Who says you can’t’ go home…

I spent twenty years tryin' to get out of this place

I was lookin' for somethin' I couldn't replace
I was runnin' away from the only thing I've ever known

And like a blind dog without a bone
I was a gypsy lost in the twilight zone
I hijacked a rainbow and crashed into a pot of gold

I've been there, done that, now I ain't lookin' back
And the seeds I've sown, savin' dimes
Spendin' too much time on the telephone
Who says you can't go home?

Who says you can't go home?
There's only one place that call me one of their own
Just a hometown boy, born a rollin' stone
Who says you can't go home?

Who says you can't go back?
Been all around the world and as a matter of fact
There's only one place left, I want to go
Who says you can't go home? It's alright
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright

I went as far as I could, I tried to find a new face
There isn't one of these lines that I would erase
I left a million mile of memories on that road

Every step I take, I know that I'm not alone
You take the home from the boy but not the boy from his home
These are my streets, the only life I've ever known
Who says you can't go home?

Who says you can't go home?
There's only one place that call me one of their own
Just a hometown boy, born a rollin' stone
Who says you can't go home?

I've been there, done that, now I ain't lookin' back
It's been a long, long road, feels like I've never left
That's how the story goes

It doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter where you go
If it's a million miles away or just a mile up the road
Take it in, take it with you when you go
Who says you can't go home?

I was just listening to Bon Jovi’s ‘Have a nice day’ album and heard, ‘Who says you can’t go home’.  It suddenly took on a new significance to me as I am getting ready to go back home to Sri Lanka and settle down with Lakshi there from November 2011.

Looking back at the past four years I consider my time in Cambridge and Geneva my wonder years, where I spent my free time trying to find myself, in acting, writing, connecting with nature, discussions with friends… I think I really grew as a person in these few years… I think it also helped me find out who I am, especially as the initial years I was here alone and was able to explore my thoughts and feelings on my own… Of course we’re always changing trying to become better people, and no matter how hard you try it’s impossible to really understand yourself completely, but I think the last few years helped a lot in becoming who I am now.

While my time away from ‘home’ both here in Geneva and in Cambridge have been amazing, I’m now really looking forward to going home. I’m looking forward to spending time with family and old friends. I’m looking forward to living in a nice home with a garden instead of the tiny apartment that we live in here. Now that the war is over, I’m looking forward to being part of rebuilding the country. I dream of a developed Sri Lanka, and I think it is within our grasp if only everyone worked trying to develop the country instead of only focussing on personal benefits.

When I originally came to Geneva and told people that I will only be here for a few years, get some experience, learn about the world, travel and then go back, they all told me that I would never leave Geneva as they believed that I wouldn't be able to give up the life style here, or the salary. But I believe that there’s so much more to life than riches such as family, friends, knowing that this is your ‘home’ and not having to worry about permits and visas; knowing you belong.  So that’s why this song really came to my mind, cos I am coming home soon…

Another New Year is here...

Already the New Year has begun and usually with the end of the year I make so many New Year Resolutions, which are forgotten as we get to the middle of the year… already I’ve forgotten what my last year’s New Year resolution was… So this year I’m going to keep it simple… My New Year resolution: try to be the Best person; Best wife; Best daughter; Best friend and Best employee that I can be… And like the song says ‘Don’t worry, be happy’ though ofcourse it’s easier said than done… After all, there’s no point in worrying after I’ve given my best try even if there is a problem, then I just have to hand it all into to God’s hands and know that he will take care of me, as he has done all these years!

I’ll wind up with post wishing you all a Very Happy New Year with no Worries!

I can see clearly now…

It’s amazing, after over 15 years of wearing glasses, I was finally able to bid ‘Adieu’ to them. I just got the LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) surgery done. It is a type of refractive surgery for correcting myopia or shortsightedness.

Basically what they do is open a flap from the cornea and then laser the cornea to remodel it and replace the flap, this diagram shows the basic steps of LASIK, I know it sounds really scary, and to be honest I was really anxious about it, cos after all it is the eyes and what do you do, if something goes wrong???? But after much consideration and research I finally decided to go ahead with it. You can read more about it on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LASIK

It was pretty strange, the whole thing was done in about 30mins (15min per eye including all preparations) They just put some anesthetic eye drops to freeze the eye before performing it, and it was so strange, cos I could see and feel and hear throughout and it was weird seeing equipment coming at your eyes initially but later I could only see the light, and it was not painful at all, just a bit funny cos I felt pressure on the eyes. Though my sight was blurry soon after the operation, I went home and had a nap of a couple of hours as they suggested, and when I woke up, it was like a miracle, I could see clearly!

What was funniest was the surgery discussions! The doc and nurses were talking about Shrek while lasering the eye! And one nurse said that she liked Donkey and doc laughed and told me ‘we like to keep the atmosphere light’ and I told him that I liked donkey too, to which the doc responded by saying in that case he will stop himself from saying something rude thing about Donkey! It was just hilarious thinking back!

