The Real World, season two

By the time we arrive in the States in October (we finally bought our tickets!!) I'll have been gone for four years, almost to the day.
Four years is a long time to be out floating around the planet and I'm feeling excited and anxious all at once about a return to the 'real world' i.e. America. However unrealistic it may be I do tend to view the majority of the rest of the globe as some kind of Monopoly game; complete with play money and get out of jail free cards. Life outside the U.S. has it's own set of complications, but in many ways just seems much easier all the way around.

At the moment, I've got an array of bills in my trotter: pounds, Euro, Indian rupees, Sri Lankan rupees, Thai bhat, Turkish lire, Nepali rupees, American dollars...none of which seem to hold any weight at all with the exception of the Benjamins. And even though they're worth less than the European currencies they're crumpled up with they do give me a bit of a thrill, I guess because they so blatantly represent the next stage of the game.

I know I shouldn't be spending so much time obsessing over our upcoming arrival but it's something of a habit now; my desire (or is it need at this point?) for planning has been gratified these past few years with moving around so much and I'm thrust into yet another binge as we finally decide where to plant ourselves initially.

We've been talking about going straight to Portland for so long I hadn't even considered any other options. But when my parents asked us to spend the holidays with them (a fair request, considering) we decided to just plunk ourselves down somewhere relative to their winter house in Arizona. I've never lived in Arizona, never really had any desire to sit around in the American desert for an extended period of time, but I'm in a 'what the heck' kind of mindframe these days.
After living in this expanse of better home and garden that is our Kathmandu place I'm spoiled rotten and wouldn't even consider one of the many cookie-cutter condo or rental house options scattered in the area. I had my heart set on finding something special, with a bit of land maybe, and so I went about manifesting what would be our next semi-permanent stop.

It's getting almost ridiculous, the way this stuff works - always 'Ask and ye shall receive' in it's purest translation - but here we go again; looking forward to a fabulous three bedroom, two bath ranch style vacation home on an acre of grape vineyards and fruit trees in the lush Mohave Valley, complete with desert-hill views and sunsets worth gasping over. The house is fully furnished (down to the linens and silver) and the six month fee includes every conceivable utility, so we're all set.