Down to the River

Today was another typical day in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG): cool in the morning, warm and sunny in the afternoon, and cool again in the evening after the sun went down. During the hot part of the day, I ended up going down to the river that flows near Ukarumpa with my good friends, the Romito’s. We packed up a picnic lunch and headed off (on foot, of course!) to the river.

Where we crossed the river.

When you arrive at the river, you have to wade across (very carefully—the current is surprisingly strong!) in order to get to the better swimming area. After we crossed, we got our blankets spread out and ate our lunches—I brought a peanut butter tortilla sandwich (just so you know, making tortillas with self-rising flour is a bad idea…they start out fluffy, but end up like a lead balloon; I had one for supper—bleh), carrots, and cookies—fantastic picnic food! J

You Know...

      I was thinking the other day about my "new normal," when I realized that, as of this Friday, I've been in Papua New Guinea for eight months. So, in honor of my eight month anniversary of arriving in PNG, here is a list of things that I never thought I would consider normal.

          You Know You've Lived in PNG for Eight Months When...

1. You get up early to hang your laundry on the line…even though it’s cloudy and will rain later in the day.
2. You wear gum boots outside to hang your laundry on the line so you don’t sink up to your ankles in mud.

Baking with Weevils

The blacks things in the middle are weevils
and the yellowish little guys are meal worms.

Yes, you read the title correctly...baking with weevils...sounds appetizing, doesn't it?! When I first arrived in PNG last July, a friend and I decided to make tortillas, so we mixed up the ingredients; my friend rolled them out and I cooked them on a skillet. About halfway through, I happened to notice some funny looking little things in the tortillas. When I pointed them out, we took a closer look at the offending tortilla, looked at each other, and said, “Meal worms.” Then we both shrugged our shoulders and finished making the batch of tortillas—and they tasted pretty good, too!

Wok Bilong Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is a country with few large, Westernized cities—most of the population lives in small villages out in the bush. There are many skills that are passed down from generation to generation, from taim bipo (time before, a long time ago). While I was at POC (Pacific Orientation Course), the staff arranged for some of the Papua New Guinean workers to show us how they make a few traditional items. (Oh, I should probably tell you that the title means "Papua New Guinean Work".)