Beginning Debrief

So much has been happening lately. Sorry I haven’t been updating regularly. It’s hard to find the time to sit down and blog.

            I leave Ukarumpa a week from tomorrow morning. I can’t believe it’s almost been two whole months. I have been having a blast and am not ready to trade these beautiful mountains for my home of cornfields. I am ready to see my friends and family again, though. Oh well, it was great while it lasted!

            I got another roommate on Tuesday. She is on a break from her village. She’s very spunky and we get along great. Unfortunately, she went to the clinic yesterday and has malaria. Poor girl. So she’ll be out of it for the next few days. The good news is that this is a good place to get malaria if you’re going to get it because the doctors here are familiar with it and it is easily treated.

Here is the conclusion of the response paper I had to write for my professor regarding my internship:

"Overall, I have greatly enjoyed my time working at LCORE. My job working on profiles has allowed me to do in-depth studies of the differences and similarities in the subcultures of Papua New Guineans. In order to successfully write even a single People Profile, I must become a sort of mini-expert on each language. This has been one of my favorite parts of writing People Profiles. It is almost like I was able to visit the most remote parts of Papua New Guinea without actually leaving the office (though I did, fortunately, get to travel to nearby villages and towns).

The hardest part of work for me has been staying inside for the majority of the day. It is winter here, so the sun goes down between 6:00 and 6:30 P.M. each night, and women cannot, or at least should not, be walking without a male present past dark as security is a big issue here. The mountain air and beautiful surrounding often seem to call to me while I’m in the office. My previous summers have consisted of my working jobs that require me to be outside almost the entire day, so this has been a big switch for me. Luckily, the hours here are very flexible, so it is easy for me to leave the office in time to spend a few hours at the barn a few times a week. I have even been invited to play against the high school’s softball team here as a sort of pre-season scrimmage. These outlets have kept me sane and able to work in an office setting.

I have discovered that flexibility is one of my strengths and that it is absolutely necessary for being a writer. Editors and bosses will change their minds or make mistakes, but I must continue to write everything as if it were the most important thing I’d write in my life (an adaption of a lesson I learned in orchestra). Deadlines, expectations, and priorities can change in a minute, so it is important that I be flexible and able to change too.

Focus is also a necessary part of a writer’s life, and it is, unfortunately, something I seem to lack. Even in school it is difficult for me to focus on one thing for a large period of time. It is even more difficult for me to remain focused here in a completely different environment full of new things to explore. My stubbornness has been a positive in this instance because it has somehow allowed me to focus on the same, often monotonous, tasks day after day without loss of productivity or excellence. Taking short breaks has also been beneficial to me. It is good for me to be able to get my mind off work for a brief time so that I can start again refreshed.

This experience has blessed and changed me in more ways than I’m probably aware of right now. One of the main ways it has affected my identity as a writer is by confirming that there are many needs writers can fill overseas. I don’t have the slightest clue where I will end up after I graduate, but I know the following: I can freelance from almost anywhere on the globe, and writers are an important and necessary part of almost all organizations. My options are quite limitless in these respects. The only thing that will hold me back in my career is myself, and that’s one thing over which I have nearly complete control (after all, I am not my own). I may not know precisely what my future will look like, but I am positive that writing will be a big part of it.

This experience has also encouraged me to try new things with my writing. I could have potential as a Public Relations writer or even a fiction writer, as I discovered through your [Dr. Hensley’s] Writing Commercial Fiction class this spring. Both of these are things I wouldn’t have thought I was capable of a year ago."

I hope that gives you a bit of insight into just a few of the things I have learned while here. There is still much introspection that needs to be done. I don’t think I’ve even begun to process a lot of what I’ve experienced here because there’s just so much.

Please pray for my travels. I leave here the 12^th and spend two days in Port Moresby. I leave very early in the morning on the 14^th. Pray that my flights will go smoothly, that I won’t miss any of my connections, and that I will be able to get through customs without any problems. Please also pray for safety in Port Moresby as it is one of the most dangerous places in PNG.