Blog

One of the comments to my last entry said: “Billi, you are a master of making lemonade when life hands you lemons.” This was a note from Beth, who has followed my website since I climbed Mount Everest last year and it referred to me changing my plans from working for the UN in the summer to attempting Gasherbrum 2, the 13^th highest mountain in the world, situated in the Karakorum.

Well, I had to hand the lemons back as I had to change my plans again, and rather than going to climb a mountain I have now got another job with the UN in Pakistan, which will keep me in Islamabad until the end of December 2010. It is a great opportunity, which I could not reject and even though my heart is bleeding that I cannot go to Gasherbrum 2 this season, mountains do not move and I hope to be going there in summer 2011.

Sometimes things just do not pan out the way you are planning them and for me life is like a train journey. You buy a ticket for a destination but sometimes the train stops at a place that you really like and you just get off. However, it does not mean that you will not get to your final destination – it might just take a bit longer.

The good news is that I will still be able to go to Manaslu in September as this was one of my conditions for taking the job. I was surprised – and pleased – to see that the parties involved accepted my request. So at the end of the day, I have the best of both worlds – I have a job for six months and I get to climb Manaslu in September!

MORE CORE

Another advantage of me staying in Islamabad is that I will be doing more CORE classes with Ale and I am just about to start teaching classes with her. It is something I really enjoy and I am keen to get more people involved, and staying here gives me the opportunity to work on that.

Coming back to Islamabad was actually a very pleasant experience as I received such a warm welcome, which made me feel very humble and grateful for having met such wonderful people here. Even the guard at my house flung his arms around me when I arrived from the airport, shouting: “Madam, you are back!” (Yes, they always call you madam here – if you are lucky that is, as sometimes they call me ‘Sir’.)

Pakistan is a country with wonderful and kind people. When I went for my first run on Saturday morning (it was about 38 degrees at 6.30am!!), the police officers at the checkpoint waved at me, saying: “Nice to see you again”. And even though it is sometimes not easy to live here as a woman, the warmth and kindness of most of the people here is just amazing and I had a good feeling to come back to this crazy place.

So, every moon has its silver lining and even though I will not get to see the Baltoro Glacier, Concordia or even reach the top of Gasherbrum 2 this summer, I am hoping to learn a lot more about this country and its beautiful people in the next six months. I will keep you posted.