Simbai

The flight from Goroka to Simbai was only 40 minutes long but it was absolutely beautiful! The plane was built for 6 but it was just myself and the pilot flying so I was the co-pilot for the flight. I'm not kidding when I say that either..not that I did any actual flying but there was a secondary steering wheel(whatever it's called in a plane) right in front of me and all of buttons and whatnot that were used during the flight. I also got to wear these big head phones with a mouth piece that was used to talk to the different airports on our way. I had to crawl over the pilots seat to get to mine and all of the passenger seats behind us, had been removed and the luggage was strapped down instead. Needless to say I did not have to go through airport security and the bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse was not confiscated. It was a great day for flying so I get an awesome view of all the land and mountains on our way.
Getting ready to touch down in Simbai I look down at the "runway" which is a dirt path marked off with some lights...and I though Goroka's aiport was ghetto. They don't even bother to pretend this is an airport. So we touch down and I am happy to have a few familiar faces awaiting my arrival. Rob and Amy Wagner and their daughter Abby(16) are the family I will be staying with. Their oldest daughter Hope just went to the states for her freshman year of college. They are actually from Bellefonte and are HUGE Penn State fans so it was nice to feel close to home while being on the other side of the world. Along with them I meet Bill and Deb Tobias(a couple in their early 60's) and Mel Shustack(35) who one of the few if not the only single missionary in PNG, along with her mother who happened to be here visiting. So we load up everything and take off in the kaboda. Not to far from the airport we arrive at the Wagner's house. They have three hours of electricity a day but the rest of the day everything is battery powered. The roof od their house is mostly sunlights which actually makes it very bright during the day. I am sleeping in Hope's room and see I will be sleeping in a bunk bed that's about 10 feet from the floor. Now I am spoiled with a king sized bed at home and am a little worried I will fall out of this in the middle of the night. The Wagner's home is seperate from the other three missionary homes located in Simbai. They're only a few hundred yards away but the other home are all built right beside each other along with a workshop they use to build/store things and that property is fenced in.
The Simbai team is much different than the Goroka teams in various ways. Since they are so isolated from the rest of the world they rely on each other to stay sane so unity is very important for them. Bill and Deb are an older couple that are still young at heart. Especially Bill, Deb needs a hip replacement so she is pretty limited at the moment. Mel(who reminds me of my sister Kim mixed with Kelli Shaw) is the comedian on the group and is always cracking jokes. We have dinner together every night so I get to know them pretty well. The Wagner's just got back from their furlough(which is the extended period of time they spend back home in the states) but Mel is beginning hers the same time I head back to Goroka and Bill and Deb are going on furlough right after thanksgiving.
Most of my time in Simbai is spent relaxing and just hanging out with everyone. Sunday morning we have church service(in the church right behing the Wagners house) and I find out it's a special day for them because they are organizing their church. So the people will officially become members. After the service we head down for the mumu! Now a mumu is a big deal to them they have them on special occasions and after funerals. It's really just a big feast of different foods. They will kill a pig or two and then cook that along with all sorts of banana pumpkin squash etc in a big hole they dig in the ground. They typically start cooking in the middle of the night before the mumu is to take place. In the bottom on the hole they put a layer of hot rocks, followed by some food. On top of that more hot rocks followed by food and so on. I am not interested in any of the food so I have a little pork and rice then head over to play with some baby pigs nearby. I almost fed the one some of my pork then realized that wasn't the best of ideas.
Monday, the day before I head back to Goroka, was one of my favorite days of my entire trip to PNG. Rob, Bill, Abby and myself all pile onto the four wheelers, Rob driving with Abby and I sitting on the back, and Bill driving seperately. First we head down to the airstrip and once we make sure no planes are coming in, we race down the airstrip which is pretty cool. We then start down the "road" that takes us through the mountains. It's very narrow and bumpy and not at all safe in any way but it was a ton of fun. We drive for about 30 minutes and then come to the end of the road. It wasn;t always the end but an avalanche made it impossible to go any further. That doesn't matter to me though because to our left are a bunch of waterfalls. Abby and I jump off the four wheeler and start climbing up the mountain to get to the higher ones. Okay, this was challenging to do to begin with but I am in an ankle length skirt! I keep stepping on the bottom of my skirt and tripping over myself I have no idea how I am going to make it to the top. Apparently the path Abby had gone up before was overgrown so we were attempting to find our way up when two little boys come walking up. So we start climbing(more like crawling) up the side of the mountain and you have to grab onto roots and plants and pull your way up because it is so steep you cant walk..except for these boys who have no problem whatsoever doing this. So we're climbing higher and higher and all of the sudden BANG..terrental downpour! So this is how it rains in the middle of the jungle. So anyway I am thinking we're just going to go back down because it's all dirt where we're climbing and that has now turned to mud..but no we keep going. I am absolutely soaked and covered in mud and am trying to crawl up the steepest part of the mountain but it's not happening. I crawl up and slide right back down before I can grab onto anything. Abby's reaching out for my hand but mine is covered in mud and slips right out of hers. After a few minutes of this I am laughing so hard at myself it makes it even more challenging but i FINALLY make it. The rest of the climb is easy after that and it's amazing how pretty the waterfall is and especially the view from the top! So we climb(I slid of my butt most of the way) back down and get ready to head back. It's been puring the entire time we were climbing and has yet to let up but that makes the ride home even more fun! I'm in the middle of the jungle, on the back of a four wheeler, in the pouring rain. I felt like a little kid, I was smiling ear to ear the entire trip back, and the entire time we're passing all of the people huddled under umberellas trees branches to keep dry I know they have to be thinking white people are crazy.
The next day Mel, her mom, and I fly back to Goroka. I'm sad to be leaving so soon but happy to get back to everyone in Goroka..also beginning to get anxious to head back home to the states! I was relieved to hear that the ambulance driver(Curry) is safe despite another attempted attack on him Sunday night. To give you a better understanding of how everyone in this situation is related-Leena and Sonne are both aunties that work at Bill and Lori's house. Leena is married to Curry(ambulance driver accused of killing Lalow). Sonne is Lalow's sister(her brothers are the men accusing Curry of murdering their brother). Sonne has sided with Leena and Curry because she knows he did nothing to harm Lalow so her brothers have now disowned her. There is supposed to be a meeting Saturday to sort everything out between the brothers and Curry so I'll keep you updated.

