Well,

so the baby boy arrived safely and simply, which means there’s no more messing around for me. I’m leaving on 23rd April.

The drama kicks in when I realise there’s a good chance I’ll have to wait not ten days, as indicated, but 14 WEEKS for the visa to come through. So, looks like I won’t be getting into the States for more than the waiver scheme allows… still, 90 days is better than nothing, and if we time it right, I’ll have a long summer with Brad while he looks for work and I look for entertainment on the streets on New York. On a budget, though. A budget of zero.

After I learned this, I emailed the volunteering organisation and asked if there would be a chance to bring the start date forward, so I wouldn’t be homeless and unemployed in europe for half of the year. That was no problem… so my start date is now

15th September!

This also allows me to save money by not having to support myself without a job over the summer. Those of you who’ve been kind enough to donate already, thank you soooo much! I managed to get a deal on the flights for £560, which is a relief, and the fees for the volunteering are due soon too, to cover bed and board. I’ll also need a budget of about £30 a week for essentials, bottled water etc. Any help is greatly appreciated, as I’m stumping up savings from the sale of my dead grandmother’s house to afford this. My kids will be lucky enough, so I’m spreading a bit for kids who aren’t - who’ve lost parents, whose relatives and carers don’t have enough food for them all, who wouldn’t get education unless it was provided free by volunteers who help build, maintain and run orphanages and day care centres. Wouldn’t you like to help that a little bit, too? And I’m not even asking you to go get sunstroke in Arusha! Go awwwwnnnnnn, click donate

Getting ready to go is hard, as I’m sorting all my belongings into “must keep at Mum’s”, “Can sell at Carboot” and “Must take with me” - but I’m going to have to pack 2 suitcases, one for the 5 weeks before June that I’ll spend floating around, and the other one for the 3 month stay. Should be doable, although ploughing through 15 years worth of CDs is intimidating. It’s sad when you have to part with things like… a Dodgy album that you remember buying after seeing them at a festival, but you never listen to. It’s all gonna go. If you haven’t seen http://clairevolunteering.blogspot.com you should take a toddle & see if there are any DVDs you fancy. The Manics vinyl is still for sale too. Hmm. At the moment I’ve been shedding clothes I really don’t want to grow back into, and preparing for Easter Sunday’s mammoth carboot. Come down to Chiswick Community School for a rummage.

So, there was a little boy born on Saturday morning! Little R is dealing with it well and being very very sweet and curious about him! He is doing lots of sleeping, wriggling and pooping. I spent 33 hours with R while everyone else was at the hospital, and she was pretty cool about that, too, despite denying me a night of sleep and convincing me I’m nowhere near ready for children of my own!

As far as the trip goes, I have applied for the B2 visa which will allow me to stay in the US for 6 months. I had a receipt for the application but I have to call them on a £1.20 a minute phone line to pay the fee, I believe, but things have been so hectic that I haven’t been able to. Perhaps tomorrow or Friday. They say the average wait time for an interview is 4 days and then 6 to process the visa, so I should have time. I’m not happy about it. I’m rather nervous. I just want to know what’s happening.

I need to give notice on my flat this weekend, and finish painting the room so I can rent it out. My contract is September to September, so if I don’t rent it out to someone else, I’m liable for the rent til it’s filled. It’s not the greatest flat, and I moved into it when I was desperate for anything that wouldn’t have bankrupted me to live in. It’s pink at the moment - a very pale pink, but… pink. It might put men off. Hmm. It’s better than the sick hospital yellow that was on before, but I’m hoping that it’ll be OK for whoever moves in to paint it themselves.

After that, it’s… cancel the phone insurance, pack up more of my belongings into keep at mum’s/sell at car boot sale/bring with me to America. I have to have everything packed by Easter, to that end. Trying to decide which instruments to take with me and which to beg/borrow/buy a cheap version of when I get there… is hard.

At least having a weekend to myself for once will be really good. I can do this! I haven’t had chance to do my washing in the past 2 weeks cos it takes so long & Friday I was in a daze and went to get my MacBook fixed… the camera broke.

Anyway.
Hmm.

So…. the baby’s finally on it’s way! All being well that frees me up to apply for the tourist visa that’ll allow me to stay in America for 6 months. Baby R is dealing with the upheaval well right now - I don’t think she’s really noticed that Mummy’s not here. We went to Kensington Gardens for a special treat and fed the ducks… or tried to. Mostly starlings and pigeons… so London! A good run around and a picnic in the fresh air is a good distraction.

I’ve paid up the registration fee for the volunteering. A lot of people have been surprised by my having to pay for volunteering. It’s to cover the costof my room and board - which I’d be paying anyway if I stayed in London. Would you expect to go to a country where people have a lot less than we do, and eat all their food? If it was as easy as going to live rent free in a family’s home and play with a few children, the organisations would probably have a lot more volunteers, but I’m going over there under my own steam, so I will need to raise funds.

