Correction: Three Weeks Left!

Well, I guess I've already contradicted myself in my blog. A couple days after my first-ever blog post, I received an email saying that I will probably be delayed two weeks, which was confirmed the next day. I will now be leaving San Diego on March 13and arriving in New Delhi on March 15.

A little more detail: CUSO-VSO is the Canadian/North American arm of the larger VSO Federation. VSO sends volunteers from other countries such as the UK, Ireland, the Philippines, Australia, and others to more than 40 countries to volunteer. About 10-15 volunteers arrive in country to volunteer 3-4 times a year. Then the volunteers attend in-country orientation together before going to their individual volunteer placements.

The initial arrival date for volunteers going to India was March 3, but many volunteers (including myself) ran into some delays while trying to get visas (although I did finally get mine two days ago.) Enough volunteers were delayed that the program office in India decided to push back the arrival date to March 15. It doesn't really make sense to start orientation when half the volunteers would miss the first part and would trickle in halfway through orientation. So now I have an extra two weeks in Kansas!

One Week Left!

Hello all! Welcome to my attempt to keep a blog for my year-long experience in Mumbai. I'm not all that great at writing all my innermost thoughts and daily happenings onto blog form, but I'm hoping to get better! What makes it worse (or better) is that I generally don't read blogs (other than HuffPo) so this is going to have my own twist on what a travel blog looks like.

Right now I am in Kansas, wrapping up my last couple days with CalPERS and Robert (and Kanye), then heading off to San Diego where I will pack my one suitcase for a year in India. I leave San Diego March 1, and arrive in New Delhi on March 3. I'll spend a month there for in-country orientation, learning Hindi and learning to try to live like an Indian. From there I'll be spending the remaining 11 months in Mumbai.

In Mumbai I will be working as a Volunteer Management Associate with an organization that seeks to empower the marginalized population by becoming more politically active and economically secure. Their focus is working with the younger generation to become more knowledgeable and aware. I will be managing 2500 volunteers, mainly in the projects (slums) and the rural areas surrounding Mumbai.

Mumbai is the largest, most populous city in India, the second most populous in the world. It's home to Bollywood and has a relatively high standard of living as the commercial capital of one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The Bollywood celebrities and wealthy live in Mumbai, it's the Hollywood and New York of the US in one city. On the flip side, Mumbai has the largest slum in India, the second-largest in Asia with over 800,000 people. 42% of the 21 million people in Mumbai live in slums. If anything it will definitely be eye-opening.

I'm hoping to post lots of pictures and try to convey the truly unique experience of living in India on about $7 a day!

Kansas:

to Mumbai: