nudlickova polivka (skoro kazdy den!) a rohliky se sumkou – to proste k Cesku patri! Nebyli jsme tam rok, I kdyz me navrat do Cech vzdycky pripada, ze se vracim do minulosti.  

Navstivili jsme par kamosek, byli jsme v Havirove za Mireckou, co jsem s ni studovala na porodni babku, zajeli jsme do Jeseniku a setkali se na malebne chatecce s kamoskama z vysoke Radkou, Radkou a Pavlinkou a jejich detma a vzdy prokecaly hodiny! Zajeli jsme na jizni Moravu za dalsi kamoskou porodni babkou Janou a jeji rodinou, ke ktere jezdime moc radi I na noc a s detma radime v bazenu a se psem a s kockou si havne Emka hodne vyhraje.  Ona miluje jakokoliv zvirata, co jsou chlupata.

Podarilo se nam navstivit moji zlatou znamou Pani Plundrakovou v Olomouci, u ktere jsem bydlela ve druhem rocniku na vysoke skole. Zname ji proto, ze byla s moji tetou Janou, sestrou od tatinka, v Kambodzi v 80tych letech s Cervenym krizem jako humanitarni pomoc. Byla dlouhodobe nemocna, ale uz je ji lepe, tak byla schopna prijimat navstevy, prokecaly jsme 4 hodiny v kuse vzpominali jsme a tesili se z navstevy. Na zpatecni ceste z Moravy pri hledani McDoaldu pro deti na veceri jsem v Olomouci narazila do patniku a podarilo se mi proderavet obe dve prave gumy – jak jsem to tak mohla udelat to nevim! Smula na nasi strane. 2 hodiny jsme cekali na nahradni auto z pujcovny a deti jsem s mamkou poslala na veceri do McDonaldu – to mi verte, ze si pochutnali na nejdrazsi veceri!  Mamka vzdycky jezdila s nama a Misa rika: “Babi, ty jsi nikdy nebyla v aute, ktere melo dvojitou prasklou pneumatiku, ze ne?” Snad to bylo naposledy, co by tomu rekl muj tatka?

Emilka stravila dost casu s neterinkama Nelinkou a Nikolkou, na ktere se hodne tesila. S brachovou rodinou a jeho klukama (Kuba 17 let a Jirka 24 let) jsme slavili leto na jejich krasne zahrade pod pregolou, grilovani s rodinou a prateli, hrani s 12ti tydenni stenatkem boxera Mayou, blazneni v bazenu a vytvareni “divoke reky” nasema telama a jezeni pizzy pres ulici je pro deti to nejlepsi, co si z dovolene budou pamatovat.

Prvni setkani s Nikolcinym 3 mesicnim chlapecke Adamkem bylo taky specialni, uz dlouho jsem nevidela tak usmevave a spokojene miminko jako je on. Maminka Nikolka a tatka Martin zarili stestim a jejich rodina uz je kompletni, doplnena jeho sedmiletym synkem Kubou.  Moje maminka jim dela babicku a moc si to uziva!

Podarilo se nam jet do naseho oblibeneho Aquaprku a pote sporadat 3 pizze na posezeni – tomu deti rikaji Raj na zemi! Parkrat jsme se sesli s kamoskou Magdou a jejima 16ti letyma dvojcatama a jako vzdycky prokecaly hodiny!

Taky jsem se byla na kavicku s mou kamoskou Alenkou, kterou znam od zakladni skoly, se kterou jsem 8 let stavala na rozcesti a povidaly jsme si nez jme se vzdycky rozesly do nasich domovu.  Zajeli jsme za Katkou a jeji rodinou do Bruntalu na grilovani, kde deti snedli tolik masa, co nikdy pred tim, jako bych jim nedala najist.

Jedinna vec vsak zastinila dovolenou byla to, ze mamka je stale ve velkych bolestech – doktori snad s tim konecne neco udelaji, nebot bychom si prali, aby za nama prijela za teplem na Sri Lanku a poznat Asijskou kuchyni.

