Friday 6th March 2009

Today was Rob's passing out parade with the London Metropolitan Police Force. Really sorry we couldn't be there for you Rob, but we're very proud of you and hope the day went well. Fantastic that you got Best Student award.

We've finally begun some work. We went to the Headteachers' Meeting where we had to introduce ourselves to 15 secondary Headteachers - one of whom is female - and the Director of the Province. The meeting began with a prayer. They, apparently, were very impressed with us. We went to visit two secondary schools. One had 40 pupils and the other had 1150 students. The small one was very poor - mud floor, broken desks, deep, sticky mud everywhere, no books or equipment in sight. The students are grade 9 and about 16 years old. The larger school was a boarding school as it was fairly remote but the infrastructure was better with paths between classrooms and a computer, a photocopier and seemed well organised. About a third of the students were girls. Parents don't tend to send the girls to secondary school but the situation has been improving recently.

The journey to the schools was by PMV - Public Motor Vehicle. You stand around on the main corner and wait and a PMV comes along and calls a destination. It doesn't go until it is full.The roads here are terrible and there have been landslides along the Highlands Highway. We are cut off at the moment (by road, but not by air) as there has been a major landslide and so PMVs drive up to the landslide, people get out, walk across the crevice and then get on a new PMV. They carry produce etc across but there is likely to be a fuel shortage if it doesn't get sorted soon.

We are getting used to be treated like celebrities. We are watched all the time and everyone wants to talk to us. The children follow but run off giggling if you try to talk to them. It is a bit like playing 'What's the Time Mr Wolf?'. People love having their photo taken and if we get the camera out everyone crowds around to be in the photo.

When we were walking up the main road (!) yesterday a police jeep went past and the policeman called out 'Moning Mr na Mrs Blant' It was Jeffrey, the policeman who issued our driving licences.

Today was the World Day of Prayer for Women and this year it was PNG and Kundiawa was chosen as the central focus. There was a parade - see video and photos - and then a long prayer meeting for 3,000 people. They sang Bind us Together and everyone held hands. Men hold hands all the time here. Mike is becoming more comfortable with it now! There was a feast and they killed 4 pigs which we saw being prepared for the pit - mui mui. The sheep was still alive when we left! They said they hit it on the nose with a stick to kill it.

Well we couldn't make it to Pipasha for an Indian meal tonight, so we made do with kaukau, barracouta, fresh fruit salad and a beer (brand SP) for Mike.

Food here is interesting. There is very little meat apart from some very fatty pork which is white with the occasional brown stripe through. There are chicken legs for sale but they are frozen and defrosted and don't look appetising. The fruit and vegetables are amazing - a huge array with cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, peas, onions, garlic, ginger, chilli as well as countless greens (that we don't recognise). There are strawberries, guavas, papaya, passion fruit, sugar fruit, pineapples, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, coconuts etc. The fruit and veg are very cheap but they deteriorate very quickly so you have to go to market every day.

You'll be glad to know we can get wholemeal bread and peanut butter - joy!

We bought a tin of tuna but it was horrid- dark brown, almost black slush.

We're off to market now. We have water, electricity and the sun is shining. Only two dead cockroaches this morning- one I trod on in the bathroom (had flip flops on thankfully.)

Been busy cleaning the house today. Mike has been scraping the loo with a foreign coin and I have scrubbed the patio chairs. Wehave also been to town to get house items as we have very little. The quality is poor. We bought a tin opener - the best one - and it didn't open the tin. The Swiss Army Knife works best. The bowls, saucepans and towels are very poor quality. Still we did manage to get a shower curtain - the other one was mouldy. Mike has the hang of the twin tub - if only the electricity or water wouldn't keep going off - which it did half-way through again!

Lots of love

Mike and Alison