I've had many thoughts -- and preoccupations -- surrounding this whole business of moving back to Manila. Sorting through all of them and coming up with something nice to write about, amidst the packing and Thanksgiving, is not easy.

Saying goodbye to friends, colleagues and my students is harder than I thought. I know it's going to hit me some time, usually the day before I actually leave or that minute I look back at the plane lifting off, that I may never see these people again. And, to use my student's words, "that blows."

Then there's everything else: the buildings, the Schuykill, the falling leaves, the buses and the clear blue sky. Walking around Rittenhouse Square yesterday I turned around and looked back at the Liberty Plaza, blue and steel piercing the sky. I got a bit misty -- listening to Damien Rice didn't help.

Still sorting it out, but I do know this: at least George W. Bush isn't the leader of that country.