So Long, Farewell

Just take a look at how the Desperate (ex-pat) Housewives of Chennai spend ALL their time!





Last week a very fond group of us did the school run and then de-camped down the coast to Fishermans Cove for my leaving lunch and we had THE BEST time. Expertly arranged we enjoyed a peaceful time relaxing around the pool...the first time I have been able to do this since...well I can't actually remember when! And then enjoyed a lovely lunch in the Bay restaurant overlooking the Bay of Bengal with a nice sea breeze to cool us down.


Fruit Mocktails - it was only 10am after all!


A wonderful group of girls who have all helped me settle in here and made my life in Chennai a little bit easier with regular injections of humour and shared experiences and tales of our lives in India. Thank you all for coming, Thank you for the wonderful gifts which will always remind me of you all...and thank you for being here in Chennai the same time as me! There were a couple of girls that I include in all of that who were missing on this day, you know who you are. Going to miss all you girls xxx

Where's that box of tissues?

Countdown

1 day until the packers arrive
1 week (yesterday) until departure day
4 days since my lovely leaving do
1 hour before we see the English Patient
1 hour before our last ever Chennai brunch with many lovely friends

Countdown...

2 weeks (yesterday) until departure day.
3 days until my leaving do.
1 week until the packers arrive.

...and I'm feeling remarkably calm, errr it just doesn't seem real at the moment!

It's Official

In just 4 weeks and 2 days we will be leaving India and now we know where to. About time...it's been a very long wait with our exit date looming ever nearer.

Firstly we will be returning to the UK for a few weeks and then we will be heading off to North Carolina, USA for Ian to take up his next assignment. We are all very happy and excited at the prospect and the opportunity!

However our move is tinged with sadness as we will of course be leaving behind our wonderful staff. The drivers will be fine, but after I told Kumar the news and saw his reaction I just couldn't bring myself to tell Pushpa and Mary by myself. Ian and I broke it to them yesterday evening and it was truly heartbreaking. These two women have been more than just 'maids' to me and between them they have looked after us so well and made settling into India an awful lot easier than it could have been. I hope to be able to find them new jobs before we leave as they deserve that much after all their hard work and loyalty.

So, it's back to the beginning of this blog in some ways...Ian is off to the US and UK for two more weeks on Saturday, I'll be packing up, sorting out and saying goodbyes but I have made a promise to myself that I am not going to stress and worry as I did before. I'm sure there will be moments but I've done it before so I should be able to do it again. Right? Wish me luck!

In 7 Weeks

I was looking at the calendar this evening and it just sunk in...

7 Weeks today we will be leaving Chennai and India.

We just need to know what/where next and then we can perhaps get on with our lives.