Countdown to India

Whew! It has been a long time since I have written. Happy New Year to everyone. Since my last blog, I have been putting in major hours at the club, understanding the intricacies of cricket (which coincidentally is not that mind numbing, soul crushing), parading around Sydney with my sister and finally spending time with Sam, who has quit her job. Sam's resignation has signalled the final countdown to India. We have booked our tickets and are leaving on the 15th of February. Even though, we have little over a month, we are now scrambling around to complete odds and ends that seem to pile up increasingly so. There is so much to be done: packing, selling of furniture and unwanted clothes, visas, good byes, inoculations, rent, cleaning. It feels as though every aspect of life, we must complete in a short month before we leave. I have already gone to the doctor for my shots, but I decided that enough is enough with my eyes. For the past two years, my sight has been deteriorating where now Sam has got read subtitles on the TV screen for me. I knew it was time to go to the doctor when I tried to watch Mongol by myself on the couch during the night time. Usually, I would hunker down and enjoy this historical fictitious movie, but it is hard to get comfortable when you are constantly leaning forward like a turtle coming out its shell once the danger has passes and simultaneously squinting like Mr. Magoo. One thing I am sure of the Mongol language is nice, whatever they said is a whole different matter.
I went in to the optometrist and she administered the eye examine. Let's say I was less than stellar- at one point she asked me to read a line, to which I respond O,W, Z, E. I felt less than confident and this was echoed by the optometrist when she waited about two seconds after I had spoken and said "close.' Long story short, I have an astigmatism and short sighted. New changes in life, honestly. I have glasses now.
The weather has been great and I have been going to the beach a lot. However there has been a recent malaise of utterly terrifying shark attacks lately in Australia. A couple of fatalities and some horrendous bites. Last week, they cleared out three beaches in my area to shark sightings. Most of the time, as Bill Bryson points out, Australians just brush off these incidents like a fly over a cooper's pale ale. This is such an endearing yet utterly maniacal aspect to this culture. I read that 50 percent of the sharks in the net are coming in from the beach. This time around however, there seems to be a little more hysteria lately. The latest was an attack in Tasmania, where a 13 year old got attacked by a great white. She fought it along with her cousin and it released her. They were about 200 feet off shore, when it circled again and stopped in front. Luckily a wave came and the cousin and girl rode the wave closer to the beach. Most of the time sharks don't follow for long distance, but when the duo looked left the same shark was riding the same wave about 9 feet to their left. Just terrifying. The duo did escape further harm. Why tell you this? well, going into the water here sometimes requires a whole cheer leading squad willing you into the water. I will be going into the water over the month, but along with sunblock, I'll be wearing medieval style chain mail.