Cas v Cechach byl vsak pro me koktejl pocitu vedic, ze se musime rozloucit s lidma a hlavne s maminkou, ktera bude tak daleko a ne jen 2 hodiny letadlem z Anglie. Kdyz jsme se loucili, predstavovala jsem si leto 2021, kdy se zase vratim do rodneho hnizdecka a budu ji objimat jako pri kazdem setkani.

Cesta zpet do UK byla jednoducha, z Krnova jsme vyjeli v 7.30 smer Ostrava Letiste odevzdat pujcene auto, vlakem jsme dojeli do Bratislavy a letadlo letelo odpoledne. Deti uz cestuji od osmi mesicu a uz vi co ocekavat. I kdyz jsem z principu odmitla platit extra, abychom sedeli vedle sebe v letadle, deti to zaridili a po vzletnuti jsme se ocitli vsichni tri spolu. Steve nas cekal na Birminghamskem letisti, byl rad, ze nas ma doma a ze mu pomuzeme s pripravou na cestu a stehovani se na 8meho Srpna.

Deti plni zazitku z dovolene byly vsak radi doma a ve sve posteli – je prijemne cestovat, ale jeste prijemnejsi je se vracet domu. Mame par fotecek a pribehu povidat znamym, hlavne o te dvojite dirave pneumatice – bracha si ze me dela legraci ze si pry budu otevirat Autoservis!

Rennie

Holiday to Czech

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11th – 25th July 2019

As part of our relocation plans to Sri Lanka, I decided to take the kids to Czech Republic for a short holiday and to say our goodbye to our friends and family, but mainly to my lovely mummy. Steve stayed behind in the UK and carried with packing our house into boxes.

I was lucky to get annual leave from both jobs, Misa finished year 7 on Friday 5th July and said farewell to Sibford school with a sleepover party at his best friend’s house with 4 other boys and Emilka’s last day was the day of our travel with a small leaving party eating crispy doughnuts with her tutor group bought by her lovely tutor Kelly and giving her a specially framed picture with nice messages of good luck for Sri Lanka.

Our dear friend Vanessa took us to Birmingham airport as Steve was away with business. It was an evening flight and we had to stay overnight with my Slovakian friend Sona and her family, when she took us to the Bratislava train station the next day on her way to work. Kids travel very well now they are bigger as done it so many times and know the drill of carrying bags or waiting in the queue (I was priority with extra bag and they were in non-priority queue!!!)

Last minute, Steve managed to organise a hire car for us which we picked up from Ostrava Airport, giving us 2 hours in Ostrava train station meeting my friend Pavlinka from university, who lives there to catch up over a coffee. Misa was most disappointed getting a Skoda Rapid instead of Volkswagen Golf!

I don’t have Czech maps on my mbl phone navigation, so I did my internet search on the journey from the airport to my mum’s home and printed the instructions with Misa sitting in passenger’s seat and navigating. I didn’t want to go to Ostrava city and planned to go through small villages, which should have been 63 km. It takes time to get use to another car, I kept driving around in our small dolphin grey Skoda rapid unable to get out of the airport village as signs were non existent, I even stopped and asked at a petrol station for a map to look at (no maps to be able to buy in the petrol station any more), but by the time we reached Ostrava (following signs) I was comfortable with the car and did get to home address eventually, clocking a whooping 110 km! Good job I drive gently and economically.

Mum was over the moon to see us and have us back home. We just chilled, talked, ate and relaxed with kids “vegetating” on their gadgets. Eating pizza, schnitzels, cakes, noodle soup (nearly every day!) and of course rohliky with ham or salami goes hand in hand with Czech!

Seeing my family again after a year was nice, but it always feel like going back in time for some reason.

We managed to see lots of my/our friends, we drove to Havirov to see my midwifery friend Mirecka for the day, we drove to Jeseniky mountains to see my three university friends Radka, Radka and Pavlinka and their children and again – talked and talked and talked. We drove to South of Moravia to see another midwifery friend Jana and her family and stayed the night with them, again talking and talking and talking and catching up with news.

