American Woman!

It's so nice to be really, really excited about a job again. I've been settling into my new team over the past week or so, and I'm really enjoying having a new project to get to work on and start generating ideas around. It's quite a busy schedule and so far I've been to 3 different states; 2 for work, one for play - was at the beach in Florida this weekend! There's so much going on and so many new people to meet, have gone from meeting students to other NGOs to professors, and everyone else in between! Yesterday I went to a birthday lunch with some Southern belles who support Global L.E.A.D, and who thoroughly inducted me into Southern culture! My host family have been amazingly welcoming, and I feel settled in here already, which is really nice.

I'm still getting used to how much space there is, and how much driving there is - I have been to more varieties of drive through in the last week than I ever imagined existed. Naively I assumed driving through was limited to fast food, but you can do drive through banking and oil changes here, as well as food, ice cream, conveniences, and coffee.

I've even heard it whispered that one can get drive-through daiquiris in Louisiana. Naturally I'll be working tirelessly to either confirm or deny these rumours at the earliest possible opportunity - watch this space!

New Home

I'm about to start my second day in my brand new home in Atlanta, Georgia. Today's the first day of work, and I couldn't be happier. I'm really happy to be able to stay somewhere for a decent stretch of time, and I'm incredibly fortunate to get to do it here - I've spent the weekend settling in and getting to know my host family, and they're amazingly warm and welcoming. There's an incredibly strong sense of community here, and I can't wait for work to start, and the next 5 months!

Enjoying family, friends, festival and CATNAPPING!

Waiting

It's now the last of the last days, and I'm in Bangkok waiting for a flight in about 6 hours which will take me back to London. Reading books and listening to Florence & The Machine on Youtube. In a way I've been waiting to come home for the past month - travelling is amazing, and I've loved the time I've spent here, but it's not so thought consuming as trying to forge a life for yourself elsewhere. I cannot wait to see my friends and family. I even missed the cats (especially Garfield Wannabe, but The Noisy One too - I expect that'll last all of about 30 seconds once I'm actually home). Looking forward to the next month of family, friends visiting, the Edinburgh festival and finally preparing to go to the US!

The sun has got his hat on....finally

Ahem. Forgot to mention that my last post title was an allusion to the very grey weather that has been hanging around Koh Tao for as long as I've been here, but no more! Just in time for my last scuba dive this morning there was a beautiful sunny day that makes a day on a boat absolutely gorgeous. Tomorrow morning I am heading back to Bangkok, where I will spend 24 hours trying desperately to make all of my stuff fit into my backpack for the plane (suspect will end up wearing several layers of clothing for the flight) then I am flying back to London - wooohooooo!!!

Sand, sea and...?

No news recently, as I've been having a marvellous time diving every day, and have also tried my hand at freediving, which is training to dive on one breath. You can get to around 20 metres with a bit of practice, and the really good guys can get to around 80.

Scuba is a dream - an underwater world that you float slowly through. Letting things capture your attention then drift away, interacting with a world that's not your own. Freediving is a little more intense, and takes it out of me both mentally and physically, but I'm glad I tried it. It's all about pushing a limit - breathing carefully, preparing yourself mentally then diving into the blue and feeling the water press down on you. Feeling like your breath won't last then pulling yourself deeper anyway. Realising that you can do it, and relaxing and enjoying the dive. Then the rush as you head to the surface and all the air in your lungs starts to expand, pushing you out of the water faster and faster until you shoot to the surface. I kind of like it. I think.

I'll be back in London in 6 days then home with my nearest and dearest in about 9 - I can't wait, it feels like it's been much longer than it has!

I've been unable to upload photos for quite some time, but I got some scuba photos today as part of a course and have put them up here. A lot of them need to be cropped, but taking them was a lot of fun!