Final day of training at Harborne Hall. It's seems like I've been here far longer than the week it actually is, but it was good to get a night off to see Debbie, Andrew and Ewan. On Wednesday morning Andrew suggested I went to the map shop in Upton on Severn. They had a 2007 edition map of Ghana, which is one less thing to have to think about.

We've covered a lot of facilitation and some negotation through lots of role playing exercises. I've been a five year old and a director of education, but usually a teacher (and female!). The last couple of days on organisational development have been a little less dramatic.

I've met a few people who will be flying to Ghana on the same plane as me, but at the moment nobody who is based any further south than Tamale, which is at least 250 miles away. According to my job profile there should be other volunteers in Koforidua but I haven't come across any of them yet!

Only 5 weeks to go

I've received confirmation that I fly to Ghana on 16 September. There's still a lot of preparation to do but I think I have all the major things in hand. I hadn't appreciated it was quite this close until Wednesday. I'm well through the injections. Rabies no. 2 and typhoid to come on Monday and Rabies no. 3 and Hep B no. 3 at the end of August. One or two more services to cancel and a lot to sort out at home.

I've seen a few people this week and whenever I talk about preparation they seem impressed but when I refer back to the VSO guidance there are always a few extra things to add on.

It's very easy to think about copying more music to my laptop rather than thinking about the practical things I should be taking with me and the preparation I should be making for my job. I'm hoping that a week at the VSO training centre in Birmingham will help focus my thoughts on the latter.

One of the things I had not thought about as part of preparation was all physical assessments - the dental check up, eye test, medical and blood test. Fortunately it was all pleasantly reassuring.

It's also a week since I finished work - the end, at least for the time being, of just short of 18 years in public sector finance. However with all the VSO stuff to think about and an energetic weekend at Center Parcs with Ian and the boys, it hasn't really sunk in...