Sony Ericsion
10:32 AM, Wednesday, 30 August, 2006
This notice was posted on the university noticeboard yesterday morning. Just in case it's too small to read, here's what it says:
A LOST SONY ERICSION MOBILE A Sony Ericson mobile was stolen yesterday afternoon at 27:008:06, 12:30pm. I left it in my room, without locking the door. I came back after 5 minutes and the mobile was gone.Any way, I've investigated and found out who got it so please bring it to me less than 2 days. If you don't bring it, I will not do any thing but the nature will take its own course. In other words you will be in a serious trouble so do what you can within 2 days. But if you reluctant to bring it back on that time frame, you will certainly end up a deep shit.
Again, if you concerned about your life and your future, please return it quickly as soon as possible. If you feel humiliated to return it to me, leave it at student service so that I can go there and pick it from the staff later on.
Thank you owner.
Are you scared?
Filed under Heeheehee...
The things you find in Port Moresby...
9:58 AM, Wednesday, 30 August, 2006
I haven't posted any photos for awhile, so here are a few gems. First off are the boots I bought whilst secondhand shopping with Kym a few weeks ago. The ones on the left are the 50 toea lovelies that have since been polished and look even better; on the right are my 18 kina cowboy boots. Hooray!
On another secondhand shopping trip Kristen found this brand of clothing:
On another shopping expedition this hat was discovered. Photo #1 shows the lever down, with the sunglasses down... photo #2 shows the lever up and the magical sunglasses being removed from Kristen's eyes - WOW!!!
Last but certainly not least is a limousine, Port Moresby style. Need I say more?
Filed under Super Dooper
T-Shirt Of The Day
11:05 AM, Tuesday, 29 August, 2006
Wandering around the university today, I saw a doozie of a T-Shirt:
Jog for Jugs
What does this mean? I can not say. Where did he get it? I do not know. Why is he wearing it? I do not understand. Today's T-Shirt Of The Day scores a 9/10 in the category 'so totally random I just can't figure it out'.
Filed under T-Shirt Of The Day
In, out, in, out, in, out, in...
10:04 AM, Tuesday, 29 August, 2006
I'm back at the university, again. For the moment at least. Let's see how long it lasts this time...
Filed under Super Dooper
Evil v Good
4:33 PM, Wednesday, 23 August, 2006
Some people make me cranky. They have to be quite horrible, boorish, sadistic, rambling, deranged and widely read for me to pay enough attention or expend enough energy to get cranky with them. But I sometimes do.
But then, some people make me happy. Especially when they bug the ones that make me cranky. Heehee!
note: I really don't read that newspaper of evilness and lies, but that doesn't mean I can get away from the freak, even in PNG!!!
Filed under So they said...
Procrastination
2:59 PM, Monday, 21 August, 2006
The scene: Carolyn is working at the (insert funding body's name here) office, as the university has been deemed unsafe again due to stalkers and the general uselessness of the guards (don't worry there wasn't an incident, it was a bureaucratic decision). Yehia is home sick. Both are on Skype.
Carolyn: How's Oprah?
Yehia: Crap as usual. What are you working on right now?
Carolyn: Learning how to use EpiInfo again so I can analyse clinic data. You?
Yehia: Watching a movie with Scott Baio.
Carolyn: Who's Scott Baio? Should I know that?
Yehia: Charles in Charge!
Carolyn: Super Dooper!
Yehia: He's getting old... he doesn't look so in charge any more...
Carolyn: (singing along) Charles in charge of our wrongs and our rights, Charles in charge of our days and our nights!
Yehia: heeheehee!
Carolyn: Eeeexcellent.
Carolyn: So hang on, who's Scott Bacula?
Yehia: The guy from enterprise, Captain. And from Quantum Leap.
Carolyn: Ok, gutpela. I get it now.
Filed under So they said...
T-Shirt Of The Day
10:35 AM, Sunday, 20 August, 2006
At long last...
Today's T-Shirt Of The Day was a bright yellow that was easily spotted at Jackson's Airport, Port Moresby:
Positive people don't put others down
(with a big red arrow pointing down)
Interesting. This t-shirt could have all sorts of double meanings... It receives a 7/10 in the category, 'School Camp Cast-Offs'.
Filed under T-Shirt Of The Day
That's PNG!!!
2:48 PM, Friday, 18 August, 2006
Rarely do we find a gem as good as this. In the Viewpoint section of today's Post Courier, the (more ethical) national newspaper of Papua New Guinea:
Why arrest naked man?
ON August 15, a naked man was arrested by Misima police. The man is from Sudest Island. He has been running around naked for 30 years. Why didn’t they arrest him earlier? Was he arrested because he was suspected of murder or because of his nudity? If he was arrested for allegedly murdering another man, would prison be an appropriate place to have him running around naked in? Why should he be arrested for being naked for 30 years if he is very much at home with his body, unless he had behaved inappropriately? Inspector Libai, how do you know this man is not mentally retarded? I suppose this naked man has something to say. He is just one among the many. — J ToRavit QLD
Filed under Heeheehee..., So they said...