Mobile Clinic

Wednesday was my first mobile clinic. We left the house around 7:30 and traveled about 30 minutes to another village. Half way into the drive we come to this huge river, with no road leading across. Now this thing had a really strong current, you'd get swept away if you tried to walk or swim across. Now this is completely normal for anyone living here but I am new to this so I found it to be pretty entertaining when Bill drives through it and the water is coming up the side of my door. The rest of the drive is absolutely beautiful I still cannot get over the mountains here! When we arrive there are 300-400 people awaiting our arrival. Some of the men had come in the ambulance, earlier that morning to get everything set up. We had one big tent that Lori used as an examination room and there were a few canopys set up for other purposes. Upon our arrival Bill had all of the people who needed to see Lori form a line so he could distribute numbers to each of these people. He soon realized there were more than had been expected and only gave numbers to the 200 that were in line, anyone coming later in the day wouldn'nt be able to see her. One of the pastors gave a short message before we started seeing any patients. There were about 10 people that would meet with each of the patients afterwards for a one on one ministry. Since I can't speak Pidgin I was given the fun job of treating sores! Yummy. There were a ton of people with sores and scabies and such, that myself along with one of the clinic nurses help treat. We pretty much just sprayed them with a type of antibotic and cleaned the area then put neosporn and a bandaid on. There were some pretty nasty looking infections coming through, especially with the poor little kids. Alot of them had scabies all over their bodies. After an hour of that we got through the majority of the people but Lori was only at patient number 40 out of 200...we had some time to kill. We ate lunch in the ambulance and then played some volleyball and finally at about 4 in the afternoon started packing things up. Long day but I got a nice tan!

As I headed out to the kitchen for breakfast yesterday morning, I could tell something was wrong. Bill and Lori were there talking and I could hear the worry in their voices. As I sat down at the kitchen table with my cup of coffee, Bill filled me in. Lalow's death, is still stirring up problems with the people here. Bear with me as I try to explain this because it's really confusing to put into words: A witch came to the village this morning in search of Lalow's spirit so he could tell her who killed him. She claims the murderer is the ambulance driver, who looked in the mirror while driving Lalow to the hospital and did sorcery on him. Now I've spent a great deal of time with this man lately and feel awful when I hear this because he is such a sweet guy. The witch was paid by Lalow's brothers to come find the killer and have said before that they suspected the ambulance driver so it's no surprise that's who she said was responsible. They are now demanding 10,000 kena(5,000 american dollars) and two pigs or they will kill him. The biggest thing that shocked me was that most of the people here believe(or are questioning) that he is responsible. And I'm talking about the christian guys and even the pastors! They have grown up believing that these so called witches NEVER lie about this, so it is hard for them to change their way of thinking.

It's Friday morning and I'm about to leave for Simbai. The power went out last night when I was trying to finish up this blog post so I have to hurry and write the rest, so sorry it is very rushed and probably confusing. But Lori just came and told me that some of the men came to village last night and tried to attack the ambulance driver in his sleep. Luckily alot of the christian men were sleeping outside of his home and all stuck together to stop the attackers. It's hard to imagine this is happening a few hundred yards away from where I had been sleeping. Anyway I am headed to Simbai in a 6 passenger plane, which should be fun. There are no roads leading in or out of Simbai so this is the only way to get there. They only have 3 hours of electricity a day and have no internet or phones. The only way of communicating with the outside world is through walkie talkies, which Bill contacts them with every Monday Wednesday and Friday to make sure they are okay. If they don't answer for 3 days he has to send out a search party for them, lets hope that doesn't happen while I'm there! Thank you all for your prayers and please continue praying for everyone here and the hardships they are facing!

creeper alert-i need some mace

Sunday morning we headed up to the Kokinaga church for the last time(for me at least-next sunday i will be in simbai and the following ill be on my way home). Ruthie and I did the lesson for the kids, then played a few games and we gave them prizes I had brought from home. They were excited about this because most of these kids have nothing so punch balls and book marks were a big deal. We stayed for the entire service this week instead of just sunday school, because with Bill still being in Medang it was too hard for all of us to go to the other church as well. There were at least 4 women breast feeding in the middle of the service, not worrying about covering themselves up, thats just how it is here.(hahah can't even imagine the reaction we would have if someone did this in america)I look around at everyone, sitting there in the dirt, intent on what the pastor. At the end of the service the pastor explains to the congregration that it will be my last week at their church before i go back to america and he tells me how thankful he and the congregation are of my church back home who all gave money to them to help buy the land that the church is built on. They will officially own the land November 27th and wants me to let everyone at home know that. They then present me with a belim as a token of their apprecation, I'm a very sentimental person and was almost in tears at this point. Back at home, we all sit in church while the missionary offering is being taken, with no idea of what the money will be used for. And today I am standing here, seeing with my own eyes, how great of an impact we have on these people; how much of a difference we make; how much these people appreciate us. They have nothing; they sit on the dirt for hours every sunday morning to hear God's word. We have everything, and yet we find the most frivolous things to complain about and completely forget what church is all about. I truly love and admire these people.

Tuesday(today)- Bill and I went to town to run some errands. before picking Amo up from school. First stop was at the local hospital. That was...different, nothing like I've ever seen. For us, hospital and sanitation go hand and hand; that's not the case in PNG. I would best describe it as an insanse asylum you would see in a horror movie. Run down and dirty but at least it had electricity. So after the tour of the hospital we headed to the airport to pick up the Wagner's car. The Wagners are another missionary couple, who, along with their youngest daughter Abby (16), live in Simbai. Bill and I are actually going to stay with them Friday-Monday. Simbai is what they call "the bush", meaning it's in the middle of nowhere; they dont have internet, cell service, anything really. They get electricity three hours a day and their only ways of transportation are motorcycles and four wheelers.(super excited for this trip!) So we get to the airport and thankfully their car isn't a stick shift so I can drive it! I'm really excited about this since I have yet to drive here and everyone drives on the left side of the road so it's much different than what I know. So Bill is acting all nervous and is standing over me as I'm getting in the car making sure I know how to turn it on?? seriously hahah okay Bill this isn't my first time in a vehicle. Anyway we only had to drive for like a mile or two which wasn't bad because I was following Bill but it would've been a little scary to do alone. People are always out in the middle of the road and stopping their cars out of no where to pick people up. The roads don't even have lines dividing the two sides so it's not exactly safe. Anyway we get over to this storage unit that the car needs to be backed in to. I figured Bill would be doing this, I mean backing vehicles up into tight spaces is a man thing, but I was wrong. We had to puch the side view mirrors in to get the car to fit so you can understand how much room I had. So there were three guys standing at a fence watching us opening up the storage unit. I get into the car and start backing in and pulling ahead and backing up and so on for like 5 minutes(Bill's directions were...well let's just say I would have been better off without them). So as I'm getting flustered trying to do this without scraping the car, I notice the three guys has turned into 15..with more coming! I guess a white girl driving a car is somewhat entertaining? That or they were scheming how they were going to steal it. So I finally just ignore the directions I am being given and get it parked just fine.
We then headed to the grocery store and when we walked in there were a couple guys, probably in their mid 20's, creepily eyeing me up and down. Nothing new, this is the norm for me here so whatever, it's just starting to get old. So we keep walking around the store and I'm paranoid, as usual, about someone trying to steal my camera or wallet so I hold my belim a little closer. I'm pretty good about the way I hold my bag, so no one will try to snatch something. People here are always walking so close to me it would be easy to have something stolen. Anyway we keep walking around and I notice the guys staring and creepin on me and am starting to feel like they're seriously gonna rob me. I just act casual as I'm contemplating what I would do if they would take my camera. I'm probably overly confident in my ability to defend myself, but at least I'm not afraid. So Bill and I go down another aisle and I'm getting something off of the shelf when I look back to see these 4 guys standing at the end of the aisle about 8 feet from me just staring. These are the same guys I've noticed following us the entire time we've been shopping, they're not even trying to be discreet about it. I hold my belim tighter to me cause they are NOT going to be stealing from me today. "I think we're being followed" I say to Billand he says "yeah I know, get in front of me". So we walk forward and away from them, to the check out counter. While waiting the guys walk near us, still staring(seriously what is wrong with people here, if they're going to creepily stare they shouldn't be so obnoxiously obvious about it!), and out the exit. We spot Ruthie and Martha who happen to be here at the same time and since they're done shopping, are just going to ride with us instead of walking back home. So we get the groceries and head out the door and guess who's there? yepp the same three sleezeballs from earlier. So Bill walks to my right so he's between me and the guys and we get safely to the car. When we're leaving I ask Bill what they were trying to do..I assumed steal from me, but he said they were trying to get close to touch me, and if I had been alone would have followed me and who knows what. They were also saying some very inapproriate things about me, none of which i understood since it was in Pidgin but Bill sure did. I can imagine my mother now. "I told you to take your mace with you!"
Once back at the house the college guys are asking if I will finally teach them how to play American football. I agree to do that so Ruthie Martha and I head out to the field and a bunch of people are coming wanting to learn. Okay a dude should definitely be teaching them how to play, not me. But oh well I do my best and we just follow the basic rules of touch football. They have NO idea what they are doing. They are so used to rugby that they want to throw the ball everytime the get ahold of it. They don't understand the concept of catching and running haha so it's still a work in progress but we played until it was so dark we couldn't see anymore and they made me promise we would play again on Thursday. Guess they enjoyed it!

