Settling In
8:25 PM, Saturday, 22 April, 2006
After a very busy week of insanity, food and househunting, I am finally settling in. I have a super house with a spectacular view over the bay (photos pending) and I've been into my workplace and played around there and met people and generally begun to settle.
Starting this week blog entries and emails should be coming more regularly, as I get access to the internet more frequently than every weekend. Hang in there, contact will be made soon!
Filed under Miscellany
Solomons Sadness
8:22 PM, Saturday, 22 April, 2006
I hope you guys get back to the Solomons soon!
Filed under Waiting
Banana Goodness!
8:03 PM, Saturday, 22 April, 2006
This is an official notice stating that the bananas in PNG are the best bananas in the world. All i eat is bananas. Bananas, bananas, bananas. MMMmmmm...... So sweet and tasty.
Also receiving honourable mentions are the limes, the papayas, the spinach, and the fishies.
Filed under Adventures in Deliciousness
The Land of the Unexpected
2:44 PM, Sunday, 16 April, 2006
What a whirlwind week. We (eight other volunteers and I) arrived in Port Moresby at about 2pm on Sunday, after much drama just in Australia – gin & tonic at 7.30am on the Melbourne-Brisbane flight, one person (almost) being refused a boarding pass, three almost missing the plane!
Since then our new PNG mum, Maggie, has been looking after us around Port Moresby. We had an incredible and indescribable first night where a music group from Bougainville played in a ‘bamboo band’. This involved giant bamboo pipes meters long all being tied together into panpipe-type structures, with the holes where you’d normally blow through being whacked with thongs (yes, flip-flops!) to make the most amazing percussive, melodic music. These pan-pipes are stacked on top of each other to make 12-note scales with bass, alto and soprano versions. Add grass skirts and lots of singing, and we danced the night away.
As well as the bamboo band there was a ‘mu-mu’, which was a feast of traditional food all cooked by Maggie’s family. Highlights included copious amounts of sweet potato, taro and cassava, as well as a crazy new vegetable called ‘pit-pit’ which seriously tastes like chicken! SP, the local beer, was also enjoyed.
We have had several other adventures involving food, shopping, bureaucracy, snorkelling and language lessons. One of the most notable ones involves me, who has never driven before in my LIFE and another girl on her Australian learner’s license paying a ‘fee’ in order to acquire a probationary PNG license. In six months we go to the road traffic authority to have this transferred into a full PNG license. For those now having minor conniptions, I will NOT be using this to drive, but as a form of ID. I promise!
Internet access is extremely limited here (the whole developing country thing) so blog entries are going to be infrequent until I settle into work, over the next couple of weeks. At that time I’ll put up photos and more detailed adventures. Until then, lukim yu behin!
Filed under EEEEeeekk!!!
Welcome to Port Moresby!
2:32 PM, Friday, 14 April, 2006
Ok, I finally got internet access. But I forgot the entry I typed on my laptop. Sorry, more news soon!
Filed under EEEEeeekk!!!
The Countdown Begins
8:53 AM, Saturday, 8 April, 2006
Finally it's all working out - my visa and passport have arrived (a kind of boring, ugly little visa considering all of the fuss that was involved! can't they put some effort into prettiness?), and my new ticket has arrived. I have sent off 30kg of unaccompanied baggage (8 pairs of shoes), and packed my backpack (6 pairs of shoes). There will also be one pair of shoes on my feet.
Today I have a few little errands to run. One of these is taking off my engagement ring and putting on a wedding ring, because a great big sparkly ring like mine isn't 'appropriate' as a volunteer, let alone in Port Moresby.
My plane to Brisbane leaves in 22 hours and 6 minutes. EEEEEeeeekkk!!
NOTE: If my sister would get off her bum, I would be posting photos here. Beautiful ones.
Filed under EEEEeeekk!!!
Just call me Sporty Spice!
1:31 PM, Tuesday, 4 April, 2006
After much umming and ahhing about how I could spend this week (when I'm not eating and/or lying on the couch, that is), I decided that I needed a pair of... sneakers.
This was actually quite a traumatic realisation, brought upon by the telling of many friends and interested others that I would SO need a pair of sneakers because they are practical and comfy, and lighter than my giant great big pair of clodhopping boots, and I can go running through the mud and dust and everything and then throw them away if I really wanted to. I haven't had a pair of sneakers since high school. I think, actually, since year 10. EEEEeeeek! They're just so... sporty! I did already have a pair of pseudo-sporty type shoes, but they're so not sneakers, and too cute to throw away. Another thing is that I'm finding it quite difficult to prioritise which shoes will come with me - I've been told that 12 pairs is too many (in response to which I said that thongs aren't really shoes, so it's really eight, leave me alone I need my shoes!!!). A pair of ugly sneakers next to, and instead of, so many wonderful, cute and colourful pairs of shoes is just heartbreaking!!!
So off to the shops went I. There didn't seem to be much difference between the different pairs, so I went for the least-sporty-looking pair that I could find. I couldn't do anything about the whiteness, though. Ya came to meet me at the train station, and almost feel over laughing when I told him I had bought them. When I later put them on and proceeded to jog on the spot and do some star-jumps, the laughing continued until he decided I'd better stop before I hurt myself. Which was probably a good idea.
Now all I have to do to complete the look is crochet some snazzy sweatbands, and I'll be set!
Filed under Exciting Acquisitions
Short About
7:00 AM, Tuesday, 4 April, 2006
Pinking the world, one ukulele at a time...
Filed under Admin
Lost in Limbo
12:45 PM, Monday, 3 April, 2006
I'm meant to be in Port Moresby right now. But 'something' went wrong and our visas went AWOL and we have been delayed for a week. So all of those goodbyes came with a 'yeah but I'm kind of still here for another week, oops!'
Whilst I'm not enjoying the heat of PNG and I'm stuck in ghastly wintery Melbourne weather for another week, it does mean another week of deliciousness. We spent the last couple of weeks having delicious treats in the spirit of 'the last time for a year' - notable ones include Gertrude's potato salad, chicken parma, copious amounts of cake, lasagne, and any other random things that took my fancy.
It also means another week of fun and games with Ya and Spinach, another week of shopping, another week of no mosquitos and another week of relaxing. So it's not all bad.
The tree kangaroos will just have to wait.
Filed under Waiting