These days (for first 2 weeks) I have to be a bit careful till the eyes completely recover and so have to wear these funny ‘Mad Scientist about to conduct a major chemical experiment’ like protective glasses, or Sun glasses if the light is too bright even inside, which a friend has started calling my ‘Stevie Wonder’ look and at night like a Fly with 2 funny bulging flaps on the eyes!

But other than that, everything is great! It’s wonderful waking up in the morning and being able to see without having to reach for the glasses (even the initial discomfort I felt seems to be gone)… I;m still getting used to seeing with my own eyes, sometimes when I go home after work, I think of taking off the contacts.

It’s a lot of small things, which I;m sure someone who has never had problems with sight wouldn’t have even noticed, like now I can sit at a comfortable distance from the computer, unlike before when I used to sit with my nose almost touching the screen when I was not wearing the contacts or glasses! And when I look out from the window near my desk I can see the mountains in the distance clearly.

It’s going to be great to go swimming next time cos I will actually be able to see from a distance and reduce the risk of bumping into people or having to suddenly move away after seeing someone come at you too late!

I still can’t believe it’s real! It’s amazing!

From Geneva with Love...

I can’t believe that it’s been almost 2 months since I arrived here in Geneva and started work at The Global Fund. Time certainly flies when there’s so much to do…

It’s been a really exciting and busy two months with me settling in at a new organization and new home. My shift here was made very smooth due to some wonderful colleagues at work and a few friends I made here.

In an attempt to make friends and really make the most of my stay in Geneva I have been attending many events organized by Glocals (in their own words ‘a community of friendly International folks - Expats & locals - living in Switzerland, in English’)

I even went for a Tango workshop about which I heard about from the Glocals, after all I had tried many other forms of dancing including Salsa, Jive, Cha Cha, Waltz… but this was one I had never tried!

It was quite an interesting experience to learn to Dance without speaking much as most of then mainly spoke French! (Luckily the instructor spoke English and explained the steps to me) It was also interesting the way it was taught as all the other dances I had learnt by counting the beats but here they made us dance with the eyes close to really feel the rhythm of the other person, and we always started by just walking to the music.

Among other things I’m also struggling to learn French, (though my working language is English, the people in Geneva mainly speak French) I guess the best way to learn a new language is by being immersed in that culture…

I had always heard French, Italian, Spanish being called Romantic languages and was wondering why… I thought it had something to do with people referring to French as the Language of Love, but I was surprised to learn that it comes from a completely different root.

‘Romance’, to speak in Roman was derived from Vulgar Latin (language of roman soldiers as opposed to classical) during the roman empire. I was actually a bit disappointed to learn this as I always pictured it to have a more ‘romantic’ (in the sense we use the word today) story. Apparently the word romance with the modern sense of romance novel or love affair has the same origin. In the medieval literature of Western Europe, serious writing was usually in Latin, while popular tales, often focusing on love, were composed in the vernacular and came to be called "romances". You can find out more about it here

Well as a result of my busy social life, I still have not completely unpacked my suitcases which I brought when I came here from Sri Lanka!

The beginning of another new chapter of my life…

It’s been ages since I visited the blog-o-sphere, and soooo much has happened since then. Feels like I’m going on one hell of a roller coaster ride…

I’ll try to bring you upto date with all that’s happened as briefly as possible.

After I completed the MBA I came back to SL as you most probably already know and started working at the largest mobile operator in Sri Lanka as a project manager.

It’s been a pretty good experience but out of the blue I just got a job offer at The Global Fund in Switzerland, where I did my thesis (well there’s more there but will leave it for a separate post).

So now I’m getting ready to start work in Geneva from June 2008. I’m really excited, but also a bit apprehensive after all it’s a new country, with a new language (I’ll be in Geneva, the French part of Switzerland).

Working at The Global Fund was something that I had dreamt of ever since I did my Global Consultancy project with them, and applied in August 2007, but didn’t hear from them till now, and had given up on it. So when I got to know that I will be starting to work there, one of the first verses that came to my mind was from the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". It seems so true from my MBA to this and so many other things in my life… (I will write a separate post on the Alchemist as it’s message has a lot of significance for me)

Now I’m Looking forward to another great adventure…

My first lecture

Right now Cambridge seems like a distant dream. I can’t believe that I’ve been here for less than three months. When I think of the house in Cambridge and cycling to Uni and meeting all my friends, and all the historical buildings it feels like it was another lifetime. I thought I’d miss it more, but surprisingly I just adjusted to life here pretty quickly…

I finally decided to start work in the New Year, as I thought it would be nice to relax and enjoy Christmas and then start. While waiting, I’ve been working at my University temporarily evaluating the MBA syllabus and just conducted my first visiting lecture! It was more of a talk than a lecture on my research project which I carried out in collaboration with the Global Fund to fight AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on the skills I learnt. Imagine that! Little me lecturing a class of senior professionals! I think over all it went well. I’m finding that I enjoy lecturing… Maybe I’ll continue to be a visiting lecturer!

One of those days!!!!!!

Today is "One of those days" when I'm totally bored and there's not much work to do either. (and nothing interesting happening tonight for me to day-dream about!!!! :0( ).

So here I am writing my first very Blog after being convinced by my computer junky friends that the BLOG is the thing of the future!!!! :0)