HALLELUJAH AND GLORY BE!

25th March 2008

Amazing how little things can cause such indescribable pleasure - yes, I'm sure you've guessed - I've found a toilet cleaner and it actually works! We've been scraping away with a knife and screwdriver and patches of white are emerging - I'll get the b***** white if it's the last thing I do! The cleaner is of Chinese origin and the directions state 'for stubborn stains, scrub with a hairbrush!' My hairbrush isn't going anywhere near that filth, I can assure you.

It's Good Friday and no chocolate to be found in Kundiawa, so we celebrated with fresh strawberries from the market for breakfast - scrummy! I'm glad of a few days break as I'm still struggling with a wretched tummy bug. The antibiotics didn't work, so we were in Madang last week-end for a Monitoring and Evaluation workshop, which gave me the opportunity to see the VSO doc. He diagnosed an amoebic infection and gave me some different pills. Side effects - black wee, nausea, metallic taste in the mouth and worst of all, if you drink alcohol, you're as sick as a dog. I'll save them for when I'm feeling depressed!

The journey to Madang took 10 hours, on roads you just wouldn't believe, considering it's the one and only main road from coast to highlands. It was great fun being in a bus for that long with a tummy bug!! The main event was a very long snake in the middle of the road which had been injured - must have been at least a metre long. It was a beautiful thing and we rescued it from certain death by easing it onto the verge with sticks. At one point on the journey, there was a distinct tension in the atmosphere from the bus crew and I discovered later that we were passing through a known area for raskals, who hijack small buses like ours. We passed through unscathed and I was later told that these gangs were organised by a known criminal, but he had been caught. I asked if he was in prison and the answer was, 'No, they shot him!' - hey ho! The only other hijack we had was from a group of school children who wanted sponsors because their school books had been destroyed by flood and another group of youths who claimed they had filled in pot holes to make the road passable and wanted payment. We also saw a couple of cassowary, in captivity, I'm glad to say. They are like ostriches, but have a nasty talon on their front legs. They're very aggressive and use this talon to gouge out your insides apparently. Not to worry though, I know what to do if one comes for me, run downhill, as they're not so hot going down but a bit nippy on the flat I believe.

I don't like Madang - I find the heat too oppressive. Luckily the conference was held in an air conditioned room, otherwise I think I might have died! We stayed at a beautiful resort just outside Madang, by the sea. I went swimming once and got attacked by sea lice, so that was the end of my venture into the sea. The 10 hour journey back was uneventful - just long, and we were exhausted when we arrived home ( its not so much the distance, as the bone shaking - I'm sure some of my bones have migrated to places they really shouldn't be! Where's Debbie when you need her?) We walked into the house, totally shattered, put our bags down and were about to do a bit of unpacking, when the electricity went off! The torch was packed somewhere in the bag, (the wonderful wind - up one we got for Christmas) so we started searching for candles. Oh my word - John walked into a door, banged his head, tripped over the bag, burnt his fingers on the matches and uttered a few unmentionable words. His mood was not improved by my being doubled up with sheer hysterical laughter - it was all too much!! But the worst of it was, we'd no sooner sorted out some candles and illuminated the place than the bloody lights came back on again! Come on.....laughing's the only remedy! Poor John, grumpy old man's got nothing on him!

We heard that we'd received two parcels from home which Lisa had posted for us. I couldn't work out why John was dribbling at the news and then realised he was getting very excited because he'd asked Lisa to send us some HP sauce 'cos we can't get it here and he thought it might be in the box - (I told you we can get excited over the most trivial of things! ) So he ran down to the post office like a man possessed, but got grumpy again when, having ripped the boxes open with his teeth (couldn't even wait to get his Swiss Army knife out, which usually tends to get whipped out at the slightest opportunity!) he realised that the boxes contained mostly books (which we needed) some exercise equipment (he was not amused by that) and some toiletries.

Work's as frustrating as always. Thursday, (the day after we got back from Madang) was a bad day. I got up at 6.00am, completely knackered, but wanted to let the children know we were back safely but the network wasn't working. Then, we went into school to observe a lesson which had been arranged before we went, only to discover that as it was nearly Easter, the school were having a service (it's Lutheran) and then going home! Thanks for telling us, particularly as in the afternoon we were supposed to attend a departmental meeting! We think they're now taking the micky, so we're going to start getting tough! The teaching methods here are easy peasy. Teacher finds the place in the text book, writes stuff on the board, students copy it down - end of lesson. Text book marked at the correct page for the next lesson which is a repeat performance and the students are tested on it at the end of the week. We're now coming in and introducing outcome based education, where students have to start thinking for themselves, asking questions, working in groups and doing projects and activities which teachers have to prepare. Is it any wonder they don't want to know!

Well they're going to, as we're preparing workshops for them and setting timescales, which is also unheard of. These students are so docile. If a teacher doesn't turn up (which they frequently don't) they just sit there, mostly in silence! So of course the students aren't that keen on lessons where they have to participate and think either - it's much easier just to copy from the board. Well, must get back to my washing - be grateful o ye who own an automatic! The water is off of course, so I have to take a bucket down the steps to the water tank, lug it up the stairs, fill the tub, wash, put clothes into the spinner, then rinse it - with copious more bucketfuls. Takes some getting used to these twin tubs - John came home from market to find me pinioning the tub to the floor whilst being shaken and stirred as the bloody thing was trying to take off out the window!! No problem drying though in this heat.

My week-end is complete! We've taken a chisel and hammer to the loo and it's pristine!! (Hoping John will be able to download some pics for you to see, the first one is of the loo after one cleaning attempt and the other is the final result). Not only that, but the woodwork department have made us a cupboard and some shelves - Christmas has come! We also suggested that over the week-end we might borrow a couple of comfy chairs from the staffroom, as we're still on plastic ones (I'm sure that's why John keeps beating me at Scrabble - I have a constant bum ache!!) and the staff wouldn't need them over the week-end. It's Monday, we've just returned from the market to find one chair on our balcony - pretty grotty but not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Trouble is, there'll be world war two tonight, to decide who's going to sit on it! The locals are baffled by our need for chairs. They don't use them you see, they always sit on the floor in their houses.

Being a religious country (RC and Lutheran), Easter has been observed and celebrated by a great deal of singing. On Friday morning it was beautiful, lyrical and resonant, echoing around the mountains, quite moving. So it continued day and night. By 4am Monday morning I was wishing a pox of laryngitis on the lot of them!

Hope everyone has had a great Easter and the weather has been kind to you. Soon be BBQ time! One last thing to make you jealous - I've got an avocado tree right outside my house. It's just finished flowering, so I shall watch in glee as the fruit forms - avocados here are huge and delicious. We've also got a chilli tree. Did I tell you the strawberries are delicious? I think I did, but thought I'd rub it in a bit more! Oh - I did tell you we are grandparents didn't I? Thought I'd just tell you again, as it's so exciting and Mollie is so beautiful!

Lots of love to you all

Grumpy Old Man and me! XX