Tickets and Visas and Subs... Oh My!

This week was equally as productive as it was stressful. The outcomes, however, made all the difference in my ability to break the news to my classes and swimmers that I was going to miss two weeks of their immediate lives.

I purchased 2 airline tickets on Monday, after attempting to graciously accept frequent flier miles from an extremely wonderful parent of one of my students. As it turns out, accepting those miles would have ended up costing me more money than simply paying for the stinkin' Continental flight that I had reserved before. Therefore, Graham and I will depart the US on December 17th after meeting in Newark to layover and reunite for a few hours.

After almost scaring me to death over the complications of his visa, Graham has secured his visa and is ready to go. I am pretty sure that if he knew the massive issues that Sarah had with obtaining her visa in June, (if you don't recall... having to cancel flights, sit in the Indian Consulate in Paris for days, and arriving a day late) he wouldn't have played such a cruel joke on me.

As far as school goes, I have a remarkable master teacher prepared to take over my classes while I am gone. She is not only a pro at biology, but she is a pro at long-term subbing... which if you don't have the pleasure of knowing, is an art in and of itself. I am still plugging away at getting all of my lessons set for those days I will miss. But I have to say, I am pretty excited about finding a way to keep in contact with my classes, whether it be through an online discussion board or even in real time-- if I can make it a whole night without sleeping (due to the 11.5 hour time difference).

Aside from all this madness, I am trying to make sure to take time to check in with my body. It is going through a lot of changes lately, probably sensing the anticipation of going back to Green Park. I am experiencing a lot of sensory fireworks. It absolutely feels like my nervous system is trying desperately to make a connection, any connection at that. I feel tingles and aches and pressure and fire and water all within the same instant.

My body is trying to tell me something and hopefully another dose of India will break its silence once and for all.