Saturday, July 21, 2007

Slumber Party ? Sleep Over ? Almost All Nighter?

One of the extra fun things that is included in my life at our school base is that I get to see the students in many areas of their lives. Last Wednesday night there was a grade 7-12 sleep over in the teen lounge. It was pretty fun for me since many of those girls were ones I have taught over the years. It is great to see them growing up.

Now I am not sure why it is called a sleep over since no one really wanted to sleep. We started at 9:30 pm,but really it wasn't until 10 pm that all the girls arrived. We watched 2 movies with a bit of a toilet problem in between the two movies, but all in all it was fun. The last movie ended at 2:15 and most of the girls were ready to turn in. There were a few wide awake girls that weren't too excited that I told them that it was time to quite down. Anyway, most everyone was asleep around 3 am.

The girls seemed to be able to sleep in a little bit but I was up by 6 am. So I left at 6:30 and started my day. I was a bit in a daze for the first couple hours of my day, but eventually I was back on track.

This was a good evening of memories.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Haircut Adventure

Well as some of you may know, everyday routines are not the same in PNG. Yesterday was "Haircut Day". It took about a week and a half to plan but we got it worked out. Barb wanted to get a haircut and so she found a time when our dear friend Jana could cut hair - Wed July 18 from 9 to noon. Then she proceeded to find another 4 people that also wanted a cut. A van had to be booked, a man needed to be found to drive and off we went.


The drive is now only about 30 minutes on a bumpy road. It used to be 45 minutes on a VERY bumpy road, so we were happy for the improvements. We all took turns sitting in the chair and getting our own time to be pampered.


Here is my good friend Joanie getting her cut. Anyway, we were actually done by 11 am but we planned to stay out there for lunch and so waited an hour and a half reading and visiting. We had lunch, visited with the students that were at the ITF center and then headed back home just before 2. I think we made it home by 2:30! I guess you could say that my haircut appointment was from 8:20 am to 2:30 pm. Everything takes a bit longer here.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Dinner at the Mandarin

5 O'clock rolls around and my friend Becky calls and says "Mandarin?" Usually she says it with lots of enthusiam, but tonight her husband Neil was the excited one and she was a little hesitant since she had already started dinner. Within minutes Becky too was excited. It is so nice that my good friends, the Burlesons, let me tag along with them for dinner out. Tonight we were the only ones in the restaurant and the food was good.

We always see to have a good time laughing and carrying on. The kids have grown up so much now that we don't even have the fun of counting how many items fall on the floor. Such a great evening! Thanks guys!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Home Again, Home Again

I am back in PNG and most things are put away. Here is my living room....a little crooked in the picture but not that way in real life.

My nieces and nephews wall...

The kitchen, even have some pictures on the fridge from my friends here...

My bedroom, still a couple piles of things to put away there...


Last is the spare room/office/sewing room/guest room - it has become the catch all. Still a bit of work to be done here...


Just thought I would give you a little tour of my house. Next I will have to take the camera to the school and show you what I am doing down there.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Waiting in PNG

I arrived in Port Moresby with plenty of time to catch the 9:45 am flight. However 9:45 came and went and soon I was still sitting in the airport at 5 pm. I met up with a few co-workers so, thankfully, I had some company for my long wait. Just after 5 pm we were told the flight would be cancelled and we could come back in the morning.

A couple scenes from the airport


We eventually were given vouchers for a hotel in town for rooms and food. We were checked in fairly efficiently and then were shown our rooms. My room was the most interesting by far. There was some trash on the floor, no towels and no toilet seat. The man who showed us the room said he would be right back with a towel and a toilet seat. I guess I should have thought to bring one with me. Thankfully they switched me to a room across the breezeway, yet still near my traveling companions. How I wish I would have thought to take a picture of that room!