Friends, I don't want to rub it in, but in 10 short days my winter coat will be (hopefully!) put away until December.
It was 6 degrees when I woke up yesterday morning. Six. 6. The high temperature in Chiang Mai for next weekend is around 103. It's only a 97 degree difference. I don't mind hot weather. I quite prefer it to being cold. However I do like a chance to work my way up to 100+ degree days, especially since I'm spending my first week sleeping in a non air conditioned park.
Things are coming together though. The flights, trains, and hotels are booked. There's equal throbbing in both my left and right arms because of yesterday's typhoid, tdap, hepatitis A, and polio vaccines. I'm reading all I can about malaria and keeping myself awake at night thinking about whether or not I should take the anti malaria pills. I'm now the proud owner of some loose fitting, below the knees, church lady type skirts courtesy of the Bloomington-Normal Goodwill. I've watched every video on YouTube about Chiang Mai, Elephant Nature Park, Agra, Varanasi, Udaipur, and Jaipur. I've read every blog on the web about the train system in India. I'm on the hunt for some slightly difficult to find in Illinois during February Deep Woods 25% or higher deet Off. I'm reading all I can to avoid the problems I had on my last visit to Thailand (colorfully known as the Thaidal wave, or Delhi belly in India), though on the plus side I did not gain any weight on that vacation.
I am sort of ready!
There remains but one minor problem-I don't have my passport. I discovered while I was in Korea that I only had one completely blank passport page, though I had several empty spots for stamping on random other pages. I thought, ok, great, my Indian visa can go on the blank page, and my entry/exit stamps can be scattered around on the empty spots. Shortly after I arrived home, I was reading through the India visa application info, and discovered they (for whatever reason, grrr) require TWO blank pages for the visa. Wellllll, crap. I read this shortly before I left for Las Vegas, and I was working every day in between. I knew either way I'd have to go to the emergency "give me a passport ASAP!" center in Chicago. But applying for the extra pages before Vegas was not an option. So I made my appointment for 10 am the morning after I got back from LV. I left Eliza's apartment waaaaaay early the next morning, drove downtown, cried a little bit at how much it costs to park in the Loop, went to my appointment, and was back in Princeton in time for work at 3:30. My passport would have been ready at 1 pm that day. But by the time I parked my car, went through two security screenings in the federal building, waited in line for my passport, and got back to my car, I thought that'd be cutting it close for work. So I asked them to mail it to me. "No problem!" they said.
Today, a week later, I'm still anxiously checking the mail box like a high school senior waiting for a college acceptance letter. They gave me an application status number. It tells me my passport has already been mailed. They gave me a number from the USPS, but when I go to the USPS website, it tells me that number cannot be used to track the package, rather it can be used to "provide information as to whether or not an envelope has been delivered." Nice work USPS. Call me crazy, but is a number really needed for that? When the envelope is in the mail box, I'll know it's been delivered.
SO, hopefully my once again MIA passport will be delivered today or tomorrow, because I have an appointment at 10 AM Monday to apply for my India visa. And I'm once again going to cry a little bit at having the pay to park my car downtown. Why can't any of these office be away from the Loop, in a permit not required neighborhood? I'm keeping my fingers triple crossed that I will be able to do same day pick up, and I fly out on Saturday morning. Eeeep! I was explaining my plan to Aaron, and he commented that I always seem to cut it pretty close with matters involving my passport and visa. Yep, that is true. I'm surprised it hasn't given me an ulcer.
On an entirely unrelated, yet of greater importance note, as I'm sure my 7 faithful readers know, it has been a tough week. Tragedies can serve as reminders though. Life is so fragile. Life is short. Life is both wonderfully unpredictable and horribly unpredictable. I know a general statement on my blog is a bit of a cop out, but since it's mostly my family and close friends that read this, I just want to tell you all how much I love you. You're all so special to me, and I really do treasure the time we get to spend together.
