The trip here went pretty well until I got to Sri Lanka. I felt so warm inside the airport because I was still wearing my sweatshirt. Plus, it is about 80 degrees outside and the airport doesn't keep the air conditioning on high. I get to the disembarkation desk and they asked me why I have a non machine readable passport. Mind you, I came through Minneapolis to New York to Rome to Sri Lanka and no one but Sri Lanka questioned my passport. Go figure. They then asked me for my visa. What? I am a darn Sri Lankan citizen, proven by the Sri Lankan passport. What visa? Apparently they didn’t really need it because when I asked them to explain what they were asking for, they just told me to go.
I got to baggage claim and stood there with a bunch of other people who were on the same flight as me. Stood for what felt like forever. After standing there for about 40 minutes without any sign of my baggage, an employee came to tell us that the transfer baggage from Italy did not make it on this flight. What? How about you announce that like…40 minutes ago? No one really gave any instructions but I watched other people go to report the baggage loss, so I joined this blob of a line. That’s exactly what it was. A blob. I was standing in a blob, being pushed by antsy people…I watched the Sri Lankan airlines agents take foreigner after foreigner standing BEHIND me to help them. When I say foreigner, I mean white. They sure weren't helping the Indians because they get lumped into the same group as I do. Ah yes. Welcome to Sri Lanka where white is royalty. After 9 years, I had forgotten what it was like here. I finally get to an agent and spoke in English. That usually gets better service than speaking in the native tongue. I don’t know why. I'm told that I have to come back and pick up my baggage when it gets to the aiport on the next flight from Italy. I had to pick it up from the airport, but the foreigner next to me is told that he will get his stuff delivered. I question this and what I'm told is that because I have a Sri Lankan passport I have to pick up my stuff. They have a foreign passport, so the same rule does not apply to them. Apparently it’s a Customs rule not the airline. Again, welcome to Sri Lanka if you are brown.
Now, my parents did not know I was coming, so I had to take a taxi home. I have not done that here before but I had checked it out and knew approximately how much it would cost. They gave me a non ac taxi and I think I know exactly why. Whatever though, I can handle the heat. Drive home was uneventful other than me holding on to dear life. I had also forgotten what driving on the Sri Lankan roads was like. Now I remember why I passed my MN driving test on the first try. I got home and I didn’t see Thathi's van. I was concerned. Were they not home? The door was open though, so I paid the taxi and just walked in...it's my home after all. The person helping my mom in the kitchen saw me and was worried because she had not seen me before and I just waltzed right on. I heard my mom and my aunt talking in the front room so I just went in. They were both astounded. It was a pretty awesome moment. They were both surprised and speechless. Thathi had just left to get some stuff, but when he came back I just walked to the front door to say hello. Thathi has no words either. As much a hassle it was, I'm so glad I made this trip. There is no way to explain the feelings when I saw the happy surprise on my parents' faces.
I found that Archo is in the hospital though, so about an hour after I got home I headed to the hospital along with Mama, Thathi and my aunt. My uncle was already there and he had the same shocked look on his face when he saw me. Archo didn’t have her glasses on so she couldn't see who was in the room. My uncle told her it was someone else and she put her glasses on to see me. She then saw me and just clutched at her heart. She was not sure if I was real or if it was some side effect from her meds, so she touched my hand and made sure I was really there. She was still in shock for a while. There wasn't a better place she could have been in though since we were in the hospital. The doctors were right there if my sudden appearance was too much of a shock to handle. She was so weak and frail. I had never ever seen her like that before. Now I was really glad I made the trjp. I had not seen Archo for 9 years! She was very weak and sick with a saline drip but of course, she now had something to do and wanted to know if a coil was on so that mosquitos didn’t bite me. She also wanted to know if I had something to eat. I stayed for a bit and went home. I was still nervous of the road but we made it home safely.
I am continuing this post in Abu Dhabi. Nice airport. People are friendly which makes the people in the Sri Lankan airport look even worse. Ugh.
Well, Sri Lanka was a happening place while I was there. Elections for the next president were scheduled for January 8, so the TV had nothing but debates, speaking engagements, rallies and news coming from the political parties. I wasn’t sure I could vote, but both my sister and I had received our voting cards. Archo came home the day after I went to see her in the hospital. She was miraculously feeling a lot better. Hmm…she had told all the nurses and doctors that I had come from America to see her. She was super proud. She was still weak and needed help walking and going to the bathroom but she now had something else on her mind so she started to feel much more in her element.
One thing that I absolutely needed done while I was home was to get a new passport. I had requested an emergency passport through the Sri Lankan embassy in the U.S. to make this trip because I didn’t have enough time to get a new one. The embassy would have taken 3 months. My passport didn't expire until November and I wasn’t 100% sure about this trip until the week of leaving, so I had to resort to the emergency passport. The emergency passport is non machine readable and looks like a very badly forged document. I was nervous about it, but no one seemed to have a problem with it. Other than Sri Lanka.
