Hamburger Night

There aren’t a lot of opportunities to eat out in Papua New Guinea (PNG), especially in Ukarumpa. In Ukarumpa, the only “restaurant” option is the kai bar (literally: food bar) that is run by the Store. it has pretty good food for the most part, although it does have a (very) limited menu. They almost always have rotisserie chicken and chips (fries) available, and sometimes chicken sandwiches, hamburgers, meat pies, and (my personal favourite) sausage rolls. The kai bar also sells ice cream (or what passes for ice cream here). Think non-dairy, doesn’t-melt-no-matter-how-long-it-sits frozen-type stuff. Yeah—not so delicious, but edible after being in PNG for over a year.

Anyways, getting back to the topic at hand: hamburger night. Once school starts up again for the year and the kids get settled back in at school, the kids and adult teen sponsors fire up the grills and get hamburger night going again.

Waiting to place our orders at the Teen Centre!

On certain Friday nights, pretty much the whole community goes down to the Teen Centre to wait in line to place their orders for a hamburger, salad, ice cream sundae, or chips (or all of the above!). I’ve waited in line for up to an hour—which is surprisingly fine, because there is always someone (or several someones) to talk to while waiting. After you turn in your order slip and pay, you head inside to find a seat. In general, families with little kids sit downstairs (mass chaos and super loud!), while singles and couple with older kids or no kids sit upstairs (calmer than downstairs, but still quite loud). Again you may have to wait a while to get your food—but no worries—you can chat with the people at your table, or bring a card game to play while you wait!

Once your order is complete, one of the teens will bring your food to you—this sometimes can get a little interesting, especially if you are new and/or don’t work with the teens. I feel like I’m “on the inside” now, since I’m teaching Spanish at the Secondary Campus—at least a couple of the kids know who I am now!

A Coke, cheeseburger, and chips...what more could a girl want?!

After you get your food (I almost always order a cheeseburger and chips), you can load up on the condiments—ketchup, mustard, pickles, lettuce, tomato, etc.—and chow down! J