Homesick

It is time to come home. Who knew I'd feel this way? But it's like before I came to India, I couldn't envision it at all. Now I can't imagine that in a mere 5 days I will be home in my apartment in New York. Right now I am in Rishikesh on the banks of the Ganges and then I will be in Inwood near the banks of the Hudson. Huh?

I am an exhausted girl. I want to go home even though I love India, especially Bombay and my kids. I have to say a real goodbye to them on Monday and I don't know how to do it. We already had our big farewell, and it seems a little odd for me to pop in and say it all again. I can't stand leaving them here.

I did not have a romance in India. This is very good. I'm always having entirely stupid meaningless romances and if I'd made any real effort I probably could have had one here. But I made a decision not to. Aren't you proud of me?

My mind is very scattered right now. I had to wake up at 4:00 to catch a bus to Rishikesh and slept for only about 45 minutes of the 9+ hour journey.

When I went to Switzerland for the summer of 1999, I felt overwhelmed and frustrated with how little German I seemed to be learning. And then I came home and that fall my German improved by leaps and bounds. It was like stuff was seeping into my brain all summer but I couldn't process it until I was out of the stressful situation. This surely will happen again this time. I have wandered through India sort of in a daze, totally unable to take it all in. I am excited to see what I've learned.

Oh I am a bit melancholy. I don't know why. I feel a bit forgotten. I am sure I will go home and my cats won't remember me. There is really no one whose life my absence disrupts.

Travels

So now I am traveling.

Right now I am in the Himalayas. Oh yes.

Since Thursday I have done the following:

Taken an overnight train from Bombay to Jodhpur, otherwise known as the Blue City.

Eaten a secluded breakfast on a rooftop in Jodhpur and visted the town fort.

Taken a bus from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, throwing up TWO TIMES on said bus.

Gotten better from mysterious nausea bout and eaten lovely Tibetan meal on rooftop restaurant in Jaisalmer.

Ridden a camel out into the desert, camped under the stars, and ridden a camel back out of the desert.

Swum in my hotel swimming pool in the rain while talking and talking and talking to my traveling companions.

Gotten the nappiest hair of my life from the desert/swimming pool combination.

Ridden an overnight train from Jaisalmer to Delhi.

Been miserable for a few hours in Delhi, which may be cleaner than Bombay but is decidedly less hospitable to women and has pretty much zero sense of humor.

Been even more miserable while sitting for over an hour in a vacant lot/dump for no apparent reason on an overnight bus to the Himalayas.

Arrived in Nainital and checked into hotel with magnificent view of the green lake that the town surrounds.

Been rowed around the beautiful lake by a man named Sagar.

It has been lovely for the most part, but I am decidedly homesick. Homesickness is kind of rare for me, so it's kind of nice to feel it. God willing, I will be back in my apartment a week from right now. And then a week after that back in my beloved Salt Lake for a couple weeks. It is Salt Lake I am homesick for, Rural Rosy in particular.