Last week I met my future employer for the first time at an Employers' workshop arranged by VSO as part of the training. Abdoulie Mboge is a Senior Education Officer at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE). I will be working with him on the National Volunteer Teachers project. Mboge and I came up with a plan for what we would do in our first 3 weeks at work which includes a general induction to the offices, the staff and the project. I've not worked for 7 weeks now so, to be honest, I wasn't feeling all that up for going back to work (I know I shouldn't say that) but I got excited when he told me that one of the first major tasks we have to do is to visit all of the current volunteers who have been placed in teaching positions up-country in the Central River Region and the Upper River Region - two of the most deprived regions of the country. This is to monitor how their placements are going and help resolve any issues. It also means of course that I will get to go on another grand adventure because these two regions are the other end of the country. Road trip!

We continued with the language training last week and our teachers took us to visit Bakau and Serrekunda markets so that we could practise our language skills. We were supposed to haggle as toubabs are charged double what the locals are charged but I was a bit overwhelmed by the crowds and the smells and the language and I didn't do too well. I finally plucked up enough courage to ask the price of some flip-flops in wolof and the woman just looked at me weirdly and answered in English, '30 dalasi'. That's about 60p. I didn't haggle I just bought them.

I've now taken a few trips in vans. Vans are the local equivalent of buses. They are actually work vans which have had seats installed in them so they can carry about 20 people. They are usually very shabby and cramped. The driver has an assistant to collect the fares; if there is no room for him to sit he hangs out the side door shouting the destination of the bus. If you want to catch it, you hail it like a taxi and if you want to get off you shout to let them know. If you are Gambian like me you shout 'Waa cee ma fi' or, as you English would say, 'Bring me down here'.

I felt ill for the whole of last week. My body is taking a while to adjust to the climate and to my new lifestyle. I've been trying to look after myself as I knew this would happen - I've not drunk any alcohol since I've been here! However, I had a stinking cold. I felt totally exhausted because we have been so busy and I've not been sleeping well. I've not been eating properly because I've not had time to shop and cook and I don't want to eat out too much. The humidity means that it feels close to 40 degrees and I've been walking around a lot as it's the only exercise I've been able to do. And worst of all, I've been bitten to death by mosquitos. Despite covering up and using repellent I have around 40 insect bites below my left knee and around 20 below my right one. My legs were swollen and felt like they were on fire. The only thing that soothed them was standing in the sea.

The VSO Office were brilliant. The staff took one look at my legs and arranged for me to see a doctor to check I haven't got malaria. It's so common at this time of year. Two of the other volunteers have had it already (neither of them had been taking anti-malarials). One is in hospital at the moment. I've been taking my anti-malarial tablets but you can still get malaria; they just protect you from getting cerebral malaria which is the most dangerous type. Ebou, at the VSO office, called the doctor, wrote me a letter saying I must be looked after immediately with all expenses being charged to VSO and then he took me to the doctors' surgery in a taxi. The blood test showed I didn't have malaria but I was given antibiotics and anti-histamines which helped and then I rested for a few days. My new friends checked up on me often to make sure I was ok. We have already become really close and supportive of each other. The volunteers that are going to be stationed up country are leaving today and we are going to miss them but hopefully we can plan some trips to see them.

I finally started my new job yesterday! I was a bit nervous when I woke up. I travelled to the VSO office so a member of staff could escort us all to our individual places of work. Mine is only around the corner from where I live. I met Mboge again and his boss Bakary Ceesay who I will be reporting to. Bakary was very welcoming and he gave me a little more information about the project and what his vision is. I think they need help to run the National Volunteer Teachers project (NVT) at the moment but they envision that in the future National Volunteering can be extended to support other industries or sectors. In fact they don't think they will need volunteer teachers in a few years as there are many teachers in training at the moment who will graduate soon and fill the gap.

After meeting all the other people who work at the MoBSE offices I was given a desk and a folder of paperwork to read through to try and get a handle on what has happened so far. The desk top computer wasn't working so I couldn't read any of the files on the server. I sat for 3 hours on my own reading the paperwork. Someone commented on how hard I was working! As I couldn't do anymore I agreed with Mboge that tomorrow I would bring in my memory stick so I can download the files I need off his computer and I left work. I was home by 3pm which suited me fine. It was a nice to finally see where I'll be working and who I'll be working with. I've got a few ideas of things I can do already for the project. Some people seem a bit wary of me and others seem very happy to have me around. I can tell the pace of work is going to be slower than I'm used to (which I'm happy about) so I'm just going to spend some time taking it all in, trying to establish good working relationships and being generally helpful and chirpy so that I fit in.

Today I got to work at 8.30am which I was told was the latest we could start. I was the first one in. It seems everyone spends over an hour greeting everyone when they come into the office so work is slow to start. I was invited for breakfast with my colleagues. I tried to put my new eating skills into practice - only using my right hand - and was doing well until I looked at the guy to my left who shouted 'Don't look at me!' and recoiled in horror. Oh well. I forgot you're not supposed to watch people eat.

I've met a few new faces as I'm sitting at my desk. I was just introduced by Ebrima to the Retired Teachers Committee as the new VSO who is going to be here for 2 years. I responded, 'No, just 1 year; that's what my contract says.' He responded, 'No, 2 years, we just have to renew your contract after 1 year.' Everyone laughed as I said 'Well nobody told me that!' So it looks like I might be staying longer than I thought.

Oh and I've uploaded some more photos of the beach to make you even more jealous.