2.12

Today was the first “haus kuk” weekend where we cook our own food outdoors over open fires. No, we don’t have to hunt our own meat or scrounge the jungle for our veggies and fruits, climbing coconut trees! We started the day by walking a little ways up the mountain to see the market ladies waiting for the dyna to take them down to the bottom market. We bought some fruit and went back. Then we tried to make our fire :( It took a LOT of matches :( TEARS! Eventually we gave in and used some kerosene (teehee!) The nationals that taught us made it look so easy! They take their bush knife and cut long thin strips of kindling from a piece of wood, then take one match and it’s a blazing fire! But me, I chop at the wood getting little fleks of kindling for like 20 minutes, then I used half a box of matches trying to get even a little flame going. Then of course it goes out and I do that about 10 more times until I give up and just spray a bit of kerosene on and throw a match at it :( FAIL!

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2.11

This is the translation house on the edge of the POC campus. The language on this side of the mountain is called Nobnob. It has a New Testament and some worship and song books. The translators are also working on the Old Testament now. They say that it’s all be translated, and now all that’s left is to take it to the villages for checking, revise it, check again, revise and print! They are hoping that they can get done in the next few years because of the main national translators is getting very old (in his mid-late 70s) and they want him to see the whole Bible before he dies. He still walks up the mountain to work on it at the translation house every day though!

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2.10

This is a really cool moth that looks like a leaf! Sorry, it has nothing to do with the post, but it was super cool. (and I couldn’t get a picture of my wasfamili)

Anyways, today we met our wasfamilis (wasfamili literally mean watch family). They are the people who will be caring for us in the village when we do our first village visit (Next Thursday), and village overnight stays. The people doing the six week course (not me) will be having the family they met today as their host for the village living phase. People doing the longer course are having a different family in a village farther away. It was kind of awkward to meet them because I don’t know much Tok Pisin, but it was fun at the same time. Our waspapa and wasmama brought their 3 kids, nephew (who they consider a son I think) and the wasmama’s brother, so 6 people total. We had food and talked (tried to talk) and played uno. I brought my camera with me but forgot to get a picture of them. :( But that’s ok, next week we are going to their house, so I will take lots :D

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2.9

This is the inside of the dining room, which I will be missing a lot this weekend! :( We have our “haus kuk” weekend starting Saturday and we have to cook all our own food on fire we built all ourselves and in our houses we built ourselves! Me and my roomies have split the next 3 weeks so that each of us is responsible for a weekend. This weekend Lindy is making rice and peanut sauce and pancakes for dinner, eggs for breakfast and PB an J for lunches. Next weekend is mine and we are also having a kaukau(a type of sweet potato) cook off. I haven’t completely decided what I’m going to make, but I hope it will be yummy! (and I really want to win the bag of M&M’s as the prize!) Anyways, I won’t have internet on the weekend again, but I will post pictures and stuff on Monday (if the internet cooperates….its kinda cranky sometimes!).

YAY! Lukim yu gen! (See you later!)

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PhotoLog 2.8.11

This is from Jais Aben, a local beach resort that you can go to for free and spend a few hours snorkeling (you have to pay to go to the pool or the houses though!)

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