Road Trip

Friday morning Ruthie, Martha, Uncle Ixen(one of the men who works for Bill and Lori at the house) two other men, and myself drove the ambulance up to the top of a mountain in Dalou Pass. We leave the house around 10:00 and head to town to get some snacks for the day. Along the way we pick up about 10 more people and drive them to town. This happens anytime we take a vehicle out because everyone from the village walks to town which is about 2 miles away. Soda here is a big treat to everyone, so the men get some coke and pineapple flavored fanta, along with some crackers and passion fruit(my favorite! it's a circular fruit that you break open and inside there is a gooey substance mixed with seeds that you eat...the kids here call them "snot rocks" so you get the picture). The crackers, chips, and well everything else here is much less flavorful than the packaged food we're accustomed to eating, it is also ALWAYS stale, so harder and drier as well. We leave town and drive for about 30 minutes to the bottom of the moutain, there is a village here that Ruthie's boyfriend, Terri, lives in. He and a friend of his, follow behind in Terri's truck. We make a couple stops along the way, the view getting more and more amazing the higher we climb. Once we reach the top and have looked around Ruthie, Martha, and I jump into the bed of Terri's truck for the trip down(the view out of the ambulance window wasn't the greatest). Ah this is the life. I have the perfect view and it's nice and cool the whole trip down(the ambulance was pretty stuffy). Everyone waves as we pass and when we get back to the bottom, Terri decides to show me around his village. So the ambulance follows and we stop at the stream where they wash and do their laundry...much prettier than the one we have! After that we head to a huge river where a ton of kids and adults are playing and swimming. There is a part of the river where the current is really strong and everyone was jumping in there and letting the river take them down. Somehow I ended up getting in and we went down a few times. The huge skirt I was wearing made it near impossible to get out of the river, and being shoeless didn't help. My feet are sore at this point from going without shoes lately that I can barely walk across the rocks back to the truck. We then head back home and play some soccer for the rest of the day and I get to bed early because I'm absolutely exhausted!
This morning(Saturday)Lori took Ruthie, Martha, all of the kids, and me into town to do some shopping. I can honestly say it was the most stressful shopping experience I've ever had. There are plenty of stores in town but they're all very small and, well, dumpy to put it simply. We did a little browsing inside some shops and then went out to the main strtch of town where a ton of men and women sit outside displaying the different things they've made and have for sale. The main thing they sell are belims, which are colorful purse like bags that all women and even men carry. Bill and Lori gave me one when I came but I was in search of another. The stretch of belims is probably a coupld hundred yards long with thousand of belims hung up on a the fence neighboring the sidewalk. I'm used to people staring at me anytime I'm in town but I'm not used to them flocking to me trying to sell me things! I was just trying to look at all of the different belims and all of the women selling them were jumping up pointing to their different bags giving me the prices. This was just overwhelming and stressful for me because I couldn't understand a word of what anyone was saying and I didn't even want to stop and look at the ones that I was interested in. I ended up finding one I liked and then I headed down further into town to the other things for sale. This was what I was looking forward to. There was a ton of jewelry, hand woven plates and baskets, paintings and a ton of other things all unique and different(familia tell me what you want christmas is coming up!). I bought a few things here and realized I am not cut out for this trpe of shopping. You can barter prices with the people selling their things but these poor old men looked so pitiful I couldn't bring myself to try to give them any less than what they asked me. I wanted to buy from all of them because I felt so bad for them. I decided I would come back another time to finish up my shopping because there were too many cool things there.

Back to the Norm

My first week in Papua New Guinea was not what I, or anyone else, had expected, and while I appreciate the experience, I am happy that things are back to normal...well as normal as it gets here. The village is still having some problems relating to Lalow's death(finally figured out the spelling). Another "house line"(term used for village) believes some of the people in our village did sorcery on him which caused his death, so they have marked some of the men in our village for death. One of the men marked for death happens to be Sonne's(auntie at Bill and Lori's home) husband, so she has been very upset and on edge the past few days. Because Bill is trusted here by all of the people, he has been playing middle man between the house lines so they can come to some sort of understanding. They had a meeting last night and the other village came with knives, luckily all was kept calm.

Sunday morning was spent heading back to the churches we visited my first day here. Ruthie was too tired to join us so it was just Bill, Lori, the 4 kids, and myself. The people at the first church we stopped at were happy to see me again and I am much more comfortable this week than I had been the week prior. I'm used to all the hugging and don't feel so awkward interacting with the people which makes the day much more enjoyable. I spend most of the time there taking pictures, mostly of the scenery and the children. Some of the kids are still giving me dirty looks which I find amusing now but most of them are still all smiles around me. There is one little boy who literally cries everytime I walk near him. I try to play around with him but he just runs and hides behind his dad when I am nearby, this makes all of the adults laugh and I can't help but laugh too. I ask to get a picture with a couple of the children before I leave and before I know it everyone is surrounding me wanting a picture. The men, who you wouldn't expect to care, were the ones wanting in the most and wanting to stand by me for the picture(this is now my profile pic on facebook if you hadn't noticed).

