Our last week in Delhi

Johnson teaching Gio the art of driving in Delhi.

Sebastian and his family on Topher's last day in India. He, of course, had no idea what was going on, but our staff and neighborhood children were all very sad to see him go.

Meanwhile....Giovanni has been busy with his diaper project. Every morning all diapers must be cleared from the changing table.

Any more?

A job well done.

Practicing my intimidating NFL linebacker stare.

At 3:30 AM on Nov 7th Topher and I boarded the first of two flights on our way to Washington, DC.

The worst photograph ever taken. Apologies for all of my recent photos, actually. Giovanni managed to remove and lose the cover lens of my camera so all photos now look grainy and dull. If you are searching for a gift for me....a new camera is a terrific idea!

If you look closely, with a slight squint, you can see Topher's crate being loaded onto our second flight (Frankfurt-Washington). I was happy to see the baggage handler riding the belt up to the plane's hold with Topher. Lufthansa is a fantastic airline for handling pets!

So 6 days and counting until we depart Delhi. I am so sorry to have been neglecting this blog. You should be "honored" that I have finally gotten around to updating it. Actually, I am sitting next to over 20 forms I SHOULD be filling out (inventory, customs forms, powers of attorney, insurance forms, etc.) but decided instead that this was much more important. It should also be noted that the forms were due two days ago!

It has been a crazy few weeks in the Belli household. As you saw in the photos, Topher and I took a trip to Washington last week. He is safely back home and staying with his beloved dogsitters Penelope and John. I am sure he is confused by all of the changes in his life but I am comforted that he is with two people who love him so much. While we were together in Washington last week Topher and I got reacquainted with the neighborhood (and with cold weather!). In addition to getting Topher home safely, the main reason for my trip back to the US was to get our house ready for the Giovanni invasion. I arranged for painting to get done and a baby-proofer to come in to make our many stairs and railings safer for a newly mobile 11-month-old. I also arranged for rental furniture since our shipment will take about 12 weeks to reach home.

While I was in DC with Topher Paolo took Giovanni along on a business trip to Kathmandu, Nepal! The boys had a week of bonding with early morning walks, lots of playtime and shared naptimes. Paolo had a nanny in the hotel to help while he was working but otherwise was a solo parent and loved the chance to finally be in charge (that is, without my bossy self ordering him around and making "suggestions"!) Although I am suffering from double jetlag from such a long journey for such a short stay, I am grateful we decided to do this as I saw a huge change in Paolo and Giovanni when I returned- Gio is much more attached to Paolo and Paolo is an even more confident parent (quite possibly more than me).

So now we are at the tail end of our time here. Paolo has been in Bangkok all week (even went to a restaurant last night decorated entirely in condoms- only in Thailand!). Once he returns tomorrow we will begin the rapid race to the end with the packers arriving on Monday and endless trips to cancel accounts, pay bills, and, at some point, fill out this huge pile of forms! On Sunday all of our appliances disappear and on Monday we give up our car. Then it will be fast food, dirty clothes, cold tea and rickshaw rides until we depart on Thursday, Nov 19th at 3:30 AM (yes, the same flight Topher and I took less than two weeks ago!). Giovanni and I will arrive in Washington that same afternoon (remember we are 10.5 hours ahead of the East Coast here!). Paolo will leave us in Frankfurt and fly on to Italy where he will take care of some family business before joining us in DC on Nov 23rd. SO...for those of you in Washington, we are on our way! And those of you in Delhi, I have no words. I am grateful to have you as friends and hope some of us end up again together in another exotic port of call. After all, if we can survive (and thrive!) in Delhi, we can make it anywhere!

Some important info for those of you who want to stay in touch, please email me and I will send you our new address and my new cell number. I will be giving up my Earthlink account at the end of the month so please change your Clara info to: czbelli@yahoo.com

Cheers to all. Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends and family. Love, Clara, Paolo, Topher & Giovanni