It must be real!

So, it's really happening. I booked my flights for India tonight. And suddenly it seems real. I must really be leaving my job in under four weeks. Otherwise, why would I now be the future occupant of seat 19 on a flight to Delhi on 15 January?

I've also now arranged my first volunteer placement, which will be in either Delhi or Jaipur. I'm starting with just a three-week stint, to test the waters, including a few days of cultural immersion and language learning. I'll be assigned to an as-yet unknown project that's helping women build a sustainable income. I'll hopefully be able to do something to assist (or at least not hinder) for half the day, and then teach English to disadvantaged children for the other half. (You could argue that they won't be any less disadvantaged after learning English from a Northern Irish person... in fact, my very middle English boyfriend stares at me incredulously when I mention having taught English in France for a year while a student.)

At any rate, I'm under no illusions about who will gain the most from this short stint of volunteering; it will undoubtedly be me. If all goes well with the placement organisers, I'll use them again to arrange some longer placements later in other countries they operate in.

I'll arrive in Delhi ten days or so before I'm due to start the cultural and language programme, and the day I get there I'm hoping to board a train bound for the hills - to Shimla, to be exact. And after a few days' chilling out at this colonial hill station, I'll make my way on to Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama, and from where I'm hoping to have a few good leg stretches into the hills. What better introduction to India? And then back to the bustle of Delhi...

Now, I wonder has my furniture caught anybody's eye yet on Gumtree...