So this is our dilemma. We’re living in a 2br serviced apartment at the Holiday Inn. It’s new, it’s clean, secure, there’s a pool, big grassed area, restaurant/bar, a gym, free satellite TV and internet.
But….it’s tiny. The apartment is essentially 3 rooms of similar size made up of two bedrooms and a central kitchen, dining a living area. The kitchen doesn’t have an oven, just a combined microwave/convection oven/grill that is about the size of a microwave, and the fridge can barely hold our weekly groceries
The boys, because they stay home all day, are feeling isolated and trapped.
So we thought we’d look at other accommodation options. The problem is that anything we like either wants a 12 month lease minimum (I currently only have just over 6 months left of my contract), or they want and excessive amount for a rental bond – 6 weeks rent at K6,000 per week is K36,000 which we don’t have.
Matt is counting down until my contract expires and we can go home. However, Bree and I would love to stay for longer. In our current living arrangements there is no way Matt will budge on this. However I’m hoping he’d be happier if we moved somewhere where we’re not on top of each other, and thus possibly increasing our chances of staying a bit longer.
But we have such a sweet deal at the Holiday Inn – we have everything we need included (except space and other families around), we’re close to school and work, and we’re not having to fork out for expensive internet, electricity etc etc. The boy’s Homeschool meet ups are just across the road, and Matt can go to the gym every day. With the exorbitant cost of Bree’s school fees (just under AU$7,000 per term), we’re struggling to save any money, so getting all the inclusions at the Holiday Inn makes a huge difference.
However, some of these perks are also making life miserable. The unlimited wifi means Bree shuts herself in her room to stream music from YouTube and lives on Instagram. And having 3 TV’s with their own satellite decoder boxes has further fueled Lachie’s love of TV.
Living up on the 4th floor keeps us fairly secure, but it means the kids can’t just go outside to play on their own. Plus the security guards tend to freak out if they see unaccompanied white kids roaming around the grounds.
It’s really hard when half the family wants to pack up and go home early when the other half want to stay longer.
Having said that, I am missing our beautiful ‘new’ house back home. We weren’t even there for a year before we packed up to take on this adventure.
But I’m genuinely loving it up here. It’s such a great adventure. Things frustrate the hell out of me every day, but its part and parcel of the experience. The official PNG tag line is ‘the land of the unexpected’, but I think that’s the politically correct way to say ‘land of the WTF?’ because I ask myself that question multiple times every single day.
I’m so confused and torn at the moment and there doesn’t seem to be any ‘right’ answer.
Sorry for the vent…….
