Long Weekend

Monday was Remembrance Day, similar to Memorial Day in the states, so we had the day off of work! My weekend was pretty jam packed with all kinds of fun things. Friday night I stayed in and watched a movie with my roommate. Saturday morning/afternoon I was out at the barn, which is always pretty muddy, but it was a blast anyway. When I got home and cleaned up from the barn, I baked some switkai (sweet food) for the auction we were having that night. My cookies were a little flat, but they tasted delicious and I once again managed to not burn the house down!

The auction went really well. There were probably about 20 or so people smushed into our living room. It’s always fun having “the group” get together. The group consists mainly of singles and younger married couples with one or no children. I’ve made some great friends in this group.

 The Sunday morning service was held by the Discovery team, who are sadly leaving this Thursday morning. I have really enjoyed getting to know them all. About 6 out of the 11 of them gave a brief testimony during the service, and the other presented in the evening service. I was also asked to speak at the evening service, which was late notice, but it all worked out. I went out on a walk with my Bible and notebook to figure out what I was going to say and wound up at the paddocks. It took longer than I had planned because I wound up helping someone with a horse, but it was all worth it in the end. The evening service went really well and afterwards I hung out with the Discovery team. We wound up watching Secretariat, which got my all stoked up to go trail riding the next morning.

We met at the barn around 8 a.m. to get ready to go out into the mountains. We were heading home when I actually got thrown from my horse, who then ran all the way home…from the mountain top. I had to ride back double with someone, but it was still a great trip and so worth it. I felt like I was riding through a postcard. I worked with my horse after I got her back and now she follows me around like a puppy dog. We’ll see if she remembers it today. One of my friends from the Discovery team got baptized in the river yesterday afternoon, and I was blessed to make it back from my ride in time to make it to her baptism. It was beautiful and powerful. After that was finished, I got a much-needed shower, as I was pretty covered in mud from my fall. My tailbone hurt tremendously, the whole night and made it very difficult to sleep. This morning, my whole upper-body is extremely sore and stiff. Prayers for quick healing would be appreciated.

Mi Tru PNG Meri

Today I was about to head off to work when a van pulled up in my driveway. It was the Discovery group looking to see if my roommate was planning on going to Kainantu with them. She was still asleep because they forgot to tell her in advance about it, but she got dressed quickly and they invited me to go with them. So I was called the office and told them I wouldn’t be in today.

Kainantu is only about 15 minutes away by car. It’s a much bigger town than any I’ve spent time in yet, except Port Moresby. We were being given a tour by a man named David, who is in charge of the Discovery students and very welcoming and knowledgeable. We went to the cultural center where we got to see all kinds of cool stuff, including where they sort out and process and eventually make rugs and blankets our of wool, and nationals hand-making pottery. We bought gifts and artifacts for our friends and families. (You’ll just have to wait and see, Mom, Dad, Brian, and Grandma).

We spent some time in second hand shops and various stores and then headed over to the market. It’s much much bigger than the market we have here in Ukarumpa. I bought my very own meriblouse (a type of shirt that is commonly worn by women here). Now I am a true PNG woman.

We got back in the early afternoon and had lunch. It was about 1 o’clock by the time I walked back into my house. I could have gone to work for the afternoon, since lunch is from 12-1, but I decided it was far too beautiful of a day to be stuck inside. I went on a long walk instead. I was gone a bit over two hours. I found a shady spot under a tree where I sat and finished a sketch I started last night about partway through. I wandered around parts of the center I haven’t spent much time on yet. It was wonderfully relaxing, but I hadn’t brought any water with me and it was hot, so I went back home to keep from getting dehydrated or overheated. The best part was probably as I was walking the familiar path up the steep hill to the paddocks, a national woman was hanging up her laundry to dry. She called “Appenoon” (good afternoon) which I returned smiling. She called out to me and complimented my meriblouse. It’s official, I’m now a true PNG woman.

The rest of my afternoon consisted of uploading pictures and finishing the book I was reading. It’s now about 5:25 p.m. and I just might take another walk before dinner. It’s back to work tomorrow, but Monday is a holiday, so we get the day off! 

Highlights

Here are some brief highlights of my week:

-       eating puk puk (crocodile)

-       spending time at the barn

-       getting to play with a kitten

-       the sun came out

o   this also means we had hot water

-       floorball

Wednesday we (my roommates and I) had dinner at a family’s house with four children, the oldest going into 4^th grade. Kids are not my favourite. In fact, as much as I love people, people are not my favourite. Some days I’d rather spend all my time with animals instead of people.

But these kids were alright in my book. One is a toddler, one is starting kindergarten and her name is also Sarah. Then I think the boy is next followed by the eldest, another girl. Sarah actually reminds me a great deal of myself. She’s a spit-fire, that one. And Abigail, the eldest, mentioned that she was going to start learning to take care of and eventually ride horses. I told her and her mother that I’d be happy to give her and Joel, who would also be learning, some pointers and lessons while I’m here.

I met them out at the barn yesterday morning, and divided my time between riding and helping train a horse and corralling the two youngest girls. They think I’m probably about the coolest thing ever. There’s also a high school aged girl who wants to pursue working with horses and she found out that I train horses back home and my school is part of IHSA. She is very eager to hear all my stories (I don’t know what all my stories are, but she said she wanted to hear them, so I should probably figure that out).

I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to share this gift with other people while I’m on center.  

Whoops.

So it’s been about a week since I last updated. My bad.

