Nights

Nights fall very quickly this close to the equator and they are filled with the loud roars of insects buzzing and chirping.  You drive around and see shadows of people running across the road, more shadows gather around fires.  The fires are everywhere, some are small cooking fires, others are bush fires clearing new plots for planting or building.  Large fires in the distance, reflecting off the low cloud cover, leave the only clue to the location of  settlements.  There are even fires along the road in town.  Any light, even a candle, stands out like an oasis because of the lack of street lights.  Sometimes it feels like one of those apocalyptic movies driving into Lae – us separated only by the speed of our vehicle from the exterior reality of the streets.  Along one stretch of the road there is always a community of 20 or so, all sitting with their backs to the road, focused on a small glowing tv set, this is their nightly theater, their glimpse into the otherside of the world.

Pineapple

Monday, October 26, 2009

I wake up to 2 pineapple sitting on my kitchen counter.  Friday morning there was a pineapple and a football-sized paupau (papaya).  Nancy has been bringing them from her garden and leaving them for me in the morning.  For some reason Nancy doesn’t like fruit, maybe it’s too common here, she prefers these pre-packaged chicken or beef flavored biscuits, Maggi noodles (like ramen-noodles) and canned corn beef.  So I buy her these super cheap foods that she considers delicious and she brings me these amazing fruits. 

I felt bad that she kept giving these to me and told her she should keep them.  She told me how she worked for one family who tried to give her rice and mango and she was so offended she threw it back at them, told them they could eat their mango and rice and quit. (‘Me no like em’).  So I will keep buying, despite my embarrassment, the pre-packaged junk she prefers.

Bougainville Nights

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Bougainville is one of the 20 provinces of Papua New Guinea, located on the northern end of the Solomon Islands.  Throughout the year each of the provinces has its own festivities to celebrate their culture, music, dance and food.  Tonight is ‘Bougainville Nights’ and I rode the Unitch bus with Carla and a bunch of Unitech students – which in itself is an experience.

One of the things about Papua Niuguinians is they can tell by looking at people which part of PNG they come from, Bougainvillians are always referred to as the ‘dark ones’ and they are known for their party-like spirit.  Their music is very energetic and happy – fitting of an Island Nation.  Traditionally they played bamboo pipes arranged in various configurations which were then beat with bark of trees, now they use pvc pipe and flip flops to create their music. 

A few Bougainvillian staff from Unitech sang Swing Low Sweet Chariot which is joined in (off-key and uninvited) by Mortluck Island women who are even more boisterous than the Bougainvillians.  The PNG girls I am sitting with just say, ‘oh that’s nice, they are just having fun’ – and they mean it.  It’s a very nice relaxed attitude about life and enjoyment. 

Dancers of all ages from Bougainville perform with the music, a few bands play, Mortluck Island boys perform a knife dance; their moms, the same women who chimed in earlier, are hugging and kissing them and making a big show of it and in general just having a really good time.  A few dancers stand out, like the guy in the grass skirt who is sagging and the younger performers who are just so darned cute.  I am taking a ton of pictures, but don’t feel like such a tourist/spectator because all the Papua Nuiguinians are taking lots of pictures and videos.

Yacht Club

Yes, I realize it sounds fancy – trust me, it’s not.  It’s been the usual Friday hang out for many of the Lae expats and is where I have found myself the last few Fridays.  Part of the Friday attraction is the Jack draw.  The Jack draw is a lottery, where each week tickets are bought for the chance to pick the Jack from the deck of cards.  Last week the draw was up to over 300,000 kina with only three cards left to choose.  This was Lae’s big news (well this and the cholera outbreak).  It was won by a guy who has bought over 60,000 kina worth of tickets over the last few weeks – drinks were on him for the rest of the evening.

The yacht club is open to all at lunch and serves a decent fish burger and chips (you can also get a veggie, chicken, beef, or steak burger).  Like the other restaurant options in town the food is hit or miss, I think someone could really make a fortune here just opening a restaurant that did consistently great dishes with the local food.

My favorite thing at the Yacht Club is the restroom sign, for women it says ‘inboards’, haven’t looked but I assume the men’s reads ‘outboards’.   (Must be an Aussie thing.)

Ghosts

Thursday, October 22, 2009

In the early 1930’s Australian gold prospectors, led by Michael Leahy, hike into the highlands of Papua New Guinea in an area formerly unexplored by western cultures.  Even coastal tribes would not venture into these areas.   The dense rainforest, and extremely rough terrain combined with the dangers from tribal conflicts had previously kept these areas isolated.   The expedition is recorded on film and can now be seen in the 1983 documentary First Contact.  When the people of this particular village see Leahy they think he is a ghost and run away in fear.  He mercilessly shoots one of their pigs (their most prized possessions), confirming their fears of his supernatural powers.  The story goes that in order to be convinced that this white-man is human he ‘must’ sleep and impregnate a woman from the village.  It isn’t until a child is born that they believe.

