And so the adventure begins...

So here I am, 10 days into my intrepid explorations of the Maldivian islands and I have finally found time to sit down and draw breath.

Malé was organised chaos, its citizens high on caffeine and somewhat incommunicative, but great fun. The other volunteers are lovely and we spent two happy days cruising round the capital in high holiday spirits, developing a taste for fried noodles and notching up introductions with government ministers.

From there we were dispatched to the far-flung corners of the country which, after two days’ gallivanting, came as a bit of a shock. It was even more of a shock to arrive on our island at 3am on Sunday morning to discover we were expected in school, ready to teach at 6am the same morning.

The subsequent days have been spent waging war: against the heat and the excessive number of clothes we are expected to wear; against the kitchen and the washing machine, both of which can be described as primitive; with the insect population of this island, to which I take violent objection, against my immune system, notoriously bad at fighting off ear infections, which has failed me once more; and with my pupils, in a bid to get a word of English out of them edge-ways. There have been losses – my clothes are already twice as baggy as when I arrived – but there have also been victories, notably in my campaign against the cockroaches.
There is so much more to tell: of Chiefy and Mama Chief, our esteemed landlords; of the extraordinary facial hair sported by some Maldivian men (and a few unfortuate women), of the opportunities that arise when you’re role in a community is that of token white girl. But we will leave it there for now. Your homework for this session is to come up with as many different ways to cook with canned tuna as possible. We’ll be reviewing your efforts, and mine, next time.

TTFN, Ta-ta for now.
P.S. If there are any Blue Peter producers reading, in the absence storage items I have just been extremely resourceful. In the last hour I've made a pen tidy from a tissue box and two jewellery holders from plastic bottles. I shall be available for interviews and screen testing upon my return in December....