T minus 3 weeks

I'm slowly coming to the realisation that I'm actually going in three weeks. It may sound slightly stupid and naive, but I don't think it has actually hit me before. And what does going actually mean for me?

Well, I won't be working for a whole year. One whole year not having to wake up and go to my office. One whole year without having to count how many hours I do to each project and then by the time Friday comes have forgotten and make it up in my timesheet. One whole year with no income at all.

It will be a whole year seeing my family and friends. A whole year without being able to make a phone call when I'm happy, sad, bored, need something and having someone who pretends they care on the end of the phone.

A whole year of eating lentil soup, rice and curried vegetables (daal, bhaat, tarkaari) twice a day with my hands, which will gradually turn green. No stopping at the pizza shop or chippy on the way home if I can't be bothered to cook. Still having to eat curry when my stomach is playing up and things are pouring out both ends. And no beef for a whole year - you get life imprisonment for killing a cow in Nepal, but only 12 years for killing a human being.

It'll be a year of not quite understanding everything that's said to me, and knowing that most of what I say won't be understood. A year of being stared at because I'm different. A year of power cuts or no electricity at all. A year of long and dangerous bus rides. A year of Hindi songs and Bollywood movies. A year of BBC World Service. A year of being moly-coddled. A year of frustration.

However, I'm going to be living with an amazing people for a year, who invite you into their home on a whim just because you're passing and force a cup of sweet tea into you. I'll be there during a period of change for country, post-election Nepal is going to be a interesting time. I'll be working with people that have very little, but are still satisfied with everything they have, and in a way have far more than I could ever have. I'll be living in a country that has some of the most stunning and varied scenery in the world, from jagged mountains to malarial jungles to fertile plains. I'll have the opportunity to learn about the world, about what is actually important in life and how I can cope with it all.

I'm still scared. But I'm becoming excited as well.

SAM

p.s. Does anyone want a most amazing little green golf? Jilly is feeling unloved now...