 

 

Yardmen and Haus Meris

Joe started working on my yard yesterday and has been working very hard.  It looks like he has hired his own assistant – I don’t ask…  I am also not supposed to ask him where he gets the plants for my yard.  He hacked down one of my few flowering bushes and then replanted it in pieces, apparently that’s all it takes here to get stuff to grow here.  I was going to spend some time laying out where I wanted what but that doesn’t seem to be the custom and he seems to be doing a fine job.  Here are some before shots of my yard and the view from my front deck:

This morning there is a knock on my kitchen window, a guy whom I had seen last evening with 3 very long bush knives, is standing there asking me again if I need a Haus Meri or someone to do yardwork for me.  He doesn’t speak english but I try to explain that I already have someone (again).  He continues to stand on my back stairs for 15 more minutes looking forlorn and the next time I look he is under my house with 3 more women all wanting a job as my haus meri.  Thankfully Nancy (who is my haus meri) happens to pass by and comes over to protect her status as my haus meri (competition is fierce!).  It isn’t until Joe comes by that they all actually leave.

There are a lot of settlements around campus so  lot of people come by looking for work.  Sometimes they will do the work without being asked and then you have to give them something in return.   This in turn encourages them to return…  It’s hard to complain though when the income levels are so very different, really the bigger issue is trust.  Both Joe and Nancy have come with recommendations from several people.  Joe has recently gone to school to for his crane operator’s license and is hoping to get a job at one of the mining companies.  In the meantime though he needs some employment.

Dedication

Monday, October 19, 2009

I am so impressed with the students here.  They’ve had no electricity almost all weekend and have final exams this week.  Many of them have been studying by candlelight.  This morning when I came into school the electricity was still out and there they were taking their exams in the dark!  One of the other faculty members told me that they didn’t even get a real breakfast because the cafeteria is also without electricity.  The administration is meeting to discuss if some of the exams will be postponed because of this situation.

Electricity

…or lack there of.  Power outages occur often here and this weekend has had quite a few.  I can always tell when I wake up if the electricity is off because my bedroom fan is sitting still.  After several hours of no electricity, and hence no running water, Roger stops by to see if I want a ride into town to find a place with a/c, power and internet – I don’t hesitate for a second!  So now I comfortably sit at the Melanesian, one of the local hotels on a generator, with a latte (oh sooo good!) and the internet.  Roger asked me what I would be doing if I was in New York on a Sunday morning?  I might be sitting in a cafe, with a latte and the internet…

Saturday

Saturday, October 17, 2009

The electricity is off when I wake-up, which means the water-pumps are also off.  I am having breakfast with Michael and one of the visiting panelist from the CAA board when we have a surprise visitor, Steve.  We met Steve, who is from New Zealand, the previous evening.  Steve works for an international NGO and is heading to Madang this morning.  Steve figures out how to get to Unitech (the only ‘maps’ are in the phonebook) and then asks the guards at the front gate where I live.  They direct him to Professor Milani’s who tells him where to find me.  We had been talking the previous evening about the experience here so far and I had mentioned something about not having an ipod so Steve brought me his shuffle – so incredibly nice!   In the meantime Roger stops by with Joe, the guy who will be doing my yardwork, so I could meet him.  Did I mention I live in a glasshouse?

I meet up with Michael, Professor Milani and Claire (one of the CAA reviewers) to ride along for a daytrip to Bulolo, a village in the highlands.  We stop at the market in Lae to look around.  It is so alive and colorful and the smells of the fresh produce are refreshing in the heat (have I mentioned how much I love markets?).  The produce comes mostly from the highlands where it is brought to market to sell, many people then come to the market buy produce and go elsewhere to sell it, such as on campus near my house.

We head towards the highlands and after about 30 or 40 minutes notice a strange sound, like a saw in the distance, which is unfortunately coming from the car and realize that the car is over-heating.  We turn around and head back to the yacht club for lunch.  Even though we hadn’t gone that far we could already feel the temperature dropping and see the dense rain-forest on either side of the car, a few clearings for houses, churches, some local businesses, and kids playing in a stream.

After lunch I buy a bush-knife, they are sold in almost every store, I pick an average sized one – not too long and not too short.  Apparently a lot of people sleep with them under their pillows or beds.  Professor Milani is concerned as his has been there fore 17 years and it might be getting rusty, I guess you wouldn’t want to infect the intruder?  Mine, however, is not for my room, it is for Joe – the locals use the bush-knife for many aspects of gardening.

Friday

Friday, October 16, 2009

We have been preparing this week for the CAA (Commonwealth Association of Architects) review board.  Every 5 years they come and visit to see if the program is to maintain it’s accreditation and this week is the mid-review.  Now Michael and I have come to town to run some errands and get some ‘real’ internet access.

While we were walking downtown two people at Unitech recognized us and followed us to make sure we were ok.  They were worried about us walking around on a Friday afternoon since that is when everyone comes into town to cash the work checks.  The lines outside the main bank become incredibly long, but if you are a ‘gold member’ or a ‘prime member’ or its equivalent then you can avoid the hours-long lines.  Another one of those weird inequalities between the privileged and the less privileged (I say less than because I am sure they feel fortunate to have a paycheck to cash versus those who don’t even have that).  Now, though, I am feeling very fortunate to be in an air-conditioned space (as does my mac) and enjoying an SP (South Pacific).

Oh, I have a working phone now.  I went almost 2 weeks without and didn’t really miss it at all.