Exiled again!!!!
9:50 AM, Friday, 18 August, 2006
I am out of the university, again. For security reasons, again. But different ones this time:
Apparently there have been some tribal disputes between two provincial groups in Port Moresby lately, the ones from the Western Highlands and the ones from the Southern Highlands. Apparently most of the taxi drivers and PMV (Public Motor Vehicle - bus) drivers are all from these regions, and they just can't seem to get along.
Occasionally they kill or beat up one another, and it doesn't mean much to the rest of us. But on Wednesday night a Western Highlander (I think) was killed quite brutally - hand chopped off, shot in the head, stabbed in the side - by a Southern Highlander (I think, but maybe the other way around) and that started some big fighting.
The fighting yesterday started some time in the morning, in a suburb called Badili. The fighting then moved (how does fighting move? I don't know!) to Waigani, the suburb where the university is. Apparently the police might have used tear gas. ALL of the PMVs and taxis went on strike which caused total traffic chaos, and most of them congregated around a sports oval in Waigani, on the main arterial road to get in and out of that suburb.
When I found out about all of this I was still at the university. Stuck. My transport couldn't get me out. So I had to call the security company, who told me to get out asap - very difficult when nobody can get in. They sent a car for me and I was escorted out, through the chaos that was happening on Waigani Drive. For a riotous crowd they were incredibly boring and we got through just fine - the only sign of trouble was the hundreds of angry-looking men loitering all over the sports oval, and the many taxis and PMVs parked around it, many with freshly broken windows.
Suffice to say I'm not allowed to go out to Waigani today, because the situation is very unpredictable and they might not be able to get me out if something goes wrong. Just when they start to get the stalker situation sorted, something else happens and I've got security restrictions happening again!!!!
For more info on craziness, take a look here.
I am ok, so don't worry! I promise to stay away from the fights!
Filed under EEEEeeekk!!!
Anchovies and Chocolate
11:58 AM, Thursday, 17 August, 2006
Some lovely visitors from Australia last night brought us anchovies, dark chocolate and olive oil. Mmmm.... Such goodness...
Thanks guys!
Filed under Adventures in Deliciousness
Oops
2:04 PM, Wednesday, 16 August, 2006
The replay of Sick No Good is on tonight, Wednesday, at 11pm on the ABC, not last night. Sori tru!!!
The library here at the university made a copy of it, which they will hopefully put onto a DVD. Thus, anybody desparate to see it (especially those in PNG without Hitron) let me know and I'll post you a copy when it becomes available.
Filed under Miscellany
Icecream, dust and documentaries
10:04 AM, Tuesday, 15 August, 2006
I'm back at the university again, complete with plain-clothes security guard patrolling my buildling (when he's not eating icecream).
It's lovely to be back amongst all of the students, who were wondering if I had gone back to Oz, and all of the associated drama. My office was a dustbowl when I opened the door (as all of Port Moresby is at the moment) so the first couple of hours were spent dusting that and trying to make it somewhat habitable.
The documentary last night on the ABC 'Sick No Good' was great, despite a few important omissions (corruption, bride price, etc). ANYONE in Australia who missed it is expected to tune in to Four Corners tonight at 11pm for a replay. There may be a pop quiz to test your comprehension.
Filed under Super Dooper
Tonight on ABC...
10:03 AM, Monday, 14 August, 2006
Ok EVERYONE in Australia (or in PNG with Hitron) put your TV on to ABC tonight at 8:30 tonight to watch 'Sick No Good', a Four Corners special on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Papua New Guinea.
See what we're working with, very scary stuff!
Filed under EEEEeeekk!!!
SH Heaven, AKA and then a Hero comes along...
12:32 PM, Monday, 7 August, 2006
My oh my I had a great day on Saturday.
Kym had been promising to take me secondhand (SH as she calls it) clothes shopping for ages, and we finally went on Saturday. SO MANY exciting acquisitions, including:
2 dresses - one a very cute red and white striped wraparound towelling number, suitable for Sunday afternoons, especially by a pool. The other a lovely cream cotton dress with crocheted yoke, sleeves and hem just made for my Zsa Zsa sunglasses.
2 skirts - on a delicious brown one that goes beautifully with the heeled boots (see below), one a SUPER AMAZING BEAUTIFUL white one with black silhouettes of little children playing around the bottom hem. The super amazing beautiful one is too small, but will fit if I take the extra-high waistband out. If it doesn't I'll pull out all of the pleats and make it wraparound. I don't care what happens and what I have to do and how much hand-sewing is required for me to be able to wear this super amazing beautiful skirt.
2 pairs of boots - to die for. Please ignore the uselessness of boots in a tropical country. One is the most amazingly spunktacular pair of heels, brown, calf height, delicious beautiful magnificence - 50 TOEA - that's 21 cents in Australia!!!!!. The other is a pair of cowboy boots - they're a little too big for me but socks will fix that and hey, I don't care, coz I'm a cowboy baby. yes, I have a shoe fetish.
8 tops - miscellaneous goodness. Pretty colours - blue, brown, pink, etc.
