Finnishing my life
On Monday evening I got a very unexpected but a pleasant surprise: A Serbian friend of mine invited us to Hilton to swim, for free! And there was a sauna!!! A proper sauna, with a proper stove. It was hot and it was allowed to throw water on the stove! It was such a good experience. For those completely unaware of Finnish culture, sauna is a cornerstone of it. For our whole lives we go to sauna at least once a week and we start that tradition on a very early age (six months or so). You can't believe how much a Finn misses sauna when being abroad, even in a hot and humid country like Sri Lanka. This was my second time in sauna in Sri Lanka. I'm still hyped up about it.
And yesterday the quality of my life jumped up a leapfrog. We got a coffee-maker! There was a Finnish guy who was leaving back to Finland and wanted to get rid of all his stuff. So I went there and picked up two coffee makers and a box full of groceries. Nice!
At the same time my friends keep sending me salmiakki, making me feel like home. At this time of the year I really miss the 24/7 sunlight. I guess all these factors defend the fact that while being far away from home, I'm trying to "Finnish" my life.
That's a stupid joke of mine that I use here a lot. Every time in a restaurant when the waiter asks "Are you finished?" it sounds like "Are you Finnish?". My response to that is always: "How did you know?" or "Are you Sri Lankan?". Boy, it makes them confused...
PS: I'm terribly sorry for the picture. It's just so Finnish. :)
The latest...
Last weekend we finally dared to go to East of Sri Lanka. We went to Arugam Bay that was said to be the greatest beach on the island.
Traveling to Pothuwili, the village next to the beach, took more than ten hours. Believe me, ten hours in a public Sri Lankan bus is just sick! I got a terrible headache and my ass was so numb. I had a bump in my forehead even!
Once we reached our destination I couldn't even dream of partying. Anyways, we found a nice place owned by a guy called Mambo. He also owns a place in Hikkaduwa. Luckily he didn't remember me... (That's another story) He had a very sweet Doberman called Kai (means "maybe" in Finnish). One day I will have a dog, no matter how allergic I would be!
Saturday was a bit boring even. There was no one at the beach. The whole village accommodated maybe 10 tourists apart from us. It was sad to see how the number one happening place of Sri Lanka had turned into a drowsy fishing village.
We went for a dinner in another place. I was shocked when a blonde girl came to take orders. When she went away I couldn't help whispering "She's so white!". Then we learned that she's from Sweden so I couldn't help whispering "She's so Swedish!". It was weird enough already but then I realized that in the next table there was a Finnish girl. So I went and introduced myself and it turned out that the Swedish girl also had Finnish roots. Confusing.
Finally we ended up hitch-hiking to a party in Pothuwili Point (a remote place somewhere in the middle of nowhere). Surprisingly, it was packed! And it was packed with white people. I was shocked again. I'm not used to seeing so many white people. I think I'm becoming a racist.
Anywho, the place wasn't really a place at all. It was just a terrace of some house were people flocked and mingled. I was just standing there and minding my own beer. I was talking with an Israeli guy and when he found out my nationality he called for a small guy who emerged from somewhere in the bushes. Another Finn! But this guy was more of a Finn that any Finns altogether I've met here before. He just stood there and stared, saying nothing. I said hello in Finnish (terve). He said the same and then just disappeared. "Wow! That was very Finnish of him." I thought.
Coming back from Arugam Bay wasn't that easy. We took a trishaw to Pothuwili and heard that the next bus goes in one hour. So, we had a good lunch and waited for the bus. Then we heard that there is no bus and we should wait another 1.5 hours. We didn't appreciate that idea too much so we took action. We started walking away from the village and soon we came to a police checkpoint. There was a big yellow lorry parked next to it. We learned that it's going to Monaragala (or whatever the place was called), just our way.
We waited for about half an hour that the guy got his permission to proceed. He was happy to drive us so we climbed to the back of the lorry and started our ride. It was amazing, the best part of our trip! You know, it's beautiful down there so we were just basically checking the views and enjoying the wind swooshing by. People on the road were stunned to see white people on a lorry. We made them very happy.
From that gala place we took a public bus again but it was a bit more comfortable so I could sleep some time here and there. This time I didn't get my phone stolen, but I did break my video camera. Splendid. So only a few still pictures and memories remain. But those are good memories. I'll upload the pictures soon too.
And no, we didn't meet any Tamil Tigers or any other vicious predators.
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Off the topic, life here has become so safe and worry-less that I decided to live on the edge: I bought a half-broken moped. :) That might get me killed in no time.
Phone stolen (again)
Hey guys! Just wanted to inform that my phone was stolen again. At first I was of course a bit disappointed, having to see all the trouble of hunting down the numbers again, but it was good timing. Why? Well, my lovely boss decided to give me a company SIM card. So, now my new number is (+94) 777-RUKMAL. Funny, no? It's active already but I still have to buy a new phone so it might take a while. Can you please send your number to my email tomi[at]unleashtalent.com if you wish to be in touch again. Not that I'm that active on email front either... We just moved to a new office and we're still waiting to get an internet connection there.
Yours,
Technologically limited Tomi
