1.26

Today is my first official day here! We had a short shopping trip in town to buy things like toiletries and cell phones (it was super cheap! Only 50 kina, which is about 20ish US! Then all you do it buy phone cards/credits and it depends where and when you call how many credits you use) It’s really only for emergencies and to call my family once a week.

Anyways, we went into town on a “dyna” which is like a big pickup truck with three rows of benches on the back and a tin roof. It was fun! We live up on a mountain and the only road is a dirt road that twists and turns and has lots of whole and goes along cliffs and through the jungle, so it was fun to see all the views and feel all the bumps, like a ride in a theme park! There’s this one stretch that especially looks like the jungle boat cruise in Disney World (minus the lions and dead zebras, none of those in PNG).

In town we went to a few stores. There are a few catch all type stores (kinda like Wal-Mart but much much smaller, maybe more like a family dollar or big lots with food sections.) There were some surprising things I didn’t expect to be here! You can buy lots of Johnson and Johnson baby products, Indonesian made Oreos, Fruit Loops, etc! There isn’t too much variety in a lot, like soap or something only has a few brands, but I find it so much easier to shop here than in the US because I don’t have to think about the different brands. There’s an entire aisle devoted to toothpaste in a Wal-Mart each screaming buy me, but here there’s Colgate and PNG brand. (I like PNG brand cuz it’s cheaper ^_^)