Byblos
Filed under WOW
Raiheen 3a Beirut!
We're on our way to Beirut! Apart from the felafel and cedars and friends and family, I am quite looking forward to experiences involving individuals such as this gentleman:
Filed under Adventures in Deliciousness, EEEEeeekk!!!, Heeheehee..., Stuff, Super Dooper, WOW, Waiting
The Most Beautiful Shoes In The World
Filed under Exciting Acquisitions, Super Dooper, WOW
Mangroving
It is a well-known fact that mangroves are very important for giving us fishies and crabs to eat. They provide a lovely safe place for the small fishies and crabs to grow up in, as well as convenient places in which to catch larger and more edible fishies and crabs. So that we can eat them.
With this in mind, I attended the Save PNG World Forestry Day mangroving expedition at Taurama beach, about 20 minutes out of Port Moresby.
It was a beautiful day, with plenty of volunteers to put the hundreds of mangrove seeds into biodegradable tapioca bags, and then put them in cages and rock walls and such so that they don't float away.
We ate watermelons, ran along the beach, saved the world and gasped at how there is no such thing as an ugly Papua New Guinean child. They're all so lovely, even when their pants are on inside-out.
We got back to Port Moresby exhausted and sunburned, and very soon an enormous storm broke with thunder and lightening and torrential rain, giving us a lovely fireworks show. The only thing we could do was jump in the pool.
Filed under Super Dooper, WOW
Valentines Day in Port Moresby: Girls Girls Girls!
"Is this the girls' night?"
"Yes, the gays' night."
"No, is it the girls' night?"
"Gays' night."
"Girls girls girls"
"Gays gays gays!"
"Hang on, do you mean girls or gays?"
"Gays."
"Man or Meri?"
"Man, Meri, me no save!!!"
The cast: One spunky Engan lawyer, one cute pillow-talker, one nervous man who works for a UN children's agency all observing: many 'girly-girls', working girls, working boys, crusty old men, pimps, secretary of the government department for agricultural stuff...
We were there to see Chukachukamomo in her first live stage performance. We never figured out who Chukachukamomo was because we were so distracted by the action happening around us: fashion shows, tricks, transactions, tantrums, scandal. It was all there.
The most romantic dancers won bottles of Passion Pop "champagne".
There was a girlygirl competition which began with casual wear: short skirts and tight tops. Evening wear followed: shorter skirts, tighter tops. Sporting wear: same as above, with sneakers. Our special favourite (coz we couldn't find Chukachukamomo) was Kymberley Johns, a middle-aged individual with middle-aged spread carefully (un)covered in garish shades of green.
All in the most delightful setting of the Chilli Pepper Club. The front of it is a cardboard cutout of a castle, complete with battlements. Inside there's fairy lights, tinsel, red walls and pole that fortunately/unfortunately wasn't used to its full potential last night.
Truly romantic.
Filed under EEEEeeekk!!!, Heeheehee..., Super Dooper, WOW
What I want to be when I Grow Up.
At first I didn't believe it when Camille told me there are pink dolphins in the world. I wouldn't believe it.
How would a dolphin get pink, anyway? They're kind of greyish-blue. Not pink. And dolphins don't get sunburned, do they?
How would a dolphin get to be pink? Do they also get to be green and purple and orange, and maybe stripey? Do the pink dolphins still say "So long", and thank us for all the fish?
I was sceptical.
But then she sent me this, from some Malaysian island where the dolphins are pink and happy and they play and laugh and frolic and are the happiest dolphins in the world because they're pink and anyway HOW DID THAT DOLPHIN GET PINK?????? ITS A PINK DOLPHIN HOW DID IT GET PINK?????
I WANNA BE A PINK DOLPHIN!!!!!!
Pink Dolphin photo courtesy of The Lovely Camille
Filed under Super Dooper, WOW
The things that we love about PNG, and will miss lots and lots. You see, it's a great place and not bad at all, and I quite like it, like nobody's business!
First of all, there is the Deliciousness. One can buy a watermelon, and even say "I carried a watermelon", any day of the week. And a delicious watermelon it will be, especially if one taps it before purchase to make sure that it sounds hollow. The same goes for pineapples, and mangos, and pawpaws, and kaukaus, and bananas, and coffees, and limes, and sugarfruits, and kalamansies, and crayfishies and crabs (although none of these need to be tapped). Many other things, too.
The people are wonderful, especially Non-Stalkers. Even stalkers give one amusement in the moments when one isn't being stalked, and one can tell funny stories about the funny things that they say and do whilst stalking. Because really, they are quite funny. In hindsight.
Papua New Guinean animals are quite special. My particular favourite is the Hornbill, which hops around like a happy hopping hornbill. But there are others, including tree kangaroos and cuscus. There are also many interesting, and sometimes scary, bugs. One must be careful of some animals and bugs as they can bite, but that just brings the element of surprise to the experience.
Place-names are a source of constant amusement, particularly place-names such as "Maprik", "Wapenamanda" and "Wau". They are fun to say and fun to see. Good all-round family entertainment.
Second-hand shopping like no other is to be found in this most excellent county.
Culture, culture, culture. Culture. Culture culture.
