5.31

I got to fly today!  LITERALLY!  The plane had only two seats in the front and one in the back and the rest was for stuff (it’s a really really small plane!), but I sat in the front (which is like a co-pilots seat) and the pilot got in and was like “hey do you wanna fly the plane?”  and I was like, “huh?” and he said I could fly the plane, so I did!  He told me how to do it and took it off autopilot and let go of the controls and let me fly!!!!!  YAY!  It was so FUN!  Of course when I got off track he took the controls again, BUT I FLEW A PLANE!!!! 

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May Newsletter

 

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5.27

I have to move out of my house in order not to have to pay rent while Im away at the village, so today I started packing everything…..I HATE PACKING!  Ahahahha!  When I left for PNG  I packed everything the night before.  But I can't do that now because I have to move all my stuff to a friends house for storage, and she said shes not answering the door at 4 in the morning to take all my stuff :(  so I have to pack now…My room is a disaster zone right now!  (yes, it's a different room, I moved to the one with a desk in it….but it's the same house… :D) 

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5.26.11

I got wild honey today!!!!  My roommate went to market and saw wild honey there and new I wanted some, so she bought it for me!  It's an 8oz peanut butter jar filled with the best honey ever!  AND it was only 8 kina, which is like 3 dollars!!!! :D :D :D  Usually honey is really expensive here in the stores, but this was so cheap!!!!  YYYAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

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5.25

I found out today that I will have email in the village from May 31-Aug 2, but not my regular email.  I will be able to upload to my blog (I do it through email) but I wont be able to put pictures.  I will send the email address out with my next newsletter.  Only use it if its an emergency, and make sure it is less than 50kb, or we wont be able to download it.  :D  One thing I am looking forward to in America when I go back is the unlimited internet!  Im addicted….I know……

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Photolog 5.24.11

 

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5.24

There was a good discussion today about the meaning of "right hand".  In the Bible it means strength and power and authority, but each of the groups (6 of them) in TTC2 each told what right hand meant in their language.  One means the person standing next to you, another means someone who is true and good, another is just literal, so when they read about the right hand of God, they imagine someone sitting on him or something.  Theres lots of words and phrases that have a double meaning, that if we just translate word for word, it wouldn't give the right meaning.  Then the groups looked for metaphors in their own languages that mean power and authority. 

(isnt that the coolest looking caterpillar ever?  I didn't take the picture, but its cool ^_^)

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5.23

Over the weekend the TTC2 students had to write a poem/song about the crossing of the red sea in their own language and perform it today.  This is one guy that got really into it!  This groups victory songs in their culture are all about insulting and making fun of the enemy they defeated.  The new song they made was about how the Egyptians couldn't defeat them because they had God, and taunting the Egyptians to come and try to kill them!  At one point they started shaking their butts at us!  It was great :D 

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5.22

One of the language groups in the area finally dedicated their New Testament today!  It's the last language in the area around Ukarumpa to get it, but the 13^th language that was started in PNG!  It took almost 50 years and 3 translation teams to do it.  I don't know what happened to make the process so long, but the people were really excited and happy to finally get it! 

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5.21

This was just a fun day where we got to meet all our friends from POC again and have a party.  Not much happened….

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5.20

This is a picture of us all acted out the crossing of the red sea (and I got to direct YAY!) .  In TTC2 the students have to translate Exodus 15, which is a poem that is sung by Moses and Miriam after the Egyptians have died.  They all learned about different aspects of poetry and analyzed their victory songs in their languages (songs they sing when they win after a battle).  Then we acted out the story of Exodus 14 to get them in the mood to write new victory songs in their language and then to translate the Ex 15.  AHAHAHA, all the students were the Israelites and we staff were Egyptians, and when we all died they started singing their victory songs, they got really into it!  It was fun!  :D

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5.19

Today I worked on the Graduation Program for the TTC Course.  They graduate on June 8^th, so Im not going to be there :(  After the ceremony they will have a giant mumu, which is a feast of pig, chicken, veggies and amazingness all cooked in the ground. Mmmmmm……..

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5.18

The TTC students learned a bunch of ways to use their new scriptures today. They learned about Story telling, which is about telling the Bible stories in dynamic ways to catch peoples attentions, and it becomes like their traditional stories that aren’t written, but memorized by everyone. They also learned about dramas, and how to do dramas in churches. They practiced a short and condensed version on the book of Ruth and it was hilarious!!!

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5.17

Every morning they have a lesson in Bible Background to help them understand better the texts they are reading and translating. These are some of the posters that were made and hung up around the class to tell the whole storyline of the Bible.

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5.16

Well, we made up for the rainless day yesterday!  Its been pouring non stop, and no naps today.  I didnt have much to do at the Translation workshop (because they are learning to be independent) so I started working on the phonology project for the Aitape West Team.  There are 4 languages that need help and today I started listening to the word lists for one of them and transcribing the words.  Im looking for tones, and then I will compare them to each other once they are all transcribed. :D

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5.15

This was the first day it did not rain since I got here.  Just so everyone knows, its technically the start of the dry season......AHAHAHA!  The first few days I barely even saw the sun because it rained all the time, but for today its not raining (although rainy Sunday afternoons are the best for napping!)

 

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5.14

Every few months the teenagers in Ukarumpa put on an "everything sale".  Its like a giant garage sale.  They collect stuff for weeks and then set it all up in the teen center to sell.  It was a madhouse in there!  I looked around and there were people crowding the clothes section and clothes were just flying everywhere.  Then on the way out there were some Papua New Guinean women reselling what they had bought inside to people that didnt get anything!  AHAHAHAH!  

