Water Woes....

You just have to laugh..........

The current situation is that the Lae Manager Steward Tito is suspended. The Waterboard had no-one in place to deal with the problems we have been facing with the lack of power, until they relocated the Manager from Madang to Lae to deal with the situation.


The current situation is that 5 of the 7 pumps are working – this is okay and more than adequate to supply the town with water at good pressure. Three of these pumps have new larger motors (installed after the water problems in December). There are 5 standby generators for these pumps – so you may ask what is the problem? The generators are too small to handle the 3 larger motors, and so when there is a blackout, then there are only 2 pumps that are operable. For some unexplainable reason the grid that supplies power to the pumps has been provided less power than other grids – which PPL only realized, when I passed on complaints of no power from Malahang members.

My mechanic skills....

It rained most of last night and this morning.  I couldn't take POS out until I got the window back up.  So, this morning, I went and got the crappy screwdriver from Molly and was out in my skirt trying to unscrew the door panel.  I got it off...finally... (it wouldn't be as bad if I had decent tools...).  Anyway, I propped the window back up with the block of wood, but I couldn't get the door panel back on.  It just wouldn't line up right.  Whatever.... I'll deal with it later....

I drove Molly up near her building and the window starts to fall again...rrrggh.  And she can't get out.  Apparently with no door panel, it's like child lock!!! Anyway, I go around and let her out and go to fix the window again.  Yeah, this is a two person job.  So there we are on the main street in campus, with the engine running and I get her to hold up the window while I jam the block of wood further back to hold it in place.  So far so good....

So, I ordered the part(s) to fix the window.  2 weeks pay for just the parts alone.  Lovely..... BUT, at least Boroko Motors was able to order the parts!  Glass half full, glass half full, glass half full...

Gorgeous me! :)

Shrek, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were all having lunch together.

Shrek said, 'I've always thought that I'm the strongest man in the world, but how can I be sure?'

Angelina Jolie agreed. 'I'm told I'm the most gorgeous of them all, but sometimes I wonder.'

Brad Pitt said, 'I'm pretty sure I'm the sexiest man alive but I've never had it confirmed.'

They all decided that the best way to find out if their beliefs were true was to ask the famed talking 'mirror, mirror on the wall' to confirm for them whether Shrek was the strongest, Angelina Jolie was the most gorgeous and Brad Pitt was the sexiest.

They agreed to meet again the next day for lunch to discuss their findings.

The next day Shrek walked up with a smile. 'Well, true. The mirror told me that I am the strongest man in the world.'

Brad Pitt perked up and said: 'And I know for sure that I'm the sexiest man alive.'

But Angelina Jolie lifted her sad, gorgeous face and said...

Who the hell is……Wendy?

BAHH....HA..HA..HA..HA...HA!!!!!!!  Zelda, the daughter of the the new NZ expat that's moving here next week sent me that!  Obviously she has yet to see me in person!!!  Too funny!!!!!! LOL!!!!  ROFL!!!!

Rotary, Drunkeness, and Office Part II....

I went again to the Rotary last night.  I was asked to do the "shop talk" and discuss my role at the university and my research.  They had a few questions and I also mentioned that I'm the faculty coordinator for the debate team that I'll be taking to Madang in June.  So this one jackass decides to say that he had a "bad joke".  Everyone looked at him and pretty much knew he was going to say it regardless.... so he said, "Let me get this straight... You're the mass debating coordinator for Lae"... yeah, great asshole a masterbation joke at the freaking Rotary.  Thanks. 

I like the concept of the Rotary.  They do some really good things, however, I have a couple of issues.  (1) I have to snicker at the formality of it all... seriously?  We stand and toast the queen?? And the flag of PNG?? And another toast to other Rotary Clubs?  I don't know...it's a little crazy.... and you stand to recite the official "grace" and the "four way test"...  a bit over the top for me.  (2) It adds up to be a lot of money.  Between buying dinner, which isn't so bad in itself (K20), and the raffle, and the "fines", it's a bit much.  I don't really have an extra K40 to blow each week, even if it is for a good cause.  I'd rather use my time and energy versus my money. Plus, I don't know how much it costs to "officially" join.  Don't think I want to know... and (3) Well, it interferes with social Wednesday!  I don't get out of there until around 9.  Sucks the fun out of trying to hit Jacks after.  But, last night, I did make it to Jacks for a bit....

Jacks... Molly stayed behind at the Melo to do more work.  I went over to Jacks and there was this really drunk guy there.  Okay, fine.  I actually thought it was a friend of Jonika/Alex's, but no... apparently he came with the extra chair from another table.  So he's talking to me...or better yet, slurring to me....  I have no idea half of what he said.  Wouldn't give his company name, couldn't figure out what he does, and apparently he had an early flight in the morning?  At some point, he shook my hand and lingered and lingered until I pried it away with my other hand.  Then he introduced himself again and shook my hand again.  At some point, he put his arm around me.  He was a good-natured drunk, but please don't touch me.  Ew.  I scootched away pretty easily.  He did it again with his hand a bit higher.... okay, now it's inappropriate.  He ordered another drink and I'm hoping someone actually got his key card to get his butt to his room.  It's bad when we leave with beer still in the glasses.  Yeah, it was time to leave him.... Plus, Molly was waiting.  Needless to say, that was the entertainment for the evening.  Gee, between that and Rotary... ug.....

So, I'm again at my new fabulous office.... it's before noon and I'm drinking beer and reviewing paperwork.  Just taking a break to blog!  :)  I actually brought a shit-ton of work with me.  At least I'm being somewhat productive during the no power situation.  Alex sent an email this morning saying that a temp tower is supposed to be functioning by tomorrow.  Hopefully, next week we'll be back to "normal".... whatever that actually means for Lae.

An office with a view....

Apparently PNG power is load shedding using various hours according to a schedule. Taraka (where Unitech is located) is allocated 10-12 then 8-10 tonight. I didn’t know this until I read it in the newspaper a few minutes ago.... Hmmm…. Explains why the power was steady for a while and then off again just before lunch. They didn’t quite make it until noon. Hey, at least it’s enough for us to get water at certain points in the day…. Flushed toilets are a beautiful thing….

Anyway, when the power went off, I left a note for Lucy and grabbed my stuff. I do have work to do that doesn’t require power. (I’m still working on all the edits for the thesis projects for Agriculture…joy. I really, really need to start learning how to say no to people!!!). I’m at the yacht club now. I figure I’ll just stay here for a while. I’ve been asked to go back to Rotary tonight. (Yeah, I’m not really sure if I fully blogged about that or not…..oh, that’s a freaking story in itself….). Anyway, if Molly needs internet, I can take her along. Now that I’m in town, though, I may just stay here. We’ll see….

In the meantime, this isn’t a bad place to work! A nice view, a steady breeze, and some beer makes editing Agriculture papers bearable!!!

And there goes another one....

I have no haus meri.  Jackie, as lovely as she was, well, just "didn't work out".  It started off that she was just really, really slow.  Okay, we're going to train her. That's fine.  Then there was a weird instance where I came home and she had washed her hair???  Okay, so it was hot that day, but still.... Then Saturday she was supposed to come and made a big deal that she would be there by 8.  I got up and was ready for her, but she didn't arrive until after 10.  Alright... Then she was supposed to come yesterday and, well, just didn't.  She was to work all day for Molly yesterday and all day today for me.  So, since she didn't come yesterday, we were going to split her today to get the basics done. 

Lucy said she saw her yesterday and that she was coming in on a later bus, so Molly waited for her...and waited, and waited.  Nothing.  So today, I waited for her and she came right at 8:30.  I asked her why she didn't come yesterday and she said she was sick, coughed a little cough, and said she went to the hospital and got medicine and by the time she got back home it was too late to come.  Okay....hmm... And then I asked her about the curtains.  Where are they?  She said that the fabric is "slippery" and that her mom needed her help and they worked on them yesterday.  ???  Well, than you weren't soo sick???  Anyway, I got her started on Molly's crap.  I told her what needed to be done there and then what to do at my hosue in the afternoon and then I left.  I came back at 2 and she was still over at Molly's.  Rrrggh.....fine, whatever.  I'll just have her come tomorrow. 

So, the water came on briefly and Molly ran home to take a shower.  I go with her (I showered over at Renee's today!) since the power was off and my office is like a sweatbox.  Anyway, it's past 3 and Molly's can't figure out what the heck she's been doing all day.  The kitchen hasn't been done, the floors had yet to be swept.  It was odd.  So Molly asked her to speed it up a bit and get to the floors.  I'm telling Molly that my patience is wearing thin and this just doesn't seem like it's going to work out.  There is too much stuff to do and it's taking her WAY too long to do ANYTHING!  Literally from morning until 3, she finished wiping the louvers in one room, wiped down Molly's shoes (mold), and hung out the laundry (which I did over at Renee's).  Seriously?  Um, let's get a move on....

