T minus 6 weeks

OK, so a quick summary of the facts:

• I'm off to Nepal on 6th April for 12 months
• I'll be helping set-up an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization - it's like a charity) for community development in a little village in the south of the country
• I'll be funding myself (there goes my house deposit...)
• I still can speak very limited Nepali - I am a tiger is the best phrase I have
• I've been given a sabbatical from work

Now the plan is, well, the plan is fairly flexible. Not quite non-existent, but slightly concerning.

Unfortunately the unbelievably beautiful country is being slowly strangled by political turmoil. There is currently a strike in the south of the country which is cutting off the fuel supply, petrol and cooking gas is in scarce supply all over. The elections are going to be on April 10th, so by the time I reach Nepal the country will be grinding to a halt with beefed up security and protests.

So, I am going to be playing it by ear a bit more. I have made contact with Engineers Without Borders, and it seems I might be able to help them a little. I'm trying to get contacts with the international NGOs that work in Nepal so I can understand them a little more before I leave. My teaching English course is still going on as a backup - I still have homework to do for it, which is quite disturbing. I don't remember being this slack in university or school.

My nepali sister is getting married on Friday. I feel rather bad as I promised to her I would be there when I got married, but I can't go over so soon before I go. However, I woke this morning with an idea. I have one and a half days leave left before Easter, so I thought I could fly to Nepal for the weekend and go to her wedding. Having got through all the stages of booking the ticket and about to enter my card details, I realised the folly in my plan. The cost of the flight was probably going to be my budget for 6 months out there. How could that be worth it. I still feel incredibly bad inside, but I must try and think rationally sometimes I suppose.

As for getting ready to go, I have nearly everything I wanted to get before I left. I have a bought myself a shiny new MacBook - I figured I wanted something I knew wouldn't crash unlike windows based systems and I love it now - a camera that doesn't eat batteries and my flight. Other things I need to get are:

• Anti-malarial tablets
• Travel Insurance
• A years supply of Immodium

So, everything is slowly getting together. I must sort out my life a bit better, get my Christmas thank you letters written, that have been sat here screaming to be written for the last 2 months, make sure I see everyone before I leave and figure out what to do with my car. Does anyone want a great little green VW Golf?

SAM

A little history lesson...

I'm not sure what started it all. As a hyperactive kid, my parents used to send me up to my room and made me find out the capital cities of lots of countries in the world. Then I would also look at their flags as well. Some were colourful, some were boring, some represented something that I would never quite understand what they meant. Out of all of these, one stood out. Not because of the symbolism, the colour, but the shape. It was 2 red right-angled triangles sitting on top of each other. All the other countries flags fitted nicely into the tessellated boxes of rectangles, but this one stuck out. It was the nepali flag.

Now, there are 2 things you must know about me and kebab shops:

1. I normally only frequent them when I am inebriated
   
2. I always am incredibly sick after eating something there

I was in Southampton sat with 2 friends from uni having an incredibly healthy lunch of kebab shop food. No alcohol had passed my lips for at least 12 hours. This was uncharted territory for me. As the conversation stalled to an embarrassed silence, I decided to inform them of my holiday plans - Sri Lanka for Christmas, alone and rested. I got a sly look from Bidur. "You know, Sam-man, I was going to go home and get married." Now this, I knew, wouldn't be an ordinary wedding. Bidur was from Nepal, and his parents were arranging him a marriage. The last time he went home between finals and graduation he hadn't had time to get married. "Do you want to come?"

That night I was bent double over the toilet emptying my stomach of the kebab shop burger and chips, but contemplating what one buys for Nepalis at Christmas...

That was Christmas 2005, and I've returned 2 times since. I've eaten so much curry with my hands that they've turned green, trekked through the most incredible countryside, watched the sun rise from behind the Himalaya, drank countless cups of sweet nepali tea, talked to people who don't speak a word of any language I can understand and caught more stomach bugs than I care to remember.

And I just love the place. The people are beautiful and amazing, their resilience in a very politically unstable and geographically disadvantaged country is beyond belief. I decided after my second trip that I would return for a year.

So now, I'm off - 6th of April is d-day. And I can't wait!

SAM