Today is the day. The end point of my countdowns. The only thing I have to do now is actually go to Namibia, be a teacher and somehow survive a year away from home. When I put it like that it sounds pretty easy!!
I have said goodbye to all my friends and family and my bags are packed. Yesterday I went to the vets to weigh my bags as I was paranoid they would be overweight and I'm not sophisticated enough to own a bag weigher! My main bag was 28kg and my hand luggage was 7.8kg (only allowed 7kg) with not everything in it. The painful discarding process began (I am now bereft of a tube of toothpaste, some shower gel, a pair of shoes and some sour apples - it was painful!) and hopefully today my bags will be under the limit otherwise I have no idea what I will get rid of.
I am now ready to head for Heathrow where I will meet Chelcie and the rest of the Namibia crew, hopefully no one will have grown an extra head in the last month or so and they will be just as lovely as remembered. I have 500g of sour apples packed (thank you Matilda), lots of books on my kindle (thank you Cluny), 18 sachets of hot chocolate and most importantly my blanket. Some people believe that by the age of 18 I should have out grown the use of my baby blanket, however, I haven't seen it as necessary although I am slightly worried as I was told not to take anything white with me as it would turn orange....I bet you can guess what colour my blanket is!
I suddenly feel very patriotic as if I am representing my country which I suppose I am. On the outside of my rucksack I have the St George flag and underneath the Namibian flag. My home country and the country of my new home. Massive thank you to Mummy for that as apparently they were quite difficult to sew on.
It is widely known that I am a massive foody so it probably doesn't come as much of a surprise that I looked up the menu for my flight to Dubai as it is the last official supper I will have in England, it couldn't tell me the exact food I would be eating although it presented me with a possible menu which looked satisfactory although I doubt I will be eating grated carrot and sticky toffee pudding! I have also done my research and have discovered that I will be able to watch the Kings Speech which everyone has been going on about and I have yet to see although I feel at the time I might be more tempted by the children's selection such as Finding Nemo!
Okay Miss Anghard Marment requested a shout out yesterday when she came to visit and gave me a beautiful bracelet to start my gap year collection, so here it is! I love you lots and I will miss you! I also need to mention the most amazing present from Emma Cheshire - my communication turtle. Emma gave me a turtle called Spud and she has a matching one called Sporkle. Over the year I will talk to Spud and she will talk to Sporkle and we will be able to communicate. Spud will also feature in many photographs so if you see a little turtle hanging around that will be Spud!
Okay so I need to leave now, thank you once again to everyone who has helped me in any way possible to get this far I really, really appreciate it. Please remember to write to me and update me on your lives. If you see any of my family or if my family see my friends give them a big, big hug from me.
See you in a years time
lots and lots and lots of love
Ottilie xxxxx
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Saturday, 20 August 2011
10 days left....
Hello!
So, I am almost down to single digit numbers within the countdown...so scary yet exciting!
3 shopping trips later and I have now pretty much bought everything that I will need to take with me and somehow I now only need to manage to fit it all into my suitcase and make sure it weighs under 30kg. Shopping was fun....but testing at the same time! My first "issue" occurred when trying to buy a 70 litre rucksack and the very kind man who was helping us only wanted to sell me a 65 litre rucksack which also happened to be hot pink. Although he assured me that a 5 litre difference was nothing, I assured him that 5 litres was a lot when going away for a year and needing to take teaching implements with me! I also tried to persuade him that I was not a hot pink sort of girl although Mummy said I shouldn't be so vain! We quickly moved on and decided to return to the rucksack issue later...
Having stayed a weekend with some Project Trust friends who are off to Guyana, they informed me that buying a 10l hand luggage bag and 70l rucksack was not going to be nearly big enough to fit everything in. Massive sigh of relief as a 70l rucksack really is tiny and I was only following the guidelines! Having returned to the shop I am now the owner of a very smart black 45l rucksack which I will use for travelling and hand luggage and a 100l duffle bag which can be carried as a rucksack to fit everything else in!
My next issue was trying to find suitable skirts....a "suitable skirt" needed to cover my knees and preferably be made of cotton so I don't die of heat. Now most people know that I don't really wear skirts...I am much more a dress person, however, I am petrified of taking the wrong thing so I was determined to take at least 2 skirts as well as dresses to teach in. Easier said then done! I tried on many a skirt but struggled to find a "suitable skirt" which didn't make me look at least 40 years old. Although I am going for the teacher look, I also am only 18!. Eventually I manage to find two flowery skirts which both cover my knees while not making me look ancient!