The second church we were visiting for the day was not having service due to a death and so we were heading to their house cry instead. Oh geeze not another one, is all I can think. The little old man that died had been at the service when we were there last week, and had actually just gotten that Sunday we were there, only 6 days before his death. So I spent that time entertaining the boys while Lori and Bill spoke with the people. Afterwards we headed home and dropped Lori and the kids off. Bill and I, along with 8 other people, and a coffin, then headed up the mountain to drop the coffin off at the house cry we had just left. I asked him if I could go with him because, even though I had just been there, I enjoy being out of the house and no matter how many times we go to the top of that mountain the view will always be breath taking. After we haul the coffin to the top, we start our trek back down. As were leaving there are a bunch of kids hanging out around the ambulance, which is normal cause I always seem to have a flock of kids following me around..I like to think of them as my paparazzi. So anyway we start down the mountain and the kids are chasing us, grabbing on to the back and hanging on as were driving. Now the mountain is S shaped and has seven 90 degree turns. So we get around the first turn and he stops to yell at the kids to get off. So we're driving and go around the second and are approaching the third when we see the same little kids in front of us. They had run down a straight path over the mountain and beat us since we had such an indirect path down. So they chase us again and jump on and Bill yells at them, and this literally continues until we get down the mountain and they can't keep up. I'm learning the kids here really have to make there own fun, they don't have video games to entertain them.

Monday morning I was more than happy to see all the aunties and Ruthie and Martha in the kitchen when I went out for breakfast. I was even more happy when I came in for lunch later to find all of my clothes washed, dried, and folded in my dresser drawers. Kinda creepy actually. I have three little house elves of my own(lol family joke about Julie). After lunch Ruthie and Martha took me down to the river which was like a mile hike downhill, hadn't expected it to be that far. The river is on the college's property to the entire way down there were a ton of gardens that the students and village use. There are 7 types of bananas here...7! And they all look the same i have no idea how to tell the them apart but some are just for cooking and, well, i dont even know what the other differences are. So anyway we get to the bottom and go through a fence to the river where a few women are doing laundry. Well this makes me appreciate my washer and dryer. I would never have clean clothes if this is how I had to wash my clothes. This is also where the women bathe, and the men do the same further up the river. No wonder everyone here smells awful!!

Tuesday comes and goes rather quickly. After our morning routine we go to play basketball with some kids they have been trying to minister to. We go to this old run down gym and there are a ton of people outside playing volleyball and they all come in to the gym for some bball. Looking around the gym I just laughed to myself...lone white girl trying to play basketball with a bunch of hoodelims, you can imagine how that turned out.

Wednesday(today!) was a fun day. Bill left for Madang, another city in PNG (about 200 miles away-takes 6 hours driving to get there) where he'll spend the next 5 days attending meetings. So with him gone, and Lori at the clinic, all the aunties and Ruthie, Martha, and myself slacked off a little and watched some movies. Even the men that work for Bill and Lori came to join us as we were watching High School Musical, watching grown men watch that movie is the highlight of my day. I make coffee for everyone(18 cups!-since I have arrived they've become big coffee drinkers!) and we just hang out and talk. Everyone can pretty much understand english so I can talk to them but they answer me in Pidgin so Ruthie or Martha have to interpret for me. They all find it amusing that they will be talking to me and I won't realize that it's directed towards me. Ruthie also likes to talk to me in Pidgin and they all watch and laugh as I stare at her dumbfounded. Ya know the feeling you get when you're getting your nails done by a bunch of chinese people and they're all talking(probably about you) in chinese and laughing and you're the only one who doesn't get the joke...that's me 24/7.

The students and villagers here all play volleyball every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, and I have been itching to join all week but haven't had the chance. So this afternoon I was bummed that they wouldn't be playing and decided I was going to make my own fun. I needed to get out and burn some calories anyway, so I grab a soccer ball and Aaron and head to the big field we have. Ruthie and Martha didn't seem to want to play but they ended up coming along too. As I'm leaving without any shoes on I realize that a week ago I would have never done anything athletic without sneakers, but now I am used to being barefoot 90% of the time. If I didn't love shoes so much I would seriously consider going barefoot in the states. So the three of us kick the soccer ball around for a while, while Aaron sits and watches. Soon after we start two guys come over to play, the one's name is Alex who I recall having seen a few times before, he's about 26 and the other guy is probably early 30's. A few kids, about 16 years old, stop to watch and I tell them to come play with us. Before I know it a bunch of little kids are coming to join, so we decide to split into teams and play a real game. We accumulate about 30 people and we're all just playing, running around, laughing, and enjoying ourselves. I feel like a little kid again, i must say it's rather refreshing.After an hour of playing it's time for the students to go to chapel so the girls and I head back to the house with Aaron. My feet are so sore from all the rocks and pointy twigs I ran on top of during the game and the bottoms of my feet are probably permantly stained brown. Lori is not home from work so I heat up dinner, cut a fresh pineapple, make coffee, get everyone their food, feed Isaac his dinner, go over spelling words with Amo, make sure the boys get their fruits and veggies, clean everyones mess, wash, dry, and put away the dishes, then remember I need to eat as well...so this is motherhood.

