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.
