Amongst other things that's the opinion of the other nationals of the UK and its population. I think if any of the participants in this particular session had witnessed the incredible amount of tears I've shed during my many goodbyes over the last few weeks they'd realise stiff upper lip is very far from the truth! The exercise was part of a session on the culture of Nigeria and things we need to be aware of, it was very interesting and I'm pretty sure I'll still manage to make a cultural faux pas on an almost daily basis, but I'll do my best not to. We also heard from one volunteer about a friend of hers who at the end of his placement was presented with two 'wives' as gifts to take back to his own country. Uh oh.............................................
Moving swiftly on, I got to meet someone from my organisation today which was great. He seems very enthusiastic, especially about my 'resource mobilisation' skills. I have to say I was relieved when the programme manager for my area did point out that I can't do magic and that they have to have realistic expectations of me. We will sit down together with my line manager (I'm not clear if this is the person they have sent to collect me or not) and agree my work plan on arrival next week so at least it's a partnership between us rather than a pre determined set of goals. The other volunteer who will be living me will also be working at the same organisation but she hasn't arrived yet, they think she'll be here at the weekend but we'll travel to Calabar without her as she will have some kind of induction process and then he will have to come back for her. I don't envy him having to do this journey twice as apparently it's a 8 or 9 hour (I'm adding a couple on) bus journey one way with all of our luggage to manage, just wait until he sees my bags he might be less enthusiastic then.
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