Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

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38 days til I leave IBM...

SO...I woke up at five AM this morning with a strange tummy ache - similar to the empty pain you get when you need to eat, but a cup of tea and a banana didn't help. Reading another chapter of 'Wild Swans' and downing a paracetamol didn't help either, so I just lay in bed for an hour watching the sun come up. It was only once I got to work that I realised the sickness in my stomach must be nerves...

I know I have a lot on my mind and that there is a lot to do before I move half way across the world, but it’s not like I’ve never lived abroad before. This trip to Taiwan should be easier to cope with than my time in South Korea since I have my best friend in tow, but my brain doesn’t seem to be communicating this information to my body. “Great.” I'm having a physiological reaction to something about which I didn't think I was nervous.

It’s not like I haven’t received a job offer or that there is anything to tie me to the UK (well, apart from the imminent arrival of a new niece or nephew), but perhaps it’s the sudden realisation that I only have thirty eight days left until I leave IBM that’s got my stomach churning.

There’s so much to think about and very little time in which to do it: shopping (the most pressing item being to purchase a suitcase big enough to fit everything I want to take with me), packing my belongings and finding a place to store them (good old mum and dad...), handing over my jobs (yes I do have more than one, sadly it’s a sign of the times), paying off bills, cancelling subscriptions and direct debits, arranging a visa, notifying the inland revenue, re-directing my mail, saying goodbye to friends and family (who are starting to sound all too envious of my plans), purchasing a flight and, since I don’t want to lug approximately four hundred CDs to Asia - spending a month (sigh) downloading tunes onto my recently acquired 30GB “all-singing all-dancing” Ipod! It arrives in 4 days (I got a fantastic deal buying it online) and I can’t wait to play with my new toy...

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Comments

[Chris Houchen]

Well done Beth
Will you be posting a daily/weekly diary? It'd be fascinating, including, of course, all the emotional and philosophical stuff that goes with it. I'd be an avid follower. Chris