last dayyy

I'm off to India tomorrow- my mother's flight leaves in an hour (delayed a full day by the ash in Iceland), and my grandmother's partial hip replacement surgery was successful! The doctor replaced the ball joint of her femur, which was completely crushed. Let's hope the ash stays away from Paris so my mom can get there safely-- we all wished she could have been there before the surgery!
Speaking of Paris, the director of the creative writing program that I applied for in Paris later this summer through another US university called again this morning and told me that I "write beautifully," which is always nice to hear : ) Hopefullyy my parents come around on that and let me go! I'm going to pack for four weeks in Delhi and four weeks in Paris, just in case...which is hard to do when my only instructions were to "pack lightly" and about 85% of my suitcases are dedicated to saman for relatives in India. And that's without the Velveeta cheese and Fererro Rocher chocolates.
 I'm getting really excited for my trip--In addition to Delhi and Bombay, I'll be going to Agra and to  Kurukshetra, the infamous battlefield where, according to the Mahabharatha, the Pandavas fought against their cousins, the Kauravas in an epic war. I'll be working at a non-profit in Delhi and can't wait to see all of my familyyy there and in Mumbai. I promise this blog (sigh) will get more interesting when I get to India, when I have actual things to say and am not just using it as a way to remind myself of all the things I need to do (fix glasses, mail letter to friend at Parris Island, eyebrows!, buy books, find iPod headphones...) or a way to procrastinate packing. I've spent the last couple hours watching season two of The Office and admiring this gorgeous cardinal and these two bluejays who have been playing around our bird feeder so I guess I should go fold some clothes before dinner!

PS-Aaji, for those of you who don't know, is the Marathi word for grandmother. It's pronounced uh-jee, and Aai (mother) is ay-ee.