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5.13

I went back to work today!  YAY!  The class has done a lot in my few days away.  They started learning some Hebrew, Bible background and have started the second chapter of Genesis.  They are learning to work more independently now because they won't be able to take us back to their villages with them.  Its great to see the progress!

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5.12

 

We went to Kainantu today, which is a town about 30 minutes away from Ukarumpa.  It has stores, market, etc, like Madang town but very much not like Madang town too.  In Madang the sun is shining, the ocean is right there, people smile/laugh when they see you, and are generally really really nice.  To me it has a happy kind of feel to it.  Kainantu is very different.  It was cloudy and rainy, people don't smile at you or seem to like you for no reason.  I felt kind of oppressive to me.  I was glad to leave.  My massive allergy attack the whole time there didn't help either.  I could barely keep my eyes open.  Anyways, tomorrow I start work again YAY!  :)

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5.11

 

Another day of orientation and lots of stuff to do.  I had to go to the store to get supplies for the village, take money out of the bank for the PMV rides and the next 2 months, go to the housing department to request to move out of my house on the 31^st, pack my village things, find a scale, weigh all my stuff (it has to be very specific, down to the last kilo…) and then send all the info to the aviation department!  *WHEW!*

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5.10

 

I had orientation again today, boring things.  The exciting/not so exciting thing is that I got my flight confirmation for May 31^st to go out to the village.  Its exciting because it means its really near and its going to happen!  The not so exciting thing is that its really expensive.  Every single kilo costs a certain amount, so you have to weigh yourself and your baggage, its not like the flights in America where you can wear all your clothes on your body and stuff as much as you can in a carry on for free, EVERYTHING is weighed and charged.  I have to pack up all my stuff and weigh it for them to know the exact amount as soon as possible. 

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5.9

 

I tried to use skype today and it didn't work!  :(  I wanted to say happy mothers day to my mommy but I couldn't *TEARS*  (its mothers day in the states now, we are a day ahead) dumb internet….too many people on at the same time I guess.  I tried to go on early in the morning, but I think lots of people had the same idea because it was mothers day.  Anyways….HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOMMY! :D :D :D

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5.8

 

In the village we will also be hiking to distribute some copies of the recently printed book of Luke, and doing a translation workshop to help national PNGers learn to analyze their language and Bible and translate for themselves :D  After two months I will go back to Ukarumpa to work on my projects there and come back again in September to the village I think.  :D  (here is a picture of a piece of translation in progress in one of the languages there)

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5.7

 

So I got some tentative plans for the next few months.  On May 31^st I will leave Ukarumpa and go to Sandaun province, to join a project called the Aitape West Translation Team.  If some of you met me from a church presentation (and remember) I showed a video about a people group that was half wiped out by a tsunami.  Then the translation project moved inland and about 9 or 10 other neighboring language groups wanted to join and have translation projects started in their languages.  Well, this created something called a Multilanguage Translation Project and is one of the biggest in the country now.  This is the group I am going to help.  I am going to work on some phonology analysis to help them with alphabets and spellings for their languages and Bibles! :D :D :D  I will be there for 2 months :D (more info tomorrow) (this is a picture of some of the nationals working on translation in that project)

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5.6

 

I started Ukarumpa orientation today.  Its basically to help us get situated here.  Anyways, this is the house that I live in.  Its like your basic American house, and even has American plugs in it!  Its huge, three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, laundry room and basement.  Apparently it's the singles party house too AAHAHA.  But yeah, its huge. 

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5.5

 

The translation teams started their translations today, working on Genesis 1-8.  They did research last night to prepare them for the translation today.  I helped the Nankina language group and after an hour they had finished the first 2 verses.  They translated it quickly into their language, but what took the longest was retranslating into English again for checking.  They didn't have to do that just yet because that's next weeks assignment, and when I told them that they all had a look of relief on their faces.  Then they said that now their translation was going to go much faster because I helped them, but all I did was give a suggestion.  O well, if they thought I was useful then I am happy.

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5.4

 

Today I started work already.  I am helping in translation class for Papua New Guineans as a mentor.  The class is meant to Papua New Guinean translators learn about Bible background/history, how to analyze their language, how to do research in different English, Greek, Hebrew and Tok Pisin Bibles and translate to their language.  It's a month long course and I might be there the whole month and I might not, I don't know yet.  My job in the class is to help the teams in whatever way they want without doing the work for them.  There different kinds of teams here, ones with a missionary that speaks English and independent ones that started their translation projects on their own and don't have a missionary.  Im mostly helping the ones that don't have a missionary because they have the difficulty of not know much English (most of the good resources on Greek and Hebrew are in English, so they have to look at those to make the best translation possible.)

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5.3

 

I came to Ukarumpa today.  Its really cold up here, especially when you just came from the coast where its always in the 90s with 100% humidity.  The ride up here was really long, about 7 and a half hours.  We sat in the back of the new dyna on the floor on foam to pad our butts.  It was fun until bees started flying in and I freaked out.  When we finally got here I was exhausted, but I met my roommate and co worker.  Then at night we went to a welcome dinner for a Translation Training Course for Papua New Guineans that I am going to be helping with tomorrow.

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5.2

 

Last day in POC.  I packed up all my stuff and put it on the back of the new dyna to bring to Ukarumpa tomorrow.  Then we didn't have anything else to do and just watched movies.  Anyways, this is another picture from village living, me getting dressed up for a singsing.

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5.1

 

My sister graduated from UF today!  (actually it was the 30^th, but we are a day ahead).  I walked around all morning waiting for her to call me.  She is not very happy that she had to suffer through my boring graduation service and I didn't have to for hers.  I was sad I couldn't go *tears* O well.  She is going to send me a picture with me photoshopped into it BAHAHAHA!!!  

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April Newsletter

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