Monday, June 21, 2010

Last day in Madang (for now)

Yesterday I was in the Buy/Ship room all day packing up all the cargo for the Samban and Igoi trips. ALL DAY. My other job was to find the flight times. But the person who was supposed to tell me couldn't because the Caravan, carrying 1000k, was sick and in the shop and until it was decided whether it would be fixed or not, she wouldn't know.
This morning, it was said we would get the Twin Otter which carries 1,500k. But at 8:15, it was decided we would get three little planes, and the first would leave at 9:15. When we got there at 9:30, it was said we aren't taking the little planes but we would wait until the twin otter now.
We were spposed to find out what was going on at 10:30. At 12:30, we just got the phone call. The otter is ours. We leave at 2. Yay.
We're going to the bush and I'll have no internet for 2 weeks. woo.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Jais: Paradise is Danger

8 out of 9 interns injured.
I am not the 1.
After lunch on Saturday we went to the Jais Resort. The sign read "This way to Paradise." It was stunning. It's one thing to know God made beautiful things. It's quite another to watch it steal your breath. It was almost unreal. As if the palm trees seperating the plush white clouds laced in golden sunshine from the rich bluest of blue ocean was just a painting, as if such beauty was too marvelous to actually been seen in person.
But after two minutes in the waters (a perfect tempeture, not so cold one has to ease in, but a great relief from the sun), two interns emerged with blue dots on their feet. Sea Urchins. Lindy called us out to put shoes on. It was then that the odd burning sensation on my foot was explained. I, too, had the tell-tale blue dot of the sea urchin.
But with shoes encasing our feet, we were good to go again.
I prepared to snorkel with the others. At first I had swimming goggles on (ones that didn't cover my nose) and in addition to my nose being filled with burning salt, I got a little panicky and would inhale sharply thru my mouth and, despite that that was a successul manner of breathing, I couldn't steady my breathing. Finally, another intern threw in the towel and threw me her snorkel goggles. With my nose encased in air, I could breathe out of my mouth without fear.
The water was pretty choppy and so the sand was stirred up making the water less than crystal clear. But the coral was still lovely. It was pretty high to the surface, so sometimes I would take a moment to breath and try to stand on it. Of course the waters were moving and I'd find myself pushed from my perch.
Swimming farth out, to the edge of where I could see the coral. I danced with a jelly fish.
After that I decided to go in.
I meet my battle buddy going in. She was lifting her foot out of the water and another intern was bent over it. The pins of an urchin were being pluced from her flesh. The intern (a nursing student) looked up from her work at my arrival and asked me to hold my battle's leg out of the water to keep the waves from jostling her work. When I walked up to the more shallow waters, the nurse caught a glance of my legs. "What did that!" she exclaimed. I looked down to my skinned knee bleeding profusly. I shrugged. "Coral, probably. No big deal."
"Have you ever been scrapped by coral before?"
"No."
"It has a tendency to try to grow inside of you."
Lovely.
I try to keep a light hearted attitude as I picture the coral I had just seen underwater growing on my knee.
I crawled out of the water to Lindy.
"Lindy, coral is pretty. But coral is danger."
Lindy sighs. "That makes 8 of 9," she says.
Inventory of wounds:
One blue dot on top of foot, next to blister from shoes.
four coral scrapes on legs (two on each)
one coral scrape on ankle
Angry jellyfish welts on forearms.
angry jellyfish redness all over arms.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Second day

So since I've been here, I've had a few funny stories.
1. Riding to the duplex where we're staying while in town, I noticed an uncomfortable poke in my back. It was like a pole hidden in the seat. I was careful about it but the roads in PNG aren't exactly smooth. Soon a large rut caused me to come slightly out of my seat and firmly into it, falling hard on the metal pole. A gasp of pain. "Are you all rigt, Vahey?" a fellow intern asks. Trying to blink back the instant watering of my eyes, I hoarsely reply, "I'm not bleeding... i think." I slid over, almost on top of the person sitting next to me to clear the pole. From then on I made sure I wasn't sitting in that seat.

2. 3am. My first night in PNG. I awake because nature calls. I walk to the bathroom and flip the switch. Crazy strobe lighting begins. Never fully illuminated either so still really dark. I look around for any unwelcome wildlife and see none. Things went smoothly. But! Have you ever tried to flush an australian toilet at 3 am while under the inflence of jet lag and under a strobing light? There's no handle! After a few desperate attempts of feeling for a handle that wasn't there, I noticed a button on the top. At this time I did what one should always do when discovering a mysterious button: I pushed it. What did it do? No idea. It was 3am and very dark. But it did something involving water. So I pushed it again and hoped for the best before going to pass out once more until 6 am.

3.8am. Second morning in PNG. I walked over to my commorades, who were attempting to chase a rooster across the yard (but then they found out that it was a chicken and trying to lay eggs for breakfast), on my way to them I noticed a large and ugly toad in the dog's food bowl. "katie" I called. As she walked over, I contemplated reaching out and grabbing the toad. Just as I went to bend down. Katie came up and said "Oh yeah, that's poisonous." I straightened up.