So, anyway, Molly says that we should give her another week.  I agree.  Fine.  I go to my house to get work done.  Next thing I know, Molly is at my door saying "I think she's wearing my shirt!!!".  I give her a quizzical look....  She asked me if I remember what she was wearing this morning.... uh, no... I'm not that observant.  Hell, people can do the walk of shame with the same clothes the next day and I wouldn't notice.  Molly's telling me that she thinks she wore another shirt - even asked her about it.  She said it looked like her shirt, but let it go.  Jackie said she got it at the second hand shop and Molly didn't really question it.  But later she saw the shirt in her closet and now Jackie was wearing her U2 concert shirt inside out.  FREAKY!!!

So Molly goes and confronts her.  She says that her cousin came and brought her another shirt because Molly said something about her other shirt???  Uh, no.... Molly asks her about the shirt she's wearing.  Jackie tells her it's her shirt.  Molly's like, uh, lift it up and let me see the front.  Sure enough, yep, Molly's concert shirt.  Then I guess there was something about her bringing it back tomorrow and then she'd get paid??? I don't exactly know.  I do know that Molly looked through her bag to see if anything else was taken.  Anyway, she didn't have another shirt there (only later did we realize that she wore the other shirt that she took Thursday to work this morning...) At this point, Jackie is back and forth under my house kind of trying to leave, but she goes and gets her shoes on my front porch. I asked her about it and she told me she spilled water on her shirt and needed to change it.  Dude, does she think we don't talk to each other?  Keep your story straight! 

I told Molly to just get the shirt back now and I'd give Jackie one of my junk shirts to wear.  Jackie comes over to my house I go in the back to get a shirt and found the other meri blouse that was given to me last time I was here.  I'll never wear the thing.... Anyway, she changes.  Then she says something to me about tomorrow....  Uh, no.

I tell her that we do not like lying and she apologized.  It was way too late and weird.  I told her we treated her well and she needs to respect our things.  She cannot just take things - even if she did plan on bringing them back.  Plus, well, she sucked as a haus meri.  Anyway, I fired her.  I told her that she needed to give the curtains to Lucy and then I'll pay her.  She is not welcome to come back and I told her that if she wants to be a haus meri, she has to learn how to work faster, and even more important, not take things that do not belong to her.  Rrrggghhh.

So, she leaves.  We get in the car and drive to the office.  Molly realizes she needs to still pay her.  So, I pull up behind her and tell her to come to my office for money.  She says okay.  We go into the office and tell Lucy and realize it's taking her a long time to show up.  Molly goes and looks...no where to be found.  Yep, skipping out.  I know she's embarassed.  At this point, though, I need to look in her bag - Molly said she had a pair of khaki shorts. Why????  Yeah, um, I have several pair of khaki shorts.....  Anyway, we go chasing after her.  Lucy calls the security guards at the gate.  Molly starts running.  I see my boss.  Lovely.  I stop, tell him I have a haus meri incident and asked if he was coming to see me.  He says no, so I promptly took off after Molly.  Nothing gets everyone's attention like two white chicks chasing after a haus meri! 

Needless to say, we caught up with her, Molly paid her, I looked through her bag.  ?  Yes, those were her shorts.  Or, let me be more exact...they weren't mine.  We went back to the office with 5 minutes to spare before the meeting.  Of course, Melanasian time and everyone else was late.... Anyway, we explain to Lucy and Lucy said the whole hospital thing was crap.  I think Lucy isn't going to recommend anyone else for me!  Anyway, she was pretty ticked with her.  I'm just hoping Lucy can get my curtains!!  At this rate, my house will never be clean and never have curtains!!!

New Pics and Videos....

Pics and videos uploaded...finally.... Click here - Flickr - wagarland

No gat wara; No gat powa

Molly and Michael arrived at the Melo.  Oh, Molly is full of good news.... (do you feel my sarcasm???)  Apparently the power came on for about 20 minutes and she checked her email - Something went down in Markham Valley and they're saying we'll have power problems for the next two weeks.... which also means water problems for the next two weeks.  Oh, lovely.....

So, spotty power all day today...5 minutes, 10 minutes.... apparently for 20 minutes at one point.  None of that is long enough to get the water pumps flowing.... especially at Unitech....holy crap.  I have 3/4 of a jug on the kitchen counter, a container in the fridge, and a half a bucket in the bathroom.  Lovely.  I guess I'm making a trip to buy a case of bottled water tomorrow.

Needless to say, the Melo is out of water, too.....oh, the toilet situation is FABULOUS.....  This is going to be a long, long week.  I wonder if Damian will let us come "swim" in his pool....with soap???

I STINK

I realized as I drove around that I actually sweat here.... like dripping off my arms and hands sweat!  It's a bit odd..... and really gross.  Thankfully, I got a shower yesterday.  The power and water has pretty much been off since last night.  It flickered off/on for a bit today, but nothing sustainable.  I ended up going to town running errands.... I GOT KEYS MADE!!!  Yeah, I had to go there twice, but I got it done.  Success!!! EVEN THE SUZUKI KEY!  Yeah!!!

I did realize, while I was AT the bank, that I left my checks in my purse.  I brought my bilum today.  Rrrggh.... Add that to my errand to-do list for later this week.....

And, I'm becoming more optimistic with errands.  Success comes in many forms.  Molly and I are trying to get walkie-talkies.  (I don't think the neighbor is too keen on us yelling back and forth on our back porches!!!).  I stopped at three stores.  One was way too expensive.  The other is a maybe. The third had none.  Molly's going to call Nadia and find out where the good, cheap ones are.  She told her before but she can't remember.  Anyway, at least I now know which of these three stores have what.  I also know that one of the hardware stores has a cheap mixer....less than K40!!!  Yeah, the other ones I've seen have been over K100!  So....I need to stop back in there next time I go by.  It's a bit insane, I know....

Anyway, I headed back to the office around lunchtime and brought Molly & I back some Chinese take out.  Power was still out, so I decided to pack up and head to the Melo.  I have a million things to do.... book flights, check email, prep for a meeting tomorrow, need to do some editing of master's papers for the Agriculture Dept (yeah, got sucked into that one....only a few of us with English as our first language).

I'm really, really, really hoping power and, subsequently, water will come back on.  I need laundry done!!!  

ANZAC Day

So, today is ANZAC Day. I had never heard of it, but it’s the Aussie/NZ equivalent of our Memorial Day. It starts off with a dawn service – in PNG case – 5:15. We went to the Lae War Cemetery which I’ve past the road now many, many times and never knew it was there. It is immaculately kept and really just beautiful. It was a lovely candlelit service (I am in no way coordinated enough to walk in the dark, holding a program, and a candle --- I had wax dripping everywhere….). Molly and I came just as it was about to begin and sort of slid into place on the side. Anyway, there were bagpipes, laying of wreaths, some readings, national anthems, and over. The sun came up in perfect timing.

We caught up with the MFS’ers and other folks and headed over to the yacht club for breakfast. What can you say, they know how to do it right – free breakfast AND coffee with rum. Then, wait, wait….look around…wait…yep, there it goes…the first beers have been ordered by a nearby table….it’s not even 8 am. Now all is fair game, let the taps flow…. A round of beer for our table, then another, then another. Oh, it’s going to be a long, long day….

Yeah, uh, that's Alex's head in the way of my lovely inside shot of the Yachty........ it was a lovely view....if he would have MOVED his HEAD!

Lunch at the Yachty….. pizza, Two Up (some gambling game with coins???), and FREE beer. Yes, there’s free beer on tap for the afternoon…and we drink, and drink, and drink, and drink. Iso had a bottle of water and needed to pee constantly, so it was like my sobriety test to see if I could take her. I made it, but realized I had my fill…NO MORE. Hey, I’m medically incapable of managing that much booze….

Somewhere in the midst of the drunken day, there was swimming over at Damien’s pool with a good crowd. The MFS’ers tried to get a boat to Salamoa, but couldn’t…. It kind of worked out to celebrate today in style. They’ll try again for next weekend and hopefully Molly and I will be able to tag along – the more people, the cheaper it is.

So, I survived my first ANZAC Day. I think it’s my new favorite holiday….

Shaken, not stirred....

There was another earthquake Friday night.  Several of us were sitting at a table at the yacht club and it started going....and going.  Freaky.  Jonica googled it - yeah for folks with their crackberries and internet service.  We all guessed and made a game out of it... I won.  I guessed 5.1, but it was a 5.4.  Hey, I could make a new career off earthquake guessing!  We told Jonica that each time there's an earthquake now, we all have to text her our number.  At the end of the "earthquake season" (pre-rainy season apparently??), we'll total it up and give out a prize.  Hey, we have to do something to entertain ourselves here!!! 

