A Celebration!

What do you think of when you think of missions or missionaries? Exotic foods, beautiful scenery, big bugs, daily excitement? Well, there is some of that, but much of life is just like in the US (or Canada or the UK…you get the idea!)—get up, go to work, go home at the end of the day, make (or reheat) supper, do some grading/lesson planning, go to bed, repeat. On a day-to-day basis, I know that I personally tend to forget WHY I am here and doing what I do in PNG instead of in the US.

Top 10 Things to Do In (and Around) Ukarumpa

In no particular order…

1. Hamburger Night—head on down to the Teen Centre on certain Friday nights during the school term for a tasty egg burger and chips (fries) or a taco salad and milkshake!

The yellow team pulling on last year's Primary School
Sports Day

2. Any and all school functions—band/choir concerts, plays, sports tournaments, Sports Day, Carnival…some of these events even have food/snacks for sale! What a deal! J

You Might Be a Missionary If...

-the party breaks up at 9:30 and everyone is yawning and half-asleep because it’s past “missionary midnight” (aka 9 pm).

-you find yourself searching for recipes that you can use pukpuk (crocodile) in.

-you get excited when you find a new recipe for pukpuk.

-you pick bugs out of the rice, flour, and various other dry ingredients without batting an eye.

-you aren’t really bothered by the thought that you very likely missed quite a few bugs in said dry ingredients.

Like a Rubbermaid

I love all my kids, but the ones in Grade 6 are really something! There are only three—one is very quiet and doesn’t really say anything unless she needs help with something, but the other two make up for her and about ten other kids! Most of these quotes are conversations between the other two kids, a boy and a girl, who are masters at squabbling; shortly after the majority of these statements, arguments broke out…especially about Thor…ain’t nobody gonna mess with my superhero! J

-“Miss Nutt, I forgot how to spell my last name!”

Ukarumpa from A to Z

Airplanes: the main mode of transportation for many people going to and from the village, and also from Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea (PNG)

Bible translation: the reason all of us ex-pats live in PNG—to support the work of Bible translation and end Bible poverty

The kids' backpacks and shoes outside a classroom

Children: need I say more?! J

You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone

Since we here in Papua New Guinea (PNG) live so far off the beaten path, our Store relies heavily on shipments from Australia and the United States…unfortunately, sometimes we end up running out of certain supplies before a new shipping container comes in. Some things are not a big deal to find a substitute for—black beans, for instance. Canned black beans are a lovely convenience, but buying a plateful of black beans at the market and boiling them up isn’t that difficult—actually, I now think that canned black beans are slightly disgusting—I’ll take the fresh kind any day!

A Day in the Life

Although I never know exactly what will happen from day to day, my days do have a certain rhythm to them. Personally, I like routine—but with a few surprises thrown in for good measure! I tend get more accomplished when I have a set schedule and less time to do it in (doesn’t make sense, but that’s how I am!). So here is a peek into what a typical day looks like for me!

I usually drag myself out of bed around 6:30 (I still am most decidedly not a morning person!) and get ready for the day—shower, breakfast, packing my lunch, and making my tea (that I forget at home about half the time). I like to leave the house around 7:20…although most days it ends up being closer to 7:25, due to said aversion to mornings. J

Little Rascals

My Grade 1 English as a Second Language (ESL) class is definitely one of my most interesting classes. I’m not sure if it’s this particular age group or the combination of these four personalities, but WOW! Half the time I’m pulling my hair out because they’re so energetic and talkative and the other half I’m trying not to laugh when they come up with things like the following: