4.30

This is a picture of a kid holding a snake.  Most people here in Papua New Guinea are terrified of snakes.  My Waspapa will run away if he even sees a picture of one on our camera!  But this kid wasn't afraid.  He would take his pet snake out to the road and scare all the kids walking to school early in the morning, or chase people in our village with it.  It was fun.  He tried to scare me with it but I took it and put it around my neck and my Waspapa freaked out.  Its not a poisonous snake, and it doesn't bite.  I don't know what kind it is.

Read more »

4.29

First day back from the village and we had lots of story time. We were only allowed to tell one story from our time because if not it would take too much time. I told the story of how my Waspapa didn’t understand the concept of dessert and I baked at least 20 cakes in 5 weeks. If I go to the village again to work on a language team, I am NOT baking that much. You have no idea how much time it takes to bake a cake over a fire one by one and make enough for a village to have even one piece.

Read more »

4.28

Came back to POC today. It was hard leaving our village family. They were so nice and looked after us so great. I cried when I left and so did our wasfemili. Our Waspapa has already called us 4 times today to tell us he almost broke his phone in a crying rage when he got our text that we were back in POC, or to tell us he was crying looking at our house. Its sad :( Life in the village is so monotonous and then they suddenly get these two Americans to look after for 5 weeks. We literally became their children to them and then we have to leave. :(

Read more »

4.27

This is our last day in the village. We gave our wasfemili their gifts and they were really excited about them. Our Waspapa didn’t want anything but my Tok Pisin Bible because he didn’t have one. We gave the kids a soccer ball and lots of toys, a kids Bible and comic books, we gave them our mattresses and our pot oven too. I also left all my clothes for them (except the ones Im wearing out AHAHAHA! Although I guess I could wear my grass skirt and bilum!) They’ve given us so many bilums and singsing decorations too. I have a clay pot that they usually give as part of a bride price and they killed a pig in our honor. Im going to be sad to leave them. Our family is already crying thinking about us leaving :(

Read more »

Photolog 4.26.11

Read more »

4.26

Today we had a big goodbye feast for us. Apparently I didn’t make enough cakes yesterday (6 of them) , so I went to another village to use someones drum oven and made 8 more. Then we gave them the rest of our rice and soy sauce because they wanted to make fried rice. There was so much food and then they killed a pig for us! The plates they gave us were so huge, like a weeks worth of food that I couldn’t possibly eat even if I was starving. We had to save it too because they wouldn’t eat our left overs. They usually take it back but because they killed the pig for us, they wouldn’t this time. I dried the leftover pork to fry tomorrow and give away (they would eat it tomorrow, but not today….i dunno why?)

Read more »

4.25

When we first got to the village there were 4 puppies, but they gave 2 away. Now the two left have become my friends and the village people don’t beat them as much because they know I don’t like it when they do. I gave them names, one is cheeto because he has a curly tail and the other is El Calcetine (which means sock in Spanish) because he has a white paw (and they like asking me words in Spanish for some reason). Anyways, they are the mangiest, scraggliest, skinniest, flea ridden little things you’ve ever seen (which makes me like them even more). So today I decided to give them a bath in the river (since they follow me every where I go after I gave them my Mumut in secret) . It was fun and now they are clean and I can pet them with my fingers instead of rubbing their ears with a stick ^_^

Read more »

4.24

Today is Easter and its unlike any Easter Ive ever had before. At home we have a big feast at church and an egg hunt for the kids and do the egg carton Easter story. I had plans to make cross necklaces for everyone in our village out of nails, but we couldn’t make them work without welding them (we thought tying them with rope would work, but it didn’t. Any suggestions, has anyone ever done them before?) I really wish we could have. Then we wanted to do the egg carton easter story where each spot in the egg carton in a piece of the story (like a nail in one egg to represent the nails in Jesus’ hands,etc.) But our friends who we were going to do it with left the village early because one of them got malaria. So we couldn’t do anything fun really other than talk about the Jesus video we saw a few weeks ago. :(

Read more »

4.23

Here is a picture of our wasfemili. We finally got them all to sit down together and take a picture. The two in the middle at the top are our Wasmama and Waspapa. Their first daughter isn’t in the picture because she lives in another village. Their second is the girl on the bottom right holding the bilum shes making, the third is on the left of Waspapa, the fourth is the boy blowing bubbles on the bottom left, the fifth and sixth are the two in the middle, they are twins. The girl on the top right is a cousin who lives with them.

Read more »

4.22

Everyone here eats something called buai. It’s a nut that grows on a palm tree that gives an energy boost like caffeine. They shell the nut out, take this green pepper (not hot) dip it in dried and powdered sea shells and eat it all together. It makes your mouth red and they call it the lipstick of Papua New Guinea. If you have a red mouth and teeth its considered attractive. SO I ate one to see what it tasted like. Its disgusting. Gross. I cant even describe it, but the taste is awful and you have to spit it (you don’t swallow it). Apparently on your first try it makes you sweat and dizzy (which it does). It was gross……ewwwWWW!

Read more »

4.21

Today I was sick. I woke up feeling ok and then my stomach started to hurt and I threw up a few times. My Waspapa saw me throw up and came over and started asking me if I had a fever, if I was cold, if my head hurt and then, not even waiting for me to answer the questions, he diagnosed me with malaria. He made me go in the house and sleep all day. I was dead tired and my body hurt all over, so I didn’t object to that, but lots of people came from other villages and heard I had malaria! It wasn’t malaria, it was probably just something I was allergic to or something, I dunno. Anyways, I was glad I got to sleep all day :D

Read more »

4.20

Today we went to another singsing and got decorated to the exteme! They use a seed that has some red squishy stuff inside and mix it with coconut grease to make a paint to paint themselves red. They said they were only going to put a little on us, but I didn’t know that what they actually meant by that was it only takes a little bit of paint to turn you all red because you have white skin. They painted every inch of my face, arms and legs red! We got to wear our grass skirts and our headdresses and armbands today too! They gave us necklaces and perfume leaves too. Then they wanted us to take our shirts off (because they just go around topless, its nothing to them) But I said no and they put a bilum on me to cover my shirt as another decoration! AHAHHA! It was fun, but I didn’t want to actually singsing and dance because the red sweat would have ruined the bilum :D

Read more »

Photolog 4.19.11

Read more »

4.19

Today we went to town again to meet with all the other POC students and hear some of their village stories. The time we went to town before we had passed by the restaurant we were going to eat at, so I already knew how expensive it would be. Before we went I went to the store and bought a sandwich for about $1.50 US and then went to market to by an avocado and some peanuts and fruit. Then I ate that at the restaurant were a single coke was more expensive than my whole meal. YAY for being cheap! :D But it was fun to see the others and hear some of their stories.

Read more »

4.18

This is a picture of a mumut. They say the English name is Bendegut, but Ive never heard of that before. It’s a giant bush rat basically. Very cute. But they eat it. And its taste is not cute. Its so strong and has a bad smell (at least I think it does, my roommate thought it was ok). It was not pleasant to eat. But they really like it. Their jungle has been cut down a lot by a logging company, so the huge huge trees are all gone, the trees that were the homes of all the animals they used to eat, like wild pigs, birds, (theres a giant one called a Muruk that lays an egg the size of an ostrich egg!). But all these are gone now, and all the rivers are polluted so fish are all dead. This mumut, bush rat, is one of the only things they can get if they don’t want to kill their own pigs and chickens (which are mostly used for bride prices).

Read more »

4.17

Today we went to another village to talk to some relative of our Waspapa. (I don’t know how hes related exactly, but usually everyone we meet is introduced as brother….) He is trying to start something to get more tourists in the area. He wants an arrangement with a tourist company to get a tour to the caves I wrote about before and get singsing groups to perform for people that come on “big ships” I don’t know what kind of big ships he was trying to talk about, but I thought of cruise ships (the only big ships I know that have tourists). I don’t know if there are cruises that go to PNG. Anyways, he wanted me to talk to the government and get their help. I didn’t know how to respond to something like that so I said I don’t have that kind of power and that he should probably talk to the companies first and get their opinions of things. How do you answer something like that? I don’t know anything about tourism and PNG government/economics. O well, I hope I was at least a little helpful....I felt bad not being able to help….this is a picture of the singsing area he is preparing.

Read more »

4.16

Our Wasmama is still sick and has been for a long time. He knees are swollen and she can hardly walk and she’s lost a ton of weight (PNG women are considered beautiful if they are fat). She has tried going to the doctors, but they don’t have medicine, and she doesn’t want to go to the hospital because its too far away and shes afraid of needles and stuff. So today they had a local village “doctor” come. The doctor ordered them to have a pig killed, cooked in special sauce and herbs and things (one was ginger that I tasted). Then he said some words over it (not as in a prayer) and gave it to her. They said in three days she should be better. I didn’t see the actual ceremony, only the pig killing, which makes me never want to eat pork again by the way….The screaming is still in my head

Read more »

4.15

Yesterday in town we bought some dye to color our grass skirts. Before they used to use a plant and boil it with the plant to make it red, but now they just use the dye in the market because its easier. Today we boiled our grass skirts with the dyes and they came out fushia colored YAY! Then we tied some more ropes and died other parts black. They used to use mud for the black dye.

Read more »

4.14

Today we went to town to the big market to sell food. When we got off the PMV everyone thought it was the best thing that two white women were going to sell garden vegetables in the market with them. We set up our place near the fence (we don’t get a choice) and then everyone came to the fence and stared at us, saying “There’s two white women selling in the market!” They loved coming and asking us how much the things were and seeing if we would answer them in Tok Pisin, and when we did they were really happy (even if they didn’t buy stuff) Its hard to sell stuff in the market when everyone around you is selling the exact same thing. But I sold all the pit pit, all the little cooking bananas (bananas you cook instead of eating raw…not sweet, kinda like a plantain but less sweet?) and all the coconuts. :D YAY! It was fun. Then we went home and dyed our skirts because we bought the dye at the market.

Read more »

4.13

Today we went to the local market to sell coconuts. Our village has tons of coconuts and on Wednesdays they climb trees and throw some done to sell at the school market. They shell the husks off so there is just the inside, which you cut a bit off the top with a knife and you drink the coconut water. Its so good. Its like a natural Gatorade with lots of electrolytes and vitamins. Anyways, when the school kids have lunch they can come and buy little things from the market and they bought all the coconuts super quick! :D YAY! What Evelyn is holding is one of these coconuts.

Read more »

Photolog 4.12.11

Read more »

4.12

The directors came to visit us today in the village. It was fun to talk to them and they brought us desserts and cold sodas! YAY! I had made them a cake the day before, but a rat got in and ate it :( GRRR!!!!

Read more »

4.11

I finished tying all the designs on my grass skirt today, kinda like doing tiedye or something. You tie some sections off then dye it one color, they tie off more sections and dye it another. The design we are doing comes from a bird in the jungle that they like a lot. It is red with black and white stripes, so their grass skirts mimic these designs. For headdresses they use their feathers or cockatoo or bird of paradise feathers. Everything they make comes from nature. Its so cool!

Read more »

4.10

We went to cut grass skirts today. Well, I didn’t do any of the cutting because its scary. The grass actually comes from a young palm frond of the sago tree. They cut the shoot then open it and skin the new leaves and dry them. Cutting the shoots its scary work though. The sago tree has huge needles three inches long running up the trunk and tiny needles on the skin of the shoot. Our Waspapa was on branch propped up against one of these trees and he fell down! We ran and saw him lying on the ground and holding his shoulder. Luckily its not broken. He lied on the ground for a while and then he started praying! He was praying and thanking God for saving him. (the picture is of the food you can make from a sago tree)

Read more »