On my clothes list it told me to stay clear of the colour white as everything is orange in Namibia, white doesn't stay white for very long! I didn't initially see this as a problem until I looked through my wardrobe and noticed that about 70% of my tops are white! White pretty tops would haunt me in the shops, begging to be bought but luckily my Mothers will power was stronger than mine and my wardrobe for Namibia has remained white free.
I am now fully equipped to be a teacher: I have post it notes, felt tips, fine liners and perhaps most importantly CGP Maths and English Key Stage 1 and 2 books! I also have a script for my Nativity play and I have chosen the Wizard of Oz to be my full scale production. Having bought most of Waterstones the children should be ready to learn lots of Disney songs in their Music lessons! I also need to brush up my piano skills in the next few days....
So now that I have everything I need (including over 1000 stickers!) these last couple of days are going to be for saying goodbye to the last special people, spending time with family and finishing sorting out my teaching ideas. I have also made a "must eat before I go plan" which includes sticky toffee pudding and grated carrot - my all time favourite foods - and now I only need to eat them!
Feel free to add a suggestion if you think I might have forgotten to buy some vital thing which I shouldn't live without - don't worry I already have a magic flint which claims to light fires for me!
I hope you are all well and happy
Love from Ottilie xx
So, I am almost down to single digit numbers within the countdown...so scary yet exciting!
3 shopping trips later and I have now pretty much bought everything that I will need to take with me and somehow I now only need to manage to fit it all into my suitcase and make sure it weighs under 30kg. Shopping was fun....but testing at the same time! My first "issue" occurred when trying to buy a 70 litre rucksack and the very kind man who was helping us only wanted to sell me a 65 litre rucksack which also happened to be hot pink. Although he assured me that a 5 litre difference was nothing, I assured him that 5 litres was a lot when going away for a year and needing to take teaching implements with me! I also tried to persuade him that I was not a hot pink sort of girl although Mummy said I shouldn't be so vain! We quickly moved on and decided to return to the rucksack issue later...
Having stayed a weekend with some Project Trust friends who are off to Guyana, they informed me that buying a 10l hand luggage bag and 70l rucksack was not going to be nearly big enough to fit everything in. Massive sigh of relief as a 70l rucksack really is tiny and I was only following the guidelines! Having returned to the shop I am now the owner of a very smart black 45l rucksack which I will use for travelling and hand luggage and a 100l duffle bag which can be carried as a rucksack to fit everything else in!
My next issue was trying to find suitable skirts....a "suitable skirt" needed to cover my knees and preferably be made of cotton so I don't die of heat. Now most people know that I don't really wear skirts...I am much more a dress person, however, I am petrified of taking the wrong thing so I was determined to take at least 2 skirts as well as dresses to teach in. Easier said then done! I tried on many a skirt but struggled to find a "suitable skirt" which didn't make me look at least 40 years old. Although I am going for the teacher look, I also am only 18!. Eventually I manage to find two flowery skirts which both cover my knees while not making me look ancient!
On my clothes list it told me to stay clear of the colour white as everything is orange in Namibia, white doesn't stay white for very long! I didn't initially see this as a problem until I looked through my wardrobe and noticed that about 70% of my tops are white! White pretty tops would haunt me in the shops, begging to be bought but luckily my Mothers will power was stronger than mine and my wardrobe for Namibia has remained white free.
I am now fully equipped to be a teacher: I have post it notes, felt tips, fine liners and perhaps most importantly CGP Maths and English Key Stage 1 and 2 books! I also have a script for my Nativity play and I have chosen the Wizard of Oz to be my full scale production. Having bought most of Waterstones the children should be ready to learn lots of Disney songs in their Music lessons! I also need to brush up my piano skills in the next few days....
So now that I have everything I need (including over 1000 stickers!) these last couple of days are going to be for saying goodbye to the last special people, spending time with family and finishing sorting out my teaching ideas. I have also made a "must eat before I go plan" which includes sticky toffee pudding and grated carrot - my all time favourite foods - and now I only need to eat them!
Feel free to add a suggestion if you think I might have forgotten to buy some vital thing which I shouldn't live without - don't worry I already have a magic flint which claims to light fires for me!
I hope you are all well and happy
Love from Ottilie xx
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