We managed to visit our dear family friend Pani Plunrakova, who lives in Olomouc whom I stayed with in my second year at university as I didn’t get accommodation for some reason. She was in Cambodia with my dad’s sister in the eighties with Red Cross and humanitarian aid. She has been unwell for over a year, but now is better to receive visitors and again we talked for 4 hours solid, reminiscing and remembering. On our way home looking for McDonald in Olomouc, I managed to “kiss the curb” and puncture both tyres – how unlucky! We waited for 2 hours for replacement hire car and told the kids to enjoy the most expensive dinner ever! Mum travelled with us for all this trips and Misa said: “Grandma, this is your first time you have ever been in a car when two tyres were punctured! What would my lovely dad say to that! Mum brother teased me that he heard I am opening a Kwik Fit!

Emilka was happy spending time with her second cousins Nikolka and Nelinka having sleepover at my mummy. Seeing my brother’s family and we caught glimpse of their two big boys (Kuba 17  years old and Jirka 24 years old) on several occasions was nice celebrating summer in their amazing outside porch with BBQ and family and friends, playing with Maya – 12 weeks old boxer puppy, eating pizza “across the street” and swimming in their pool creating “wild river” with our bodies is the highlight of the holiday.

Meeting 12 weeks old baby Adam of our lovely family friend Nikolka and Martin was priceless, having so many cuddles and kisses. I haven’t seen a smiley, content and happy baby like him for ages. Mummy Nikolka and daddy Martin look good too and having a family suits them nicely with his 7 years old son Kuba from previous relationship completing it.

We did manage to go to our favourite Aquapark for 2 hours solid swimming time and have pizza afterwards! Heaven for kids of course! Meeting my friend from primary school Alenka for couple of hours talking and talking again like we haven’t seen each other for a month, not couple of years. Katka’s family in Bruntal invited us for BBQ in their allotment and kids ate the most meat I have ever seen them eating!

There was one thing overshadowing our stay in Krnov and that was my mum’s constant pain.  She is having some investigations to see what the problem is and I hope the doctors will sort it out, because we would like her to come to Sri Lanka for a month or so to soak up the warmth and experience Asian culture.

The time in Czech has been an emotional roller-coaster for me as you can imagine with mum’s health and saying goodbye to people knowing we are moving so far away from them for 16 months is not easy.

I hate saying goodbyes! I imagine summer 2021, when I will be walking through the front door of my house I grew up and will be hugging my mum again.

Journey back to the UK was easy: we left house at 7.30 driving to Ostrava Airport to return the hire car, took a train to Bratislava with 3 changes – kids know what to do as they have been trained from 8 months of age – we make a good team. Raynaire is crafty and even though we didn’t pay extra for seats to sit next to each other, after take-off kids managed to negotiate with people next to them and we did end up sitting together.

Steve picked us up from Birmingham airport happy he has got us back home to help him carry on preparation to move to Sri Lanka on 8th August.

Kids were full of memories from Czech, however pleased to be home in their own room and bed. We have got some pictures to look back on and plenty of stories to tell, especially the adventure with the puncture.

Rennie

Rennie

Velikonoce ve Sri Lance

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13-28.4 2019

V sobotu 13teho dubna nas taxi zavezlo na letiste Heathrow na primy let ve 21.20. Steve nas vsechny propasoval do executive salonku, tak jsme zacali dovolenou s sampanskym a dobrou veceri.

Let UL504 v Airbus A330-200 byl uplne plny, sedeli jsme uprostred letadla skoro uplne vzadu. Deti znaji dril: zapasat se, zabalit se do deky, sluchatka na usi a vyuzit hraci konsoly na hry, muziku ci filmy a u toho si jist a pit, kdyz se o vas stewardky postaraji. Byl to nocni let, tak jsme si chvilku pospali, ale v sede se toho moc nenaspi. Pristali jsme primo v poledne a do 32 C horka a 100% vlhkosti.

Taxi nas odvezlo do 3 pokojoveho bytu v 17tem patre ve velkem komplexu, ktery je uzavreny s ochrankou a v kazdem ze tri 37 patrovych mrakodrapu je security a hlida to 24hodin denne. Vzali jsme to pres obchod na mleko, chleba a maslo – to jsme jeste nevedeli, ze tyhle tri zakladni veci, budou nase obziva na druhy tyden dovolene, diky tragickym utokum o Velikonocni Nedeli.

