This time in two weeks I will be sitting on my Korean Air plan ready to take off hopefully with all my worldly goods on the plane as well!
Thankfully I have managed to negotiate with my two airlines and they have increased my luggage to 30kg which gives me a bit more to play with. There is just so much winter stuff that I have from my time in Chicago that it seems silly to leave behind and buy new stuff out there. Also I am not sure they will have my clothes or shoe size so I figure I had better go prepared!!
I have also started the slog of learning Mongolian. It is very tough and although I now can (or think I can) pronounce around 10 words/phrases in mangled Mongolian I am not sure I will understand anything that is said to me and I certainly cannot read or write any of the Cyrillic alphabet. I am working on it though and I hope when I have no choice and am in full immersion I will pick it up a little. I do have a translator for work so that is a huge relief!
I have one week left in work and everyone has suddenly realised I am leaving so it is a little strange to be handing over tasks and projects that I have been working on for weeks/months. I am imagine this will be one of my big challenges in Mongolia. The whole point of me being there is to share my skills and this involves training my colleague and letting her do as much as possible. This is something I do not find easy but hopefully I can work on it when I am away.
I am having my massive fundraiser this weekend which has spiralled out of control a bit. From 1 pot of curry for all to a hot curry, mild curry, veggie curry and a non-curry (without onions or garlic for all the difficult people ;)) There are going to be between 50 and 80 people at my house, we are hoping for about 60 and we are cooking up a storm. Of course Mum and I have been practicing our recipes for the last week so I am completely sick of curry, literally and figuratively as it doesnt agree with me! My goal target is 900 quid for VSO and I have already raised over 250 so I am hoping to get 650 from my curry night, fingers crossed!
Between my fundraiser on Saturday night and Harvest services in church all day Sunday I am going to be shattered! Just ready for the leaving do's the following week - drinks with the work girls on Wednesday, Mongolian movie with school friends on Thursday, Dublin on Friday, Mums birthday on Saturday I am going to be ready to leave!!
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Leaving earlier than I thought!!
So much has happened in the last 14 days but most unsettling was that my leaving date has been moved forward!!!
The moving forward of my date really did upset me quite badly and I am not quite sure why because it only means leaving 1.5/2 days earlier! I was told on Wednesday about it and this meant that I was leaving 3 weeks on Wednesday and that I had to tell work I was leaving earlier than I had negotiated.
Luckily it doesn't affect my injections as I have just enough time to get them all in. My carefully laid plans were disrupted by a mild bout of tonsillitis which meant I couldnt have my second injection on the right day but all is well and I will be fully immunised against Rabies before I go!
Aside from my date moving forward I also now have a job for when I come home! I have been offered a training contract in the civil service which means I will be paid to train as a solicitor for the 3 years when I come home. It is reassuring in that it means I will be financially ok when I come home, and I have job prospects!! lol! it also means I get qualified which is difficult to do this year with the economic conditions. It can also possibly be deferred if I decide I want to extend in Mongolia.
I also took my VSO discount letter to Cotswolds today and had a great time! They spent and hour and a half letting me try on socks, play with filtration and purification stuff and generally enjoy all the travel accessories available. I restrained my ridiculous purchases to a sheewee which none of the ladies in the shop had been brave enough to try but I will give it a go!
Unfortunately all the stuff I bought in cotswolds and all the retail therapy I did while I was in bed sick last weekend has to fit into one 25kg bag!! I have kept all my receipts and there will be lots of returns being done once I get a practice pack done this weekend!
So my sister heads off to China tomorrow, other sister heads back to uni on Saturday and I am starting my packing so my Mum is getting very tearful already!! It is going to be an interesting and very busy 2 weeks and 6 days until I leave.
The moving forward of my date really did upset me quite badly and I am not quite sure why because it only means leaving 1.5/2 days earlier! I was told on Wednesday about it and this meant that I was leaving 3 weeks on Wednesday and that I had to tell work I was leaving earlier than I had negotiated.
Luckily it doesn't affect my injections as I have just enough time to get them all in. My carefully laid plans were disrupted by a mild bout of tonsillitis which meant I couldnt have my second injection on the right day but all is well and I will be fully immunised against Rabies before I go!