4.9

This is my clay pot that someone gave us! Before they had pots from the store they used these clay pots to cook their food. Its part of their bride prices. When a man wants to buy a wife he makes clay pots and wooden bowls and plates and trays and fill them with chickens and gives them to the woman’s family along with pigs. The clay pot makes to the food taste slightly different, a little more minerally and earthy. It was yummy :D

Read more »

4.8

We went to our first singsing today! We borrowed some grass skirts from the little museum and got some necklaces and arm bands and leaves and flowers put on us. A singsing is like a big celebration, and the men all play little drums and dance in patterns and sing in their language in the middle, while the women dance around them in a big circle. This wasn’t a real singsing, the village just has a singsing group that goes into town sometimes to perform for tourists or contests to get money. It was fun, but really HOT! I was sweating so much, it was gross, but fun at the same time!

Read more »

4.7

Today we went to bring the generator and Jesus video stuff to other POC students in another village a ways away. We got on the PMV and rode to the junction about 2 miles away. Then we met them there and walked to their village. They were teaching their village how to make bread, so we got to eat some of it YAY! And then they gave us oreos YUM!

Read more »

4.6

One of the things we wanted to do in our village living time is show the Jesus video. (We borrowed the POC generator, dvd player, projector and set up a screen in the middle of the village to show it) The Jesus video is a video of the book of Luke that is translated into languages along with the Bible to be shown to them. Unfortunately our village doesn’t have a translation in their language, so we showed the Tok Pisin video. There were more than a hundred, make 150 people that came from all over the place! It was great! I just wish that it could have been in their language for them to understand better.
(I couldn’t take a picture of the set up because it was too dark, so I took a picture of the spring where we get drinking water from)

Read more »

Photolog 4.5.11

Read more »

4.5

This is a picture of a cave we went to visit yesterday. Its not really a cave and more of like a narrow ravine? The water going in gets really deep and turns into sulfur water, which smelt like boiled eggs. Inside the ravine twists and turns and you can hear water falls and flying foxes. Before they had stores to buy salt from they used this sulfur water as salt. I didn’t try to taste it, but they say it tastes just like salt. I didn’t want to go in too far either because there were snakes and I didn’t want to walk back an hour and a half to our village all wet.

Read more »

4.4

Some of the POC staff came to see us and talk to us today. The most exciting thing is that I got my package! YAY! The package has my new computer cord and battery for my pore dying computer back at POC. It will be another month before I can test it, but I got YAY! My package also had sandals (which are almost impossible to find in my size here) and tea and baking soda (which they don’t have in Madang for some reason) and hot chocolate packages!!!!!! YUMMY!

Read more »

4.3

One of the men in the village next to us has made a tiny museum or cultural center with lots of artifacts from the area. There are clay pots, bows and arrows, spears, wooden dishes, head dresses, and garamuts. A garamut is a long tree trunk that they hollow out with a little cut at the top. Then they hit the side of it with a stick and you can hear it miles away! They used to use that as a “mobile phone system” before. Each person has a specific pattern or rhythm as a name and when someone beats that pattern it means come home or if the person is already home it means they have died.

Read more »

4.2

Today I taught people again how to make pumpkin bread and banana bread. I made seven of them, one at a time in my little pot oven. It took forever, it was sweltering hot (not to mention the fire!) but it was fun. People don’t seem to understand the concept of dessert however. When they eat, its in qualities that only an obese man at a buffet could rival! My Waspapa always wants me to make more because a PNG person could eat one or two whole cakes by himself. I told him if he wanted that many cakes he would have to make them himself because it’s a lot of work!

Read more »

4.1

Today is April Fool’s day and like always I forgot. But the villagers were nice and didn’t play any tricks on us. It would have been really easy though because we don’t know much! They knew about it thgout and played tricks on each other! It was funny, one lady came all the way from another village just to play a trick on another lady in ours! She said that the girls husband wanted to see her, (he lives in another village until he can build a house for them) so the girl went all the way to the other village and he was surprised to see her! AHAHAHAHA! (this is the girl that was fooled!)

Read more »