Prvnich par dni jsme jenom relaxovali a spali, 4.5 hodinnovy casovy posun a probdela noc s nama zatocil. Ten nas complex mel 3 bazenky, posilovnu, hernu, obchod, tak si dovedete predstavit, ze az slunko prestalo silene palet, kolem 15hod, ze jsme cely vecer stravili u bazenu a nikam jsme nemuseli chodit. Oslavu 19theho vyroci svatby jsme meli I s detma (no romantika s detma neni zadna!), v krasne restauraci Taprobane v Cinamon Grand Hotel, kam jsme se dovezli tim malym trikolovym vozitkem TUK TUK. Presne ta restaurace, ve ktere jedna bomba vybuchla za 6 dnu pote!

I kdyz pobyt v Colombu byl spise “pracovni”, zaplatili jsme si tri denni pobyt v male hotylku, na druhe strane ostrova v Trincomalee, asi 6 hodin minibuskem, kde jeste v roce 2009 byla civilni valka a nikdo tam nesmel jezdit.

Jejich moto bylo “Raj na zemi” a to vite, ze jsme si to vsichni uzili, hlavne ja, ktera jsem nemusela varit, prat a o nikoho se starat, jedninnou starosti pro me bylo, co si dam na jidlo a kdy pujdu k bazenku!

Zpratelit se pro nas nebylo tezke, potkali jsme jednu rodinu z Manchestru, ktera je jiz druhym rokem jako ucitele v Bahrain s jejich dvema stejne staryma jako nase. 4 deti v bazenu a dospelaci na lehatku popijet pivecko a jist co si obednaji – to by se libilo kazdemu! Nejuzasnejsi zazitek jsme vsak meli, kdyz jsme byli snorchlovat s coral reef a pozorovali ruznobarevne rybycky – no nadhere. Videli jsme morskou zelvu (velikou jak kanalovy poklop), jak se vyplavila z domecku a kluci s ni plavali jako dve “Morske Vily”!

Vratili jsme se do Colomba v noci v sobotu, unaveni, spaleni (I kdyz jsme pouzivali factor 50), ale plni zazitku. To jsme nevedeli, ze nase plany na dalsi tyden budou jine diky tomu tragickemu sebevrazednemu bombovemu utoku na 3 hotely a 3 kostele, co jsme se dozvedeli az kolem 10hod rano, kdyz nam Stevuv kolega zavolal. Slyseli jsme nejake vybuchy, nebot jsme byli asi kilometr od tech hotelu, ale tim, ze se vsude stavi mrakodrapy, nenapadlo nas to. A ze jezdili sanitky, to cloveka taky nenapadne, ze se neco tragickeho stalo, v tom horku sanitky jezdili porad a hlavne ve velkem meste. Bylo nam receno, at nikam nechodime. Ja mela nachystane na Velikonocni Nedeni svatecni tea (typicke Anglicke sandwiche a dobrotky), u bazenu jsme pak pozvali cizi lidi, at to nemusim vyhazovat. Atmosfera byla smutna, vsichni vsude o tom diskutovali, ve zpravach to bylo ukazovane porad dokola, my jsme si vsak dale plavali v bazenu a tak trosku schovani za barierou kolem naseho komplexe, deti jsme nechteli zbytecne panikarit. Snazili jsme se byt v kontakku s rodinou a s prateli, aby vedeli, ze jsme ok, ale v jednu chvili vypli socialni media kvuli roznaseni nepravdivych informaci, ale chytry Steve byl schopny se na interent pripojit. Cely tyden jsme meli zustat v bezpeci domova, ale podarilo se nam se jit podivat do Britske skoly a popovidat si s panem reditelem, zastavit se v jednom obchodnim stredisku a prohlidnout si potencialni byt a dum na pronajem. Kdyz uz jsme byli venku v patek, den pred odjezdem, tak jsme to riskli a zasli si na obidek do velice prijemne Francouzke restaurace (vsechny restaurace byli poloprazdne). Pizza hut byla pres ulici tak si dovedete predtsavit, kolikrat deti si byli se Stevem pro pizzu – jejich nejoblibenejsi jidlo.

