September 2, 1999

School is going fine. We started on July 21, so we are already almost done with our first term. We have four terms separated by long breaks. It will be nice to have a break. I did go on a little vacation (we call it a "holiday" over here) last weekend, though. We went to Lae.

Lae is one of the main cities in Papua New Guinea. It's on the coast East of here. We drove there in a van - 12 single people. It took around 3 or 4 hours. The roads in Papua New Guinea are something else. Part of it was fine and it was interesting seeing a couple of special bridges that were built by Australia and Japan, but there were some sections of road that were very difficult. Apparently the road system has gotten worse since independence. I'm glad I wasn't driving. Christoph was going all over the road to avoid the potholes.

It was interesting passing PMVs (Public Motor Vehicles which are open back trucks filled with people) and being passed by them, watching the terrain and temperature change, the appearance of coconut trees, and the village buildings. In Lae we stayed at the SIL guest house. We went out to eat at Lae International Hotel on Friday night and a Chinese restaurant on Saturday night. The food was so delicious and it was fun getting to know people better.

On Saturday we went shopping. I spent so much money! I won't mention everything that I got, but the big things were a guitar (223 Kina for an Odessa brand, which is about $80 US) with accessories, a Kundu drum, and a couple of bilums (string bags). There were lots of little things too, like yogurt (I had missed that), a few cassette tapes, mugs, candles, and some used clothing. Rebekah and I got laplaps (native wraparound skirts)with similar patterns.

On Saturday afternoon we went to the Rainforest Habitat, which is an enclosed area with native birds and plants. I really enjoyed seeing the birds of paradise and the variety of plants.

On Sunday we went swimming at a nice hotel pool and sat around enjoying the soothing tropical weather until we had to leave to wind and bump our way back to Ukarumpa.