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:

The Birthday of a King

My Grade 6 English as a Second Language (ESL) class works on one big writing project each term; in Term 1 we wrote a book report, and this term we worked on a newspaper article about the birth of Jesus. When I told them what we would be working on this term, their reaction—as usual—was a collective groan and a chorus of, “But we already know how to write a newspaper article!” (They say this every term, but by the time we’re two or three weeks into the project, they’re enjoying it!) This class is one of my favourites because we have some pretty good discussions, as well as some completely random and ridiculous ones!

To Laugh, Cry, or Howl?

“Having a two year old is like having a blender that you don’t have the top for.” –Jerry Seinfeld

“You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.” –Franklin P. Jones

*****

I love my kids. I really do. There are days, however, when I’m not sure if I’m going to lose my marbles or if they’re already gone; days when I’m not sure if I should laugh at their antics, hide in a corner and cry, or howl at the moon, because, well, they’re not listening anyways, so I may as well just be ridiculous and maybe that will get their attention!

All My Children

I work with kids all day, from Kinder all the way up to Grade 12—and no matter how old they are, they keep me on my toes! Here is another installment of the things my kids say.

-We were talking about cold-blooded vs. warm-blooded animals in my Grade 4/5 ESL class and I asked the kids to list some cold-blooded animals. They rattled off fish, snakes, and so on. When someone mentioned lizards, one kid said nonchalantly, “I like to smash their heads with a rock.” That kind of killed the mood…literally! J

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.