The weather. Ah, the weather. In Port Moresby, one doesn't experience anything outside 22-35 degrees, all year round. It's heavenly.
The anecdotes one hears when being introduced to people. For example: "This is X. When he went to a restaurant for the first time in his life, he ate the flower garnish". Or "This is Z. He's adopted, because his father stabbed his mother to death." Or "My name is Y. My husband beats me so I sell peanuts".
Beaches, beaches, beaches. Amusing stories in the newspapers. People. Adventures. Etc.
Filed under Adventures in Deliciousness, Super Dooper, WOW
Stuff
Well there is some stuff of note that I will now note:
- The rainy season started this week. It poured and poured, and then the sun came out, and then it poured and poured, and then the sun came out, etc. It's most interesting and somewhat humid. Green bits are poking out of the dustbowl that was Port Moresby. Lovely.
- I am going to Cairns tomorrow with the tickets that I won. In Cairns I will play with Yehia and I will eat goodness that I can't get in Port Moresby.
- Tonight Hao is cooking me crayfish. Normally he cooks giant mudcrabs, which he purchases from the market for about 7 kina each (around AU$3.20). But mudcrab season is finishing and crayfish season is starting. And at the stupormarket the crayfishies are 25 kina per kilo (about AU$11.50) so we're going to eat some of them, coz we're working today and won't be able to get to the market on time. At the market they're about 7 kina each now. Mmmm, goodness. Suffice to say that that's not one of the things I'll be going off to eat in Cairns. Photos pending.
- I was a little bit sick this week. Not dramatically, just a bit too tired and bleh. But I'm better now. In time to go to Cairns.
- We are still working through the 2 litres of mango pulp.
Filed under Adventures in Deliciousness, Super Dooper, WOW
Forgot This Too
Ok I forgot to mention this too.
I'm halfway through PNG today.
Well, kind of. Not literally, in a way. But really, I am. Halfway as in halfway through my 12-month assignment. As in 6 months today. Halfway. Through. My. Stay. In. PNG.
EEEEEEEEEEeeeeEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!
So many more things to do! So many more animals to poke! So many more people to play with! So many more crazy things to eat! So many more things to be scared of! So many more t-shirts to see!
Did I mention eek?
EeeeeeEEEEEeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Filed under Adventures in Deliciousness, Crapola, EEEEeeekk!!!, Exciting Acquisitions, Heeheehee..., Miscellany, So they said..., Super Dooper, T-Shirt Of The Day, WOW, Waiting
Alma's Village
On Sunday my friend Alma took Kristen, Yehia and I out to her village. We were picked up at 7:30 in the morning by a car full of family - Alma, her husband Jo, and their six children. We were off to a village in Central Province called Small Hula, where Alma's wantoks live.
Two and a half hours of driving later, including getting bogged and the bus almost being swallowed by giant potholes and we were there. Here's a photo of the road into the village:
The village is right next to the sea, with the most AMAZING beach. It was a bit of a cloudy day but nothing could blemish these postcard views:
This is Alma's parents' house. We stopped there and had delicious locally-grown lemongrass tea with coconut cookies. They also gave us lunch of about 6 or 7 different kinds of yams, with chicken and vegies, and cooking bananas, all cooked in coconut. There was even sago, cooked in coconut and banana, which was actually tasty! So delicious that Yehia went up for more! Jo said that people would love to invite him to their house, because he obviously likes their food.
Here is the view of the neighbour's house from the back of Alma's parents' house, and the next village up the coast:
Alma knew everyone in the village, including all of the cute pikininis. This is her neice:
We went for a little swim on the beach, which was lovely. There were hundreds of gorgeous starfish in so many colours everywhere - this is Alma's son, JY, and a giant starfish:
We finished the day EXHAUSTED, and drove by the chief's house to pick up some fresh guava, starfruit and oranges. Thanks Alma for a really wonderful experience!
Filed under WOW
Igat Hope
I was lucky enough to be invited to an HIV vigil yesterday for the organisation Igat Hope (There's Hope). So I dragged some enthusiastic friends to The Holiday Inn, where the vigil was being held. We arrived a little late, and the service was already running in Pidgin, but it was ok and we sat at the back. It was the most amazing service - all about how there's always hope for people.
The room was filled by people living with HIV and their family, carers and friends - there would have been at least 100 people there. Several people spoke about their own experiences, all of whom were very brave because HIV can be a very taboo subject in PNG. The service was made even more poignant when one woman spoke about having lost her two children recently, and her partner the night before. Everyone in the room knew this man, because he was a board member of the organisation and a real motivator for the sector, but only a few already knew that he had passed away a few hours ago - a wave of grief spread through the whole audience at the news.
Speaking with people afterwards I was taken aback by their courage and optimism, even in the face of such a terrible blow to the organisation. PNG has one of the most rapidly increasing infection rates in the world and with very few education and health services, particularly in rural areas, and little or no surveillance anywhere the outlook is quite terrifying. With this situation it would be easy to become nihilistic when thinking about the work that I'm doing here in the HIV sector, but with organisations like Igat Hope it's exciting and inspiring.
Filed under WOW