It rained all day today.  I must say today was the start of my domestic self.... I cleaned up a bit, a took out hems in the curtains, and even cooked on my stove (they turned the gas off from downstairs???).  I'm even becoming a handyman.  The house is quite still in need of work and, well, someone has to do it.  Today I installed door thingys (yes, professional wording here) that keep the door open.  I got to a point where I couldn't screw it in all the way though.  And I put up a towel rack, which is much harder than it might seem.  The bathroom walls aren't really walls, but some other whack material that you have to drill through first. One bracket was up, but that was it.  I was able to get one screw in another bracket I bought.  The drill was Roger's and it blows chunks.  I'm just going to wait for the cargo to arrive.  I've got tools on there.  Between the crappy drill and the folding screwdriver of Molly's, it just wasn't working so well.  I figured I better stop before I hurt myself!  I really need to make a list for maintenance and get on them.  Top of the list is still the hot water tank.  Second, would be a shower curtain rod.  Third, oh, perhaps we could fill the holes in the screens and broken window?  Yeah, whatever, I'm about to take my duct tape to it. 

I saw another cockroach in my kitchen.  Rrrgh.  I sprayed it and killed it.  I sprayed the spray the other night, but I never saw any dead ones.  It's supposed to attract them and kill them.  I know I killed the one...he was squirming around and I figure I'll clean him up tomorrow.  We'll see if any of his friends join him.  I blasted the floor and cabinet.  Be gone, oh nasty ones, be gone....

Going to bed early!  I convinced Molly to go to the war memorial sunrise service tomorrow, but it STARTS at 5:15.  I think it's an Aussie thing?  I'm not exactly sure.  Alex says the expats go, so, well, why not.  Plus, there's breakfast at the yacht club after....with rum in the coffee! :)  G'night!

Graduation Day

Today was graduation day… it was actually quite impressive and regal. The combination of the traditional with the modern is really great to see.  I’m glad that as Papua New Guineans adopt outside cultures, they still keep their traditions.  It’s a tough balance, I’m sure.  At some point, the VC commented about consultants coming in and speaking negatively about PNG.  He has a point.  He said his grandfather was a cannibal and that this country is still quite young.  It was an interesting speech! 

I’m posting pics on Flickr, but slow as always with the Internet speed.  I sat up on stage, but I did take a few snapshots as I was able.  After graduation, the HODs and administration had a luncheon over at the VC’s house.  That was really nice as well. 

I’m at the Melo now with Molly.  The power and water were out on campus, and after such a long day, we needed to get out!  Internet, a/c, ahh…..  neither of us slept well last night, and we woke up to another earthquake around 3:30 – 4:00 am.  It wasn’t so bad, but bad enough to wake up.  Needless to say, I don’t think it will be a late night for either of us at the Yachty tonight.  We’ll see.  I do have Jackie coming in the morning with her mom.  

Always a rainbow....

Stove is working now, but still no hot water.  They need funding to buy the tank.  Lovely.  I did finally make it town, although it was after 3 pm so the bank was closed.  I did get to the pharmacy (and the machines were down so I had to go to the ATM - just no deposits, only withdrawals).  It's just very odd that you can get pretty any narcotic over the counter, but need a prescription to buy a baby bottle...  I got my meds (and decided to wait before taking it so that I can google it to make sure it's indeed what I need!!!)  Anyway, I'm driving back and nearly got hit by a speeding PMV, but at the last minute he was able to swerve back into his own lane. 

Anyway, after a very long and crappy day, I see the most beautiful rainbow.  It was huge and every color was just so defined and beautiful.  Of course, my camera was in my other bag at home.  The picture would have been interesting to share.... the most beautiful rainbow overtop the streets of dirt and grime and litter and poverty.  It just puts everything in perspective.  Yes, indeed, there are rainbows after really shitty days.

RRGGHHHH.....

Frustrations abound.  My computer is back...and they wiped it clean.  No back up, no nothing.  All my lecture plan reports, my memos, my petty cash reports, everything...gone.  Welcome to the world of Unitech I.T.  I called the guy and he said he just does the scan.  So, who's responsibility is this?  The person that took my machine?  Yeah, well, I'm tracking this down.  This is absolutely unacceptable.  I've been here for two months and my work is gone. What happens if I was here for a year?  Seriously, this is absolutely retarded. 

The first email I got this morning (my email goes back four days only now....), is an email from my boss about another email.  One of the idiot lecturers that likes to talk about sex had me come and visit his class.  I emailed him my "suggestions" for improvement (ie, cut out the sex jokes) but because this was an informal thing, my email back to him was fairly informal.  He included my email as part of a suggested "process improvement" on faculty evaluations.  He wants it to be twice - mid semester and end.  Well, he's also the lecturer that I had a student come to my office and complain about.  He thinks he's all that, but no.... So, his super formal email had a ton of attachments about his plan for university-wide implementation and was sent to my boss and cc'd a slew of people, including the Vice Chancellor.  Seriously???? WTF???  I'm okay with what I sent, but he's stupid for including that....yeah, you sent an attachment where I said you need to cut out the sex jokes in your classroom.  Whatever.  Dumbass.  It just pisses me off that (1) he's crossing the line of his position and stepping in my world and administration, and (2) that he would attach an email like that and send it to all the big wigs of the university.  It just pisses me off.  My boss told his HOD to bring this up at the next HOD meeting, where he will NOT be attending.  And then I can then articulate why I think mid-semester reviews are not good.  Yeah, you suck as a lecturer, you need to go.  But we do not need mid-semester formal reviews. RRGGHH.

And I need to go to the pharmacy in town.  I need some drugs (not as fun as that may sound...LOL), but the choice on campus is not the pleasant choice....I prefer the better stuff.  And, even that's not close to the U.S. version.  Crap.  Oh well.  I need to do that TODAY.  But.... I have the plumbers now.  They were supposed to be here in the morning, but now it's after lunch. 

And my curtains suck.  I told Lucy that I'll pay the woman part of her money, but she's not doing any more.  Jackie stopped by and said her mother can bring her sewing machine on Saturday and do the rest for K5 each (half the price of the other lady) and she sews for Brian Bell.  Yeah, much better option.  I think this lady saw white girl and decided to tried to milk it.  Yeah, well, too expensive and too shoddy a job.  And now you won't make any more from me AND you will not get referrals.  Burn your bridge.....  I'm just glad I only gave her the small bedroom and kitchen to do. 

On a positive note, I got a call from the Bursar today and got my last reimbursement checks.  At first I saw K500+ check and was like, um, I'm pretty sure it should be over K800....well, there was another check underneath -- total ended up over K1,000, so yeah, they must have done it right this time.  Finally.   I still don't have enough for the final payment of the car, even with getting paid today.  I'll have to wait another two weeks to give the rest to Jonica.  Rrrggh.  I HATE owing people.  She said no worries, but that's just me.  After paying for the car and the car insurance, I'll be offiically caught up and will be able to make some sort of  a savings plan.  I need to start putting money away to bring back in August. 

The plumber said it should take about 2 hours, which probably means 3.  I'm hoping it won't take too long, I really, really, really need to go to town....  Tomorrow is graduation and Lucy is picking up my gown today.  I want to be excited, but I'm just not feeling it.  I do think it will probably be pretty cool with the traditional element brought in.  I wish I could take pictures, but I'm not allowed.  I'll probably bring my small camera just in case I have opportunities.  I am kind of worried how long it will be.  Formal ocassions here seem to drag on and on, and there are over 900 graduates!  Oh my....

I'm beating my head against the wall today and poor Lucy didn't know what to do with me.  I told her I was going to be fine and give me some space.  Monday I'll be better!  I promise!!!  At least I'm home now...she's probably glad! 

Oh, and talked with Carl this morning.  Too funny that he sent me an email about the earthquake.  Talk about delay!  Apparently he and others read my blog only through Facebook, which has a delay in auto posting.  Since he hadn't heard from me, he was worried.  Cassie overheard a conversation with his mom or my mom (?) and asked if I died.  Geez.  No, actually I didn't feel a thing!   Anyway, it was a good conversation.  Funny he actually receieved the package I sent him today, too.  Penis gourds..... yeah, well, apparently the girls thought they were hats and Cassie had it on her head with the string around her chin!  Now THAT I need a picture of!!!!!!!  Just the thought makes me laugh and makes my really shitty day a little bit better......

Errands from hell

I do pretty well with keys, however with raskols, etc., it's good to have a spare set in case my bilum gets stolen.  I went to try to make duplicates and, well, let's just say that this was no small task.  I had other errands today, too.  I'm learning the hard way to pick one errand a day and see if you can get that accomplished.

First, I had a lady come to do measurements for my curtains.  I bought fabric yesterday with Molly (she's so proud and happy of her job of helping do my house in funky fun....).  Anyway, I got her finished and set up Jackie and Cain with things for today, then I took the car over to Hans for a once over belt squealing thing.  Then I headed to town.  (Yes, I realize this is a work day, but my computer wasn't coming back until this afternoon and I'm still dealing with house issues...). 

