Problems and lessons

     I have a problem, I can't throw out my garbage today.  My landladies (thought that would be a change from landlords), go thru my garbage!  No matter what I try to hide in there, they go thru the peals and crap and find stuff.  I know this because I had some bad cheese one day and threw it out and  Rajapaksha came to me and said don't throw away food, give it to us.  The dog got it!  He was upset.  Ancy has since told me they go thru everything.  So it wouldn't be a problem except that I don't like all the sweets they gave me and want to get rid of them.  I can't give them away because everyone has tons of sweets because of the New Year.  Another problem I am having is itches and rashes.  I am not afraid of much in the way of animals or bugs except for 2 things, head lice and bed bugs.  We had patients with head lice and I went out and bought combs for the staff to use on them but it left me uneasy.  You know how when you sweat and the sweat dries, you might feel itchy on your body or your head, well this is happening and I am also getting mosquito bites and other little bites as well as teeny little ants that appear on my body somehow this season..I am now fearful that all this itching is head lice and bed bugs and I am freaked out.  Of course, I do have bites and a rash on both arms but there is no evidence of either dreaded infestation on my person or in my bed. I am washing everything that goes on my bed today though.
     I think I have mentioned that one of the things I am attempting to do is get AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) here to Badulla and then to the Tea Estates where there is a high incidence of alcoholism, spousal abuse and suicide.  So a date was set, arrangements were vin the works, calendars adjusted and then Nilantha, one of my favorite, best social workers ever, told me that with the New Year and the amount of time he won't be around, he couldn't get it all done by the date selected.  I was annoyed. He, like many Sri Lankans I think, don't like to say no or don't think ahead, it was obvious that this would be a problem, even I knew but let the planning go on.  I hated being annoyed with him but it was terrible telling all these AA people that they had to reschedule their work again.  Hopefully people will learn from this and it will happen two weeks later. I am not sure that one thing has happened here that has not had to be rescheduled.
     Because of the date being changed however, I could apply to be invited for free to a meditation retreat happening at this luxury resort in Galle.  There were 2 open spots for those on the email list for a meditation center in Colombo.  I put my name on the list a while ago in the hopes that I could meditate with them when I go to Colombo.  Anyway, I had not applied for the retreat because the AA group was happening.  I then applied,  too many people for spots of course and the question came can you stay thru Monday noontime.  Staying thru Monday noontime means I cannot be back by 2:30PM that day when I have finally scheduled a translator (yeah) to spend an hour working with me the support staff .  What to do...Well I said I could stay, I have been accepted to the retreat and will start the translator and the sessions one week later.  However, though not quite the same as what happened with AA being rescheduled, it is close enough to make me pretty Sri Lankan!