Day After Tomorrow

Is when I am leaving. If my visa gets here...

These posts are dull and poorly written

So now that everything has been taken care of, I can explain what’s been going on the past few days. First of all, I would like to take this time to thank my friends for throwing me an awesome going away party/21st birthday party. I had a wonderful time (from what I remember).

Okay, made contact with the flight attendant (Lisa) who is providing my buddy pass (bless her). She says that March 15 looks great and I should have no trouble getting a flight. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted to hear. BUT there is a slight change in plans. Delta isn’t flying into New Delhi, they’re flying into Mumbai. Well, it’s all India right? Not that big of a deal. Here is the trouble- Mumbai and ND are on opposite sides of the country and there’s about a 17 hour train ride in between or a short flight if you’re fancy. I have a flight from New Delhi to Kathmandu the morning of March 19th. I now have to get from Mumbai to New Delhi. This isn’t a big deal. BUT I have just learned that in oder to move around within India, I need a VISA. That’s not really that big of a deal either. I need a visa for Nepal, but Nepal (because they are gracious and like making my life easy) requires you to fill out a one page form, pay a fee and then they give you a visa- all of this takes place in the airport. India on the other hand (because they’re jerks) requires you to acquire a visa before hand. IT takes a few days to process. It takes a little money. Did you know how expensive overnight shipping both ways can be? I’m only sending it to Houston to get processed! That’s right folks, Atlanta doesn’t have an office to process visas. Weird. You’d think with the country’s largest airport (or is it the world’s?) they’d have all sorts of travel related places nearby. Not so. I digress. Long and boring story now that I look at it. ANYWAY, that was a minor hiccup in the plan- my visa should arrive the day before I leave. Cutting it close but then again, who did you think you were talking to?

PS- did you know you had to mail your passport off to get a visa? This is why it’s great to plan ahead. I plan to be in India for a few weeks and I would’ve had to apply for a visa whilst in Nepal- I would’ve had to mail my passport, part with my passport, while in Nepal. Now, why does that sound like a bad idea? Blessings in disguise I guess.

16 days

Does anyone else read that last title as "Goddess me"? So I'm officially vaccinated and honestly- it was a good experience. Another confession, needles freak me out a little. I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to faint, but I will always opt. for 10 days worth of meds rather than a quick injection. It's very silly but whatever. So I went into the health department ready to leave with a sore arm or arse, but instead I discovered 2 things. #1, I actually already had MOST of the vaccines that I need (thanks ma) and #2 the oral vaccine is about 40 dollars cheaper, lasts 3 years longer and um- hello, it's a teeny pill. Well, it is 4 teeny pills but still. SO that was a very long story about nothing of purpose but I am SO bad about posting I feel the need to publicize even the trivial and irrelevant just to say SOMETHING to me...3 loyal readers.

Yesterday I found out I got the RA job at GHP. I don't think I've been very clear about how much I desperately NEEDED this job. It covers room and board- two things I won't be able to afford when I come home, and it's an amazing job. Also, Taylor Sapp my fabulous wonderful beautiful friend is going to- basically, these youths will never know what hit em'. Another perk of getting this job is that I can now set dates to my trip.

Nepal March 15-June 3

India June 3-15

Macon June 16-21

VSU June 21-July 21

Reflecting yesterday I realized how rough the last month and a half has been. I have been going so unbelievably stir crazy not being in school nor in a show or even working very many hours. Honestly- I prefer to be overwhelmed rather than underwhelmed. I can feel myself slowly going crazy as the days tick by soooo slowly.....now cross your eyes and drool.

However, as for waiting, this is pretty much the last bit of waiting I will be doing for a long time. In 16 days I will literally be on the run for months! Until July 21, and then I need to find housing and employment. Hopefully I will be accepted into nursing school (if not, I will come up with some elaborate lie about needing more time to find myself) and that will start about 2 and 1/2 weeks after I get home from GHP, so really, this is the most downtime I will have until further notice. I've been told to relish the peace but alas I am an Aries. That just won't happen.

Goodness me

Four weeks from thursday. One month from tomorrow. Today I spent my evening chatting (thank you Mark Zuckerburg) with a former Umbrella volunteer. A very sweet irish girl I reached out to when I first discovered Umbrella. Today I got to ask her all of the burning questions.

But first, I have a confession.

I have not slept in a week. I have been so terrified. The most I can tell you about Nepal is WHERE it is. I've officially been in freak out mode.

Tonight, after talking to Judy, I feel like a major weight has been lifted. She is one of those European badasses you secretly model yourself after. The kind that travels all around in their 20s and makes ordinary people like myself feel so...stagnant. Anyway, I bombarded her with WHAT ARE THE CHILDREN LIKE, WERE YOU EVER AFRAID? WHAT'S THE STAFF LIKE? WHERE DO YOU LIVE? WHAT SHOULD I PACK? IS THERE ANYWAY YOU CAN HOLD MY HAND AND TAKE ME THERE?

In conclusion the answer was this.

Breathe, it's going to knock your freaking socks off. The kids are amazing but be aware of what they've seen and been through. Be consistant. Be smart. She says she never felt unsafe. She said I'm going to be okay.

And I believe her.

Also, a side note. I have a weakness for Irish accents and ---what's that? A lot of Umbrella volunteers (well, it is an irish organization) are irish. Oh heavens. What's a girl to do?

I digress- let me remind everyone (including myself) that I'm not going over seas to meet selfless bronzed rugby playing soft hearted beautiful Irish gentlemen...what was I talking about? OH right. I'm going to love these kids every second. I'm going to do everything I can to share my gifts with them. To learn, to see, and to live. 29 days folks, 29 days. Vaccines tomorrow perhaps. (sarcastic "yay")

Squared Away

So that's it. Paperwork has been received by the foundation and I've been given the green light. Check out these videos http://www.facebook.com/TheUmbrellaFoundation?sk=app_2513891999 to get a taste of what the future holds.

As for my flight details, I'll be getting into Kathmandu in the morning and catching a taxi to meet my coordinator, Macartan. I just have to say that the Umbrella foundation has been extremely helpful through this process- I have high hopes for my stay there. It has been stressed to negotiate the price of my taxi which I am thrilled to try my hand at. I feel after 20 years of strutting through the hood, I can handle a pushy Nepalese driver right? ...right? I'll add more details when I have more information- I'm currently wikipedia-ing a lot of what was in my confirmation email (Kimdole Chowk, Swayambhu is the ...airport? I guess) Thanks for following, the good times are on their way in....less than 7 weeks. Cue ominous music

Alright Kids

7 weeks until D day- that's D as in departure. My passport is here, my paperwork is in, my plane tickets are handled, surgery over (hallelujah) and all that's left is a few vaccines. Knowing me, the next time you'll be hearing from me is whilst in the airport, waiting and waiting. My layover is in Holland, just FYI. Now is the time I need to start reading Nepalese newspapers to keep up with the political climate, yadayadayada. I'm not yet worried because it still doesn't seem even remotely real. What DOES seem real is my TEAS coming up February 2nd (please send some good juju). A REAL update soon- something profound and moving. I'm just having a bit of writers block. I don't have any more Gareth pictures so here's an oldie of me. It doesn't have a deep figurative meaning, it was just on my desktop. I'll get better at this guys- bear with me.

Missing Gareth?

Well here is another picture. I'm missing Gareth pictures. No new developments on Nepal but a personal revelation-...I am not so into blogging