Anyway, I went to the hardware store and bought paint (just under K50 for a quart) to paint over the really shoddy one coat job here.  Sky Boat is the formal color of the cabinets and doors, by the way.... I go to check out and they can't get the WestPac card to work.  Tried and tried, so, I had to go to the bank.  While in Top Town at the bank, I ran next door to the town Brian Bell.  I noticed a blank keys on the wall!  Hurray!  I ask about them and they told me the cutter was broken.  Rrghh.  I go to Food Mart to buy Molly some power and buy another set of peel and stick tiles for the kitchen floor (yeah, um my tiles have been stripped......)  Then, I stop at a different hardware store on the to the other hardware store.  They have a key cutter!  Oh, but no blanks.  Hmm... okay. But, this hardware store has the holders for the towel rack.  Great.  Oh, the actual rack?  That would be a pipe.  That needs to be cut.  That they'll only sell the entire pipe, which means I get more holders and make multiple towel racks.  Whatever, Molly's getting a towel rack for her next birthday or Christmas present..... just cut me the pipe!!  That took nearly an hour. Then I go to the other hardware store and pay the paint bill.  Then I go to the other Brian Bell, but they don't have keys.  I drive back to Top Town to that Brian Bell, I go back to the key guy and tell him I need blanks to take to the hardware store, but when he looks at the keys, he said he had no blanks to fit them.  RRGGHH. 

I'm done.  I'm sweaty and it's another repeat of errand day in Lae. I get back to campus and Lucy has a package for me.  :)  A box from Carl.  I got birthday cards from Carl and the girls, peanut butter, cocoa, the ebay pants I bought, and Molly's shirts and shampoos (and I got one of Molly's shirts!!!).  Yeah!!!  I took all my loot home and unpacked the car.  My errand to-do list is still quite long and it still includes finding a place to make copies of my keys.  And no one does car keys, so it looks like I'll be taking the Suzuki key home to have someone in the U.S. make me a copy!!!  That's going on the August Trip to-do and buy list, which is on Molly's fridge.

Tomorrow, I am going into the office.  My computer is officially back and I have a bunch of crap to do.  I need to follow up with maintenance on all my BIG issues...such as still having no hot water or gas.  I also need to follow up with the Bursar on the last of my K800 flight money. No, I still don't have it.  I swear for every one thing you check off the list, you add about 3 more things.

Okay, I'm heading to bed....12:30 my time.  Tired.  I did take a cold shower tonight.  Rrrrggh.  And I just went to turn off the kitchen light and I saw a big, giant roach crawl up under my cabinet.  GROSS.  Time to spray and get it under control NOW.  I haven't even cooked in there yet!!!   I've got flying little gnats, very few ants, but a fat gecko that likes to hang out in the kitchen.  And the lone, giant cockroach.....oh, I'm sure that sucker has friends....

Pricing

I’ve had people ask about prices of things in PNG. I saved some receipts and, well, here’s a list of some stuff….

A scoop of ice cream at the grocery store check out K1 (double scoop K2) - stick to chocolate only.
A roll of paper towels K4.60
Box of off brand tissues K7.95
A bag of Indian rice K16.60
Splenda (small box – 55 grams) K14.80
Rice crackers K5.95
Coffee (PNG) K7.50
Off brand 300 ml ketchup K5.25
Maggi 2 minute noodles K1.10
4 pack of can Coke products (on sale) K8.95
mustard K8.95
juice (on sale) K13.95
strawberry jam K6.95
olives K7.65
small box of cereal K18.80
long life milk K4.80
butter K9.95
Kraft peanut butter (on sale) K14.10
Beef stock K9.65
Dozen eggs (one with chicken feathers on it….) K10.25
Ant bait K7.80
Off brand Toilet bowl cleaner K7.90
Rat poison K7.95
Off brand Sunscreen K28.60

I've bought cheap, pastic dollar store-like baskets between K3-5; small buckets around K15; a pack of 100 tea light candles on clearance for K22; a radio on clearance for K35 (originally K75, but that's Brian Bell); cheap iron K40; ironing board ranges from K50 (sale price) - K400 (Brian Bell top of the line) - mine cost K140 from Papindo; electric tea kettle K50 (sale), shovel K22, bush knife K12, crackers for haus meri and garden guy (sorry, I just can't bring myself to call him garden boy....) are 80t; a small, semi-decent bar of chocolate is about K5-6; bottle of EVOO around K40.

Water bills range from K10-15 month?  Something like that.  Electricity can run about K40, at least without a/c out at Unitech!  Must prepay and not run out!!!  Costs about K12 to have a key made.  K1800 for evacuation insurance, K300 for mandatory car insurance (liability only in case you kill a person or pig), car inspections are every 6 months (ha.. joke...) but that's K30-40...something like that.  Can't remember exactly.  K190 to get car reregistered.

Text messages to the States during normal hours is 99t, or nights and weekends 50t; calls are K1.49 or 99t nights/weekends (Digicel).

Artifacts range in prices.  I got a big basket for K60 and two carved wooden bowls for about K20 each.  Bilums are about K40-60, depending on size.  I heard Port Moresby is the place to buy all that sort of stuff cheap though.  Penis gourds at the art center range from K18 - K25!

As far as food and drinks -  wine is about K25-45 bottle; a gin and tonic can range from K8-15; dinner out at the Yachtey ranges from K30-50; large pizza about K30-35; lunch on campus at the kofi haus K15 (YUCK), but just fries or fried rice is K6 and K8.  Um, what else??  Oh, to fill my gas tank is about K150, but I try not to let it get too far down....usually I just tell them to put in K100.

Market stuff (at least here on Unitech) is about 20t for a carrot, K2 for pineapple, K1 coconut, 40t banana, 20t-30t for little fruits, k2 for a pile of about 6 potatoes, 40t for a small eggplant, 40t for a handful of rooted peanuts, and 20t for small green bell peppers (when they have them). Our market is more expensive than the main market, but only about 5-10t more.  It's still a lot cheaper than the grocery stores.  At least when you're able to find it out here.  Yes, shopping locally is the way to go!!!  (And there's a reason I don't know the prices on a lot of prepackaged items....because I cannot afford them!!!  Um, a box of plain 'ole granola bars is like K15-20 for 6!  Thanks again for them, Cindy!! :)  Almonds?  A small bag for K22.  Uh, I'll be bringing some back with me in August!!

Housing, free on campus, but if you have to rent a decent place with security, it runs anywhere from K2,000 - K5,000 per WEEK.  Again, yes, it is indeed expensive here!  Hotels are very pricy can range from K400-900/night....for a basic room! Airfare is insane, too.  For me to do roundtrip to POM and back to Lae is K550.  Rgggh..... okay, that's about all I can think of for now....

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I know, I know… I haven’t blogged. For one thing, my computer has a virus (welcome, again to the world of Unitech where everything is done with flash drives…rrgghhh). But, the bigger reason for not blogging is that I’ve been busy….moving!!!

Yes, happy birthday to me….I have a house! Getting the keys was one thing, but then I had the ordeal of getting furniture. I moved all my personal belongings over on Thursday and they were supposed to move my furniture, but, no….. finally Saturday morning, they moved it all…..yes, my bed in my house where I am now officially sleeping! 111/1 Sarowaged Drive. It’s official. Finally.

Of course, there are issues…. Hmmmm, like I have a stove, but it’s not hooked up (need to run new gas piping), no hot water (happy to have water because they had to come and fix a leak Monday morning), no shower curtain rod (the guy needs to go bend the pipe that they use), there’s a hole in one of the windows, and the list goes on, but I’m IN my house now. Baby steps….baby steps….

Let’s see… Friday was errand day in the morning and moving house stuff in the afternoon. Molly and I did make time for Alex’s chocolate cake and coffee. For some odd reason, his office has cake every Friday morning. I don’t understand, I don’t ask questions, I just show up. Delish.

After a very long day, I went to the yacht club (snuck in, really, since Friday’s is “members only”….shhhhhh). It was nice and we had a good size table of people. Chef invited me to go out fishing on Sunday and, uh, yeah!!! He was actually invited to go fishing and I was the tag-a-long. Luckily, the guy that owns the boat didn’t mind (same people that owned the other boat I went out on). I met up early and we were out all day. The boat is really amazing and was custom made in Arizona then shipped to LAX to Australia then to Lae. It just arrived two weeks before Easter…..very new, very nice!

Anyway, I missed Damian’s afternoon pool event, but cruising in the water was just awesome. I sat up top most of the time just looking out on the water.  Check out the pic.... yeah, pretty amazing....

It was so relaxing and it was nice to chill out. Nothing was really happening, but Chef was able to get one fish mid-morning. We trolled around and trolled around. I slept for a bit, we ate some sandwiches, we trolled some more. The tide changed, and… zoom…. There goes a line. Chef caught an 8 kilo mackerel. It was pretty amazing. I didn’t quite realize that you basically bludgeon the fish’s head to kill it. Odd. You’d think you could just throw their butts in the cooler…..whatever. It’s just kind of gross to have fish blood splattered all over a beautiful white and chrome boat. Get out the hose and rinse her down… blech.