Reality Check

After 4 long days and nights of mourning it was finally time for the village to bury their loved one(if you're wondering why I don't use his name it's because I have no idea how to spell it). The people in PNG have no concept of time, they don't feel a need to rush anything or start anything at a specific time because most have no responsibilities and no where to be. So what was supposed to be a 10:00 funeral didn't start until 1:30. When we arrived in the village we sat under the same blue tarp we had a few days prior when we went to the house call. Sitting there on the dirt I was realized that in their world, it is key to embrace being dirty, there's no sense in fighting it because there's no avoiding it. There were a couple hundred people there and a few of the pastors gave a short message followed by Bill. When he finished speaking it was time for everyone to view the body. Lori gave me Gracie to hold while she went up with Bill, Amo and Aaron. I was sitting about 10 yards back from where the casket was sitting on top a small wooden table and there was a long line of people waiting to see him. Bill and Lori were the first to go through and Bill stayed up there with the rest of the pastors and Lori came back with Aaron while Amo ran off with some friends.
I wasn't exactly prepared for what happened after that, but I suppose there's really no way to be ready for something so foreign to the customs you're used to. At this point I had only heard stories of how people mourn here but now I was experiencing it first hand. Behind Bill and Lori a few men went through fighting back tears; they are the warriors they are meant to be strong. Then the women began through. All of the sudden I hear one start then another and another, crying, moaning, yelling, like I've never heard. As they progress to stand before his body, they begin throwing themselves on the ground, rolling around in the dirt and throwing it on the faces. They fall to their knees and grab the mens legs yelling and crying and pounding the ground. There's now a group of about 10 women not 10 yards from me mourning in a way impossible to imagine to someone unaccustomed to this lifestyle. While the women were doing this I looked around at the men standing nearby who were just watching. That to me was the saddest thing. Seeing in their faces the pain they were feeling but trying not to show, at least the women didn't hold anything in (Bill later told me that the men mourn in the same way as the women, but they do it in private). Some of the younger children began crying because that's what everyone else was doing, but most of the pikininis(Pidgin word for kids) just walked around like they were used to this. This went on for quite some time and I started noticing Bill having problems getting people through the line to view the body. So many women were done rolling on the ground that they were now right in front of the casket so no one could get through. Bill and the other men were trying to get them to move but they either didn't hear him or just didn't care. Bill finally tells the men to put the lid back on the casket because one of the women was under the table kicking it and he didn't want the casket to fall. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened had the body fallen out.
Finally the men carry the casket to where it will buried. Everyone rushes over so they can get close enough to see but there is not as much open space here. Baby in hand I follow Lori and we are close enough to see what is happening but not too close that we're crammed between the two houses that he will be buried behind. I can't really here much of what is being said over the cries from the women, not that I would understand it anyway. They are letting people up to the grave site to throw flowers in before they put the casket in the ground. The women at this point are just getting worse. Some are trying to jump into the grave and the men have to lock arms to hold back their own wives who are all punching and kicking and pushing them trying to get in the grave. Some of the calm women drag the others out of there and to the side of the house I am standing at where they continue wailing and throwing themselves onto the ground. I see Ruthie who has been wailing and falling to the ground just like the other women and Lori goes to calm her down. I am standing behind a good bit with the baby. I find Pat(the missionary whom I went with to help teach at the private school a couple days prior) to stand with beside one of the houses.

I'm thinking about whether or not I should head back to the house soon when I suddenly hear a crash. The people on the side of the building I'm standing at, come running around past me. Scared and unsure of what's going on I ask Pat what's happening. He says that sometimes people in mourning tend to get violent. I don't even have time to process this, when I see a pot come flying right past me. I can't see around the edge of the house but I hear a man yelling and everyone in front of me runs out of the way. Suddenly about a foot from me I see a wild looking man, shirt torn open multiple times, swinging a big stick. I instantly turn myself in his direction but with my chest to the building so I can shield the baby. I feel Pat shift to shield me. This man is so close I could reach out and touch him and he rushes past me yelling at everyone to "watch out!" as he swings the stick. The people are literally running out of his path as he walks in a circle. It was like a sheep dog herding sheep, the way they moved so quickly to avoid him. My heart is pounding but my only concern was the baby..I guess I do have some maternal instincts in me after all. A few of the men then manage to tackle him to the ground, before he can do any damage, and restrain him until he calms down. I look up to see Bill and Lori and the kids coming my way. Amo seems a little shaken up and Lori and Bill are both concerned with how I am doing after that. I'm not scared or upset at that point, truthfully I'm happy that I stayed long enough to get to see that. Lori thinks it's best for me to take the baby and Aaron home at this point to avoid anymore drama for the day. A couple hours later, the reality of it kicked in and I realize that the events of today were alot for me to take in. I was thrown into a world so unlike that which I know, it would have been impossible for me to grasp the everyday reality of these people, without experiencing it firsthand.

Animal Lover

Today was rather uneventful. I went with another missionary couple who live here on campus to a private school where they teach a class once a week. All of the students speak english and come from wealthier famililes in PNG. BIll and I then went to pick Amo up from school(the same one he graduated from) and I got to see some more of the town. I'm anxious for an opportunity to get to spend time there so I can get some good pictures! Bill, Lori, and the kids(except for Aaron) went to the house cry during which the body was brought into the village. I stayed home with Aaron and a couple of the girls who had come over from the village to play. Food here is not thrown away in normal trash cans, its either given to the dogs or used for the garden. They have two dogs here which stay in the enclosed porch just outside the kitchen. Luckily for me because I hate animals and I would rather sleep outside myself than have two huge dogs around me all the time. So the kids finish their food and have some left over which is to be given to the dogs. So my thought is, no way no how I'm going out there to be attacked by the dogs. So I call Aaron over and ask him if he wants to feed the dogs. He doesn't seem to thrilled but I give him the plate and push him out the door. Keep in mind that he's three and is really tiny, so the two dogs running at him and jumping on him to get at the food is hilarious to me, and since I am fully protected from inside and just have my head poking out from behind the door. So that was my entertainment for the day, I'm looking forward to getting some sleep!

Off With Their Heads!

It was a beautiful day here in Papua New Guinea, and my morning started with my beloved cup of coffee and fresh pineapple..two of my favorite things! I spent the first few hours of my day doing paperwork for Bill in his office, it was rather lonely not having Ruthie around again today and I'm looking forward to her return. At lunchtime I tried a tree tomato, a surprisingly yummy fruit that resembles a kiwi when cut open.

3 p.m rolls around and I decide to go to the house cry with Lori. I'm a little nervous to go because i'm anticipating it to be extrememly uncomfortable, but I want to see Ruthie and give her my condolences. I also want to experience everything about their culture that I can because this is a one in a life time opportunity and I'm trying to soak it all in. Bill comes with us so I have someone to walk back when I'm ready to leave since Lori is planning to stay for quite some time. We also take baby Gracie and Isaac(Ruthie's family will soon gain custodity of him). When we cross through the fence seperating the campus from the village, I notice a completely different atmosphere than there had been a few short days earlier. What was usually bustling with activity was now completely depleted of all signs of life. All that could be heard was the muted sound of wails from a short distance away. The sound amplifies, as does my anxiousness. When we come into view I see a large blue top in the midst of the houses(visualize small huts becuase that's more of what they are) with a large group of people underneath and surrounding it. I go to greet the women and they all come to hug me as I approach the crowd. Everyone has mud covering their faces, hair, and clothes and I soon spot Ruthie who is making her way over to me. She looks tired and sad but happy to see me and I am equally as happy. We go sit down and more and more people keep coming to shake my hand or hug me and I'm not exactly sure what I'm expected to be saying to everyone. We chose to come early while most people were taking time to go into town for food or supplies so I wouldn't have to be around as much of the mourning. Now and again there are new people entering the village who are crying and then everyone joins in with them but it is not nearly as bad as it had been the day before, and will be again tomorrow when they bring his body back to the village. Ruthie has almost completely lost her voice from all the crying and wailing she has been doing, and all of the other women that talk to me are the same way. After staying with Ruthie for a little, Bill and I head back to the house and get the boys ready for chapel.