Miscellaneous - a lovely softest-of-soft brown leather slouch bag that really does talk to me, three gloriously coloured silk scarves, one with tassles. A cute little crocheted cardigan that I could have made but now I don't have to.
2 saris - One a lovely silk green and purple which might be turned into another delicious skirt if my fingers aren't too worn out, one a lovely yellow and pink. To hang over curtain rails when not being converted into clothing items.
WOW. I only spent about 75 kina, that's AUD$29.40. I do now have to purge some of my wardrobe and give stuff that I just haven't worn since I got here away to charity. Nothing cures a ranting rut better than retail therapy!
Filed under Exciting Acquisitions
Official End to Ranting
12:23 PM, Monday, 7 August, 2006
Ok, I have decided to stop ranting this week. Whilst I am still in this incredibly frustrating limbo of not being allowed to go back to work because of the security situation, at least I have decent internet access.
So whilst I'm not doing much of my normal work with the people who need to be worked with, I'm catching up on all of the journal articles that I can't access at the university, and I'm actually able to reply when people email me. Today at least. So email me, people, and feel the love (today at least)!!!
Filed under Waiting
Exiled
3:03 PM, Friday, 4 August, 2006
I'm still not back at the university. I don't know when I will be. It's beginning to get a little bit frustrating. And crankifying. I might send a little pigeon (or bat, because they live in the mango trees) out the window of my house with a little SOS tied to its leg saying, 'Please, for the love of God, bring me chocolate/vodka/snacks without an x!".
note: please ignore the fact that I'm outside the house right now - that fact just takes the drama away!
Filed under Waiting
Stupidos
5:06 PM, Thursday, 3 August, 2006
What's the go with the goddamn expats in this country (says the goddamn expat)?
Some are super-dooper and wonderful, I'm not ranting about them...
...But there are some that are a particularly obnoxious bunch of mercenary a-holes and they all seem to be sitting near me at this particular hotel where I'm using the wireless internet and they're being particularly obnoxious, racist, bigotted, crappy, rude, arrogant, stupid, rich and white.
I was warned that there would be particularly horrible expats in Papua New Guinea, but who would've thought they'd be this STUPID????
note: yes I do realise the irony when I'm in the same hotel as them using the wireless internet, etc. That's not the point.
Filed under So they said...
My Cousin Walter
3:42 PM, Thursday, 3 August, 2006
Right at this moment, the last of our houseguests is being dropped at the airport. No more thermorests spread across the floor, half-naked men scaring the guards, dairy products exploding out of the fridge, or towels hanging over the bars on the windows.
People all over Port Moresby can rest easy now that there isn't a bunch of 14 crazy 20-something-year-old volunteers in from the provinces crashing/thundering/gallavanting/rolling across the town bleating/murmuring/shouting strange things like:
"I drank 2.5 chocolate milkshakes at Boroko Foodworld"
"This town is no good for my soul"
"COFFEE WITH CREMA!!!!"
"I can't believe he drank 2.5 chocolate milkshakes at Boroko Foodworld"
"Cheese, glorious cheese"
"I'm going to the Hagen show too!"
"I'm in this movie!" (in a German accent)
"You can't have fettucini carbonara after 2.5 chocolate milkshakes... Please!"
"You are a crazy driver!"
Whilst I loved having them here, it's nice to no longer feel like a character from Mall Rats.
Filed under Heeheehee...
Lovely Loloata
5:25 PM, Wednesday, 2 August, 2006
One of our wonderful adventures last week was to the island of Loloata, where we had a snorkel and some food and a walk and peered at a very sad-looking tree kangaroo. We didn't poke it.
Yehia looks highly amusing in a snorkelling mask:
The tree kangaroo was truly sad:
The birdie-num-nums were cute:
The water was sublime:
And Yehia and Carolyn were happy!
(spot the snorkel mask lines)
Filed under Super Dooper
Marooned
3:57 PM, Wednesday, 2 August, 2006
After informing my volunteer manager about the various stalkers stalking my workplace, and the fact that my office is in a very large and empty building (in which nobody can hear me scream) I have been directed to 'work from home' until 'the security situation is improved'.
So today I have travelled in to our funding body's office in order to hook up to the wireless goodness and write some emails.
How one is supposed to do grass-roots development and education from home I'm not too sure. Let's hope that the security is improved before I go completely batty.
Filed under EEEEeeekk!!!
Cairns here I come!
3:30 PM, Wednesday, 2 August, 2006
Wahoo! The Cairns tickets are all mine!
Hooray for Kym!!!!!!!
Filed under Super Dooper
Challenges
9:44 AM, Tuesday, 1 August, 2006
The university has ordered the guards to start regularly patrolling my building in an attempt to curb the stalking... That's a good thing.
The students have warned the university to stop employing expats... Fingers crossed there will be no more firebombing of cars... Hmmm...
I think, as always, vodka will fix it.
Filed under Crapola
Limbo
9:38 AM, Tuesday, 1 August, 2006
Cairns is now in limbo...
I STILL LOVE YOU KYM!!!
Filed under EEEEeeekk!!!