Seeing the glass half full...

Since the day I arrived in Sri Lanka the most common question I have had to answer is ‘Is it difficult adjusting back to Sri Lanka after staying for four years in Switzerland?’ or ‘You must be missing Switzerland a lot'. My reply is always, it's your attitude towards the location rather than the specific place. Of course if you are in a place where you don't have the basic necessities like food, or water, then its a different fact all together, but as long as you have the basic necessities and try to make the most of life, it does not matter where you're located.

Everywhere you go there will be wonderful things and problems it’s upto us to focus on the good and ignore, or try to change the negatives whenever it is in our power. It was the same even when I left Cambridge, though I thought I would miss it, after I came back to Sri Lanka I loved being back home. Again it was the same when I went to Switzerland; I really enjoyed the experience as you would already have seen from my earlier posts even though many people called it a boring sleepy town. I loved the mountains in the distance, the amazingly efficient transport system, and meeting all those wonderful people from all over the world, not forgetting the chocolates of course. Now the same people ask me how can I leave such a wonderful developed country and come back home? Its the usual 'grass is greener on the other side' syndrome... 

I tell them, that in Sri Lanka I love spending time with friends and family, I like the fact that I don't have to wear layers every time I want to go out, understanding what people say and being able to get things done and seeing the beautiful beaches everyday, and I like to think that I can be part of the development of this lovely Island that has been ravaged by war for over 30 years! Sure I can think of thousands of annoyances here too, but not dwelling too much on them is the secret to stay happy.

I think its similar with people too, no one is perfect, but then no one is all bad either, most of the time there's good and bad in all people, so in order to enrich your relationships it is important to focus on the good, and if it would help, try to give feedback in a constructive manner, to help the person improve. 

This post also ties back to my earlier post on Stopping the spread of negativity. It's important to realise that there are problems, and try to improve them if possible, and if not ignore them and focus on the positive sideof life. So I'll end this post with my favourite 'Serenity Prayer'.

God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

French Snow!

Last couple of months have been really busy and interesting, guess you could say I was too busy living my life to blog about it ;) I visited a few more cities in Europe including Rome and Naples, which were simply amazing! (will have to write a separate post on it). Now as I’m getting ready to go home for Christmas and I thought I’ll just do a small post before I leave cos I’m sure the next three weeks in Sri Lanka are going to be crazy, cos there are so many people to meet and catch up with.

I’m continuing to study French, my goal is to be able to carry out a conversation by the end of next year. I was just wondering about how it’s so much easier for children to learn a new language than it is for us, I guess it’s partly cos they are not ashamed to make mistakes. For me I always feel embarrassed to make a mistake or pronounce a word wrong, and so end up not even trying. Often I would just ask “Vous Parlez Angaise?” And with the world becoming more global and international most people will at least speak basic English or understand it and will say “un peu”. So usually it ends up me speaking in English and them in French and both trying to understand the other but me never speaking, so now, I’m trying to force myself to speak, cos I know that if I don’t do it now, living in a French speaking country, I never will...

It’s been snowing heavily during the whole week and it’s really beautiful, everything covered by a sheet of snow! These are a couple of pictures I took yesterday from office (we’re on the 8th floor) while a lot of my colleagues who are used to seeing the snow thought that I was crazy! This is highly unusual for Geneva at this time of year though. (OK it's not French snow, more like Swiss snow...)

This morning, I couldn’t help smiling while walking from the tram stop to my office as everything was so white and pretty and I loved watching the snow flakes fall, it gives the feeling of a new beginning…I literally just stopped in the middle of the road and tried to take it all in, the work of God's hand, more beautiful than any building or structure that could be made by man...

But I must admit, however much I find the snow pretty, I’m really looking forward to going home for a nice warm Christmas!

So if I don’t blog before Christmas again, just want to wish you all a Wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Wonderful weekend in the Swiss Mountains

Last Friday I left Geneva with some lovely new friends that I met here, to spend a dream weekend in the town of Zermatt where the famous Matterhorn is located. I've been wanting to see Matterhorn even before coming to Switzerland, cos this was one mountain I had heard about as it was on the Toblerone chocolates (being the chocoholic I am!).


Felt like we were in the midst of the wilderness. Nothing but mountains, and trees and lakes for miles and miles…it was a wonderful feeling to be so close to nature... I guess one way of worshipping God is to appreciate all the wonders of the work of his hand!

These are some of the pictures of the magnificent Matterhorn and the other mountains around...but my words or the pictures cannot do justice to the experience of being there...

Another thing that I really liked about Zermatt was there were no cars. You had to leave your car outside and arrive to the town by train and inside there were only electrically powered buses called "Electros". It was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

This weekend I literally stopped to smell the roses! (or should I say Edelweiss) which reminded me of the movie ‘Sound of Music’ which has been an all time favourite movie since the time I was a little kid. I never knew that the Edelweiss looked like this, though I liked the song Edelweiss from the movie.

There were even a few people in the Zermatt town square yodeling which again reminded me of the Loanly Goatherd from Sound of Music . It’s so amazing to experience things that you had heard about or seen on movies in real life…

Even though there are so many mountains and nature reserves in Sri Lanka, never in my life have I really gone to explore them, never tried hiking... I guess after my undergrad degree I joined the 'Rat Race' and everyday was pretty much the same, work till late, come home, TV/Internet, eat, sleep and work again… Even meeting with friends was mainly for a dinner or something, not really to do much outdoor activities. Maybe once or twice a year I would take a break and go on a vacation with my family, but not much else...

It is so nice to just take a break away from everything, but I wonder if it also requires a certain frame of mind; peace with self. Maybe we actually hide behind the busyness when we don’t want to face our selves…After a long time I can honestly say that I feel complete peace of mind, with no worries, just taking life as it comes... Maybe that was another reason why I was able to really enjoy this weekend. I have also noticed that I don't need to be doing something all the time, just a long walk can be satisfying. So now I'm trying to change my life style to be more intuned with the outdoors.

I'd just like to finish this post with "Merci beaucoup pour un merveilleux week-end!" to my new friends, if you are reading this...And here's looking forward to many more marvelous trips!

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!

Things always seem to have a way of working out...

Last Sermon in Mass was about how the Holy Spirit is always with you to guide you and this is something that I strongly believe.

Though I was happy and trying to make the best of my earlier place of work, I knew this was not it, and was trying to find my calling. So one night I had a very long conversation with GOD (I don;t know if you believe this) about where my life was headed and what I should be doing with my life, and then the very next day I got the call from the Global Fund!!!! (this is definitely a sign!) and I think this is one of the reasons why I'm not very scared about going to Geneva and starting anew... I know that the higher power is looking over me and things are going to work out!

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…