5:30 AM Call To London

I woke up at 5:15 this morning to make a call to London to speak to someone in the OasisUK office. This proved to be a very productive thing to do. Good things came out of this... also very scary things came out of this.

I am trying to decide if I want to start with the good things or the scary things. I guess that we have to swim through the scary to get to the good.



First of all... I don't have to raise $12,000 before I leave. I have to raise $30,000 over the time that I am in the program. (Yes, I threw up a little bit when I was told this.) Luckily, it's not all up front. This is the amount that I am expected to raise during an 18-month assignment, through fundraising and support from home.



Second... This extremely painful amount of money will cover every expense that I can possibly think of from rent, to flights to and from the States, to medical care, to groceries, to galoshes for monsoon season.



Third... $30,000 breaks down to less than $1,700.00 monthly. Which is about what I live on now. However, this will include travel expenses and other necessities. (I keep trying to justify this in my head.)



Fourth... The two year program is not an option because I am an American. This annoyed me, but I can always renew my contract for a longer stay.



Fifth... I will be living with at least one other person, which is good so that I don't get lonely. Also, there is a huge spiritual support system in place for every volunteer assigned. I can check this worry off of my list.



Sixth... I don't have to stress myself out over learning Hindi. The costs that I am to endure will cover language lessons. However, I want to learn as much as I can now, so that I have the option of cutting that cost later on.



Seventh... I automatically cut several hundred dollars from my costs because I will be able to get vaccinations here in the States before I leave.



Some good things coming out of all of this. I have been offered a free place to stay when my lease is up. I was not expecting this and wanted to pay rent, but was told that would defeat the purpose of my moving in. So yeah, good stuff there.



Worries:
1) I need to get rid of my car, the payments are going to slow my savings down. I have a neighbor who may be interested in buying it from me, and he has a car that I could get for virtually nothing... this would be a good thing.


2) I have been having some health issues, and need to see a doctor. There is a good chance that I need to have my Gall Bladder removed. More on this later.