A Day in the Life...
Trip Start
Feb 06, 2008
1
6
22
Trip End
Ongoing
Bogia,
Papua New Guinea
Monday, April 21, 2008
Breakfast is usually whatever we have.........porridge, cold rice and mashed bananas, home bread with vegemite or peanut butter or and mashed banana, we have had pancakes with the above fillings or dry biscuits, we never go hungry. Before going to work we would boil water to go in our plastic bottles. We use rain water from the tank for boiling for all food! the gorund water is very suspect and is used only for washing. There is a pump outside which pumps water upto the tank on the roof and this gives us water for the shower. We usually switch it on morning and evening when we have electricity.
The school generator comes on at 6 o'clock a blessed relief as this means our 2 standard alone fans come on too and give us a great deal of comfort as even the mornings can be unbearably hot although I think we are beginning to adapt to the heat and humidity
Happy fishing
. The power stays on until 12.30 so we try to do washing before school begins too. we have a twin tub which is fine but we have to carry buckets of water in from outside to rinse so sometimes we just use the big outside sinkd snd let washing drip dry in the hot morning sun. If it doesn't rain we will bring it in bone dry by lunch time. There are bells and buzzers going off all the time to tell students it is time to do the next thing in their daily routine. Twice a week there is a staff meeting at 8.00am which we attend if we are on the premises. Students go to lessons and work until 12.20. they have lunch in a covered area usually rice and fish. The teachers all live on the site in houses provided by the school board. they/we go home to lunch which for Bob and I usually consists of dry biscuits or bread, and fruit. We drink gallons of water and I try to keep a vacuum lask for chilled water and bottles full chilling in the fridge. At every opportunity I am boiling water which is left to cool ready to go into bottles in the fridge so that we always have a supply of dhilled water. It is a matter of juggling time with supply of power!
I sometimes work at home in the morning if the generator is working brcause I can use the laptop and enjoy the cooling fans. There is no such luxury in our office. I am not always typing sometimes I am observing classes or interviewing staff or visiting what we call local primary schools. This done on foot at the moment but as we go to the outlying villages we will have to use the PMV's or school transport if it can be arranged. Our official day ends around 4.00pm but as we know that is like the piece of elastic. We try to stop and go for a stroll.
The ladies from a near by village sit on the grass opposite the school selling freshly prepared food and pumpkin tops cooked in freshly prepared coconut cream is delicious. we can also buy tomatoes, bananas for cooking or eating, coconuts, cabbage/greens and other bits and pieces are for sale too. We are not into chewing betal nut with daga and lime. Everyone in PNG seems hooked. They chew and produce copious amounts of spit which they liberally deposit wherever they are!
Sometimes we stroll to the office under the tree as that is where we can often oick up a signal for our phones needless to say everyone one comes and listens! So don't be surprised if our calls are short and edgy, the whole of Bogia is ear wigging! We are getting used to it I guess and as they get used to us we hope their curiosity will wane. After the exercise we prepare a meal often fish and rice with greens. We use bananas all the time in our meals and fresh tomatoes have so far been easy to find. Things are seasnal here and our main veg will change accordingly. We try to eat and clear away before dark. The outside kitchen has a calour gas cooker and oven and is fine for us. I bake bread and cakes and still we loose weight. Must be all the sweating and walking.
Lights come on at 6.00 and go off at 9.00 so we unwind and are usually ready for bed by 9.00 we have no complaints as the morning chorus guarantees that we don't get a lie in! A sort of day in Bogia. Of course there are variations like walking to the station for shopping and the Friday market.