Aside from my date moving forward I also now have a job for when I come home! I have been offered a training contract in the civil service which means I will be paid to train as a solicitor for the 3 years when I come home. It is reassuring in that it means I will be financially ok when I come home, and I have job prospects!! lol! it also means I get qualified which is difficult to do this year with the economic conditions. It can also possibly be deferred if I decide I want to extend in Mongolia.
I also took my VSO discount letter to Cotswolds today and had a great time! They spent and hour and a half letting me try on socks, play with filtration and purification stuff and generally enjoy all the travel accessories available. I restrained my ridiculous purchases to a sheewee which none of the ladies in the shop had been brave enough to try but I will give it a go!
Unfortunately all the stuff I bought in cotswolds and all the retail therapy I did while I was in bed sick last weekend has to fit into one 25kg bag!! I have kept all my receipts and there will be lots of returns being done once I get a practice pack done this weekend!
So my sister heads off to China tomorrow, other sister heads back to uni on Saturday and I am starting my packing so my Mum is getting very tearful already!! It is going to be an interesting and very busy 2 weeks and 6 days until I leave.
Sunday, 13 September 2009
It is all starting to feel real!
It has been a busy couple of weeks but it has started to all feel real!!
It started on Friday when I said my first goodbye. I hadnt thought I was going to see Heather before I left and then with an interview in London I grabbed the chance to meet her for a coffee. I hadnt thought it was going to be so hard to say goodbye because I have done it before when I headed to Chicago. I got quite teary on the tube and train to the airport and I have really felt it all weekend. It is going to be a whole year in an extremely foreign country but I am really excited to be going, but I am not looking forward to all the goodbyes over the next few weeks.
I also started my jabs over the weekend. First rabies jab and Hepatirex. The Hepatirex one really hurt!!!
Finally the countdown has started - it is 4 weeks and 5 days until I leave, it is getting really close!!!
It started on Friday when I said my first goodbye. I hadnt thought I was going to see Heather before I left and then with an interview in London I grabbed the chance to meet her for a coffee. I hadnt thought it was going to be so hard to say goodbye because I have done it before when I headed to Chicago. I got quite teary on the tube and train to the airport and I have really felt it all weekend. It is going to be a whole year in an extremely foreign country but I am really excited to be going, but I am not looking forward to all the goodbyes over the next few weeks.
I also started my jabs over the weekend. First rabies jab and Hepatirex. The Hepatirex one really hurt!!!
Finally the countdown has started - it is 4 weeks and 5 days until I leave, it is getting really close!!!
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
SKWID Training
I spent 5 days in Birmingham at Harborne Hall from 27th August to 31 August doing the SKWID course. SKWID stands for Skills for Working In Development and it is a very true description of the course. It was so helpful and allowed us to practice the skills that we will need to implement VSO's plan - sharing skills and changing lives. It also gave us the great opportunity to think about how we work with local people, involve them through participation and how we network in country. It was also reassuring to consider that our placements are not standalone, we do not have to change the world and implement all the changes during a one year placement. We are taking steps towards meeting those goals and if we dont meet the goals during our placement that is also ok, we move in increments.
It was also great to meet 12 other fantastic VSO vols and 3 great facilitators. It was so nice to spend a weekend talking to others who are going through the VSO experience and who understand what it is I am going to be doing. I also got the chance to get some great advice from two of the other participants on fundraising and marketing that reassured me that I can do the job I am going to be doing and that there is a network of VSO vols in country and throughout the placement countries. It was also great to meet 4 other Irish volunteers!
At the end of the course someone said that if we looked around our group and thought of the skills in the room, we could really see how VSO's strategy of sharing skills works.
I am pretty shattered right now having graduated yesterday just after SKWID and the exhaustion of those 5 days. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend reading up more on Mongolia!
It was also great to meet 12 other fantastic VSO vols and 3 great facilitators. It was so nice to spend a weekend talking to others who are going through the VSO experience and who understand what it is I am going to be doing. I also got the chance to get some great advice from two of the other participants on fundraising and marketing that reassured me that I can do the job I am going to be doing and that there is a network of VSO vols in country and throughout the placement countries. It was also great to meet 4 other Irish volunteers!
At the end of the course someone said that if we looked around our group and thought of the skills in the room, we could really see how VSO's strategy of sharing skills works.
I am pretty shattered right now having graduated yesterday just after SKWID and the exhaustion of those 5 days. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend reading up more on Mongolia!
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