Day two, and today was time to tackle my mandatory Basic Safety in the Field training, and then start some real work.

At the UN, 'real work' includes setting up endless meetings, to meet the people I'm going to meet at other meetings, so we can all work together to determine the outcomes of the meetings before they happen... *sigh*. Luckily I'm a very good bureaucrat and understand exactly why all this is necessary.

But back to that training. It was sobering stuff - a reminder that some of my new colleagues work in pretty crazy places, euphemistically known as 'hardship posts'. Over the course of my half-day training, I learned how to identify 5 common types of land mine, what to do if I'm taken hostage, or encounter child soldiers at a road checkpoint (hint: they may be small but those are still real AK-47s. Treat them as you would an adult who's pointing a gun at you), and techniques for coping with the psychological trauma of sexual assault, or being shot at.

I was knackered come hometime. It's been a good 48 hrs, albeit slightly crazyand so far all about the job. I'm looking forward to some downtime this weekend. I'm gonna find me a glass of wine and some of that amazing looking potato and rosemary pizza I saw yesterday, then collapse into bed, wishing ever so slightly that I could catch up with my mates in England for a cider and a song.