Departure

After a frantic week of goodbyes, nights out, packing and re-packing I am finally ready to leave. Whatever I need that is not in my bag now I do without!

I leave tomorrow morning for the train to Mongolia, via Russia! Starting with the 0918 Wakefield Westgate to London! Moscow in 2 days time.

I have packed up my house and belongings and stored most posessions in my loft - a gargantuan effort, or so it seemed! I have someone moving in on Friday which is a tremendous relief.

For months now it has seemed like I have never had enough time to get through all the jobs I needed to get through to get organised. My passport with my Mongolia visa only arrived on Friday...

I have been in contact with some volunteers who have either been or are still there in Mongolia and it has been very reassuring and useful corresponding with them.

Too tired to write more... need sleep before the long journey.

Speak soon...

2 weeks to departure

I am just 2 weeks away now from leaving England for my year working for VSO in Mongolia. I still have so much to do to get ready and time seems to be evaporating fast. I have been meaning to start this blog for months now and really wanted to . I will try to recap on the last 8 or 9 months that got me where I am now:

January 2010 - came back form a medical expedition to Nepal - inspired to volunteer for longer

April 2010 - sent application to VSO

July 2010 - attended selection day in London

August 2010 - informed I had been selected

September 2010 - first placement discussion

October 2010 - offered Mongolia placement

November 2010 - handed in 12 week notice at work

November 2010 - house put up for rent

December 2010 - started VSO training courses

December 2010 - train tickets to Mongolia booked and received

December 2010 - Russian and Belorussian visas obtained and received

December 2010 - started injections

December 2010 - preparing house for rent/packing process begun

December 2010 - Mongolia visa application sent to VSO

December 2010 - tenant for house found

7 January 2011 - Skills for working in Development course with VSO

14 January 2011 - last day at work

23rd January 2011 - lock up house

24th January 2011 - 0918 train from Wakefield Westgate to Mongolia

26th January 2011 - arrive in Moscow

1st February 2011 - depart Moscow on trans-siberian train

6th February 2011 - arrive Ulaan Baatar, capital of Mongolia

11th February 2011 - start new job at Ach University

How do I feel now? Excited!! Can't wait to see Mongolia, can't wait to see my new colleagues, my new place of work, to see where I will live, to settle in, to get to know the city and people, to experience the extremes of the country. Can't wait to start work there and enter a whole new world of development work. Can't wait to see how I adapt to a new culture, to see how I handle a completely new job, way of working and what good work I can do. Can't wait to be immersed in the landscape and the climate.

So much to look forward to and enjoy.

I will use this blog to record and inform - record my experiences and feelings - and inform you of the work I do and what its like to work in Mongolia as a foreign volunteer.

So much yet to do - still don't have a visa for Mongolia, haven't yet received a formal acceptance letter of my post from Mongolia. Don't know where I will be living.... not bothered, I'll just turn up anyway!

Speak soon, just before I depart probably