The service is very short today because most people are at the house cry. I am surprised at how quickly I'm beginning to pick up on the language. I remember a few of the songs we sing tonight that we had sung at church sunday morning. I also am learning what certain phrases mean but it is not as easy for me to speak. After dinner I was so excited to see that Survivor was on the one and only television station they have here. Luckily it was the episode from last week which I hadn't seen yet..watching with Bill is not the same as watching with my dad. He lacks the competetive nature we Frys have.

Random fun facts of the day. This area of the world is a very satanic place and people practice witchcraft religiously. This death has been viewed by many non believers as an act of witchcraft since the young man went from perfectly healthy to dead only 12 hours later. The second church we visited on Sunday, at the top of the mountain, has 4-5 deaths a month because of accused witches. If someone accuses a woman of witchcraft she is cut up into hundreds of pieces starting with her fingers and toes, and will die from blood loss. No one accuses men of this unless they have some hard evidence because the man is the warrior of the village and his life is worth more than a womans. The children at the top of the mountain also wear garlic around their necks to protect them from the evils of witchcraft.

Lori was telling me how women here who are treated badly by their husbands will cut off one of their own fingers to punish their husbands..that has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard, they should learn to cut off their husbands finger if they want to see any remorse from them. Most men here have multiple wives and a womans life is basically meaningless. A short time ago a young girl drown in the river and her father tried to kill the mother of this child, Bill had to physically restrain him to stop the man from doing so. People here view women as child bearers and nothing more. Rape is also a common thing and women just accept it as a normal thing of being a female, authorities don't care if men do this and no one views it as morally wrong in any way.

The House Cry

It was sad day in Goroka today. The young man who died last night was like a son to Bill and Lori and was Ruthies cousin and very close with everyone else in the village. We found out that he did not suffer from typhoid but had dengue fever which is a viral disease spread by mosquites. Only 12 hours transpired from the time he began showing symptoms to the time he died. Medicines won't do anything to help fight this disease so it is typically just fought off by the body but in rare cases it will be fatal. He basically bled out from the inside and his lungs filled up causing his death.

Death is mourned very differently here than in the states. The people rub mud all over their bodies and clothes and wail for days and days. The wailing lasted all night and all day today and could be heard from just outside our house.(The village is on the other end of campus only a few hundred yards from our house) Over 600 people came from neighboring villages and cities that knew him to join in the "house cry" as it is called. The dead are typically put into a large freezer at the hospital then taken to their village where they will stay for days until they are buried. Bill had gotten some extra money this month so he used it to put him into a funeral home which is very expensive here. Lori and Amo went to join in the house cry for a few hours while Bill got some things straightened out in his office while I watched the kids, Aaron, Isaac, and Gracie. I wanted to help in anyway that I could but I'm not a huge fan of kids so having a 3 year old, 13 month old, and 1 month old to take care of ALONE wasn't exactly what I had expected the day to entail. When Lori and Amo came home, Bill then went to the village to give the message for the people there. We had dinner and Lori washed up the boys while I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. We're now watching despicable me for the second time today and getting ready to get to bed. Things won't be back to normal until next week so I'm not sure how the next few days are going to be.

A New Family

Day 2: I met my new mamas today! Breakfast was more of a celebration this morning, as the three "aunties" of the house came to meet me for this first time. They all gave me big hugs and told me how they have been praying for me and how they are my mamas now too and I am their family and always welcome to come see them. Whats theirs is mine and they want to make me feel welcome here and are absolutely thrilled I am here. They understand english but cannot speak it, so Ruthie and her friend Martha help interpret for me. I am starting to learn some basic Pidgin though, and it is becoming easier to understand what they're talking about. The three aunties of the house come every monday, wednesday, and friday and take care of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and watching the babies. After breakfast Ruthie and I calculate some figures on how many of each medicine is used a week so Bill knows what to order for a three month period. Ruthie knows some excel but I get a chance to teach her some shortcuts so she will be faster and more efficent when I leave. We finish up there and head to the medical supply building to organize the HUGE mess of supplies. Thats all the medicines, gloves, syringes, etc. that Lori has for the clinic. During this time Bill comes to tell us one of the men fainted while they were working a project so Lori was treating him at the clinic. He was showing all the signs of Typhoid(which I'm now thankful for getting a shot for before I came). Afterwards we head to the house to wait for lunch and Amo is there with his friends watching Cheaper by the Dozen..it seems strange for them to be watching movies like that here and I am even more surprised when Ruthie and Martha start talking about people like Taylor Swift and Jacob from Twilight(who they tell me they like better than Edward). Ruthie owns all three of the twilight movies and they decided we should watch them friday night and have a sleepover.

Now comes the best part of my day..Bill comes into the house and tells me Lori called and said is doing a surgical procedure on someone if I wanted to come to the clinic to watch. So i head to the clinic(which is literally right outside of their house) and head back to the examining room where a guy in his mid 30's is laying on the table with a fatty deposit the size of a golf ball on the inside of his thigh. So all I could think was how cool it would be to cut out of my own leg but I wasn't sure of how I would feel about this procedure. the poor guy looked about sick to his stomach laying there as she poked him all around the lump to make sure he couldn't feel anything. Then she starting slicing down the middle and pulling back three layers of skin. His leg is gushing blood and I'm getting my face as close as I can(believe it or not mom and dad) so I can see everything she's doing. So I'm not going to get into the nasty details but she cuts all the fat out and asks the guy if he wants to see it but he just shakes his head no and stares out the window away from what's going on. So Lori sews him shut and I head back to the house for some grub.

After that Ruthie, Martha and I go hang out in my room for a while and they ask to see pictures of my family and friends from home. They were asking all sorts of questions about what life is like in America. They were very curious about what the dating life is like there, and told me what dates are like here. If a boy asks them out they will go to dinner or into town with them and bring along another girlfriend who stays with them the whole time. If a boy invites a girl to his house to meet his parents and she goes to his house then they are married. Most people don't have marriage ceremonies like we do and that is their definition of it. They also are curious of what snow is like..things we take for granted in our every day lives are so interesting to them. I'm looking through my stuff from home for things to show the girls when I get to the big bag of candy I brought for the boys. I'm sure the girls would appreciate it more so I open it up for them and they have their first american candy!! They had tootsie rolls, dots, and tootsie pops for the first time and they loved it. We also gave all the aunties some candy..they didn't share with the boys!

Bill then comes to get us to head into town to go to the grocery store. Now the store is very small and just has basic things for sale, all of which are priced differently based on their size. There is no formal way of measuring things..like a pound of chicken is X amount of dollars. There can be two heads of lettuce almost the same size and one is 20 cents less. It's just based on what the people think it should be priced. It is funny to see that they have candy bars behind glass shelves because that is expensive for them. I'm starting to get used to being gawked at by literally EVERY person within 100 yards of me. Alot of people come and shakes Bill and the girls' hands along with mine, curious of who this white girl is. It's amazing how many people will look me in the eyes here and smile at me, even from across the street. So I've learned to just smile and wave at everyone...so this is what being a celebrity feels like? After that we head to the market..finally! I have been excited to do this the whole time. While driving there Bill tells me the ground is all still very muddy from the rain the night before and we were going late so it won't very busy...we get there are there are well over 1000 people there? So I wonder what it's like when it's busy! There are hundreds of people sitting on the ground all over the place with blankets laid down in front of them. They have different fruits and vegetables laying there for sale. I have to be careful with my bag the whole time so make sure no one steals from me and can't take any pictures there because it's a bad time of day and that camera will be a target. Bill even had to pay one of the vendors there to watch the van to make sure it did not get broken into. Afterwards we got to drive around the town and up to the Goroka College which is the biggest college near the city.

