It's been 4 whole weeks!

Can you believe it? We’ve now been living and functioning in a foreign country for 4 entire weeks, and in the world’s 3^rd least liveable city, no less!

What’s it been like? Well, it’s been exciting, terrifying, awesome, interesting, entertaining, humbling, exhausting, stressful, frustrating and amazing all at once.
There are things that I love, things that drive me nuts, and things that make me shake my head a laugh.

I also need to stop making naïve assumptions based on my Australian/First World experience. For example, I made a comment to an Aussie expat about how woeful PNG driving standards are and wondered out loud how some people were able to get their driver’s licence. He shook his head and laughed at my assumption that everyone would have a licence.

On the serious side, we’ve been advised that security incidents and robberies tend to increase here in the lead up to Christmas, so to be extra vigilant. The Port Moresby Nature Park that we visited a couple of weekends ago was held up with makeshift guns on Sunday afternoon, and two people were shot. There was also an armed robbery near the Australian High Commission compound in Town. Having said that, I am still yet to hear any gunshots myself. One of my other colleagues said she hears them from her compound almost every night. There have also been reports of a few riots and political uprisings around the provinces, namely Lae, Mt Hagen and Oro. However, there hasn’t appeared to be any of those in Port Moresby since we’ve been here (touch-wood).

To finish off, we had an awesome weekend last weekend. Saturday was a jam packed day. In the morning we set off to the Ela Beach Markets to check out what they had and to watch a ‘sing-sing’. Afterwards we went and did the grocery shopping then headed to the International Food Day at Bree’s school. Many families brought food from their homelands to share, and it was amazing. It was a great experience to be at an international school, eating homemade international cuisine, surrounded by people from all corners of the globe. After our busy Sat, Sunday was a nice leisurely day, just hanging out and swimming at the pool. Our whole weekend reminded me that these experiences are the reason I took the job and brought the family with me.

I was going to post some more pics, but I'll be here all day waiting for them to upload. I'll try again later.

Finally, is anyone reading this blog? If so, please leave a comment so I know who you are.

Till next time....


Gorgeous dancers from Bougainville



My boys enjoying the international food

International Food Day

Finally, some pics to share...

Today has been a fabulous day. The sun was shining, and we had a great family day together. Things are really starting to feel normal, and today was the first day that I didn't wake up feeling nauseous - it was such a relief.

So, as promised, here are some pics that I took today.

First up, here are some pics that I took from our balcony, this morning:

The grey roofed building is the other side of the complex. In between is the pool. In the bottom left, you can see the craft markets set up

On the 3rd Sat of each month, there are craft markets in our compound:

 We were really surprised to spot this awesome car out the front of our apartment building this morning. Given that car-jackings are a real threat, I would be pretty nervous driving this baby around town...

 Our new favourite coffee shop is called Duffy's. Its just down the road from Bree's school. From the front, it doesn't look like much. However, once you pass through the security gates, it's like a little piece of civilised heaven (and their coffee is the best in town).

 They also make awesome crepes

Grocery shopping is always an adventure - you never know what random stuff you'll find. Today we found scented tealights from IKEA - can't get those in Canberra (yet).

 And while groceries are expensive, they're not as expensive as we had anticipated - except for fresh milk. That stuff is ridiculously expensive compared to home. Most people (and us) just buy UHT milk (K4.95 for Devondale - about $2.30). However, once our coffee machine arrives, we've decided to treat ourselves to fresh milk once a week. You can see the milk below is K23.95 - that's about AUD$11.00 - for 2 litres!

Til next time........

Another week down......

....and things are starting to feel 'normal'. I'm beginning to feel more at ease and settled here.

Last post I talked about my hideous driver's licence photo. Well, Matt had his done, and while it's not as bad as mine, it was still pretty terrible. I don't know why, but they made both of us tuck our chins in, and the results were not attractive - LOL!

On Sunday, Bree & Lachie were hit with a tummy bug and were really unwell. Lachie was sick again on Tuesday, and they've both been a bit washed out from it. Then Matt came down with something similar last night. I'm still trying to work out how a grown man can moan and complain more than his kids did when they were sick together!

On Wednesday, we visited Duffy's, which is supposed to be the best coffee shop in town. I have to say we were pretty impressed. From the outside, it doesn't look like much, but once you pass through the gates, it's like a little oasis. Coffee was good and strong. It's more expensive than anywhere else for coffee, but it was worth it. We're planning to go again on the weekend, and hopefully it will be our replacement café for our usual Saturday family cuppa.

I finally got to open a local bank account on Tuesday, but it will be another fortnight before I get my card. Until then, we're still having to pay a fortune in overseas transaction fees using our Australian Cards.

Tomorrow we're planning on going to the Holiday Inn craft markets. I'm hoping to get myself a good sized billum to use as a cross-body handbag.

I promise to upload some pics soon.

Til next time.......

First week recap

We've survived our first week in Port Moresby - yay!
To say I've been on an emotional roller coaster is the understatement of the year. However, the nagging doubts are slowly fading and life is getting easier.
Bree is so happy with her school that she thanked me for bringing her PNG. That has eased my concerns quite a lot. Matt & Lachie are developing a good routine with Lachie's distance education program. We should receive a parcel in the next week or so with work and reading books for him to use. Having said that, Lachie's missing his best buddy from home. Hopefully we can schedule a Skype call for them in the next couple of days.
On Tuesday I finally got my PNG driver's licence. OMG, it took over two hours and the photo is absolutely hideous. The photographer kept telling me to put my chin down, which made my double chin squish out, and because of that I had to almost look upwards, so my eyes look deranged. The best way to describe it is I looked like the alien guy from Men in Black that wore the people's skin.
We've also been making use if the wonders of iMessage. It's enabling us to text home without the international charges - sweet!

So it's been nearly a month......

Oops. I've well and truly fallen off the blogging bandwagon. My excuse is that the past month has been crazy, which it has.

The biggest news is that we're in Port Moresby (finally).

It felt like such a mammoth effort to get here, and after 3 days in-country, we're starting to feel some level of normality. To say we were feeling the effects of culture shock would be the understatement of the year. I was terrified that we'd made the wrong decision. Both Bree and Matt were freaking out and my protective mothering instincts were in overdrive. Adding to the stress was that our accommodation was pretty average, and my favourite uncle died on the day we arrived.

It really has been a hard week emotionally for all of us.

ON the good side, we've moved into much more suitable accommodation at the Holiday Inn in their brand new apartment building. They also provide free WiFi - sweet! I also got the keys to my car today and have managed to not only drive it, but successfully navigate my way around. We also took Bree to see her new school. The Principal was so lovely and welcoming, and the students all seemed to like her. The girls in Bree's new class all flocked to say high. They were so excited to have a new girl in their class, and a few of them know her friend from her Aussie school who lived in PNG previously.

We're still a little nervous, but the anxiety levels are dropping as time passes on.

Til next time.......