Sledovali jsme zpravy a situaci, pripravovali jsme se na cestu domu, ktera mohla byt zajimava, nebot teroristi vedi, ze na letisti je plno lidi a jendoduchy cil. Citila jsem vsak, ze se zeme probudila a zabezpecila letiste a turisty jak nejvice mohla, takze jsme mohli relaxovat na letisti a cekat na letadlo co nas odveze domu. Bylo uplne plne, a taky jak by ne, 8000 anglicanu pry cekalo na navrat do vlasti. Ja jsem si vsak oddechla az jsme byli uvnitr naseho domecku, kdy nas Taxi dovezlo z letiste v noci 28. Dubna. Deti si na druhy den stezovali na zimu a chodili v zimnich bundach – no aby ne, presun ze 32C do 9C je velka zmena!

Rennie

Easter in Sri Lanka

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13. – 28.4 2019

On Saturday 13th April 2019, taxi took us to Heathrow for a direct flight at 21.20 with Sri Lanka’s airline. Steve managed to get us all to the First Class lounge he can use as a BA Gold member flying so frequently, and we started off with a glass of bubbly and a nice dinner!

Flight UL504 on an Airbus A330-200 was absolutely full and we had the middle row 60 out of 65, so right at the back. Kids know the drill – buckle up, headphones on and use the in flight entertaining system while you are drinking and eating food. As it was a night flight, we all had some sleep before landing at 12.00 local time in full heat with 32C.

We were taxied to our three bedroom apartment taking it via shop for milk and bread and some eggs. We didn’t know at that point, that these three staple ingredients will form our diet for the second week of our stay due to the tragic events which happened on Easter Sunday.

We spend first few days sleeping and chilling as our body clocks were completely upside down. The apartment complex had it’s own gym and swimming pool complex and we spend every afternoon in water. Sun between 11.00-15.00 is extremely strong and the best place for you is in air-conditioned apartment or shopping mall. Celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary was a “tuk tuk” ride (three wheeler with a fantastic turning circle!) to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel and having a buffet dinner in one of their finest restaurants called Taprobane – this restaurant was one of the three, which were later bombed.

We booked a three-day mini holiday in a boutique hotel complex, on the other side of the island, in Trincomalee, 6 hours in a minibus, where until 2009, was a civil war and no tourists would sensibly go there.

Their motto being “Where heaven comes to Earth” and we can only agree – the stay was a real treat for us all, especially myself as to not needing to do any cooking or cleaning. Making friends was easy (one family from Manchester who has relocated to Bahrain), kids loved being in the pool for hours and what is it not to like drinking and eating outside all day long larking by the pool! We had one of the most amazing experience when we all went snorkeling to see the corals and lots of fish. We were so privileged to see a hugs turtle and the boys even managed to dive and swim with her in deep water like Mermaids.

Arriving back to Colombo at midnight on Saturday tired, but full of fabulous memories, in preparation for a “working” week of finding out about school and choosing an apartment to live in – well, that was the plan. Things changed when on Sunday morning hearing some explosions (though it was construction as there is lots of building going around) and lots of ambulances on route – well, you think someone is having a bad day. It wasn’t until Steve’s colleague called us at 10am to let us know that three hotels and three churches were bombed and warned us not to leave the apartment. What an Easter Sunday to remember. Planned afternoon tea with scones and crustless sandwiches with Steve’s friend’s family went out of the window so we invited some people by the pool to join us.  The atmosphere was sombre and everyone was talking about it, but it felt we were sheltered, we were in a “cotton wool” of our apartment complex, where we spent the whole week with one outing to the school to meet the headmaster and one outing to look at a house and apartment with stopping at a French bistro for lunch. Pizza Hut across the road was a great excuse to get take away for dinner so you can imagine kids were very happy – pizza is their favourite food!

We were monitoring situation and trying to communicate with friends and family making sure they knew we were safe. Even though social media were blocked by Sri Lanka’s government, Steve managed to keep us on using a special service linked to London – clever technology.

Journey back home was interesting, especially the security operation at the airport as Steve warned us the airport may be an easy target to terrorist. Going through  the airport we welt the country has learned and the security was tightened up and pretty slick, we could relax knowing we are behind security in reach of a plane taking us home.