We then head home and get dinner ready for Bill and the kids since Lori is still at the clinic. She is still with the man suffering from typhoid from earlier today and he is not getting any better so they soon take him to the hospital. A few hours later we find out he kept getting worse and was throwing up blood so Bill goes into the hospital to pay for him to get treated because the hospital will not help him until he pays $10. Also, because Bill is white the hospital will pay more attention to the man he is there for. Lori gets a phone call an hour later and tells me that his lungs eventually filled up and the doctors couldn't do anything to save him.

What A Life

Woke up to a rooster outside of my window..definitely not in Pa anymore. It was about 6 a.m my first morning in PNG and I'm feeling all sorts of emotions. Excited to see what the day will bring, I get a nice warm shower(luckily it has been raining a TON here the past few days so we have water to shower with!) and prepare for the day. The boys are up watching an old disney movie Gus, which they watched just last night..a little weird. 9 a.m rolls around and we head out the door to go to church. A few ladies are just arriving at our house to come to church with us, two of which I recognize from the day before..the older woman and the little girl we picked up on our way from the airport. Then I meet Ruthy who I have heard lots about! It's actually her birthday today and she's 22. She also is a pastors daughter and is trying to figure out what path to take in life right now. I later learn that women here get married at the ages of 16-19 and she's considered old and has a lot of pressure to get married soon. They also still practice the tradition of paying a "bride price" before marriage..which is when the men's family sends the women's family money or animals or crops before the family will agree to give the girl away. So girls here are pretty much traded for pigs.
We then load up into the van and head to the first church, which is located in the middle of the mountain, and the second church we attend is at the top.The roads are so terrible to begin with because theyre all dirt and have no structure, so the added 4 feet of mud did not help the situation. Imagine for a moment, that stupid rollar coaster crazy mouse(the one that jerks you every which way and throws you around like a rag doll) mixed with driving up blue knob in the middle of a blizzard...that is exactly what is feels like the entire way up the mountain. And i mean an actual mountain, nothing like the hills we like to call mountains in Pa. So we arrive at the first church and their are a couple dozen children waiting for us and some older women. I get out of the car and the ladies are all smiles and come over to me with their arms outstretched giving me huge hugs like i was their own daughter they haven't seen for years. It was so strange to me that absolute strangers would embrace me in such a way and be so loving when they don't know me. Bill begins to explain to them who I am...the only thing I can understand of what he is saying is "Liz", thankfully Ruthy helped to explain some of what was going on since she can speak english very well. We then climb over a fence and down to the church which is built on a ledge that the men literally dug out of the mountainside. The church is a hut with some straw on both sides that we sit on. The pastor speaks in Pidgin the entire time and the first thing we do is get out our song books to sing. Again it's all Pidgin, so it takes a while for me to get the words right but i'm eventually able to at least look like I know what I'm singing. During the entire service the children are gawking at me..most give me huge smiles anytime I look at them. A few however, don't want anything to do with me and Ruthy explains that alot of children are afraid of white people. The men and women are all like the ones that embraced me earlier..they all want to meet me and I'm finally learning that handshakes are not the normal thing to do when meeting someone, at least with most of the people I interact with, they all want hugs from me. The church splits up into men, women, and children groups and Ruthy and I observe during this time since we will be teaching the kids the following week. When the service is over Lori then distributes medicine to those at the service who are sick or having pains or sores. We then pack up and head to the top of the mountain for our next service which is pretty similiar to the first. Once we are finished there we head back down the moutain which is even more enjoyable than our trip up.
It's 2 p.m when we get back to the house and we then have a little birthday celebration for Ruthy which includes lunch and cake. The meal today was not as enjoyable as last night. We had chicken(which Ruthy had killed earlier that day) and rice, both of which I'm happy with, and we also had cabbage(not at all what I thought cabbage was? i didn't even touch that nastyness), cooked bananas(gross but i ate a couple bites) and sweet potato which again not normal at all. Afterwards Ruthy takes me to the village to meet her family. Now Bill and Lori live at one end of the bible college campus(you can see from one end to the other so its not very big) and at the opposing end there is a gate in the fence that leads into the village. The whole village is a bunch of huts(yes I do mean huts..the ones with just walls and a roof made from straw and bamboo) strung together with dogs and chikcens and random animals running around eating whatever they can find. So we get to Ruthys home and I walk through the door to see her parents, 4 siblings, and her best friend sitting on the ground inside. The ground is covered by some dirty paper and there are blankets hung around the sides giving a little privacy for sleeping. Wow, its hard to believe people actually live like this. There are flys are insects flying around everywhere in there and I just keep thinking this is no place to raise a family(they are actually the family that will be adopting Isaac, and they will make that official on Tuesday). So her family welcomes me warmly and invites me to sit down and talk to them. They ask me of my home and of my family and it occurs to me that these are probably the friendliest and happiest people I have ever met and they're living in a way so unimaginable.

