Almost

Sometime last week i realized that my answer to the question "when do you leave for India" had changed from "I have to be in India by June 20th", to "next friday". Both answers mean the same thing, however my new answer emphasizes the extreme closeness of my departure. I will be in India in 6 days.

On Thursday, June 10th, at around 6:30 pm i said goodbye to all those close to me from Santa Cruz and with my car packed to the brim with all of my possessions, i ordered sushi to go, set up a podcast of NPR's This American Life, and was on the road to LA. After about 6 hours of driving i found myself in front of my house in LA, knocked on the door, and was greeted by my poppa, who welcomed me warmly. I walked into my parents bedroom where my mom was, and was exclaimed at by my mother, "What happened to your hair!?". She was referring to my recently buzzed head, a precaution i took against the 115 degree weather of Delhi during the summer.

Yesterday was a day of friends. Darrow, back from his 2-month excursion in the wilderness, invited me over to his house in the morning for omelettes. After a hearty breakfast and some catching up, we decided to ride our respective bikes to the beach, considering how beautiful a day it was. On the way down to the ocean we met up with one of my best friends Jordan Ross, whom i havent seen for many months. Us three stopped at a random japanese market, and were delighted by the delicacies and the deliciously decent-priced meals we found there. Having successfully lost our motivation to go to the beach, Darrow and I parted from Jordan Ross and biked back to his house, where he taught me some tai-chi like exercises, and played with his baby brother and sister. The night ended in my dad's favorite 007 movie, Sean Connery's Dr. No.

Today was a loooong day. I woke up at the crack of 6:30 am to be in Santa Monica by 7 for REI's used gear sale. For those of you who don't know about this gem of an event, every month or so, REI takes all of its returned gear (usually returned for small and insignificant issues), and sells it for 60% off or more. After making a few friends in line, and waiting for about an hour (the line went all the way down the block) I was finally chosen to be the next to go into the store, where there was a roped off section, with gear loosely sorted on tables, boxes, or racks. Top of the line Osprey backpacks were down from 500 bucks to 150, and tents were being sold at a price I would feel guilty taking advantage of. I ended up getting two pairs of good wool socks (usually priced at $15), for 93 cents each! One of the socks has a tiny hole around my shin, which seems to be an unspeakable offense to my mother, because she hasn't let me live it down yet. Personally, i don't care about the hole at all - why worry about a tiny hole over my leg when it's my foot that matters? Anyway, i also got this cool hat, a good thermos for $4, and a really nice timex trail watch for 25 bucks, marked down from $125. The reason this watch was returned? The previous owner didn't like that the watch strap was velcro!

Finally getting back home around 930, my old camp friend Rachel Wolman calls me and says she's in town, and invites me to go hang out with her and another friend of ours, Jamie. They pick me up from my place and we go...guess where? the third street-promenade, which happens to be about 2 blocks from REI where i has JUST come from. After a little parking adventure, us three walk into the Santa Monica farmers market, where I buy a sourdough loaf and block of garlic cheddar cheese as lunch. Like the jews we are, we wandered - eventually going down to the Santa Monica pier, and then back up to REI to get a camelbak bladder for me.

By 230 i was home again, and instead of taking the well-needed nap that i wanted, i was persuaded by my mother to help her prepare for the Kahnnas arrival. The Kahnnas are some of our family-friends from Delhi, and were coincidentally in LA this week. Given this great opportunity to hang out with them, my family invited them (Rishi, his wife Divya, their 7 year old son Jay, and their 2 year old son Veer) to dinner at our place. In preparation for their arrival, i went to a toy store and tried to get some presents for the boys. After realizing that i totally forgot what i liked when i was 7, I befriended some kids in the toy store who were 8, and enlisted their help to find some cool toys that Jay and Veer would like. Turns out these kids were Israeli, so i had fun practicing my Hebrew, while simultaneously re-connecting with my 7-year old self. I ended up getting Jay a grabber (the long pole with a lever on one end, and a claw-thing on the other), where the grabbing part was a dinosaur head, and a toy ferrari. I got Veer a little lion stuffed-animal, and a green silicon spherical man with tentacles coming out and a drawstring that, when pulled made him vibrate. Finally coming home, i was thrown into the mix of preparing for the Kahnnas arrival and making dinner. Around 6:30 they came over, and we had a very nice dinner - it was nice to get to know Rishi, Divya, Jay and Veer better. For dessert Jay helped me make chocolate strawberries, and then we watched some OLD (1940) videos that my grandpa took when he was in Delhi working for the army.

This week looks like it's shaping up to be very busy between seeing old friends, getting things ready for my 6-month adventure and spending time with the family. I can't believe that I am actually going to India for 6 months, and am leaving so soon! 6 days from now my blogs will actually be about my adventure in the east, instead of about my preparation for it. Soon i'll figure out a way of uploading photos/video so that you will have access to my blog, my map, and my photos.