4.8pm. Second evening. Dinner at the house of some missionaries. As we walk in, on of the dogs nuzzles up against one of the interns skirts, pulling it up. Awkward, I thought, so I reach down to hold down my skirt. It was then, not when I left the house, nor when I got in the car, nor the whole car ride over, nor when I got out of the car, but when I was walking into the house with nationals inside that I realized that I was not where a skirt but my mid-thigh shorts. Mid-thigh. Appropriate you'd think! I mean, I wouldn't get written up for wearing them at MACU. But in PNG, where the thigh if the part of the body men lust after, this is not ok. Lindy was stupified. The missionary man jestingly told me to go to my room as he sent me to the back and pulled out one of his wife's laplap's. Lindy assured me that this would become one of those tales that started out "some there was this one intern" and ended with "now dont you all do that"
Good times

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The afternoon of the first day

I spent the day in the office in Madang. It wasn't as miserable as it sounds because Team Albatross (I'm part of Team Awesome. I'm sure there's no need for further explaination) lives above the office so we could go up and recline and be "home." So, not bad.
Anyway! Internet all day is amazing. We planned the meals we'll be eating for the two weeks while we're in Samban before lunch. We had a late lunch today (when breakfast is a 6am, it needs to be BIG if lunch is late) of tiger noodles (think Ramen).
After lunch, I went to the butcher with a few interns and an office worker. There are foreign sodas here. "Well, duh," you say, but no! There's Fanta, but crazy flavors. I found a strawberry ice cream one. It was VERY sweet.
Afterwards we sat down to take our meal list and turn it into a grocery list. During our team building week in Dallas, there was a complaint that nothing was really stress provoking. This would have been a good activity for that. It was late in the day, before dinner, Lindy, our team leader, (being a very important person in the office) was in and out of our meeting, we didn't now some recipes, and had to guess. We found ourselves stepping over each other and tensions were high. But the job got down and we all left, perhaps mildly miffed, but very relieved that THAT was over. I think we apporpriately aimed our irritation at the event and not each other.
Now, I'm putting up this last post for the night before going upstairs to dine on the lovely cuisine Team Albatross prepared for us.
Good night!
(or good morning, as it's 4:13am there and 6:16pm here. So welcome to Thursday. Don't worry, it wasn't too bad.)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

First Day in PNG

After the third plane, I was on the verge of tears at the thought of getting on another on. But I managed (not particularly well).
Getting into PNG was mind-blowing. I almost cried when I realized that I finally made it here. After investing so much of myself in getting to PNG, I am not finally here.
After getting off the final plane, I was meet with familiar faces and brought to the place where I'm staying. I got a shower and then went back for dinner. I hadn't even finished my burrito when I started having trouble keeping my eyes open.
I DID take the time to put a fitted sheet on before I passed out at 8pm.
At 6am, I was wide eyed and bushy tailed.
It was very odd to wake up with the realization that I am in Papua New Guinea. Walking into the kitchen, my leader asked me how I was. "i'm in PNG," I mumbled. "You're in PNG!" she exclaimed. And she hugged me.
I drank PNG coffee, breakfasted on little lemon poppy seed muffins. A pineapple was cut up and I am here to tell you that USA pineapples are nasty! I can not believe I liked those. PNG pineapples are the way to go!
I also ate passionfruit. Passionfruit tastes really good but it as the texture of monkey brain.
Ryan ate an ant right off of tree!
Now I'm in the PBT office.
There's a lot of traffic here. Always someone walking in or calling.
We're supposed to be going to the market soon. THAT'll be an experience.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Here I go.

Today I went to Duncanville Church of Christ, an a capella church. Then I went to Deliverance Bible Church, a punk rock church. It was a little different.
Tomorrow I leave for Papua New Guinea.
That's a crazy thought.
Here I go.

A feet of a missionary

I just spent the past 3.5 hrs of my life at the feet of a missionary who has been in Papua New Guinea for 30 years, asking him questions about life there from how to be an inside outsider to the animal population to how to walk in the streets of the city.
Also, I got the honor of being giving the traditional Waran greeting. The missionary walked up to me, the foolish one who volunteered to be greeted, and grabbed my head and began to rub his nose all over my face. Of course, the first time this happened some sitting in the circle had a bad view of the event and so it was repeated at a different angle for their enjoyment. I was not informed of the manner in which the greeting was given. Needless to say, I responded better the second time around than the first.
The conversation was delightful and illuminating. I can't wait for tomorrow for yet another opportunity to hear and learn.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

PFO-PMI

Tomorrow is the last day of Pioneer Missions Institute and thus the final day of pre-field training. This training began on May 31st. The first week was Pre-field Orentation, a time to have lectures on what we would need to know in order to have a successful ministry on our trips and do some team building. The second week was PMI. PMI is a two part training and you take one each year. The first is a Discovery course, in which PBT gives a tantalizing taster of who it is, the second is Orientation, which is a "Ok, now what?" course of seminars to help guide budding missionaries to have a lucrative ministry. All of the interns are dispersed between the courses. Except for me. I have done both which makes me staff (a.k.a. kind of a big deal). I thought this meant that I would have a relaxed week. This is not so. While I did get to sleep in an hour and a half. I run sound for chapel, go to lunch, go to childcare before classes start again, go to afternoon chapel early to run sound there again, go to dinner, engage in the after dinner activities, return to my room and crash. Only to gain an hour and a half sleep over my roommate who is no silent ninja in the morning. The other interns, who have been coped up and quiet in a room all day, can't imagine why I'm so tired all the time!