Life Update: World Challenge, Oral Exams, and Project 21 - Lifestyle Monday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
Long time no see! I hope you're having a great Valentine's Day, however you're spending it!
Today I wanted to give you guys a little lite update because I think a lot of things have happened and I need to inform you guys all about it.
The first rather big news is that my World Challenge trip to Northern Tanzania will not be in Northern Tanzania anymore, it will actually be in Morocco. This is because apparently, according to World Challenge (the trip organiser), Tanzania is a bit behind on the vaccine roll out and they don't believe that the situation will change in the space of 5 months so they decided to relocate us as a group to another country that is making more progress with regards to Covid. I knew that either full cancellation or relocation of the trip due to Covid was a possibility because I was informed of this at the start of the year. However, I thought that the world was kind of coming out of the thicket of Covid, even some of the poorest countries in Africa. I was therfore a bit confused why we were relocated. I told my parents what had happened to the trip and my dad believes that the organisation lost a contract somewhere and the Covid situation was just an excuse to get out of it. At first I was thinking that Morocco wasn't a bad alternative for me because it has some French speakers because of its colonial past and it has beautiful natural scenery and great food. However, I soon realised that although it's a great country that I would like to one day visit, Morocco isn't, as my mum said, made of the same expedition material as Northern Tanzania. It doesn't have African elephants or the Maasai tribe, and I would see it more as a holiday destination more than an expedition that I spent nearly two years fundraising for. I was talking to some of my friends who were doing World Challenge too and they said the same thing - "Morocco is great but it's not Tanzania." Furthermore, you do have to be a bit more prudent whilst travelling around Morocco because although the vast majority of the Moroccans are lovely, genuine people, there are areas in Morocco that are safer to travel in than others. I attended a Zoom meeting that explained the itinerary for Morocco and out of the 14 days that we would be there, the two stand out things that they were offering us were helping out at a school and trekking up the Atlas Mountains. The rest of the time would be spent just walking around small towns. The trip would be £700 cheaper because it is much closer to home than Tanzania but I would still have to pay around £2,400 to go. Something is telling me that with the organisation, its not quite worth the money. My mum has been to Marrakech before when she was pregnant with my sister and she said it was absolutely beautiful so one day I would like to go to Morocco. However, I don't think I will be doing it with the school this year, which is very unfortunate. Luckily, if we decide not to go, we can get a full refund for the trip so I can use my hard-earned money for something better, which is a positive.
The next news is that I have just 3 months left of school which is equally nerve-wracking as it is exciting. It is exciting because it means that soon I will be free of this incredibly difficult and incredibly demanding IB course. However, it is also nerve-wracking because it means oral exams! It is the February half term and I'm already rehearsing my English oral exam, which I will be delivering to my English teachers next week on Thursday. My speech lasts 10 minutes which feels like a long time because of all the information that I have to try and remember. However, in reality it's absolutely nothing considering how much I have the potential to say. Alice has been kindly sitting down and listening to me speak and rehearse my speech but it's just a little bit stressful. It also doesn't help that a girl in my class had a small panic attack during the lesson about her English oral exam. I think everyone in the class understood how she felt but I'm going to try and not let myself get to that stage because it's not worth it. Yes it is stressful but the outcome will be the outcome. I will just have to try my best to do well. I also have my Japanese speaking exam on the 1st of March, my mum's birthday, which is pretty stressful as well. However, I have been practicing in class and outside of lessons so I can only try my best. If I can get myself through these oral exams then there is not much left to do other than the normal exams. There will be no coursework, no oral exams, no mock exams, just the real thing so let's get it done so I don't ever have to come back to it!
Finally, just a quick update on the Project 21 situation. My dad sent the letter to my manager and the committee but there was no response which to me says a lot. My dad said he would be happy to make a £22 donation to the charity if they were willing to get it in person but clearly they were too cowardly to even do that. Clearly this charity has very little regard for the welfare of the members of staff that help them so dearly and it is truly unfortunate. For them to call themselves a charity whilst they exploit people is unacceptable and just such a low move. However, Cambridge University calls itself a charity whilst the CEOs make millions off of people's hard-earned money so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised now. 🤣 Anyway, it is time to move on, I'm in a much better place now without Project 21. On Saturday, I helped out at the Cambridge Chocolate Festival and earned some money so I was pretty chuffed.
How have you been recently? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
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