We landed on Saturday 28th April in the evening with Taxi waiting for us. I have to admit, I was relieved to reach my front door to feel safe.

Kids complained of cold the next day and nearly suffered with “hypothermia” – we got used to 32C and we had 9C in the UK, they were wearing winter coats!

Rennie

Rennie

Zacatek Projektu Salat

Project_Salad

Nekdy v rijnu 2018 prisel Steve domu s tim, ze byl pozadan ridit podporu zakazniku  celosvetovne! Ja mu poprala hodne stesti, ale kdyz se zminil, ze ti spolupracovnici, co mu s tim pomuzou, jsou ve Sri Lance v Colombu, kam jezdi pracovne 4x do roka, ze mu navrhli, jestli se tam nechce s rodinou prestehovat, tak jsem se zarazila. “Deti zacali v zari chodit na stredni skolu! Ja mam relativne novou praci!, prece to tak nejde se sbalit a odjet kvuli tve praci?” rikam.

Vsak kdo me znate vite, ze ja jsem flexibilni a zit v jine zemi je pro me dalsi zkusenost a pro deti dobrodruzstvi. Detem jsme o planu rekli na rovinu, kazdemu zvlast se to lepe vysvetluje, aby kazdy dostal prostor se vyjadrit bez ovlivneni druheho dvojcete. Misa byl nadseny, Emka nastvana!

A proc Salat?

Kdyz jsme ze zacatku nemohli nikomu o Sri Lance rict, nebot vse bylo nejiste, tak jsme misto Sri Lanky pouzivali  slovo SALAT v konverzaci mezi sebou. Misa si to vymyslel – pry ze v salatu mate ruzne druhy zeleniny a zit na Sri Lance si predstavoval prozivat ruzne dobrodruztstvi. 

Potrebovali jsme vsechno zvazit, rozmyslet si to a hlavne ten Projekt Salat poradne naplanovat:

  1. Zjistit co bychom mohli udelat s domem kdybychom bydleli v cizine.
  2. Prodiskutovat s obema sefovyma o moznosti karierni prestavky.
  3. Zajet do Colomba na 2 tydny pres Velikonoce, pronajmout si apartment misto byt v hotelu, nakupovat, varit si, starat se v cizi zemi sami o sebe a zit jako Sri Lancani.
  4. Dat detem cas aby si uvedomili, jake by to bylo se rozloucit se skolou, s kamaradama, s nasema dvema morcatama a zacit novy zivot nekde jinde.
  5. Rozhoudnout se do Kvetna.
Rennie

The birth of Project Salad

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Sometimes in October 2018 Steve came home from work and shared the news with me: “I’ve been asked to head support globally” to which I said “How exciting, that’s great!”, and he replied “Well, as you know most of the delivery is from Sri Lanka and I usually travel there at least four times a year, so I was thinking that we relocate there.  We will have a great adventure and I will be better equipped to lead from its largest location rather than remotely from the UK.”

Those who know me, I am a flexible person, and this was an easy decision to make as we always felt that living in another country would give us an opportunity to live a different way of life and be a great adventure for us all! We had to negotiate as the kids had just started secondary school and were settling well amd I would have to sacrifice both of my part time jobs.  This was a possible way of slowing down and be a mummy only, though!

We told kids openly about this possibility right from the beginning – each of them separately as we found it is always better to give explanation to one of the twin leaving space for expressing themselves without the other one influencing. However, it was still at the outset and nothing was certain, so Misa adopted the code words “Project Salad” whenever we wanted to discuss things in the presence of other people. It felt we had a secret and got lots of pleasure out of it.

We made a plan for Project Salad which all four of us were comfortable with:

  1. Research what we could do with our house while abroad.
  2. Discuss with both of my line managers the possibilities for applying for a career break
  3. Spend 2 weeks Easter holiday in Colombo in rented accommodation rather than in a hotel to see, what is it like to cook, live, and look after ourselves, and breathe the life of a Sri Lankan family.
  4. Giving time to the kids to think how they would be able to leave their friends and school behind to start new life somewhere else (house, school, friends)
  5. Make a collective decision by May 2019
  6. If we chose to relocate, to do so during the school summer holiday to minimise disruption

Everything followed from here!

Rennie

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