2.8

This is a picture of the shower in the dorm area. The bucket is for hot water because there is no hot water coming out of the shower head like in the US. There is a shower head but you can’t really see it because it’s behind the bucket, but it’s there and it’s always cold water. The temperature depends on the temperature outside, so if it’s rainy all day, like today, it’s really cold, but if it’s hot and sunny all day it’s kinda nice. Anyways, there is a water tank above a fire place behind the bathroom, and if you want hot water, you just light the fire (it’s lit twice a day or you can light it if you want a shower at a random time or if the fire goes out) and wait a little while. The hot water is pumped to a spigot in the bathroom and you put a bucket under that then pour out all that water into the shower bucket. The shower bucket has a little shower head on the bottom that you turn if you want to release the water or close it. It’s actually a good bit of water. You normally can’t wash your hair in one bucket (especially if it’s long), but it’s good for a regular shower. I’m too lazy so I always take a cold shower except for today because it was rainy and overcast all day and the water was freezing :)

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2.7

This is the sign to enter POC. I've never been so happy to see this sign before!

I am sooooOOOOo EXHAUSTED!!! Today was really hard, but I feel so happy! In the morning we went to town with our Tok Pisin teachers and a list of things to buy for the kitchen. We had to use our Tok Pisin in the market to find all the things and how much they cost. Our group had to buy green onions, brown onions, kawawa(ginger), bata(avocado), suga(sugar cane), carrots, corn, pitpit(this isn’t in the states, its hard to describe, but it’s a starchy veggie that looks like corn on the outside and potato on the inside?). It was fun, but sooo sunny and hot. Our dyna was down so we all squeezed into the back of 3 pick-up trucks (Toyota Hilux-don’t think they have those in the states either). But it was fun!

Then we went on a big hike in the afternoon. We walked all the way down the mountain to a fish cannery. POC is about 1500 feet high, and it was a long winding twisting up and down road. We only had to walk down, which was pretty hard. I used flipflops because the hiking shoes I have hurt my feet. After we got to the bottom we had the option to walk back up. When I said I wanted to walk back up everyone laughed (seriously, they laughed and were like “what?! Ange’s walking back up?!” :( dislike!) But I didn’t care, I did it anyways. We started as a group but I stopped after like 3 feet and had someone fix my shoes for me and realized afterwards that I was like 100ft behind everyone! I wanted to run to catch up, but I knew I would die on the way up then. So I walked slow and eventually met some stragglers a few minutes later. We were the slow group but we made it all the way up! GO UNDERDOGS! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me though. As soon as we got to the top and saw the center there was a big rainbow waiting for us!

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2.6

The first part of the day we went to a local church at the very top of the mountain. It was mostly in Tok Pisin, the trade language, and some of the “tok ples” (mother tongue) of the mountain (called Nobnob). The Nobnob people have a New Testament in their language, but they are still working on translating the Old Testament. They are also making song books and other things to use in their language. I didn’t understand anything, but it was interesting seeing all the people. The church is small and has simple wood benches. Men sit on one side and women on the other and most of the children sat in the front next to the guitar player. The songs were the highlight of the service and EVERYONE sang! It was fun ^_^

Then in the afternoon we had the option again to go to the resort for snorkeling. It’s called Jais Aben and looks like a completely different world from the mountain. There’s manicured lawns and little houses you can rent (WITH AC!). But we couldn’t go in those because we didn’t pay. We just went to lounge in their restaurant and snorkel. I took some pictures with my underwater camera! The top one is part of a bright blue starfish and the bottom is a close up of some super bright yellow coral!

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2.5

We finished our “haus kuk”s today! It was raining all day, so it was nice and cool, but we got so dirty! You can see in the picture the table we made and the counter for chopping and whatever. In town we have to get linoleum (like the tiles you can put on your floor) and put them on the counter as a good surface for making bread and cutting veggies and stuff. On Wednesday we’re going in to town to get all our food for the weekend and on Friday we have a bread making class! :D

On “haus kuk” weekends we can’t use the center’s internet, so I won’t be able to update. That’s why I also didn’t update this weekend. Even though its not an official “haus kuk” weekend, I didn’t want to get used to it and then have to stop. There also won’t be any updates while I’m away at village living for 5 weeks because there won’t be power for my laptop, let alone internet. :D

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2.4

We started to build our “haus kuk”s (like outdoor kitchens) today. You can see the structure in the picture. There are no nails at all, its all twine (well, ours is plastic twine, the demonstration one done by the nationals was made of real twine found in the jungle). I GOT TO USE A MACHETE (we call it a bush knife ^_^) I tried to cut some pieces of wood, but Im not that good yet (the workmen can do it in like 3 strikes!) We got it eventually though. Then we stuck the big pieces in the ground and made the structure. We tied the tarp down and prayed it wouldn’t fall over! Tomorrow we are making the benches and tables and whatever else to make it fun! :D :D :D

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