Having Fun wih Quincy

More Swiss Mission...

The Swiss Mission Stations and School

Pictures of the new hospital that will open in a few months

The Hunt For Pegleg's Treasure

I meant to put this up a long time ago and forgot. Emma and Remo read a book about some kids who were in search of a pirate named Pegleg's treasure. When we finished the book, I set up a station wide treasure hunt. We dressed up, gave them clues and set off to find a real treasure that Dan (Pegleg) hid at the Hydro. It was a ton of fun. The kids got into it but so did the adults. It was hilarious how they all dressed up and got into character. Dan was a hit... he ran around like a mad man and the kids chased after him. We stopped by Granny's (the Bennett's), the amusement park (the Dooley's), Jake's (Scott Dooley's exam room), Talmadge Duncan's plot (the field office field), the museum (the McCoy's), and the restaurant (the Riggin's). We had a picnic and a devo and ended by playing down at the beach (hydro). Thanks again everyone for making the treasure hunt so much fun!

Primary School

Top: I was walking around station the other day when school got out and had some fun taking pics and watching the kids.

Bottom: The Dooley's parents were here visiting and her mom brought over toothbrushes for the kids. I went with them to hand them out.

Ahhhh Whoooooo!

Ok, I know that I have an insane number of collages on my post but it makes it so much easier.... so bare with me. Instead of uploading 20 pics, one at a time...it uploads as one pic and it is soooooo much faster. So count on more collages :).

The Dooley family (minus Papa Dooley), Kate, Dan, Grace, Jenny, and I went to Grace's village today and had a great time. We met her parents and extended family. We also took a hike up to some really cool waterfalls. Grace's grandparents came to the Western Highlands as missionaries in the 40's and her family has been in this area since. Her Aunt is a missionary in Bangladesh and will soon be a missionary in India. I was excited to meet her aunt bc I hope to volunteer in both those countries in the near future. My first grade teacher Miss Jackson works at William Carey Academy in Bangladesh and the Houk's are missionaries in India. I would like to go visit both of them and potentially make a visit to Grace's aunt. After we met the village we headed up to some waterfalls and hung out there for a while. When we went back to the village more people came to see us. I was video taping everyone and one of the mama's in the village was HILARIOUS! She looked at the video and in her language (Grace interpreted) said, "Ahhhh Whoooooo, look all our people in our village are in that little machine!" Oh ya and Gail, I'm pretty sure that your middle child found her first love on our hike today.... Gerard :). Ha they were so adorable! Thanks for taking us today!

Kudjip Tea

General Manager Vijou Vergis, his wife Anila, and their 2nd born daughter Dyea welcomed us into their home today to give us a tour of the plantation. Vijou kindly took us around the property and into the factory detailing the steps involved in producing tea. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the factory, but we were able to capture the beautiful 900 acres of tea and 450 acres of coffee. This is one of four sister plantations in Papua New Guinea. Vijou's main buyers are out of Russia, Germany, and New Zealand. I believe he said that they produce around 1.2 million kilo's of tea a year. About half of that is exported to Russia. Vijou taught us about CTC (crush, tear, curl) tea and orthodox tea. He talked to us about the different regions of the world that grow tea, such as Assam in India and places in Kenya. He continued by explaining the different methods used in these areas. Vijou and his family are originally from Kerala, India (Southern India). Kerala is known as "God's own country" because of its beauty. Vijou has been apart of the "tea world" for 21 years, starting off in India for 18 years and has spent the remaining 3 here in Kudjip. We ended the tour with tea at Vijou's house with Anila. It was a great day of learning and fellowship. God has blessed me in so many ways...He really does give you the desires of your heart in His perfect timing with His perfect plan.

Bush Church

We often go out into the "bush" for church on Sunday. It's always a great time and a new experience. You take your shoes off at the door (if you have shoes) and in some places sit on the floor or wooden benches. The people are so thankful and happy that you came and they often send you away with all types of fruit and vegetables. The churches are decorated with beautiful flowers. The men, women, and children are dressed in their best Sunday clothes :). It is a great time to get to know new people. It's nice to walk to the market or go down to the primary school and see familiar faces and talk with them.

