Thursday: July 1, 2010Every morning around 5:30-6:00 am there are loud shrill whistles across the mountainside along with roosters cowing. The roosters start around 5 am. Anyway the cacophony of whistles is my alarm clock. The whistles remind me o teapots. I thought the national were calling back and forth, saying "good morning," "tie o get up, "my whistle is is more shrill than your whistle." I asked the missionaries what the whistles mean. They didn't know what I was talking about. They don't hear the sound anymore-- hard to imagine. They finally realized that I was describing the sound of cicadas. I guess the cicadas are healthy and strong yea round here unlike every 7 years in the states.
I visited Patricia at her home today in order to begin learning pidgin. That was very interesting and helpful. The homes are made out of pitpit--a woven grass hut. The huts are probably a little smaller than my classroom was at Westside Christian. They divide their homes in 2 to 4 rooms. The main room is for cooking and sleeping, the other for just sleeping. I at on the edge of a bed as a couple of girls sat on the floor and the mom sat next to me on the bed. Basically I pointed to the things and asked how to say it. We had a few Churches over my pronunciations.
I wish that I had more time to study as I know they want me to learn quickly. I'm torn between preparing for school and studying pidgin. I don't have the free time that I though I would in the evenings. It takes quite some time to keep the fire going and getting it hot enough to boil 4 to 5 large pots and teapots of water. We use the water to wash dishes, cook, clean, filter for drinking water, and for showers. Cooking takes longer here too. There are no microwaves and most things have to be made from scratch (bread, sauces, granola, and yogurt). I will be learning a lot!
Email takes on a whole different meaning out here in the middle of nowhere with little contact with the outside world. My world has shrunk to about a square mile--it is a beautiful square mile. On Sundays we do participate in 2 churc servies. One of the churches is right outside my door. The other we drive about 15 minutes on the mountain dirt roads. We stand in the bac of the truck and hold onto the cab. That's much more comfortable than sittng in the bed of the truck since it is such a bumpy ride.
There was just some rodent scurrying across my roof?! It keeps running back and forth. YIKES! Glad i is out there, and I am in here! :) It sounds rather loud and large on a tin roof. t is a bit unnerving. The nitght makes everything a bit more daunting! It's probably a 2-inch mouse!!! What awinp I am! Before coming to PNG, I did read that this country has the larget rodents in the world. That is the one fact I manages to remember :)
Really it has been a fun, busy week--getting ready for school, going to church services, metting new people, learning pidgin, keeping a wood stove burning all evening, boiling water on the wood stove, starting a generator to charge our batteries, showering from an overhead bucket, early morning prayer meetings, filling our water tank with buckets of water from down te hill, unpacking boxes, organizing and cleaning our little house, visiting with nationals in their home, walking the dirt trails in my rubber boots, and finally dodging pigs, goats, dogs, and the village cow.