So, to get a new passport, I filled out the passport app and got copies of a bunch of stuff to take with to Immigration and Emigration in Colombo. Through this office, I could get my passport on the same day. We asked a local divisional office in our town if the app looked good or if we were missing something. He assured us that we were just fine. Ok, so we headed to Colombo at 5:10 am. Coincidentally, that is the time I used to leave for school everyday. We got off in the Colombo bus depot to catch the next bus to the passport office. Somethings had changed, but this place had not. I could have gone by myself too, but Thathi and Mama wouldn’t hear of it. We went in through a food court and up the stairs to the passport office. So weird. I felt like I was going to some secret meeting place. When we got to the waiting area, the security person told us that only I can go inside. Thathi had to wait outside. Ugh. I went, got a number and sat there in another waiting area. I watched other people come in with their father, mother, sister, brother and whoever else in the family wanted to join the trip. Wth? They don’t call my number, but the number after. What? Friends, this got more and more annoying so I went up to the line and stood there. A clerk told me to sit down. I said no I won't because people who came after me are right at the counter, so I will not just sit. He didn't say anything back. So I gave my papers, and get this...they asked for my marriage certificate! BOTH my passports have Heid as my last name, but apparently it was not in their system. The embassy in the U.S. had told me that changes like that have to get approved by this central office in Sri Lanka and the divisional office in my home town had assured us that our application was complete. So what was I hearing now? They would not issue me a new passport with Heid on it even though both my previous Sri Lankan passports have the name. They tell me to go the Controller's office. The Controller tells me that both things the embassy did to have my name changed are temporary and that they don't have anything on the system for my married name. My name change from 3 fracking years ago! He tells me that they usually need to see an original but as an exception he will accept a copy of my marriage certificate. He then asks if I could call my husband and get a copy emailed or faxed. Ok, so I called Mitch to ask again if he could look for a copy at home even though he had already checked. I called 20+ times though Mitch says the final count was 66. I really needed him to answer, but where was this guy? Then I started getting worried about what had happened to him. You can't just ignore 50 some calls from someone even if comes from an unknown number.
I am now continuing this in Amsterdam…I met a very nice lady on flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam. She works for the U.S. Department of State and has been posted to several countries. It sounds like an awesome job. We talk a lot about all kinds of things. Turns out she is going to Portland and her flight leaves around the same time, so we walked around the airport quite a bit since we had about a 4 hour layover. We had some breakfast at a cute little cafe in the airport. She offered to pay for me because she had some euros in her wallet. It was very nice of her and I appreciated it very much. She wanted to thank me for hanging out with her. I meet some amazing people on my travels.
I digress from my post about my time in Sri Lanka. After an unfruitful day in Colombo, Thathi and I returned home without a new passport. I had to ask Charith, my brother in law, to go to Stearns County, get a copy and email me. It is a good thing I have such an amazing family. I went in the second time, did not stand in line, got my passport and got out. They asked me why I lived in the U.S...did I not like Sri Lanka. Why? Well, let me weave you a story of how I did not get a passport the first time I was here. I met a few of my friends that day for lunch. It was way too short a time to meet after not having seen each other for almost a decade, but we are all working people now and people had to get back to work. It was great to see old school friends and realize that they still have not changed except most were now married, had jobs and were being responsible adults.
The second week I was home, the Pope came to visit the island and canonize St Joseph Vaz. Roads were closed and there was a huge stage set up for a mass in Galle Face. Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country, so you would think this was only a big deal to the Catholics, but no, in true Sri Lankan fashion, pretty much everyone wanted to see the Pope and was excited…ok, maybe a few didn't care, but really, one thing I do love about my country and our people is that we can celebrate anything and everything. Its awesome. So between the elections and the pope's visit, I couldn't really travel much. The point of my trip was to hang out with Archo, Mama and Thathi anyway, so it worked out.
There is a nice thing about your extended family living in the same town. Even though I didn't get to travel much, I was able to visit some of my aunts, uncles and cousins I hadn't seen for 9 long years! I am so glad Facebook exists so I can see some photos. Otherwise, I wouldn't even recognize some of the kids. Everyone was surprised that I looked the same after not having seen me for a while. One aunt actually was surprised that I could still speak Sinhala. Well of course. They wanted to know if I still ate rice. Duh...you can take a Sri Lankan out of the island, but you can't take the Sri Lankan out of...well you get the idea. Of course I eat rice. And speak Sinhala.
The two weeks felt like it came to an abrupt end. It really did feel too short. I would have loved to spend even a week more at home. I packed up a few things I had acquired while I was there. After a prayer led by Archo, I left for the airport along with Mama and Thathi. We went inside, but Mama and Thathi couldn't come further than a few steps in the door. Sucks.
After saying my goodbyes to the parents, I went in to the mess that is the airport. Omg. Are you kidding me? There was absolutely no organization to any of this mess. There were people everywhere. Somehow, lines became blobs. I checked my baggage and headed toward the gates. Apparently, Sri Lankan citizens have to fill out a card when departing...which I was told AFTER I had already stood in line and got to an agent to stamp my passport. The whole thing was weird and I really felt so out of place. I wanted to be back in the Minneapolis airport where I knew what to do. I filled out the form (I can't even remember what it asked for), got back in line and finally headed to the gate, which is where I started this blog post.
This is an extremely long post, but I didn't want to break it up. After all, the person who is likely to read it, again, is an older version of me.
~Di