Apparently, while we were out on the water, Lae had a 6.3 earthquake! We didn’t feel a thing!!! We didn’t even know about it until we got closer back in and the phones could connect again. Alex had sent text messages….oops! There was an aftershock today, but it was mild. There wasn’t any damage out at Unitech, but I am glad I put in the shelf sticky liner!! I would have been ticked off if my wine glasses didn’t even make it 24 hours! But, alas, all is good…..

So, Monday, birthday extraordinaire…. I got to talk to the girls first thing in the morning, which was great.  They were really cute wishing me a happy birthday.  Carl's on his game with the time zone difference!  It was nice to see the early Facebook and email birthday wishes from folks.  Gee, I celebrated here more than I do in the States!  

Anyway, I had already told Lucy I’d be out most of the day dealing with the house. I had several people come by, including the plumber to fix the huge water leak. I finished putting stuff away and Jackie came over to clean. I have a bit more to do and will finish it up tomorrow. Lucy did ring me to tell me I had a package. I had to go into the office anyway to call maintenance about some of the issues. Anyway, I get there and she has a card, a meri blouse, and a water bottle holding bilum! She and my boss’s secretary and two other ladies that come over to eat at my office joined together to make it happen. It’s quite lovely. 

Molly made me olive hummus….with TAHINI! And gave me chocolate! Ahhh…. She knows how to do a birthday right in PNG! We met up with everyone at the Inter for dinner and Jonica gave me a lovely gift bag (decorated by Iso!) of coffee, a coffee mug (yeah! I actually don’t have one and have been using my glasses!), a bookmark, and some PNG pottery. It’s so lovely and works perfect for the coffee table! We chowed down on pizzas and Chef made a cake. We had the whole birthday thing…cake, candles…..it was nice. 35. I survived yet another year!

I still don’t have internet, so this will be posted later. But as of now, it’s past my birthday. It’s nearly 1 am! Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t be drinking coffee so late at night! Oh well, I’m sleeping in tomorrow!  I'll post when I can... and I'll put more pics and videos to Flickr as soon as I can get a better connection..........

Ups, downs, and sideways.......

I think I'm getting some manic-depressive order here!! I'm a freak!!! Really, I'm not one for mood swings (okay, maybe you would have to ask Carl about that one....), but geez....this place is a roller-coaster of emotions.  Let's face it -  It's kind of crazy living on the other side of the world and the cultural barriers can be overwhelming at times. This isn't a walk in the park by any means.

But, there are good moments.  My meeting with my boss had been rescheduled twice but I finally sat down with him (Pro-Vice Chancellor of Academics) this morning.  I'm still early enough in my time here that I'm wary of "boss time".  Are our expectations the same? Am I doing what he wants? All those questions still arise.  But, really, I have to remind myself that I've only been here 2 months.

I scheduled the meeting to review my findings on the lecture plans.  I compiled reports for each of the departments on what's missing, what are problems, what needs to be changed, etc.  Before I could really show him everything, you typically start with some non-work, informal discussions. He wasn't feeling well in yesterday's HOD meeting, so I asked about his health.  Better.  We then discuss that I've been healthy here.  Which is true, with the exception of food poisoning.  That led to a discussion about what to eat, and from where, and all those sorts of things.  It was just nice to have a conversation at work, not about work, yet non-threatening.  Chit chat.  Office cooler talk.  We talked about going to town and meeting people and settling in.  Apparently I have done well for myself?  He's impressed about how I've been able to acclimate.  I guess from outside appearances, I have.  And, it's true.  I have.  I thought it was best not to bring up any of my mini-melt downs!  Actually, I think those are totally normal, but still.....

Anyway, he liked everything I had done with the reports and I told him what I was planning next, and all that was fine by him.  Again, I just like that he lets me do my thing.  I mentioned to him that some students approached me to be the Unitech faculty coordinator for the National Aids Council Debate which will be in Madang.  Again, he was very supportive and told me to keep him informed if I needed anything.  We also discussed some of the creepy lecturers on campus.  He told me if I ever come up against something worse, to write to him in a formal complaint and he can take action and get them booted from the university.  At this point, I want to try to handle as much of it by myself as I can, but at least I know it's an option.

(Side note - This was one of the latest ones, which I told my boss:  I went to Food Mart on Saturday and was leaving as was a lecturer and prof.  They asked for a ride back to campus and I said okay.  Yeah, I need to work on coming up with excuses on the fly.  On the way back the one guy asked me again about going to Madang.  I thought I handled it last time, but obviously not.  I told him again that I cannot do that because I am married and my husband would not like that.  He said, "Your husband is in U.S.  When you are in U.S., your husband take care of you. While you are here, I take care of you." I turned and looked at him and said that I can take care of myself here and told him next time he makes a comment like that he can walk.  I think he got the point when I booted them both out inside the campus and made him walk the rest of the way to their houses.  I came back home and told Molly that we will only grocery shop during the weekdays.....)

So, yeah, ups, downs, and sideways.  I guess the difference is really that the ups and downs aren't as big in your own culture.  Yes, you have good times and bad, but here, they are high peaks of successes followed by low blows of cultural confusion and isolation.  I must be honest, though, I'm not sure the highs are all that "high"; it's all just relative to the low points.  Don't get me wrong, they are high points.  But in comparison, they would be middle of the road moments in the U.S.  Yes, this morning, with my boss?  High moment.  You grasp at straws and take what you can.  The main difference is that when you experience a high moment here, it's elation...it's breakthrough, it's feeling like you're doing more than surviving.  I don't know.  I guess it's hard to explain, but I'm doing my best for all of you that follow me over here.  I don't want it to sound negative all the time, because it's not.  Not even close.  I absolutely know I made the right decision to come and do this.

Anyway, enough of that.  Let me update you on other misc stuff.  My "garden boy" started yesterday.  When I say "boy" I mean "boy" as he's 14.  I blame Molly for the underage employment, but he's awesome and I'm sticking with him! :)  I had Lucy come and talk to him the other day about what I want done to the yard and it was just beautiful the way she used her hands to talk to him.  Pigin can be a beautiful language, although most communication is done in negative sayings.  She explained what I wanted and she talked and talked, and waved her hands and turned and pointed.  I wish I had my video camera.  It was really a moment to see.  Anyway, all is good and Cain already has stones outlining part of the driveway.  I promise to take pictures again soon.

Jackie, the haus meri, starts on Friday.  She worked for Molly on Monday and there was a big ta-do with Nancy, the old haus meri, coming by to try to chase Jackie away.  She told her to give her come to the door so she could see her face and to give her the keys because she was going to tell Molly she was coming back to work there.  Blah, blah, blah... Drama on Purari Drive.  Jackie was already nervous her first day, so that just added to it all.  But, she held her ground and all is good.  Although, apparently she used Tide to clean Molly's floors?  Yeah, we need to do some teaching about cleaning supplies....

And a guy that friended me on Facebook is moving to Lae with his daughter and grandson soon.  He had some questions and called me up yesterday.  It was all pretty funny.  After a bit of joking around, I asked him if he was an alcoholic, because if he's not now, he will be....  Apparently that's even in job descriptions here?  Jonica told me about some job that had that listed as a hazard of the job -- will induce alcoholic tendencies.  Oh, that needs to be in every job description here!!!  Anyway, he asked about prices of things and whether you're able to find meat and afford it --- all those sorts of  PNG questions!  I didn't want to come right out and ask him his pay, so I asked about the company and the perks they're giving him.  Yacht club and golf club memberships, furnished housing on secured compound, school fees for grandson, company car, flights home, etc.  Needless to say, it seems a standard town expat job, and I assured him he will be able afford meat and, in fact, I will expect to be invited to dinner on occasion since I cannot! :)  I'm sure he'll be fine, as most town expats get acclimated well through their companies.  Much more so than anything we have out here at Unitech.  I guess that's where Alex and Jonica come in.... they are the hub that connects all of us outsiders!! Yeah!!  I'm a social person, but Lae can be a hard nut to crack....

Cargo....... or lack thereof.......

Another email from Alex.... estimated date now is 13th of May.  IF it arrives on that date (yeah, right), I still have to wait a few days for it to be released, which means I'll get it the following week... which means that it will have been over 4 months since I released it....which means that I'M DOWNRIGHT PISSY!  And now I'll send ANOTHER complaint email which, again, will be promptly ignored.  Grrrr!

I may be stinky, but I am VICTORIOUS!

Seriously, I have been sweating in places a girl was not made to sweat.  I’m sticky, I’m hot, I’ve got sweat stains on my oh, so cute pink tee shirt.  I am PISSED, but I am victorious!!!!!!  Here’s the scenario…. My meeting this morning was moved to tomorrow afternoon.  Yipee… I can get into town earlier and get this thing settled with the car.  Although this is not before I received an email that someone scheduled me to be in charge of Thursday’s 8-12 session of a week-long workshop.  RRRGGGHHH.   Back to my story….

