A long, long day ago (as Flip would say) we were trying to rent our place in Michigan. We wanted to rent it fully furnished from January to August, a timeline that does not match up with the academic year. And considering our town is a college town it mainly runs on the academic calendar. So we put it on Craigslist and had a couple folks show up. Mostly these people did not read the advertisement regarding the timeline and so wasted our time and theirs. But then we found Ed and Cat, our current renters. They were moving from England to the US. They wanted to live on the Old West Side. They have a 3 year old son. They were looking to buy their own home and wanted a place to live, fully furnished, while they did that. Just when we thought it couldn't get better, it did. They agreed to care for our cat, Mary Jane. And they rented our car. Perfecto!
As we exchanged emails back and forth, Ed told us he had a conference in India in July. Guess where? Mysore! So last Saturday, we met Ed for the first time in our home. He came for the COSPAR conference at Infosys and was able to stay with us.
My time in India seems to dragging right now. I feel like I am stuck in between. 4 more weeks until we return home. We can't start packing because we need to use all our things. We can't make any more plans here because, well, we don't have any more time to do anything. I sit. I wait. I attempt to spend as much time with the people I love here, doing our every day stuff. I count the days and mourn the time past. I count the days and get excited about returning home. Stuck in between.
So when Ed came it was a welcome distraction. I ditched my regular cereal and cold milk breakfast for tatte idli. We made pani puri. We did the Mysore Palace, for the 5th time. We took him to an ancient temple in Srirangapatna. We did our best to make sure his 5 days in India felt like 5 days in India, not just 5 days at a conference. And I realized how comfortable I have gotten in this place and how things seem such commonplace now.
A family of pigs running across the road. Seen it.
A truck overflowing with hay and 3 men balanced precariously on top. Seen it.
A man driving a scooter with bags and pipes and boxes on every available space so that he must stand to drive the scooter. Seen it.
A family of Indians 2 feet away unabashedly looking me up and down. Seen it. Felt it.
Monkeys climbing on the temple. Seen it. Ran from it.
Elephants relaxing after a hard days work at the palace. Seen it.
Crazy driving. Seen it. Done it.
So it was good to be with Ed and feel the newness and excitement of India again. For 5 days, I didn't feel stuck. It helped me move back to the here and now.
As we exchanged emails back and forth, Ed told us he had a conference in India in July. Guess where? Mysore! So last Saturday, we met Ed for the first time in our home. He came for the COSPAR conference at Infosys and was able to stay with us.
My time in India seems to dragging right now. I feel like I am stuck in between. 4 more weeks until we return home. We can't start packing because we need to use all our things. We can't make any more plans here because, well, we don't have any more time to do anything. I sit. I wait. I attempt to spend as much time with the people I love here, doing our every day stuff. I count the days and mourn the time past. I count the days and get excited about returning home. Stuck in between.
So when Ed came it was a welcome distraction. I ditched my regular cereal and cold milk breakfast for tatte idli. We made pani puri. We did the Mysore Palace, for the 5th time. We took him to an ancient temple in Srirangapatna. We did our best to make sure his 5 days in India felt like 5 days in India, not just 5 days at a conference. And I realized how comfortable I have gotten in this place and how things seem such commonplace now.
A family of pigs running across the road. Seen it.
A truck overflowing with hay and 3 men balanced precariously on top. Seen it.
A man driving a scooter with bags and pipes and boxes on every available space so that he must stand to drive the scooter. Seen it.
A family of Indians 2 feet away unabashedly looking me up and down. Seen it. Felt it.
Monkeys climbing on the temple. Seen it. Ran from it.
Elephants relaxing after a hard days work at the palace. Seen it.
Crazy driving. Seen it. Done it.
So it was good to be with Ed and feel the newness and excitement of India again. For 5 days, I didn't feel stuck. It helped me move back to the here and now.
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