First Glimpse

I wake up at 5:45 and get myself ready for the final day of my travel! The van picks me up at the hotel at 6:35 and drives me to the airport. My flight isn't until 10:10 so I have to wait 30 minutes until I can even check in. After that I start walking around and realize this airport is bigger than I had expected and has more places to shop than any outlet I've ever been to. They have tons of vendors selling perfume, cologne, cosmetics, electronics..literally anything and everything you could even think of. So after three hours of walking around in the airport I head down to my gate to get ready to board. There are about 30 of us on this flight and we have to ride a bus to our plane, which can seat probably 200-250 people. No clue why they would put such a small group of us onto such a large plane but oh well i had plenty of room so i wasn't complaining. Scratch that, I was complaining! The entire plane smelled like cat pee! Literally exactly like that. It was so foul I can't even desribe it..ew.
4 hours later I arrive in Port Moresby. This is my first real taste of  being an outsider and it was pretty overwhelming. I had to exchange my money and get my visa as soon as we landed and I could barely understand what anyone was saying to me because their english wasn't the greatest and they had a really thick accent. So the lady told me how much I had to pay them for my visa and I just held my money out to her and said take what you need. Don't worry mom and dad she didn't rip me off! So the airport is honestly the dumpiest place i've ever been in..until about two hours later I should say. So anyway I go get my bags check and make a pit stop to the bathroom to freshen up a bit. There are two little girls in there probably about 7 and 9 and they are staring at me with curious smiles on their faces and are whispering and giggling to other. I expected to have attention from people here because I'm white but I've never been the minority before and it's something you have to experience to understand. I then have to go outside to walk into another part of the building to get to where the departures are. There are tons and tons of people outside just sitting on the ground, I assume waiting for people who are coming in from flights. I then go through like 5 security checks before I get to a large open room with a bunch of sweaty people sitting in the midst of millions of flys. I suddenly realize I left my dress I need to change into, in one of my carry ons that I had to check at security! So now I am in panic mode and thats all I can think about..my current outfit(tight sweatpants and a tshirt) isn't acceptable here. Two long hours later I board my plane and we take off to Goroka. The view from the plane is amazing. There really isn't much sign of civilization which is what made it so beautiful.
FINALLY! 2 and a half days of traveling and I am finally here!! The plane lands and I head towards the building that is supposed to be an airport? I see a large fence in the middle of the building with a ton of people waiting outside of and easily spot Bill since he is the only pale face in the crowd. We wait outside in front a small shelf which seperates us from the plane, as they load our luggage and bring it over to us. They then start throwing everyones bags onto the shelf and we all cram together to get our things and get out of there. Bill helps me with my luggage and we load up into his van and take off. Some of the road to their home is paved but most of it is all dirt. There are hundreds of locals just walking in the middle of the street and sitting along side the roads, all waving to us with big smiles. I'm beginning to learn Bill is a very popular person in this area. An older woman and young girl around 8 or 9 years old waves us down and Bill stops and tells them to get in so he can drive them home. This is the first time i hear Pidgin being spoken. English has just become the official language of PNG but very few know it. The younger generations are more fluent with it but most people only know minimal words so communicating with them is impossible without help from Bill or Lori. We drop them off and continue down the road a little and reach the bible college. Bill and Lori live inside the gates of the bible college right by the girls dormitory. The men of the college are out playing rugby and some young boys are playing soccer. Bill points out one of his younger adopted sons Amo who runs towards the house to meet us. Amo is 7, almost 8 years old, Aaron is 3 and is also adopted. In the house I also meet Isaac, who is just over a year old and such a happy baby and Gracie who is a month old and was born prematurely. Isaac's parents are not together and do not want the responsibility so they gave him to Bill and Lori to take care of until he can be adopted. Gracie's mother is not in the condition to take care of her right now so she is staying with them until she gets healthier. It is very common for people to leave their children to starve to death because that is easier than taking care of them. Their son Amo was to left them in a plastic bag on their porch after two months or being given nothing to eat but cantaloupe every night so he would sleep. Similiar things happened with Isaac also.
It's time for dinner and this is what I have been dreading the entire time. It turns out on the menu for dinner tonight is pineapple, popcorn, and cinnamon rolls...my thought is yeah mom what happened to losing weight while I'm here! But I'm not very hungry so I just stick with fruit and coffee. I force myself to stay up until 9 and then fall asleep to the sound of the pouring rain through my open window.

Australia

The 15 flight from L.A to Sydney is someting I dont even want to think about, let alone write about. It was lon,. obviously, and i had a severe case of restless leg syndrome(idk if thats real of i made that up but that's how i would best describe my condition) for the first 7 hours so now matter how tired and miserable I was I could not get to sleep. I will say however, we had two delicious meals and a HUGE selection of new movies and tv shows to chose from. We landed in Sydney at 5:30 a.m and by the time i got through customs and collected my baggage it was about 7. I then dragged all of my luggage out to a bus stop where a van picked me up and drove me to my hotel. As dumb as this may sound, i was surprised when i saw the drivers seat on the right side! Driving on the other side of the road is more confusing than i had expected, and i was just the passenger. When I arrive at the hotel the lady at the front desk immediately asks if I was Elizabeth? My response was oh geez i'm guessing my dad has called about 50 times this morning..sure enough he had. So I give him and mom a call which cost 4 dollars for like 2 minutes? Anyway I get up to my room, which is a hole in the wall..literally, and it takes about 10 minutes to figure out how to get the lights on. You had to put your room key into some slot in the wall, which is actually smart because no one can leave their lights on when they leave their room. So I take a quick shower and try to straighten my hair, and of course I manage to screw up the setting on my converter and it starts steaming so I just forget that.
I then head out to get a taxi to take me to central station. There I board a "hop on hop off" tour bus that allows me to get off at any of the 25 stops whenever i want and then get on a different bus that comes by every 15 minutes. So i spent the day exploring the city and seeing all of their famous sites. My favorite part of Australia was definitely everyones accent! Im pretty sure there was no other American in Sydney that day hahah everyone was either Australian or European..and there were surprisingly a TON of Chinese people there. And to add to the Chinese comment, literally every single chinese person i saw was giving the peace sign while having their pictures taken? I have no idea what was up with that it was just really strange. So I finally decided to eat dinner and I'm thinking it's about 5 p.m and will almost be time to head back to my hotel when I realize its only 1. So i get myself a delicious steak..assuming its the last meal i'll get to eat since I have no idea what to expect the food to be like in PNG. When i finally finish exploring for the day I decide I'll take the train back to my hotel instead of paying a ridiculous amount for a cab. And it's not the train you would expect, its more of a monorail tram type thing. So I ask around to figure out which train I need to take and then I buy my ticket and head for my platform. (Saw platforms 9 and 10 and couldnt help but thinking of Harry Potter and platform 9 3/4. Everyone is sprinting through the station trying to make their train, and there I am strolling along trying to figure out which direction I should be headed, with no idea of what time my train is leaving. I end up making it there in time and manage to get off at the right stop.  So it then takes about 30-45 minutes to walk to my hotel because it's a good distance away and i walked in a huge circle for the first 20 minutes. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself at this point because so far I've managed to navigate to the other side of the world and found my way through a huge city in a foreign country all by my lonesome. All I have left is two flights the next morning and I will have arrived!

Frequent Flyer?

Currently sitting in the the middle of LAX scoping out the wide selection of men, only to find that most of them are wearing tighter jeans than I even own.I'm 12 hours into my trip and still have another 48 before I reach my destination! I'm dreading the 15 hour flight I am about to embark on, but cannot wait to spend the entire day exploring Sydney once I land! My first two flights were pretty easy but navigating my way through LAX was not enjoyable! Apparently I give people the impression that I am a frequent flyer because half of the passengers on my fight decided they would follow me to baggage claim instead of finding their own way.Luckily I have a great sense of direction(hahah that could not be farther from the truth)..but I did successfully manage to get us there! Heading to my next terminal(dragging my two suitcases behind me along with a huge bag on my shoulder) I decide to get some fresh air and walk instead of riding the shuttle..little did I know it was three miles away! Okay that may be an exaggeration but it did take me 45 minutes! But I finally made it and am now sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the terminal waiting on my flight to Australia!!