I go to the bank.  I need cash.  I used up nearly all my money last week.  Hmmm, K400… yeah, that’s fine….I get a call from Lucy and I need to buy more Rait minutes (minutes for the X’cess phone in the office... yeah our "regular" phone does not work on a "regular" basis.) Check.  Will do.

I head to the second floor of the ANZ building (really it’s the third floor? Why people here don’t count the ground floor as one, I don’t know….).  I find the place, a guard opens the metal gated door and promptly closes it behind me and locks me in.  It’s a small room with plastic chairs with the normal PNG plexiglass with itty bitty windows.  Lovely.  I look like I’m in a holding cell.  I sit down and wait my turn.  The dude to the left doesn’t have shoes (a normal PNG thing), the dude to the right is spitting buai into an empty Coke bottle.  I sit and wait.  It’s my turn, yippee.  She goes through my paperwork and tells me I need a declaration.  Oh, lovely. 

Let me pause a moment to discuss PNG declarations.  It’s pretty much a blank blue form which states “I [insert full name, occupation, and address] declare….. “ and then you sign it at the bottom and have it stamped by an “official” person.  Now, you can declare that you lost K6,000 worth of receipts and viola… you are granted that declaration and can now get reimbursed.  Oh, wait, you want to declare someone gave you a piece of property?  Viola, done.  It is yours.  In my case, I “declared” that I purchased P.O.S. (my Piece 'O Shit vehicle...)

Now at first they argued that Roger should also declare that he has sold me the car, but I stated that he already signed the REGISTRATION FORM….oh, you know, the legal title that says he’s giving me the title?!?!  No, not good enough.  I explain he’s gone and I’m dealing with his daughter.  Oh, SHE can declare she collected the money and she’s passing me the title.  I stopped and argued.  Now, I know that logic seems to bypass many citizens here, but this lady actually nodded.  YES! YES!  Thank you!  I only need ONE declaration today… MY declaration today… So, let’s do it… Let me declare!  Oh, you need to go to the Courthouse for that….

I think I’m going to start beating my head up against the wall.  I’m already sweating and I just need some freaking air conditioning.  I look at the clock and it’s nearly noon.  I, oh so sweetly ask, “Are they open during lunch hours?” and of course, the answer would be “no”.  I walk back down the three flights of stairs.  Fuck.  I head to Food Mart and buy the Rait card.  Lucy said to get K10.  They only sell K50 or K100. Fine… K50.  I get the receipt for petty cash.  Whatever… we’ll eventually use it all. 

Then, I call Renee.  (Side note:  Just met her yesterday at Damian’s pool.  She and her husband and kids have been here for a couple of months as well and I’m psyched to have met more families.  Okay, so I don’t have my family here, but I need to be around the “moms” to stay connected in some weird way.  Hard to explain, but it was just great.)  I thought she could meet me at the Yachty, but the kids are out of school this week and she invited me over to her house.  Okay, sure…. It was great.  Got directions, headed over, ate a sandwich.  All is good.  We’ll definitely hang out.  Plus she knows of some Army wives that live up past Unitech???  Need to follow up with that! 

Anyway, I promptly left her place to head over to the Courthouse.  I stood outside in the freaking sun while they were still closed…. At 1:15.  Some lady came over to me and said she recognized me from Unitech and offered to help… YES!  I explain what I need.  She goes and talks to someone, comes back, and ushers me down around some hallways and in through the back.  Some Pigin is exchanged, I hand over my blue paper, am asked if I’m Dr. Garland, I nod and confirm.  I get the rubber stamp – thump – and I’m ushered back out from whence I came.

I’m really sweating by now.  Seriously, the Arid Dry isn’t so arid any longer.  I drive back over to the ANZ building.  I park, I cross the street, I head up the staircase, and back into the holding cell. I wait oh, so patiently in line in the plastic chairs, which now makes my back sweat.  It’s my turn.  Success!  I get my papers, my sticker, my change, and I’m off back to the motor vehicle place.

I arrive and make my way through the crowd of shoulder-to-shoulder people in this small, little room.  I get up to the front and hand over all my paperwork.  And... wait.  Waiting in PNG is an art form.  You cross your arms, and lean back, and, well, wait.  And wait.  And wait.  And I did.  15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes.  Somewhere in this, the power goes out.  Now the fans have stopped.  Everything you can imagine about a 3^rd world country is it in this small little room of a government facility.  I’m thinking I now have behind the ear sweat.

Okay, after an hour, I’m pissed.  I finally get the attention of some woman behind the counter and she haphazardly waves me to the cashier and says “Cashier”.  W.T.F?!?!?!  I walk over to the cashier and realized they’ve flipped the door sign from OPEN to CLOSED.  I wait in line there….two people ahead of me….okay, I can do this.  The guy behind me tells me that once they take your paperwork, you should come to the cashier.  I swiftly turned around to him and said, “Gee, you think they could tell the dumb, white girl that’s been standing here for an hour that?!?!?!”  Seriously, rrgghhh…..

I get up to the cashier and she says “K190”.  Um, what???  The dude said before it was K50.  Whatever… I open my wallet…I’m pulling out K10s, a couple of K20s, I found a K50, and several K2…. Uh, yeah, I don’t have it.  She tells me to come back tomorrow that they’re closing.  I now have sweat rolling down my back.  I have been at this since 10 am.  I look around at the 10 or so people left in the room waiting for various forms and payments.  I go to walk out and someone says it’s locked and I have to go through the side door and out the other door.  I go. 

I’m driving back and go to pass Food Mart.  Damn it… I am NOT giving up!  I go in, grab a drink, and go to pay and get cash back.  Oh, no, I must spend K10.  Fine, I go and grab some more drinks.  I need water bottles on my head before I pass out.  I get my cash and leave.  I drive back to the motor vehicle place, go through the back door and people are telling me “no, no” blah, blah, blah…stuff in pigin that I’m going in after it’s closed.  I DON’T FREAKING CARE.  I KNOW THAT LADY IS STILL THERE!!! And, besides, it’s not 3:00 yet… it’s 2:57.  I walk into the room, march over to the counter and throw down my K190.  I turn triumphantly around and say “I HAVE THREE MINUTES LEFT” and I hear a cheer!  Yes!  See people - You CAN conquer LAE Department Motor Vehicles!!!!!!!!!! Oh, wait, they were cheering because the power just came back on….oops.

The lady gives me a look and I give her a look right back.  She collects my money which is sprawled out under the plexiglass window.  I wait for my receipt.  And wait, and wait, and wait.  I get my receipt.  I AM TRIUMPHANT!   I turn, I raise my paperwork with my THREE stickers and my receipts and my title, and the people cheer!  Yes, this time for me!  I now have sweat rolling down my ass crack, but I have won.  The car is officially mine! 

Cargo.....

Seriously, I'm pretty sure it fell into the ocean somewhere and they just won't admit it.....

I emailed Alex the latest email (he works at some sort of company involved with some sort of shipping that can somehow track all this stuff...).  He's telling me it's to arrive the 8th of May.  Yes, a full 2 months past the original  "estimated" date to arrive.  I'm now leaving the office to go consume alcohol....in large quantities.....he said the beer is on him tonight.  He feels my pain.... RRGGGHHHH!!!!

Friday errands - Part 2

I will never complain about Virginia DMV again, I will never complain about the Virginia DMV again, I will never complain about the Virginia DMV again, I will never complain about the Virginia DMV again...

I get to the vehicle place (by the way, it is in every way like a 3rd world country facility....people crammed inside, non-working fans, paperwork everywhere, people typing on half-broken typewriters, trash on the ground....).  Luckily I don't have to wait too long before a bunch of the men start shooing others out of the way for the "boss meri" to come through.  Yeah, in situations like these, I will cut to the front of the line...sorry.

They tell me I need to go have the car inspected first.  Oh crap.  I call my pal over at PNG Motors....he says they can do it, and since I've already had it all looked at, basically, they can just sign the papers.  I have no idea where they're located, but he gives me the general area...I drive around...asked a few people and finally found it.   The lady in the office gets me the paperwork and sticker, I pay, blah, blah.... I ask the guy about the car again and tell him I really need help with the locks.  He heads outside to look at it, turns the locks a few times, says its not fully engaging.  I just want it to lock.  I don't care about the automatic part anymore!!! Anyway, he does something underneath the steering wheel and presto....locks are fixed.  I now can LOCK THE DOORS!  Manually, but it works!

I head back to the car place, they're closed.  I go into the other door.  They're officially closed, but the remainder of the people are there getting pictures done, etc.  Finally a guy comes to help me and basically tells me now I need to go to the insurance place.  And where is that?  Oh, second floor of the ANZ building.  I pay them, they give me another sticker, I then come back to this car place and pay them and get a third sticker and then I'm fully registered.  Okay... so one day of errands wasn't enough.  I guess that's my Monday afternoon.....  Although I really, really, really, really want to get my CARGO and HOUSE KEYS!  When it rains, it pours....but, alas, yes, I am in Lae!

