23 days to go...

... and I'm still woefully underprepared. On the plus side, however, I'm getting progressively more adept at writing lists.

I recently returned from training - five days spent irresolutely flailing between excitement and sheer terror - and am, on the whole, feeling much more relaxed about what's to come. PT did an excellent job of saturating our sleep-deprived minds with all the information we could possibly need when they dump us in the jungle, and I now feel just about au fait with everything from lesson planning and the rights of the child to dealing with various infections and infestations.

Training was also the time I met the other 15 Guyana-bound volunteers, and they seem like a genuinely lovely group. We bonded over an apparently shared appreciation of rum and "liming" (lying around in a hammock - a skill we honed over the course of the week). I'm also immensely relieved to be able to tell you that my partner for the year, Claire, is normal, and we get on very well. We did stare at each other in dismay when we realised we wouldn't be able to bake for a year given our lack of oven, but if that's the greatest hardship we face I think we'll be able to cope.

Our flights have now been confirmed, and I leave on the 25th August (Dad's birthday. Sorry, Dad!)

My address from the beginning of September onwards, should the urge to send me decent teabags and marmite overcome you, is:

Lucy Smith
Wakapoa Secondary School
Wakapoa
Region 2
Guyana
South America

Post is slow at best and lost entirely at worst, so letters will take around a month to reach the other end, but don't let that deter you! (I think I'm yet to actually tell anyone other than immediate family about this blog, so I have no idea who I'm appealing to here.)

So, that's it. It's almost time for me to leave the country. I'll write another post before the 25th to sum up fundraising (£700 left to raise and only one event in which to raise it) but all other loose ends are gradually being tied up. Family and friends continue to ask whether I'm scared yet, and the answer remains a firm "no", but we'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks...

All Guyana, Namibia and Thailand volunteers