Week Beginning 24.08.09

We both visited a primary school each this week - mainly to support Alfred -our Indian volunteer. It makes a change seeing the primaries as they have been implementing the education reforms for that much longer than the secondaries.

Mike went on Tuesday whilst Alison showed the Catholic church women's micro-finance group how to make lemon curd. Lemons and eggs are plentiful so it could be a good money earner. Alison went on Thursday, arriving during recess to see a teacher hacking a pupils' hair off as he had headlice (see photo). Now there's an idea!

Mike caught up with all the paperwork - yes even here in PNG there's paperwork to be completed.

We were out on Tuesday evening for a meal and drinks at the Mount Wilhelm Hotel here in Kundiawa with Karen, VSO's country director and Fiona, a lively volunteer based in Madang. That's 2 evenings out in 6 weeks! Mustn't make too much of a habit of it. It's wise to order as soon as you arrive - 5.30 p.m. That way your meal is likely to arrive before 8.30 p.m. The meals arrived - ranging between tepid to cold.

On Sunday it was very hot so it seemed a good time for Mike to spend his time in direct sunlight getting on a hearty sweat whilst mending the chicken enclosure with local hulk, Willie. We were fed up with the chickens escaping all the time - most inconsiderate when we're relying on their daily supply of eggs, apart from which if they escape they're more likely to cause a hullabaloo directly underneath our bedroom at all hours of the night. Mike & Willie did a good job of stripping the whole pen down and starting again with some sturdy wire, by which time Mike was desperate for a shower, by which time of course - no water.

On Saturday night we went to bed at 8.00 p.m. having strained our eyes reading in candle light for long enough. Apparently (for we did not wake to find out), the power came on from 10.00 p.m. 'til 2.00 a.m, so our friends in the neighbourhood reliable informed us. So you can imagine the frustration of people here, with PNG Power - especially when they get their bills - which are more reliable in arriving than the power. Whilst sitting in the staffroom of a devout catholic school, the exasperated headteacher was heard to shout out 'b******s' when the computer on which he was working suddenly went down due to yet another power cut. Nobody - not even Sister Cynthia - batted an eyelid for the sentiment was not lost on his audience.

Animal Corner:

We should have mentioned on last week's blog that not only has Mike seen birds of Paradise in the wild, but he has also caught a rare sighting of the pitouhia (?spelling) bird - the only poisonous bird in the world. It has a crimson body with brown or black wings. It flew across the front of our truck on the way to Doliba. That's the advantage of standing on an open-backed truck. The disadvantage at this time of year is it is very dusty, so that if and when a vehicle does eventually come in the opposite direction, a great cloud of dust billows in its wake. Its difficult to hold on and to cover your mouth & nose at the same time.

We were entertained whilst sitting out on the veranda sipping Pimms the other day, when a preying mantis squared up very bravely to one of our cats. We think he was on his way to the Ugly Bug Ball, for he was wearing his tails and looked like the orchestra conductor (see photo 2). Mike scrambled for the camera but after a few seconds of curious though nonchalant interest, the cat merely swiped the thing to the ground (see photo 1). Several minutes later and the pesky insect was back up again ready to do battle standing defiantly in front of the cat (see photo 2). This time the cat merely bit it and spat it out again. Amazingly the mantis recovered and swallowed its pride, knowing when to give in gracefully, slumping off into the undergrowth.

We also spotted a large luminous blue butterfly in the garden. We've seen these before, but usually they flit through at speed, so all you get is an impression of colour with little detail. This butterfly, spent some time in the orange tree, so Mike was able to get his camera and take some shots (see photo). Its about the size of an adult hand span.

We have a pair of white-shouldered fairy wrens visiting the garden at the moment. No photos yet as they're so small, its difficult to get a clear image and the b*****s won't keep still.

We've had it with the cockerels - especially the one we call Scraggy Neck. Now every time he squawks he gets the bucket of water!! We're hoping it will have the Pavlov's Dog effect, deterring the bird-brain creature from emitting its stupid and senseless noises - what purpose does it serve?

Week Beginning 31.08.09

As we've said before things happen unexpectedly in PNG. So whilst waiting for a PMV on our return from Ku on Monday, a 'longlong' (mad) man across the road suddenly starts shouting and pounding a great rock on the ground, then picked up another larger rock and poised to throw it at a group of locals. One of the elders of the village we were talking to shouted across to him and then informed us that the longlong man (his words) was his son. The elder said that he was one of two of his children but the other had died - then he proceeded to show us his missing finger - which he'd cut off himself to show grief for his dead child. Old customs die hard but nevertheless Alison was very grateful for him sharing that with us!

It's September!!

Returning from town on Tuesday and whilst talking to a headteacher, a commotion suddenly broke out across the road. Two women had grabbed the hair of another and were punching the woman viciously in the face. Within seconds a great crowd had gathered and more were on their way, drawn like a great magnet to any chance of some midday entertainment. Time for us to make a hasty exit.

Wednesday and we're on our way to a school when Alison had a 'phone call. It's the deputy headteacher saying not to go because they'd decided to give mock exams, with the actual exams a few weeks away. So we turned back and once at the house decided we needed to go for a walk. We passed through the village of Mirane and headed towards the river. A lad started walking with us and said he'd go to the river with us and show us the waterfall. After 5 minutes there were 3 other lads who joined us. They were friendly enough, but being more wary now, we're never quite sure what we're getting ourselves into. As turned out they were genuinely friendly lads who were just keen to guide us. The route to the waterfall was not straight forward and after tiptoeing through shallow water, being careful not to get our sandals wet, we decided that we may as well just take the plunge clambering knee-deep in water and feeling for sturdy rocks on which to tread. The boys pulled us up and steadied us and caught hold of us when we were about to go under. They were very strong and helpful. Alison screamed a few times (well many actually) which made them laugh. The waterfall was well worth seeing. The boys were like mountain goats, springing from rock to rock while we made heavy weather of it. At one point Alison slipped in- even though two of them were holding her - but all in all, a great morning.

Anyway, love to all

Ali & Mike