Friday errands - Part 1

Okay--- I was at the Melo writing this…and then their internet went down………….

I'm at the Melo doing some uploading for work.  I needed to run a bunch of errands anyway, so Friday afternoons work well.  I find myself working a lot of evenings and weekends, and I like being able to just get some things done during the week.  Besides, most things are only open M-F 8-4.  

Anyway, last night Molly cut my hair.  Yeah!  This is a very handy talent as I just need trims.  Check out the pic.... it's even and everything!  Woo-hoo!!!   She's feeling much better and we watched several episodes of Nip/Tuck and then went into school at midnight.  She had given her students that as a deadline and she went to collet them.  It was pretty funny because they were all still working.  Anyway, while I was waiting for her I was finally able to call the student loan people....after all my issues and Carl calling and trying to figure out what they need, it turns out they just need an additional pay stub. Rrggh.  Of course, now I get to go 'round and 'round again about trying to fax it.  For some reason I can get phones or faxes to go through on U.S. 800 numbers. I'll probably have to scan it all and email it to Carl again.... the little things that are frustrating!!

I got another email about my cargo.  It either arrived today or it's not arriving for another month.  No, I'm not kidding....yes, a Ph.D. and I can't figure out the cargo papers.  I forwarded it to Alex to see if he can figure it out.  And, because I still can't print at work, I saved a copy to my flash drive, sent Lucy to go print it, then took it down to transport for them to tell me no one is in today.  Um, pretty sure we need to get on this!!!!  She told me to come back Monday and I kind of threw a fit.  If my crap is sitting at the dock, we need to PICK IT UP MONDAY!!!!  I'll follow up again this afternoon.  I'm not a happy camper....I know I still need to pay VAT on my end and I'd like to know how much it is so it's ready.  RRGGHHHHH.  

And where, oh, where can I put my cargo?  Oh, my house you say??  Well, that would be "almost" ready.  I stopped to see Cathy and told her about my cargo.  In no way am I moving it twice!!!  She promised that I could get the key Monday and I can unpack while they're putting everything in.  At this point, I told her just to move over the stuff from the temp house.  I can deal with that stuff until we can get the rest of it in.  Supposedly, they're turning on the gas and hot water today.  Well, that's more than my temp house, so we're making progress.  We'll see what happens......  I did go over there this morning when I saw a guy with a key.  He only had the key to get into the main part of the house, but I was able to see that there's a buai stain on the floor and they only painted one coat of paint in the kitchen and there's a dead gecko stuck to the wall (wet paint and he wasn't able to get all the way across).  Lovely.  But..... it's a permanent house and it's almost mine!  

From there, I went to town to my bank and got out the rest of the money for my insurance.  Then I had to go to the BSP bank, which is what most nationals and local companies use.  I finally got my petty cash, which was given in the form of a check payable to cash.  Lovely....  Needless to say, I go to my bank, get out K1,742.45 (evacuation insurance) and stuff it into my zip front pocket (thanks Cindy again for the super shorts!!!) then head across the street to BSP.  My bank I go upstairs to where the expats bank and I've never had more than 2 people in line ahead of me.  BSP?  I'm in a line of about 40 people.  I brace myself for the long haul wait.  Yes, it's Friday and payday, but this is also quite normal.  Ug.  I made it out just in time for the vehicle registration place to close for lunch.  ARRGGGHHH.  

Luckily, everything is super close by in town.  I went over to Tower Insurance and paid the last of my insurance.  I also gave him a copy of the car papers for a quote on that insurance.  I then stopped by Telikom to check on the internet.  They guy wasn't in, but the other guy said it hasn't arrived yet.... of course....

So, at the Melo.....I'm finishing up my lunch now, then I'll head over to the PNG equivalent of the DMV.  I've got the registration papers and just hoping I can get POS to pass inspection.... I'll keep you posted!

On another note, I had a great conversation with one of the HODs this morning.  He's the one person that I find friendly, approachable, and just decent.  He was without his wife for a while, but now she's here.  I believe he's from Bangladesh, but I'm not 100% sure.  Just when I think I will give up home on finding decent people around, I see him again and it makes things better.  He's almost fatherly and in many ways it's just comforting.  He told his wife I have an open invitation in case I just need to get a break for everything else on campus.  He just came and sit and had some coffee with me this morning.  We chatted about creepy guy, lecture plans, culture of getting things done, other expats, the crazy meetings, and just generic stuff.  It was nice to have a casual conversation at work.  Water cooler talk.  Oh, how I've missed it!  Anyway, it renewed my faith that there are great people at Unitech -  people that are committed to the students and to their profession.  Yeah!!   A good start to a happy Friday....

Philosophical Friday

This isn't mine, but I like it a lot ----- 

Most people don't think of a choice as a gift. Instead we believe choices are burdens to be endured, not embraced. So naturally, they then become burdens.   Consider for a moment there are really only 3 ways to change the trajectory of our lives, for better or for worse.  They are crisis, chance, and choice.  You may not realize it, but your life right now is a direct result of the choices you made once upon a time. these choices may have been made minutes, or days or months or years ago. Everyday we make choices, conscious or unconscious. A conscious choice is creative, an unconscious choice is destructive. Unconscious choices is how we end up living other peoples lives and not our own. Most people are terrified of making choices because we don't trust our own instincts. One reason we're terrified is that we are convinced that we will make the wrong decision, yet again!  Choices, wrong or right, got you to where you are today. But a wrong choice wasn't necessarily a bad choice.  If these choices had been different, your life would have been different but not necessarily better. That's because we, not our circumstances, are the catalysts for the quality of our lives.   We don't know if a choice is right or wrong until we've lived it. We can't really know where a choice may take us, even though we might be able to sense it's direction. We're torn between agonizing between should and shouldn't.

So we gather as much information as we can, we weigh the options, we brood, we ponder the possibilities.  Then, we take a leap in the dark and hope we land on our feet. We have to live with our choice, we don't look back for a long time.  Eventually with hindsight, we'll glance back to see if the choice was good, or not so good.  But at least it was a calculated risk.  We did the best we could at the time. 

Bad choices should never be confused with wrong choices. Bad choices, and we have all made them, happen when we embark on stretches of self destruction, usually with a smile. We don't think, or ponder or ask advice.  Why?  Because we usually know we shouldn't even be considering the thought of this choice. But we want to do it so badly even its badness doesn't daunt us. In fact, it eggs us on. Bad choices are usually made when we're sleepwalking, when we're numb, or hurting and want something, anything to happen to change the trajectory of our lives, but we don't know what or how. Usually before we even make them, we know at some point we'll ask ourselves how we could have been so stupid?

But our lives are not entirely shaped by wrong or bad choices. There have been wise choices, happy choices, good choices, courageous choices. We just don't remember many of them.  That's because we shrug off any good thing that arrives in our lives as it it were a fluke or a lucky break.  We don't give ourselves enough credit. Only when things don't work out, only when we make mistakes, or stumble do we feel we're responsible, and then we give ourselves all the blame.

You can wonder if you've done the right thing, if you've made the right choice. You won't really know for a while, maybe a long while.  But you've made a conscious choice to live your own life and not the unconscious choice to live someone else's.

Miss Popular today

I rarely see students.  They don't have much of a need to come by my office, but occasionally it's nice to get one in here.  I had one come in today asking if I do the International English Language Test.  Ah, nope, never heard of it.... Apparently he wants to apply to grad school and needs this.  I told him I'd do some research and get back to him.

I also had two 4th year business students come in.  They asked me if I would be one of the sponsors of the debate team.  They need staff to help them prepare, organize, etc.  Sure...why not...always up for something new.  I think it was the president and treasurer that came to see me.  Anyway, they're going to send over someone else to fill me in and give me more info.  From my understanding, it's big thing with university students to go from school to school as each one sponsors debates.  I read or heard somewhere  - I think this was from one of the first emails I received here - that Unitech students struggled in English compared to other schools.  The person suggested providing more pop-culture movies to show....

Anyway, of course, as I always do when students come in, I hand them a pack of condoms and give them the mini-lecture of "every time; no exceptions." The one guy tried to be all cool and casual, and I was like, um, no....take it.  Seriously, it's such a problem that even if he doesn't have a girlfriend, he's buddy does.  And, as last year's slogan went, "don't bend for a friend"....we're preventing pregnancies and STDs here.  So, the one guy wanted to organize some sort of a talk about the social issues of using condoms. GREAT!  Go for it!  I think it will be best if they plan and organize it.  I'll come to support it and hand out condoms.  Peer pressure is the best kind of pressure.  Anyway, the staff come and see me because I have air conditioning and hot coffee, the students come see me because I give away condoms and biscuits (cookies).