Things here have been going along in what is now the new norm. I’ve been working and reading a ton. I’m reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for my practicum and after that I plan on starting The Search for the Source, which was written by a PNG missionary. I had a long conversation with someone here about books, and he is now trying to find fantasy books that I would like, since I told him that it’s the one genre I have been known to dislike almost entirely. So for fun I’m also reading a book called Men at Arms, which is part of the Disc World series, I think. So far, it’s pretty good. Still not my favourite thing to read, but it’s not nearly as bad as some of the fantasy I’ve read. He also gave me a book from another series he thought I might like, and the lady at one of the community libraries here had me rent out The Once and Future King. So we’ll see. Since leaving home I have also read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and Jude the Obscure. My goal is to have well over 3,000 pages read this summer, not including the things I have to read for work each day.

One thing that was new and exciting was a coffeehouse/game night Friday. It was kind of crazy, as there were a ton of people there. I personally played Taboo, and a game with paper and dice (which is really intense) where you try to be the first to write to 100, but you only get the pen by rolling a certain number or colour and we go around in a circle rolling the dice. I also learned a new game, what some people called the Paper Game. It’s like telephone pictionary. It makes for really hilarious stories. I’ll have to teach it to many of you when I get home because it’s just great.

Leading worship on Sunday went really well. It was hard since the group is so diverse (different ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, denominations) but I’ve gotten a lot of compliments and encouragement from people from several walks of life, so hopefully it was a success for the rest. Either way, I got to sing and play guitar for the Lord, which is when I feel closest to Him.

Weekend and Holiday

So Saturday, instead of going riding, I went to Ukarumpa village again because the former rascals or criminals were putting on a formal apology. Many of them came to Christ this past Easter and they have been making amends ever since. First they apologized to the director and then to BTA. Then they wanted to apologize to the community as a whole, which is what I got to see.

It was really powerful. A few local pastors spoke and then introduced the former rascals who put on a long skit and played/sang some special music for us. Then they all came forward and apologized individually. If they knew someone whose house they specifically broke into and that person was there, they apologized specifically and shook hands/hugged. Then there was more speaking and at the end they came to shake all of our hands. They also had gathered up a bunch of food and a bit of money to give to us. It took a few hours in the hot sun on a hard bench, but it was definitely worth it. I got a little red in some places, but not burned, luckily.

We were invited out for dinner Saturday night, too. Apparently there was a 4.9 earthquake during the night, but I didn’t feel it. Sunday I unfortunately set my alarm for 9:15 thinking I set it for 8:15 so I missed going to a village church. My tailbone and back were still really hurting me, so I spent most of the day resting, which I think really helped because it’s felt so much better since. It still hurts, but not nearly as badly.

Monday was the 4^th of July here, so the Americans here threw a party. It was funny to think that I was celebrating America’s Independence Day when even America wasn’t doing that yet. So there was a pot luck and bring your own meat to grill. It was delicious. Once it started to get dark, we all gathered together and one of the hosts read something about the signing of the Declaration of Independence and we sang the (American) national anthem.

After that we had makeshift fireworks, since it’s difficult to get real ones into the country. This involved some guy who had made a cannon out of PVC pipes and put glowsticks in it and shot them really high up. Little kids would run and get them for him so he could get doing it. Then there was my favourite part: steel wool. I never knew you could do this before, but you take the non-soap steel wool and hook it on some wire, which is attached to a string. You put the steel wool in a fire until it starts to glow and then you take it out and spin it around in circles really fast and it makes sparks everywhere. We also fired off some emergency flares from boats/planes that were like five years past their expiration date.

When my roommates and I got home, we watched The Princess and the Frog because it was definitely a good night to veg out. As I was lying in bed to go to sleep there was another earthquake, and I felt it this time. I don’t yet know what it was rated, but it was small and lasted all of three seconds. I was still excited.

So that’s all for now. Miss you all. Keep in touch!

Busy Busy!

Okay, so it’s been a few days since my last post, so here’s my week in a nutshell.

I got introduced to the Pony Club here and got to ride a bit Thursday. I’ll be going out tomorrow morning for a few hours and I’m pretty excited. It makes me feel more at home. Plus, the view is amazing. I hear that people occasionally go on “Ridge Rides” for a couple hours through the mountain trails. I hope I get to experience this while I’m here.

I was also invited to play floor-ball (indoor hockey with a wiffle ball) yesterday and it was incredibly fun. I had no idea I’d be running that much. We play four or five games to 10 pts. In two hours with minimal breaks. For future reference, I should probably bring water…and my inhaler. Just in case. I took a nasty fall because of a wet spot on the gym floor, so my back and tailbone are DEFINITELY feeling it today. I feel like an old person, which is impressive because while I’m here, I’m easily the youngest in any given situation except for MKs here. It’s a nice change of pace from feeling old at home.

This morning was a relaxed day at work. I got in around 8:45, we had a meeting from 9-10 and then we all went to the store and got ice cream. Apparently it’s a tradition, though it occasionally doesn’t happen due to ice cream shortages. (How terrible does that sound?) We sat in a hauswin (gazebo) and chatted for about an hour, which left only an hour of work before lunch.

My roommates and I were invited to dinner tonight, which is always fun. It’s really interesting to meet the different types of people here. They’re all really friendly. Oh, random, but I’m starting to become a fan of tea. There’s free coffee/tea/Milo (hot chocolate) where I work, which is soooooooo nice. And tea helps me cut down on my normal coffee intake.

I’ll update again after the weekend!


Oh! Also, I think my stomach has gotten used to the food because it hasn't been bothering me!