Dear Wally's......

Ok these pics are for the Walberg's. So the top pic... who remembers Otter Pops? Well Uncle D always had them in his house and the boys loved them... it was like looking at Brett, Marky, and Chooch lol. Apparently they are homemade "Otter Pops" aka "Typhoid Sticks".... I guess one of our Dr.'s here calls them that bc they make them from river water... yikes. The second pic... do I even need to comment?!!!! Haha Brett is that you? Think this little boy Leslie can do it off the side of a baseball bat or counter? Last but not least, if the Walberg's had been born Papua New Guineans this is what they would look like haaaaaha. Love you guys and miss you!

Grace, Jenny, Regina and I

These are some of my friends that live and work on station. I hung out with them at their house this evening and we went and took some pics. People here do not have a lot of pictures if any at all. I really enjoy being able to go around snapping photos. It gives me an open door to talk and connect with people.

I love it here

Kimel Coffee Plantation

One 62 Coffee

Here are some pics of Erik Day's coffee shop in Oroville. I spent many hours there previous to going on my trip to PNG. I was talking to Erik about coffee and what not and found out that he gets beans from a plantation in PNG called Kimel. He knew it was close to where I was going (Kudjip) and so I told him I would try my best to get to the plantation and take some pics etc. Thanks to my new and dear friends Jim and Kathy Radcliffe, I was able to go, tour and meet the general manager. It was a great experience! I wonder if coffee drinkers realize the time, effort, and care it takes to get the coffee from the tree to their cup? I have read about it, but being able to see first hand how it all works was pretty cool. I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity. If you're ever in Oroville stop in and say hi to Erik! He'll serve you the best cup of coffee in town! :)

Emily

"On my way home..."

One day when I was walking home, I took pics of what I saw... Georgina coming back from selling goods at the market, the gardener, patients cleaning themselves and their clothes outside the hospital, a security guard, my street sign, Gabey and my favorite kids going out to play, and Cori on her bike.

Real Rugby Practice :)

I had one small task...to get a picture of the new OPD with a clean floor. Simple yes? One would think. Jon, the man in charge of cleaning the hospital was instructed early that day to clean the ward. When I showed up it was dirty. I asked him to clean it and if he understood what I was saying... bc sometimes I wonder if people just say yes to everything I ask and they really have no clue what they said yes to :). I know I definitely have no clue what I am saying half the time either lol. But I thought we were clear so I went away and came back 45minutes later and the ward was still dirty and Jon was nowhere to be found. I looked for him and said Jon...What happened? We conversed in Pinglish (half English half Pidgin) and I said, "Jon I will be back in 30 minutes please have this done." Well, the point of this story is not that cool... but it's where the pics came in. I had to find something to do for 30 minutes and I happened to look over and see a group of people doing sprints about two football fields away. So I walked down to the security gate and asked a security guard if he would go with me to watch (women aren't allowed off station without a man). When I got down there I found out that they were an actual real rugby team! I was happy. An organized sport...it made my day. So I snapped some pics and hung out on the sidelines while they scrimmaged and talked to the coaches and other players. It's a different concept to be able to interrupt a practice and not get yelled at. They just laughed and asked a bunch of questions. They then proceeded to tell me that Dan had played with them one day and I guess the crowd loved him and when he got out there people from the crowd started chasing after him on the field?! lol! I figured he deserved to make the team pics.
And now back to Jon the cleaning man. I went back to the ward and guess what? He wasn't even half done. I insisted that I do it and he would not let me. I wanted to scream :). errrrr. So I waited and watched him slowly but surely sweep and mop the whole ward at a snails pace! The men in this culture are not what I expected. I thought they would be these super hard working rugged men. There rugged alright, but the women do all the work around here.

Friends

Basketball

Emmanual

If you click on this pic you can see Emmanual better!

Fun at the Hydro!