Loading Day

A very productive day today as we loaded up everything we own into a cargo van. It is fun to jokingly say, "Where is my _______?" and get the answer "It's in the van!" Tomorrow we drive to our new home and then the real work begins. Things are really starting to get exciting now.

Day 1 in Germany

We landed this morning Friday March 18th, 2011 in Frankfurt, Germany shortly after 7 am and had good luck in getting our rental van and on the road quite quickly to start our new adventure. We have officially survived 18 months in India and have no plans to go back at this time. We are excited to be moving to Germany and starting our civilized married life. It will be a big change for us, but nothing compared to our transition to India. There will be new and different challenges that we will need to address, but nothing as frustrating as the last 18 months. We firmly believe we can do it all now!

We are in Germany now therefore, I need to rename the blog. My first idea was "Germany...Life on the Quarter Side" just to keep with my theme. Please send me comments if you have any suggestions for a new name and I will consider all of them. Thanks!

Sus Riakal (GOODBYE) India

Sus Riakal is Hindi for goodbye according to answers.com. Today is officially our last day in India. My mood is very relaxed & reflective as I think back to how many days I have dreamed for this day to come and now it is here. On the other side of the spectrum is Ben who is so excited that he didn't sleep all night. He had his bags packed at 6 am this morning and was commenting that we could still make the Munich flight if we left the hotel right then and there. I guess 7 years away from his home country has lead him to this excitement. I'm not letting myself get excited until the plane is in the air tonight. We still have 17 hours for the Indian government to stop us for paperwork or for the flight to be cancelled. I hate to think negatively or pessimistically, but if I let myself get too excited and then we don't fly I don't think I could handle the meltdown.

I have another full day planned in India so that the day doesn't drag. 10 am I have good-bye coffee with my two good Japanese friends, 1 pm pedicure and hair treatment (a Debby & Jodi tradition), dinner with Ben's co-workers tonight, drinks with friends after that and then finally around midnight we will head to the airport so we can sit and wait three hours to leave. There is a 93% chance that the flight will be delayed so more than likely it will be around 4:30 am before we actually leave India. However, Ben and I will be using our end of India motto, "WHO CARES...WE ARE LEAVING!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day to our American friends who are reading the blog. Unfortunately there are not a lot of Irish folks in India who are celebrating this wonderful holiday. My mind wonders to the wonderful times we spent in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day. Congratulations to a special friend in Chicago who is finishing her MBA today!

So, as my final blog from India I say thank you for reading and for all of your love and support. I do plan to continue blogging in Germany for at least a few months if not longer. Now in my beautiful singing voice I would like everyone to join me in singing, "Leaving on a jet plane...don't know when (or if) I'll be back again."

One Last Crazy Lunch

Today I had my last "Crazy" lunch with the ladies at my favorite Gurgaon restaurant "Crazy Noodle." It was a wonderful lunch with the girls where we all enjoyed beautiful dim sum. One thing I will definitely miss when I'm in Germany will be the ability to just pop into any restaurant and enjoy some chicken/mushroom dim sum for $2. I definitely need to get a recipe and make some myself. The problem is that making dim sum from scratch is a tremendous amount of work.

Tomorrow is our last full day in India and at the moment I'm in a very zombie like state. I think I have dreamed of this day for so long and now that it is here it's hard to believe. Surprisingly I'm not busting at the seams to get out of here, but instead starting to realize the difficulty of leaving all these wonderful friends behind. It feels like I'm leaving the Sahara Desert and I don't want to leave my friends behind to fend for themselves. It is truly survival of the fittest down here. I know they are all going to be ok, but I mostly feel guilty for leaving them. Life must go on!

Our Last Saturday in India!

As always we managed to enjoy our last Saturday in India with a wonderful going away party. 30 of our closest friends brought wonderfully home cooked food and we enjoyed dancing under the stars on our rooftop balcony. It was truly a wonderful night remembering all the good times in Gurgaon. We will truly miss the wonderful friends that we have enjoyed spending time with here in India. It is time for us to move on, but we will never forget the memories. A few highlights include: Thanksgiving at the Wilhites, Wednesday night bowling, adventure days, Pushkar with the Luths, Crown Plaza & Leela Sunday brunches, everything related to Gurgaon Connection, all our wonderful travels in India, and DICF church & bible study. A truly remarkable experience for two newly married 20 somethings!