8 weeks and going strong

I know I say it in almost every post, but I can't believe that we've been living (and thriving) here for 8 weeks. You know what they say - time flies when you're having fun.

We've been settling in nicely. We've almost become Friday night regulars at the Yacht Club, and Saturday lunchtime regulars at Duffy's. Matt & Lachie are having fun attending the parents groups, and Bree is still the social butterfly. She went and saw the latest Hunger Games movie with some friends on Sunday, which made her very happy.

I had been told that movies are quite often released earlier here than in Australia, but I was skeptical. But I've now seen that all the Christmas/Boxing Day releases in Aust will be out here in late Nov to early Dec. For example, the latest Hobbit installment will be released at the movies here on 11 December, rather than Boxing Day in Australia. For Lachie's upcoming birthday, we're planning to go and see The Penguins of Madagascar which is released here on 27/11 (tomorrow), but not is Aust until 1st Jan.

I was expecting that our shipment of 'stuff' would be arriving tomorrow. However, I've just received an email to say that the ship that will be transporting the container only left Sydney yesterday for arrival next Thursday. I'm getting used to things in PNG going slow, but to have our stuff departing Sydney 9 weeks after it was packed and removed is ridiculous. By the time it arrives here, is unloaded, passed through customs and delivered, we'll probably need to pack it all up again to come home.

I haven't got as many interesting pics to share today, but some are better than none:

My boys playing soccer. There aren't a lot of 'green spaces' around the place to do this type of thing. Even most housing estates and compounds don't have a grassed area. We are very lucky to have this space to use at the Holiday Inn

A car on it's roof is not that much of an unusual site here in Port Moresby. What was unusual was where it landed. I have no idea how it managed to get on it's roof. However, the local riff-raff had already stripped it's wheels. The following day, the paper reported that it was still there, waiting to be removed by it's owner (or whoever else removes cars here) Can't say I've ever seen a tow truck here.

The letter of the day is 'T'
While Lachie looks less than impressed, he was actually laughing his head off.
Badly timed photo!

Sometimes the best pillow to fall asleep on is Dad's butt - even if it is a bit smelly.

Counting down 'til Christmas

Flights are booked and we're coming home for Christmas - WooHoo!

There was a bit of conjecture initially as to whether I could fly home without losing my tax-free status. However, I've now confirmed that I will still meet the 91-day foreign engagement obligations, so I can go!

We've been here now for 6 and a half weeks, and it feels normal to be here. Matt flew back to Australia last weekend and said it felt weird. He couldn't believe how good the service was at hotels, restaurants and shops - he's obviously become too accustomed to the crappy service provided in PNG - ha ha.

We got hit up for our first 'scam' on Saturday, but it was admittedly my own fault. When I picked Matt up from the airport on Sat, I parked in a spot that I didn't really think was a car park, but it was shady and there were no signs to say I couldn't park there. When we returned to the car, two of the security guards hit us up to say we couldn't park there and had to pay a 50 Kina fine. They also told me if I didn't pay then and there that they would report me to the governing body and that I'd have to pay 'big money'. While I wasn't bothered by their threat, I put them on the spot by asking them for a receipt (they obviously couldn't give me one because they were scamming me). However, because we had the kids in the car and I had actually done the wrong thing, I just paid the money. If I hadn't done the wrong thing, I would have argued the point, but it wasn't worth it. The big lesson in this was don't make yourself a target.

To finish up, here are a few more pics of life in Moresby:

Miss Bree at 'March Girls' black beach

iPad Style? I don't think so...

Mobile phones have been instrumental in treating childbirth complications and death.
See, mobiles aren't all bad

My gorgeous monkeys

Distance education for my Lachie Bear

Best. Waffles. Ever!

Matt & Bree at the Nature Park

The REAL reason I love it here

Hanging with our new 'besties' at the Yacht Club

Til next time........

Some days you just need to vent.....

While it’s been good to write about all the interesting and fun(ny) stuff, sometimes you just need to vent to get the crappy feelings out. The last 24 hrs have left me feeling deflated and crap.

Yesterday, we went out to a ‘resort’ (I use that term loosely) for a BBQ picnic in a convoy. While it was nice to escape the city, we felt like we were stuck there because we couldn’t leave to come home on our own. We had to wait for other’s to leave with us for security. We were going to go for a swim at the beach, but after finding broken glass and empty food tins, we decided against it. PNG has a real issue with rubbish. There is no infrastructure to cater for household and other waste, so the sides of the road are just lined with garbage. Sometimes they’ll set fire to it, but the sheer amount we saw on the way to the resort was deflating. There seems to be no sense of responsibility or pride in their lands. I have always said that PNG could be so beautiful, but it’s not. It’s such a shame.

I’ve always found it amusing that the national’s like to stare at us ‘whities’, particularly the kids. But yesterday it just got to me. Yes, we’re white, get over it! It also started getting to me that being white meant that market sellers like to (a) eagerly harass you to buy their stuff; and (b) then double or triple the price of their wares. While I like to support the market sellers, it gets to me that I’m seen as a meal ticket.

Having said that, I now have a greater appreciation of what indigenous or new Australian’s must feel in a predominantly ‘white’ society.

Matt is also feeling a bit down. Especially after having to be reliant on the convoy yesterday, he’s feeling isolated and stuck. To his credit, he really has been trying by stepping out of his comfort zone and putting himself in more social situations. But being stuck in a compound, usually without a car, is getting to him.

Last night and this morning I’ve been suffering from my first tummy bug. Together with my first tropical head cold, and the power going on and off several times (making all the appliances ‘ding’) made for a crappy night’s sleep. Having no accrued sick leave yet, meant that I had to drag myself to work this morning. I knew I needed some Sudafed, but found that they don’t stock the ‘good stuff’ here (pseudoephedrine), only the crappy replacement one that doesn’t work (phenylephrine).

The silver lining of my little cloud is that I now, really REALLY truly appreciate and love Canberra and Australia. While I did have some sense of appreciation, being here has really made it clear how wonderful and lucky our life at home is.

Thankfully, tomorrow is another day.
Til next time……