Am I really leaving ??

This blog-a-day has proved to be harder than I thought - well, with all that has been going on, doesn't really surprise me - and the Internet being really flaky the last week or so hasn't helped either!! And weirdly, with so much going on - there is so much to blog about - so as always, I'm playing catch-up!! Hope to get out the posts for Manasi's birthday this week - yes, the ones I've had to re-write - but meanwhile, a bit of update regarding our travels!!

40 days - technically correct - but in hindsight, I think a little misleading. We fly to Peoria on the 20th December, making it 40 days from the day I started the countdown. But in these 40 days, we are also going to squeeze in a week trip to India - then fly back to Suzhou for a day, and then finally leave for good - and that really threw the countdown off!! All our Suzhou friends will be traveling home for Christmas, so for all practical purposes, the day we 'left' Suzhou was when we left for India.

So it was a very surreal feeling - last day of school, saying goodbye to all our friends - and in the back of my head, I'm thinking, what's the fuss about - I'm coming back!! It's not exactly denial - I know I'm going - I just can't believe that it's already here, that our time in China has almost run out!! Also, all these dear friends I'm saying goodbye to - no way that this is the last time I'm seeing them - how can that be possible? Of course, I'm going to see all of them again - maybe not in a week's time, but soon, very soon. On some level, just hasn't sunk in as yet, I guess!!

Sunny is by himself this week in Suzhou - our driver and ayi will be taking care of him. A bit of added complication this time, though. Our vet needs to issue a health certificate for him to travel - but it has to be within a week before the departure date. Small detail - I'm in India for the entire week before we travel to the US. Almost derailed our India travel plans - but in China, nothing is impossible!!! There's no way that anyone can put Sunny in a crate and take him to the vet - so we're just having the vet come home to him. I've given her all the paperwork she needs, and the driver will bring her home - and hopefully, everything will fall in place for this!! Fingers crossed!!

India time this week - 4 days in Pune, and then 2 days in Mumbai to attend a wedding - vey hectic. It feels like an ordinary vacation - just our usual December India visit - and the upcoming big move seems to be very far away. Again, that totally unreal feeling - I'm going back home, back to Suzhou, and it's very hard to visualize the next step!! Am I really leaving Suzhou?? Or is this just a dream?? Really, I'm really leaving Suzhou - but just not yet!!