So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

I started thinking about this, my last blog entry, more than a month ago. I wanted it to be a poignant thank you to the people who, in one or many ways, have made this experience better for me. I started jotting down stuff and before I knew it, I had filled a little notebook page. I stuck the page to my bedroom wall by the light switch so that it wouldn’t get accidentally thrown out or something. And that is exactly where it is today. Stuck to a wall in a house I no longer live in. In my packing, I forgot to remove it.

Yes, I am an idiot.

So I’m going to take the risk and write this blog from memory, knowing that I’m probably going to miss someone near and dear to me. For that, I apologize in advance.

I am fortunate to be able to say that there are many people who should be thanked for helping me along. First and foremost: thank you to Sheila, whose package of earplugs allowed me to actually sleep over the last 15 months in this often too noisy or too quiet country. Without them, I would have been a delirious wreck just one month in.

Thanks too to Kas for advising me to bring flip-flops for the house and to Alison for giving them to me as a gift. They have been indispensable.

Thanks to my family for their generosity – all those $20 bills came in handy and got me out of a bind in Thailand and into much-needed spas here on a couple of occasions!

Thanks to Rhiannon for being my faithful yet unknown reader, reminding me that this internet thing has the power to go way further than I think. Good luck, Rhiannon; I hope your time in Sri Lanka is everything you dream of.

To Hard Core Book Club for going out of their way to enable me to continue to be part of it in my absence and to Terry and Marlo for mailing me the books.

Thanks to Jessica and Barbara whose humour, knowledge and all-around-awesomeness made working at Sewalanka and living in Boralesgamuwa much easier and more enjoyable than it could have been. (And for introducing me to podcasts.)

Thanks to Luci and Lesley, who were my two most unexpected care package mailers. The surprise of your thoughtfulness was as wonderful as the packages themselves.

And to David, mom, AJ, Carmelina, Julie, Petra, Rachel and Marlo and Dean for all of your care packages (including right up to last week!). Those sites and tastes and thoughts from home always, ALWAYS made my day.

To Warren for making the goodbye video and to every one of the Christmas video gang for making me laugh out loud – repeatedly! – and feel so loved from 14,000 miles away. You are the best.

To the soccer/football boys for welcoming me and making me feel like one of the guys straight from the get-go. And to their wives and girlfriends for letting me cheat and be one of the girls as well. And to Previne for setting it all up.

To Leon, for the music.

To Jesus … no, not THAT one… wait, actually yes, that one, cuz I’m pretty darn thankful to Him for keeping me safe in rather unsafe circumstances.

And to my friend Jesus for suggesting and arranging our trip to Kuala Lumpur.

Thanks to Steve for all the amazing emails and facemails and for giving us his home and the VIP treatment in Hanoi.

Thank you to everyone who wrote me cards or letters (and emails) for this trip. They have made me smile and laugh and grateful to have you in my life.

Thanks to Zoe for opening her home to me weekend after weekend since Jesse left and to Ann-Sofie for her continuous generosity. I’ll miss you both.

Thanks to my employer for giving me the time off to do this and to the VSO staff in Canada and SL for their support in making it happen rather painlessly.

Thanks to those fantastic volunteers that I’ve grown close to for unknowingly reassuring me that I’m not crazy and am, in fact, quite likeable.

Thanks to Lindsey from PEI, Sarah from Edmonton, Anita and Janey from Toronto and, strangely, Lea from Chicago for giving me much-needed hits of Canada every once in a while.

To the Crackling Mozelles for reigniting my love of trivia, making me laugh and teaching me a thing or two in the process.

And of course, thank you to Jesse, my spider-conquering, laugh-inducing, goal-scoring, breakfast and dinner-making, mind-reading, self-deprecating, unfailing companion through all this. Thank you for being the highlight of the entire experience…

…and to all of you for reading about it. I’ve absolutely loved your comments, I’ve loved knowing you’re out there and I’ve loved sharing this with you.

So long.

Thanks, everybody.