LAND OF THE UNEXPECTED

30th February 2009

They call PNG the 'Land of the Unexpected', but sadly, it's all been a bit predictable so far!We were due to meet with the Senior Secondary Inspector the day after we arrived back from UK - we waited for an hour - no show.The start date of term was postponed for a week - why?We know not.This week has been teacher resumption week - they have a whole week in school to prepare.It consisted of the most diabolical staff meeting I've ever attended (John got stroppy and told the chairman, who was using his position to air his own views, to do the job properly, keep his views to himself and let others have their say), so that got the term off to a good start!! Students start on Monday (it is now Friday evening) and, thanks to John and no-one else, the timetable is almost finished.Staff have gone home now of course, and no-one knows for sure what or who they'll be teaching on Monday morning, so I have this wild premonition that no teaching will be done!Some classrooms have no desks in them and are in a disgusting state, as no cleaning has been done over the holidays, no-one has bought any exercise books and the timetable isn't finished, so happy days!!John has discovered a few more expletives up his sleeve and steam seems to have been re-generated over the holiday!!

We did our best to persuade Mr Notaclue (who has, incidently, been moved on) to get the timetable done at the end of last term, which he agreed was a good idea, but surprisingly, no action was taken.Parents and students were meant to turn up on Thursday and Friday to register, pay their fees and choose their option subjects.Come Thursday morning, no option subjects had been decided upon, so we suggested it might be a good idea to have a senior staff meeting to decide on them.That took most of the morning, whilst parents and students were waiting outside to pay fees etc - unbelievable!I can just picture English parents standing in silence in the hot sun from 8.30am to midday without complaint!!I don't think so! Then there was the In - Service session, conducted by Mr Incompetent.It consisted of going round the room, asking each teacher to read a paragraph on ethics, after which he repeated what they had said and moved on to the next teacher - riveting stuff!!This was followed by what can only be described as a 'rant' by the Chaplain about the Church Code of Ethics.At one point he said, 'Now that we can no longer beat the s*** out of students, they must be punished in other ways', a true Christian attitude methinks! Rev Weakness is still here as head, with Mr Incompetent as Deputy.The Senior Subject Teacher is a woman who has been promoted within the school and she's good, so things are looking up.

With the postponement of the start of term, we've had a bit of breathing space to prepare work for the year.It's going to be a gruelling one.Week after next, we have to go down to Madang (10 hours on a PMV!) and do battle with the humidity and malarial mosquitos.We have a workshop and then return, accompanied by 7 high ranking dudes from the National Department of Education who are coming up to Simbu to see what we're doing - so we hope they like what they see and don't give us the boot.As with the National Curriculum in England, there has been a lot of dissent from parents and various politicians about the new curriculum, so they're going to take a look at how it's working or not.Following closely on that, we are running a conference for new graduate teachers and then a two-day workshop, preparing resources and looking at teaching activities for a new subject on the curriculum called Personal Development (PSE for those teachers amongst you).Then a 3 day conference for headteachers on the School Learning Improvement Plan, which we're running with the Senior Secondary Inspector.Then our own programme gets going for real.That involves 3X2 day conferences for headteachers followed up by visiting every school in the Province once a fortnight for a full day.This visit will involve working with the management team, observing lessons and giving feedback and finally finishing with a workshop, either for the whole staff or delivering training for Heads of Department.So, we're not going to have much breathing space, as John and I will also be working with our host school in between times.

We're expecting three new volunteers at the end of Feb, two of which will be working in the secondary schools with us, so that will ease the load a bit. Still, it means we won't have too much time to realise how much we're missing our family.We haven't taken any pictures this year yet (we have a new camera) so the piccies are of beautiful Mollie with Bubu Man andBubu Meri (grandfather and grandmother).We didn't enjoy spending time with her one bit of course!!We've been living the high life since we've been back.One of our number left to-day to return to UK after his 2 year stint and he had a party last Saturday night, which was great fun.A pig was duly slaughtered - Mmmmmm and tons of banana cake baked by the local women, truly rib sticking stuff. It wasn't that riotous, as we were in bed by 10.30. It did start at 6pm though, as we had to walk there before it got dark and then got a lift home.Then, this Sunday we have been invited for lunch with a Canadian guy who works for a disability charity.Quite a social life!

When we first arrived back in Kundiwa (thankfully accompanied by all our baggage), the house seemed in good order, no sign of a cockroach anywhere!However, we went to turn the gas on, as we had no electricity, only to discover that the gas tank had disappeared!John stormed off to 'investigate' and discovered that it had been 'borrowed' by our neighbour (Mr Incompetent).We did nothing and soon the aforesaid gentleman turned up with a new tank, looking a bit sheepish and relating a story about a 'stealim man' who had tried to take our tank but had left it on the ground - yeah right!!However, we got a replacement, so that was OK.We received a warm welcome back from neighbours and our first shopping trip took forever, as every other person stopped to shake hands or give us a hug and wanted to know why we looked so white, where we'd been, what we'd done and when we got back!We talked of ice and snow but that is a foreign concept to them, nevertheless they nodded politely!

One of our number, Ben, a Phillipino, spent Christmas on his own in his school (boarding) which is quite remote.He was very nervous of staying on his own, as the two clans near him were fighting.He told us that they arranged a place and time to fight (with guns), but when one side ran out of ammunition, they abandoned the fight until another day, so I'm not entirely sure how the fight could be won? He survived unscathed, but I don't think he got out much.Another man got literally chopped to pieces recently, having been convicted of sorcery by a kangaroo court.Parliament is looking to revise the Sorcery Act of 1991, as it isn't being enforced apparently.

We did 2000 miles when we were home (courtesy of a loaned car from Ric and Jo).It was marvellous spending time with friends and family and we were spoilt rotten by everyone and appreciated how welcome everyone made us feel.It really was a marvellous holiday, despite the exorbitant cost of air travel, dental and medical checks and treatment.

It is the dry season here at the moment.Incredibly hot, especially in the afternoons, when the effort of breathing is almost too much.Then, by late afternoon, there's usually a heavy rain shower and sometimes a storm, though it doesn't last long.Many of the water tanks have dried up, so the children are transported to the river, with the week's dirty washing, to scrub up.Hopefully the heat will melt some of the lard we put on the waistline over Christmas, from all the fantastic food we were treated to!Tonight it's a poached egg and last night we were so engrossed in the timetable we forgot to eat altogether, so maybe we'll be sylph like when we next return.Dream on!!Sadly, cheese supplies seem to have dried up in Kundiawa for some reason and we've almost finished the supplies of chocolate we brought back, helped by local children of course!

I'm off to join John on the balcony to watch the sun set and enjoy a bit of coolness.We've brought a couple of bottles with us from duty free, so we can imbibe a decent tipple for a while.Love to you all.Hope the weather and the economy improves soon. It's February tomorrow, so Spring is just around the corner!

PS This blog has been delayed as we have been without internet access since before the week-end.So since writing the above, the dry season has suddenly turned into the wet one.Last night, I heard no dogs barking to keep me awake, no domestics, no gun shot, fighting, partying or gospel singing.Even John's snoring was drowned out by the constant torrential downpour drumming on the roof, all night long - terrific!!As a result, we're up to our armpits in mud (can't remember where I put the wellies), but at least the children should get a decent wash before school!

XXX