Side note: The men I have issues with I in no way converse about the condoms, nor do they get offered coffee.  Lucy knows!! They may get offered a cup of cold water, but that's the limit.... you do not get to stay and eat biscuits and get all cozy.  Come, ask your questions, and time to go... she's a good buffer.

Side note 2: Workshop in less than 1 1/2 hours.....don't eat curried chicken from the Kofi Haus on a day you need to be on your game.  Not sure if I'm going to hurl chunks or, well, yeah, you get the drift. Oh, please let this feeling pass and please, oh, please do not let me have food poisoning again.  I just cranked up the air...

In a funk.....

P.O.S. is officially mostly paid for.  I may be able to pay the rest on Friday if the university gives me the rest of the money they owe me.  Mostly likely, I'll have to pay the rest on the 23rd.  Either way, I don't feel so bad now. I just hate owing people.  What if something goes wrong, what if I wreck it, blah, blah, blah....

I'm prepping for a workshop this afternoon. I like workshops because it's a bit of prep on my end, but more focused on doing activities than me lecturing. I think everyone learns more that way, too.  I've seen that allocating more time for Q&As are a good use of time as well.

Other than that, I've just kind of been in a funk about blogging.  I think it all relates to expatriating into a new country (I read ahead of time what the process will be like and I think I'm hitting a new stage!!!).  I think it makes it extra hard that I'm dealing with faculty and staff across the entire university versus tucked away in some department somewhere.  I'm pretty sure I have another national male problem brewing.  I'm going to try some overt rudeness next time to see if I can dodge it.  I hope I'm not becoming paranoid, but you can never put down your guard here.  That part is absolutely exhausting.  It goes against every part of my personality!!

On one hand, you have the security guards at the gate.  Young, guys that high-five me as I drive in and out.  They shout my name and light up whenever I yell out to thank them and to have a good day.   I've never had a single issue with any of them.  Then, I have the "professionals" that have left their country for a bit.  They believe they are worldly and want to converse about all sorts of things.  Fine, good, not a problem.  But they may downplay their culture trying to impress me that they understand my point of view.  I can't seem to get across it's not a Western thing or a Papua New Guinean thing...it's a professional thing.  I'm married, you're married.  All conversations, visitations, phone calls, etc should be directly related to work.  If it's not, I can't go there because there doesn't seem to be an understanding about male/female friendship here.  I honestly don't get it, don't understand it, and it is very frustrating.  Nothing is overt, so you don't want to look like an ass calling them out on it, but I know there's a hidden agenda.  It's just too much contact...too much invasion of personal time and space. To be honest, this is absolutely one of the hardest thing about being here. Anyway, having my guard up all the time is exhausting and, in fact, I've been sleeping for nearly 10 hours a night for the past couple of nights. Maybe I've been making up for the Easter weekend.  Who knows.

Oh, that fish I said was HUGE.... well I asked about the weight and converted it to lbs....368 lbs!  I told you it was HUGE!  And yet they said they've caught bigger...

Other news?  Molly's trash can got stolen.  Creepy that someone stole it in the middle of the night.  Don't like the idea of people lingering under the house when you're sleeping...ew....

Yeah for Internet!

Love seeing pics of the girls!!  Still can't video chat yet, but seeing the girls makes me smile! Thanks, Starr, for posting them to Facebook!  Here are a couple favorites....

Easter Weekend

I planned to stay over at Jonica & Alex's place just one night - well, even that wasn't really planned....but whatever... it's nice to just chill out. Anyway, it turns out that Chef Paul got me hooked up to out on one of the fishing boats for the last day of competition.  I had to be there at the butt-crack of dawn, so I gathered my things from Unitech and slept over to get there early.  Chef Paul is in by 3 am......oh, yes, lovely... The fishing crew was coming in at 5:30 so I had some time to kill.  I called Mom and then called Jackie (and she put me on speaker phone for Nan & Gramps).  It's hard with the time zone difference because my cheap time is normally not convenient for everyone else.  But, 3:30 am works quite well!  Anyway, I helped pack lunches and earned my keep.

This crew was a bunch of Coca-Cola employees from various parts of PNG.  They brought down one of the fancy big party boats (a/c, leather, tv, showers, kitchen, etc....) but an engine blew on the way into Lae.  Someone had an extra boat, and let them use it..... the boys had to rough it with no air conditioning!

Anyway, they all arrive and they're putting crap on the boat.  They needed more water so I ran up to go grab a case - of course they were out so I buttered up to Chef Paul..... :)  Thanks, Chef!  We head out on the water....very nice!!  Lae actually looks quite stunning from the shore!  Mountainous, green, lush.  You no longer can see red spats of buai, trash, or the smog of plastic burning.  No....you see what you're meant to see - absolute beauty.

The guys were quite nice and relaxed.  I was a little concerned --- I mean, this is pretty big time fishing.  The previous day, this boat caught the biggest fish of the competition.  I didn't realize what all the fuss was about until Chef took me out to the freezers to show me this thing.......holy crap.  I'm talking the biggest fish I've ever seen.  It's up there with the fish that are mounted overhead at aquariums.  I absolutely could not believe the size of it. HUGE. How in the world they got it into the boat, I'm unsure....  Not only was there discussion about the size of this fish, but the discussion was more about the fact that the catch was disqualified!  The guy that caught it (a big customer of Coke) gave up after an hour or so. Once someone else helps or touches the pole, the catch is DQ'd.  Anyway, the owner of the boat was beside himself!!! Not only would this have one all sorts of categories (and thus mega prize bucks), but the boat would win as well.  Yeah, um, not gonna happen.....

It was pretty obvious from early on that this wasn't a good fishing day.  Every hour the boats were reporting zero's across the board.  The beer comes out. Crush a can, drink, crush a can, more.... I had two SP's and the one guy (that brought his 13 year old son along) tells me there's a bathroom on board and it's okay to drink more....LOL! Yeah, no thanks.  I'm a lightweight.  Then it happens....... they run out of beer.  Where's the second case?  Oh, wait, they forgot it.....  Don't look at me, I got the water!!!  Which, by the way, they never even opened....  They should have sent me on a beer run, not a water run.... oh well.  At one point, they were calling other boats to rendezvous for a mid-sea trade off......

I had a really great time, although at one point I fell asleep.  When I woke up with drool down the side of my mouth, I realized everyone else (sans the boat boy and driver) was sleeping, too.  It drizzled on and off, which actually helped keep it cool.  I had my quick dry shorts (and underwear!) on, but changed into my tankini top to dry easier.  I slathered on sunscreen, but still got burnt a bit.  It was actually quite interesting to watch the strategy behind competitive fishing.  Luckily, this group was pretty easy going, but I could see that it could be intense if you did actually catch a fish.  I wouldn't know for sure, as the only thing our boat caught was a couple of sticks....

By time we got back, I was exhausted.  Alex said to stay for dinner and I was happy to oblige.  I was so hungry. I took a shower, ate, and promptly fell asleep in the chair.  Jonica woke me up to go to bed.  I seriously don't think I moved all night. I'm so glad I didn't try to drive back to Unitech.

Molly's back from Goroka and had a great time with her students.  She seems to be a little under the weather (I'm hoping she'll see the doc today) and we were both lacking energy last night. She prepped for classes; I finished one of my Kindle books (Undress Me In the Temple of Heaven).  Made dinner and then went to bed listening to Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert. We both loved Eat, Pray, Love and we've been listening to this book on and off for a month now and almost done.  Perfect timing since I should be moving to my permanent house this week.

Anyway, back at work.  It's a short week, which is good.  I'm really hoping to spend next weekend organizing my house!!!!! Bring on my keys!!!

Friends and Food

I posted a long time ago about a friend that invited me over to her other friend's house and she brought over a half-eaten cake.... she was that kind of woman.  Unpretentious, casual, go with the flow.  Loved it.  I think those people are pretty rare, but when you find people like that, it's just nice.

Anyway, after errands yesterday I headed over to the yacht club thinking I'd do some Kindle reading.  As I'm pulling in, Alex & Jonika are pulling out.  Perfect timing.  I follow them over to their house for dinner.  We chat, we eat, we drink, repeat.  Chef Paul (he's the "celebrity" chef of the fishing tournament at the yacht club) is staying at their house while he's in town.  He comes back after his crazy long day.  We all chat some more.  Anyway, I crash at their house and get up and go to the yacht club for breakfast.  Chef has promised us pancakes!  All the other people were jealous as there are no pancakes on the buffet.... Yes, it pays to be nice to people!  So, Iso and I are both drowning our pancakes in maple syrup.....ah......delish. 

Alex brought along fishing poles. Here's a pick of Iso and Alex .... she didn't catch anything, but enjoyed herself regardless..... Oh, and this is a riot --- in the middle of breakfast, she tells me that she thinks her mom should eat chicken (Jonika's a vegetarian).  She has concocted up a whole story about how to trick her into eating it.  It was completely hilarious.  She's 3 going on 13.  Made me miss my girls....sure enough Carl texted about an hour later and I was able to call and talk to them.  Perfect timing.