Last Wednesday in Mauritius

Well today is the last humpday here in Mauritius. I keep forgetting that christmas is next week because I keep thinking about the fact that I have to hit the ground running as soon as I get home.

My flight leaves at midnight on Saturday night and I will get in to Dubai at 5:30 am on Sunday morning. I then fly from Dubai to New York and arrive in the country (in theory) at 1:50. My flight from NYC to Pittsburgh was originally supposed to leave at 8:15 on Sunday night and get in around 10 or so. Jet Blue changed it so now the flight is leaving at 3:20 and will arrive in Pittsburgh at 5:15. I hope that I can get through customs in time to catch it - I might scream if I miss that flight and have to be stuck at JFK and not home in time for family dinner.

I left the office yesterday afternoon at around 5 or so and got home at around 6. Audrey and I sat around trying to figure out a jumbo crossword puzzle when Rosaline came over to hang out and have dinner.

Audrey got a sad phone call that her dad was not doing well. He suffers from Alzheimer's disease and at press time he is passing his last moments here on earth. It is painful to see Audrey so upset as she has always been particularly close to her dad. They are in the middle of trying to locate a priest do the last rites. So it is a difficult time - especially before christmas.

Rosaline stayed and ate dinner with Emmanuel, Benjamin, and I. Audrey came home a bit later and ate, chatted for awhile, and went to bed.

I woke up this morning and realized yet again that I am one day closer to leaving - the time passes incredibly fast here. But I have receive several messages from people using various forms of technology saying that they can't wait for me to come home! One chapter is about to close and another one is about to start.

Alex and I had lunch today and it is sad that it is one of our last together. Neither of us have packed but both of us have plane tickets saying that we are supposed to leave at a specific time. It will get done eventually we decided.

I expect this afternoon to be somewhat busy as I wrap things up here at work and I think of all that I have to do before I leave....

Some little things:
-I was telling the story at dinner last night about how Mom and Steve asked what my favorite part of my first trip to Europe was - I was 9 - I said that the moving sidewalks in the airport (no one understood when i said "sidewalk" as I said it with my american accent instead of the british way)
-I keep getting asked to stay here through christmas and the new year - somehow I don't think that the family would like that a whole lot

More later...