Skype...Believe the Hype!

As of this morning the 6 month multiple entry business visa arrived in my passport, looking all official and important. I guess this means that I must be going!

Also in the post this morning were the accessories and assorted gadgetry to get me up and running on 'Skype', which is going to be an awesome way of keeping in touch once I'm in Hanoi. I urge everybody now, right now, to download this amazing programme (and no, I've not been recruited as a Skype salesperson!), cos its just plain awesome. I'll be able to make FREE internet phone calls to everyone back home who has joined the 'skypelution', and very very cheap phone calls too. When you've downloaded skype, be sure to search for me as 'sarahcurson', and lets start skyping!

And as if that isnt enough of an incentive, anyone who does chat to me on Skype will have the pleasure of seeing my pixellated self wearing a clunky, retro, aviator style microphone headset, circa Terry Wogan 1975!

Packing: An exercise in Minimalism

I have still got nearly three months to go but already the bag is open on my bedroom floor and is rapidly filling up with odd stuff to take with me.

I must admit, packing my life up is proving to be a liberating experience, and scarceley have I spent a happier afternoon than filling up black bin-liners with stuff that I no longer wear/use/want but which nevertheless has been hanging around my life for too long. I am really enjoying stripping back to the bare essentials, and cant wait to get on the plane with only those few essential, important items that make up the being that is Me. 'Stuff' equals 'Baggage' in my book, and the fewer things I take with me the better. I'm finding that being that frugal with myself is really helping to clarify whats important to take with me, and the more things I throw out, the clearer they become. They include, amongst others:-

• Laptop - okay, so I grew up in the digital era, and am increasingly becoming melded as one to this little cuboid of technology. But, when I'm in Vietnam, my laptop will be everything. Not only will I have lesson plans and resources on there, but I'll also be updating the blog, skyping, emailing, researching lessons, watching dvds and listening to music too. Gosh, I sound like such a techno-geek dont I. But thats just my generation, so ner :

• Entertainment - At great personal sacrifice, I am leaving all but two paperback books behind, reasoning that books are just too bulky and heavy, and really unnecessary. (those books I am taking, by the way, are purely to read on the plane, given that its going to take the best part of 24hrs to get there!). Instead I am taking a small CD wallet of DVDs to keep me going, and only taking those films that are important to me. Among them are 'The Bucket List', 'Into the Wild' and 'The History Boys'. Anyone who wants to understand me and why I'm going, watch those three films!!

• Clothes - this has probably fallen prey to my biggest and most dramatic attack of minimalism and frugality. Did you know that most people wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time? That 80% unworn portion of my wardrobe has gone straight to the charity shop (which is, incidentally, where most of it came from), and of whats left, I'm still only going to take about half of it!

With the exception of boring stuff like first aid kit and mosquito repellant, thats pretty much it! Like I said, to me, 'stuff' equals 'baggage', and nobody wants that!

tam biet for now,
S xx

Ultimate Adventure

Well its autumn time again, and that can only mean that I must be preparing for a trip. Just cant stand to let the backpack stay stationary and gather dust for too long. Or myself for that matter. Barely let myself unpack and put a load of washing on before I'm applying for visas and dusting off the lonely planet guides again (other travel guides are available).

As the fortune teller at the WOMAD festival said, there is one particular country that is calling me back again and again, and that of course is Vietnam. Each trip brings something new, whether it is teaching English voluntarily or taking a language course. On the most recent trip (february/march 09), it was such a humungous wrench to leave, I had to be dragged off to the airport like peeling a limpet off a rock, or something.

So thats it, its time to be gutsy and make a proper go of the TEFL thing out there. I've given myself 6 months to a year to make it work for real, and I'm in the process of reducing my worldly possessions to the 20kg allowed by Cathay Pacific Airlines (plus laptop as carry-on, thankfully!). I have an initial stint volunteer teaching at the Childrens' Palace in Hanoi, and then who knows? The Ultimate Adventure awaits...