You can read more about IVHQ and TVE by clicking on their names in this sentence. The reason I decided to go through IVHQ and not directly to TVE is that a friend of mine had a bad experience with a “charity” she was working for, and had no support outside the country to contact. I’d rather know that if I encountered any problems, I had a second layer of support back in the West that I could go running to.

So far the costs are:

$1500 for Registration and Placement fees (including all my meals, accomodation and transport in country. That’s only USD 500 per month - so I hardly think the organisation are fleecing us!)

$200 My visa and work permit for Tanzania.

Flights will cost about £700

Living expenses are about £30 a week for things like bottled water, girl stuff (no, not makeup!) and so on.

So you can imagine, I’m putting a lot of my savings into this venture, and I’m doing it because I want to go and help children who don’t have the luxuries that we do here. A large number of families have one or both parents lost to AIDS. The community can only do so much for these children and they get food and schooling at the orphanages. Because I’m trained in Childcare and Education, have worked in nurseries and with children at home, I think I’ll be able to work well with the organisations for what they need.
HOWEVER
I need some money! It’s a large cost, so if you could help out it’d be very much appreciated.

You should be able to donate using paypal here.
Thanks.

Hello everyone, it’s been a while.

There are new hoots afoot in Claraland. I’m sure only people I know read this, so there’s little point in filling in the gaps with breakups, jobs and so on, but I will try.

I’ve been working with Baby R since July last year and MumBoss is now due to have Baby 2 on 11th March. I was shocked, and a little intimidated at the thought of working with new borns as it’s not something that had really appealed to me, I like the banter with older children. We discussed it and all being well with the birth, 22nd April will be my last day.

I already had a flight booked on 23rd April to go to New York for 10 days. It leaves first thing in the morning, so I’ll be at the airport less than 12 hours after finishing work - if I’d known I was going for longer than a holiday, I’d've given myself more breathing space! I quite like the idea of just carrying on as normal right up until I go, though. It’ll make it easier in some ways. Once the baby is born and things seem to have definitely settled, I will apply for a B2 visa to allow me to stay in the US for 6 months. At the end of that time, Brad and I assume we’ll know whether we like each other enough to try and find a permanent solution.

After that, I’ll return to the UK for a few weeks before heading off again to Tanzania. I’ve applied for a volunteer placement with International Volunteer HQ and will hear back from them by Wednesday, according to their website. That’s to tell me whether the placement has space available, and how to send them the deposit / registration fee. I know which organisation they use within Tanzania but decided to go through the IVHQ as I would like someone to give me advice if I have any problems or disagreements with the in country staff - I had a friend who volunteered and had a bad experience. SO, from here on I’m trying to raise funds to pay for flights, fees etc by selling stuff here.

Things are up and down besides that. I’m sad to be leaving my job, as Baby R is gorgeous and very bright & she’s just hitting that age where she starts making whole sentences and chattering away. I’ve wanted to travel more for years, though. The reason I chose childcare was to allow me to move around the world, and I’ve been in Shepherds Bush for 4 years. It’s really beginning to feel like I have to just get on and DO something, and well… look, I did. It doesn’t mean I’m not scared. I’m getting no younger - turning 30 a few days after I land in the States - and I feel as though I’m running out of time to fit everything in. Finding my feet after the break up was hard and is an ongoing process, even though it seems like it should be easy when I’ve found a new boyfriend. It’s not. There are “issues” quite besides the fact that we live on different sides of the Atlantic, but at least being in the same country will help us decide what stage we’re at and… so on.

I am aiming to have everything ready by Easter weekend: room packed & painted, visa in progress (it says it takes 10 working days on the US Embassy website, so I’ll apply as soon as possible), Volunteer Placement organised if not paid for in full…. today I bought a huge suitcase from TK Maxx. It’s black and it’s one of those ones as tall as your leg. I’d never take something that size on holiday, even when I went backpacking I got everything I needed into 2 rucksacks - the biggest one weighed 11kg. But I’m not travelling light this time, I’m travelling to stay in one place for 6 months, and so I won’t make do with a quick wash & a ponytail, I’ll hopefully develop something akin to a home life & will need knicknacks. You know. Those things you do actually use but are generally held to be pointless - a moneybox, hair straighteners…. I might just take more than 3 pairs of shoes, too…. and INSTRUMENTS.

I’m going to try and learn how to record my songs properly while I’m unemployed & Brad’s at school or work. I’ve been writing more than I ever have before and some of them I’m quite pleased about. I’m going to mess around with my MacBook once I’ve gotten it working or fixed or what have you, the iSight has stopped working. Blah. But yes. Music, sleeping in, Summer in the City… all that.