My Brief Introductions.

Greetings pals!

I am afraid that I must begin my second entry with a solemn confession. The following arrangement of words has been prepared weeks in advance, before my introductory post even! For this I apologise but the reason for it is simple and, I believe, more than enough justification. The post itself concerns a meeting I attended on the 9th of December, during which I met some of my fellow travellers and learnt a great deal about my trip next week. I did not want to post it straight away because then I would run out of interesting tales and nuggets of information a long time before I had embarked on my actual trip and the real entries could commence. Nonetheless, I offer my sincerest apologies and I hope that you can all forgive me for withholding this information for so long.

Now that such formalities have been dealt with, we can begin proper. Following this sentence you will find the aforementioned writings on that fateful day....

"After an evening void of sleep (a decidedly foolhardy decision) I arrive in London and Westminster with some time to spare before the meeting. A quick drink and boost bar later I'm sat in the reception area of the Oasis centre. Whilst in this surprising drab of environments, I happened across a few people who were travelling to both India (my personal destination) and Peru, with others turning up looking forward to excursions to stations in Kenya, South Africa, Nepal and Ghana. When conversing with my future companions, I was shocked to find that a fair few had not chosen India as their first choice when applying for the scheme! Luckily I have a plan to correct their delusions. A forced viewing of The Darjeeling Limited with surely change their minds. And if that doesn't work, a trip to India itself will most definitely bring them around.
Eager to make a good impression, I now fear that my desperate search for interesting conversation topics may have done little but exhibit my boring side. Fortunately though, everyone there seemed extremely pleasant and did not hold this against me once my anxiety had settled. Unfortunately, however, I may have uncovered an adversary for the position of know-it-all/smartarse within the group. Not naming any names (I have forgotten them) there was someone there who not only seemed to enjoy displaying his knowledge but also seemed to have enough facts stored to share many with ease, something I struggle with at times. This concerned me somewhat, yet a small disagreement over types of aid seemed to leave me in pole position for now... Good news for both myself and India is that my prediction of a few weeks ago that those volunteering would most likely be of a kind and likeable nature is well founded, absolutely everyone was delightful.
As a result of the meeting, I have been instructed to write a blog (something you should all be thankful for) and I will also be tasked with preparing an article focusing on human rights in the region. This is a topic I feel very strongly about and I will appreciate a chance to investigate such things whilst I am out there. I was thinking of maybe conducting interviews of local people as a basis for my piece, using the European Convention of Human Rights as a means of comparing the experiences of people in both India and my own country. 
Thanks largely to my sleep deprived state the meeting did seem like a long one but I have forgiven those responsible for keeping me awake after receiving a lot of essential and useful information (one of the most exciting pieces of information is that 'Namaste' means hello in India, so I may not be able to watch the beginning of the new series of Lost, but at least I'll feel like I'm in it a bit). Of course, a trip to the pub afterwards that ended well in to the night would seem to disqualify me from making any real complaints about being tired.
Finally, I would like to thank Platform2 for this opportunity (I promise to make the most of it), it's employees for running the meeting, my Father for facilitating my travel to London and Nicholas Muddle and his parents for allowing me to stay in their lovely St. Albans house and for not mentioning anything about the hours I awoke (although I may have to concede the tramp comment made)."

And with that we come to the of not only my recollection, but also this entry as a whole. I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as the last one. There should be one more short entry before I depart then you can expect real deal as I report of events from India. As always, I anticipate your return and wish you all the best.

Cheerio.

A 'Brief' Introduction.

Salutations comrades!
Welcome to my recollection of tales from across the globe... more specifically India and marvel at my attempts to relay to you, my followers, stories of wonder and charity as I work for the Department for International Development under their Platform2 scheme. With my foremost post I shall ease you all in with a simple explanation of where, what, how and why I am doing what I will be doing come January the 5th.

According to my sources (some emails) I shall be in Jaipur and Dabla during my time away and these can be found in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
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 Wikipedia tells me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajasthan)  that the area is predominantly desert-y and so I can expect lots of sand. While sand is not my greatest friend (I have what some people would call an unusual aversion to beaches and the seaside in general) I hope that we can use this time to become better acquainted with each other and our feelings for each other will surely warm.

What I shall be doing is currently half clouded in mystery at this present time. As of the 23rd of December 2009 I know that I will be teaching every morning during the week. Maths and English are what I shall  be teaching to young children. "Teaching?!" I hear you cry, "In a foreign country?! Where you know not the words they speak?!". Fret not, as I have done, about these trivial details as I am sure such problems will have been thought of already and will cease to be quandaries. Either by someone else teaching these children how to speak English fluently or having a translator (I could try and get by just by saying 'Namaste' a lot, thanks Lost!). Other than that, I am not aware of what my evening activities will be, nor those at the weekend but there is not one doubt in my mind about the fact I shall be fully occupied from morning through to sleeps.

How will I be doing all this? I have no money nor the means to travel to India through my own invention as I could not build my galleon on time. Another predicament expertly handled by our gloriously competent government as they will be paying all my expenses and even giving me an allowance whilst I am there. It will be by plane that I arrive and by plane that I shall leave. As for how I will transport myself around the country, I assume that camels and elephants will be in abundant supply and more than happy to bare my weight upon their magnificent shoulders. How long is a question I can only answer by saying two and a half months, quite simply I shall return on the 16th of March, to scenes of incredible rapture and joy, of course.

And now we come to my final point. Why. Surely this is obvious to even the most casual observer of my activities. I wish to help people. Nothing would delight me more than to put a smile on the face of every inhabitant of India, large or small. The fact that the experience will make for good reading on future copies of my curriculum vitae and provide tremendous amounts of fun and excitement for me is just happy coincidence, and one that should not be examined too closely. It would be better for us all if we consider me just another altruistic individual whose only aim in life is to make others happy because, in reality, I am wonderful.

With that I bid you farewell. Apologies for the length of this first post, especially for those of you who know these details already and I commend all of you who have stuck with it till the end. I sincerely hope that you pay me another visit soon.

Toodles.