This time in 4 weeks I will be in Ethiopia…

Vaccinations done, passport is on its way to the Ethiopian Embassy to get the visa, the final bits of paperwork have been sent off to VSO, so I am more or less ready to go- once I finally get the actual dates of the flight…

…and have done the actual packing, making sure that I have everything I need (or think I will need)

My arrival date has changed to the 15th September from the 12th September, which makes much more sense, given that all the other volunteers I have met heading out have flights on the 14th September.  I had been wondering about that.

The last few weeks have been quite hectic, making preparations and saying a lot of farewells, which is turning into quite a long good bye.  It began at the end of July with working coming to its conclusion and there were so many reasons to be sad about leaving.  I have been fortunate in having the most amazing group of students in my form and the pleasure of working with some truly fantastic colleagues.  And continued with a tour of the UK to catch up with people before I leaver and there are still more I hope to see before I go.

I am still not quite sure what to expect, which is part of the adventure I suppose.  Getting in contact and meeting with other volunteers has been really helpful in giving some insight, but each email seems to invite even more questions and I don’t think that I will really fully comprehend until I am actually out there.  I get the impression that there are a lot of things that are going to take some considerable getting used to and no matter how much preparation I make, I will never be fully prepared for what will great me when I am in placement.  Nevertheless I feel ready to go, or at least that I will be when the time comes.

4 more weeks…