Marching on

I have now been in Vietnam for six months to the day and I am starting to count the days until I go home in three months' time. Until then there is a lot of work to do. I have set myself a very ambitious work schedule for March- not because I think it is realistic, but because the targets I have set are the minimum amount of work I can do to stay on track at this point. I wish I had got stuck into my project work sooner in my time here, but that can't be helped now. I realise that I certainly won't have everything finished before I leave the country, but I should have done before August, when I will be holding my presentation evening in Leeds.

I have set myself the biggest challenge I have ever faced and it is easy to feel over-whelmed and under-confident. Nonetheless I have something to look forward to in a visit from my mum at the end of the month. She will be staying for just under two weeks, in which time we will travel to Halong Bay, Hanoi and Luang Prabang in northern Laos. She arrives on the 28th March. For the rest of the month I will continue with my art classes at the Anh Linh school on Tuesdays and Fridays, as well as three classes of Zumba each week for recreation. The rest of my time will be work, work, work.

I felt quite low this weekend as I often do if I have no plans and am stuck inside battling through my project work. It's at these times that I think about my friends and family back home and what I'd be doing if I was with them. I suppose that the price to pay of having no fixed occupation during the week- and therefore plenty of freedom- is that the weekends don't feel much different from any other day.

I am feeling more positive today. It is a new week and a chance to do myself proud by getting plenty done. I hope I can rise to the challenge.