You Know You're From Sri Lanka When...

By Contributor

July 14, 2011

HappyMonkey16's homeland is so pretty, it's referred to as a "pearl." Thanks for filling us in on a place we didn't know much about, Sparkler! –Sparkitors

There have been approximately 782,343,895 posts on the topic of "You Know You're From When...,”, but none of them talked about Sri Lanka, the tiny island just below India that's also known as the "pearl of the Indian Ocean.” Though I can't do justice to this superhotmegafoxyawesomesauce country in just one post, here's how you know you’re from Sri Lanka:

-You eat rice for every meal, each with a slightly different curry. Don’t we get bored? Yes. And that’s when Western places like McDonald's come in handy!

-You know Sinhala or Tamil. If you don’t, then sorry, pal, but you are not an official Sri Lankan.

-Spring, summer, autumn, winter? What’s that? Here the sun shines all year round.

-You have never touched snow. (You have? Then you live abroad or went overseas.) To be more specific: it has never snowed in Sri Lanka.

-You don’t understand why foreigners sunbathe. We just work on surviving the heat!

-You address strangers as you would address your relatives. Sounds crazy, but here in Sri Lanka we're one big family, kind of like SparkNotes!

-Anyone above 60 is called “archi/seeya,” meaning grandmother/grandfather.

-Anyone between 30 and 60 is called aunt/uncle.

-Anyone who is even 10 years older than you is called “akka/ayya,” meaning older sister/ brother.

-Anyone younger than you is called “nangi/malli,” meaning younger sister/ brother.

-You've played cricket more than once in your lifetime, and you're really proud of your country's cricket team! We won the World Cup in 1996, you know.

-You know at least one baila song and know that nothing is better for the ears than baila with drums. Baila came to Sri Lanka from the Portuguese and has since been what we call “real” music. Follow your ears to the baila, and that's where you can find real Sri Lankans.

-Kids are not considered independent until they're done with school—which means you're not allowed to date or go out until then (but you still do so secretly...shh). It also means your parents are outrageously protective.

-Your parents want you to be a doctor, engineer, or some kind of IT person.

-If you’re a girl your name ends with an a, i, or u. This applies to all your girlfriends as well.

-If you’re a girl, you're not allowed to walk on the streets alone after 7 p.m.

-If you're a guy, you are the protector of your sisters, daughters, and female friends.

-Last but not least: You have the pride of a lion when it comes to your country.

Any other proud Sri Lankans out there?