we ARE going to the states!

I guess that it's pretty definite now. We will both be going back to DC in October. I will arrive in early October to take a class that begins on 6 October. I hope to arrive over the weekend just before that in order to spend a few days out in Marshall with my moms and my bro. Then I will start class and crash around town on couches at my peeps' places, if they will have me (get ready, y'all). Chris will arrive in mid-October for a class of his own. During those two weeks, we will live in a fancypants hotel on the govmint's dime, as he gets that luxury and I am just on my own. During this time, we WILL jump on the trusty Chinatown bus and hit NYC for a weekend. (get ready Breck and Abeni).

Chris will return to Chennai while I finish out my six-week course in consular affairs. Then, if all goes as planned, we will meet up again in London to begin our three-week R&R in mid-November.

All tallied, I will be away from Madras for NINE WEEKS. Some people here would be giggling with delight over nine weeks away. I think that I'm gonna miss it.

(I can just go ahead and say shit like that 'cause everybody here already thinks that I'm crazy anyway, so I got nothin' to lose. And yes, I DID just hear all of you say to yourselves, out loud, "THINKS that she's crazy?" . . .)