Blog Readers – I know you think I forgot about you, but I swear, I didn’t. It’s just been so. dang. busy. You know how I know that the stress is getting the better of me?? I keep passing out between 8 and 8:30. Not good.
So what have we been up to, you ask? Well, last weekend I led a group of 40 people from the Embassy to the lake for a long weekend. We stayed in this idyllic paradise, a place called Makuzi Beach Lodge.
Then yesterday, I put on my last official event as CLO – a Hail & Farewell Party for those newly arrived and those departing shortly (including us). Here’s Nia getting in some jump time with our Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM).
And then today we had a joint event with the British High Commission to celebrate the Royal Wedding. It was a family-style picnic affair during which we could watch the festivities on a giant outdoor screen.
So the good news is that I’ve wrapped up all my events. But with only one week of work left, I’m struggling to finish up my to-do list and create a thorough hand-off packet for my successor (who likely won’t start until August). But the intensity continues because once work ends, I have 3 weeks to sell off items, manage the packout and throw all our goodbye parties.
By mid-June Nia & I are off to the US for 10 weeks of family & friend time. We’ll start with 4.5 weeks in MN, then do 4.5 weeks in Bend, then pop into DC for a week before leaving for Mumbai in late August. Nick leaves 3 weeks behind us and also has to do 3 weeks of training in DC, so he’ll only end up getting about 2 weeks in MN and 2 weeks in Bend.
Nia & Nick haven’t been to the States since we left in summer of 2016, so they’re definitely in need of some re-acclamation time! And while I visited last September for Jenna’s wedding, the trip was so fast that I never even got over jetlag. Which is a long way of saying that I am missing the US too. It will be good for all of us.
Perhaps most exciting though is that we just got word of our housing assignment in Mumbai. As the title of this post eluded to, we’ll be movin’ on up again. This time we’ll be on the 10th floor of a brand new condo that’s going up in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), our new neighborhood.
This is the area we were hoping to be in. The American Consulate is located here (FYI – this will be our first consulate, the Embassy is in the capital of New Delhi). Given how horrific the traffic is said to be, we wanted to minimize Nick’s commute time. It’s also just a few kilometers from Nia’s school and the airport. The biggest downside of the neighborhood is that it’s largely a commercial district, so I don’t anticipate that it will have much personality or many good restaurants. No worries though, because that is all a short drive away in Bandra West.
Since our condo is still being built, I unfortunately don’t have any pictures to show you. What I can tell you is this though:
- We’ll have 4 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms which means lots of room for visitors!
- We’ll be on the 10th floor, which should have a good view
- We’ll be within walking distance of the consulate
- The building has an indoor pool, gym, health club, and indoor game room
- It also has a landscaped garden with a children’s play area
I think it sounds a lot like the building we lived in when in Manila. I think it’s going to be a great fit for us. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in 3 short months!
