a trip

It must be almost nine months ago now that I sat in my parents house, faffing around on the internet on a drizzly afternoon, when I stumbled upon something that I almost didn't follow up. But I filled in the forms, sent back the application and the references (at the very last minute). I even went to an interview, but four months of job hunting had taught me not expect much from those.

So when I got a call, on a similarly dank afternoon in August, and the woman on the end of the line was telling me I'd been accepted to Platform2, that they were sending me to volunteer in a developing country for 10 weeks, I was honestly so shocked I sat down on the floor and could not speak. I don't even remember if I thanked her.

In less than one week I will be flying to Kenya to volunteer at a forest conservation project thanks to this scheme. Platform2 is run by Dfid, Christian Aid and Bunac, and gives young people like me the opportunity to visit a developing country and learn about global issues first hand. Despite all my research and reading, I still can't conjure a satisfactory image of what its going to be like, thats why I can't wait to get there, so it will finally feel real.

minimalist cake

Very beautiful images from the new IKEA cookbook that has no words in it. Probably not very useful for making a cake though.