Rugby
Having only one TV station does not give one much scope for their nightly TV viewing (hence the fact I am onto my 12th book). EM TV the local station has a mixture of channel 9 programs:Today, ACA, temptation, infotainment and sport. The sport is mostly about rugby as this is a rugby obsessed country. So I decide I would give it a go and I watched the state of origin match. (Qld won)
Now this is how I understand rugby:
Two teams of large men on a football field form a scrum (huddle together) and a ball is thrown in the middle, after what I can only imagine is some furious kicking within the scrum, the ball emerges and someone grabs it. The team member who gets the ball proceeds to run very fast up the football field towards his goal end. He is chased by members of the opposing team who jump on him and throw him to the ground. The ball is then passed to another of his team mates who resumes with the same schedule….run fast, get jumped on, pass on the ball. This goes on till someone reaches the goal or a member of the opposing team gets the ball and runs furiously in the opposite direction and gets jumped on, etc.etc…I still haven’t figured how one scores a try (tri?).
I don’t get it!!!!
Internet
The internet speed here is appalling and not consistent. I thought going into town to the internet café would be fine but I was mistaken. Last week it was great, this week it took half an hour just to do a blog post. Uploading photos is just not going to happen, so they’ll have to wait till I get home. It’s also frustrating when you are trying to research web sites for Library management software and have email correspondence with the companies…….but I will persevere!
Tuesday 26 June 2007
Tuesday 19 June 2007
Update
Elections
The elections are being held on 6 July, these are the first elections since 2002 and the first to use the preferential voting system. The current voting ballot requires the voter to write the names of the three candidates they will be voting for, an interesting process given that less than half of the people are literate.
A lot of the electioneering is done by candidates driving around in vans with loud speakers, chanting party slogans and policies. My first night here at the college I was awoken at 11pm by a noise that sounded like a group of tribesmen on the warpath, this was quickly followed by a speech, and after my initial fright I realised that the marauding tribesmen was in fact the siren they used to attract attention before they went into the electioneering speech!
There is a lot of disagreement between tribes about candidates which can lead to violence. (This is why the Aus Government recommends that you reconsider travel arrangements to the highlands area during this time. But as I’m located some 20 minutes outside the township in a reasonably secure location it is not considered a problem.) Maggie, the ABV rep here in Mt Hagen, has decided that she is going to get all of the volunteers together and take them away from Mt Hagen a day before the elections and for a couple of days afterwards…just to be on the safe side.
Where I live
I have a small two bedroom house on the grounds of the college called Blue-Bell Cottage. The grounds are lovely and the countryside is beautiful. We are 20 minutes outside of Hagen and I go into town once a week with some of the staff. It is not safe for me to walk around on my own even during the day so someone is always with me wherever I want to go and shop. The market is great. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and this week I spent about $5 for everything I needed for a week. The supermarket on the other hand has nearly everything that I buy back home but is a bit more expensive.
The people here are nice they are very friendly and happy and smile a lot. The children stare at me a lot and always have big grins on their faces. I have been learning some Pidgin but I’m not very good (it requires you to use your memory and mine is pretty lousy).
The weather is absolutely perfect. About 25-26 degrees everyday with blue skies and the occasional cloud. It hasn’t rained for about 4 weeks so that’s a small concern as we are all using water tanks….lucky I’m trained in water rationing. At night the temperature drops to about 8 degrees so it’s very comfortable to sleep in the flannelettes!!!
The job
The library here has about 20,000 books and they are going to double the size of the building next year as the college is working towards becoming a university, One of the big things for me to do will be to convince the principal and his wife (who are away at the moment) that the library doesn’t need to keep every book that is donated. The librarian, Samuel, is happy with that concept but apparently the principal’s wife was appalled when the previous librarian tried to discard from the collection. Subsequently the reference collection contains 4 almanacs the newest of which is 1999!!! Samuel and I are going to write a collection management & development policy once we have met with the staff which we hope will convince everyone that not every book is sacred.
I am also teaching Samuel descriptive cataloguing and Dewey. This has been very interesting for me as I haven’t used those skills for many years…..now I remember why I’m not a cataloguer!!
The elections are being held on 6 July, these are the first elections since 2002 and the first to use the preferential voting system. The current voting ballot requires the voter to write the names of the three candidates they will be voting for, an interesting process given that less than half of the people are literate.
A lot of the electioneering is done by candidates driving around in vans with loud speakers, chanting party slogans and policies. My first night here at the college I was awoken at 11pm by a noise that sounded like a group of tribesmen on the warpath, this was quickly followed by a speech, and after my initial fright I realised that the marauding tribesmen was in fact the siren they used to attract attention before they went into the electioneering speech!
There is a lot of disagreement between tribes about candidates which can lead to violence. (This is why the Aus Government recommends that you reconsider travel arrangements to the highlands area during this time. But as I’m located some 20 minutes outside the township in a reasonably secure location it is not considered a problem.) Maggie, the ABV rep here in Mt Hagen, has decided that she is going to get all of the volunteers together and take them away from Mt Hagen a day before the elections and for a couple of days afterwards…just to be on the safe side.
Where I live
I have a small two bedroom house on the grounds of the college called Blue-Bell Cottage. The grounds are lovely and the countryside is beautiful. We are 20 minutes outside of Hagen and I go into town once a week with some of the staff. It is not safe for me to walk around on my own even during the day so someone is always with me wherever I want to go and shop. The market is great. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and this week I spent about $5 for everything I needed for a week. The supermarket on the other hand has nearly everything that I buy back home but is a bit more expensive.
The people here are nice they are very friendly and happy and smile a lot. The children stare at me a lot and always have big grins on their faces. I have been learning some Pidgin but I’m not very good (it requires you to use your memory and mine is pretty lousy).
The weather is absolutely perfect. About 25-26 degrees everyday with blue skies and the occasional cloud. It hasn’t rained for about 4 weeks so that’s a small concern as we are all using water tanks….lucky I’m trained in water rationing. At night the temperature drops to about 8 degrees so it’s very comfortable to sleep in the flannelettes!!!
The job
The library here has about 20,000 books and they are going to double the size of the building next year as the college is working towards becoming a university, One of the big things for me to do will be to convince the principal and his wife (who are away at the moment) that the library doesn’t need to keep every book that is donated. The librarian, Samuel, is happy with that concept but apparently the principal’s wife was appalled when the previous librarian tried to discard from the collection. Subsequently the reference collection contains 4 almanacs the newest of which is 1999!!! Samuel and I are going to write a collection management & development policy once we have met with the staff which we hope will convince everyone that not every book is sacred.
I am also teaching Samuel descriptive cataloguing and Dewey. This has been very interesting for me as I haven’t used those skills for many years…..now I remember why I’m not a cataloguer!!
Wednesday 13 June 2007
My new home
I arrived in Mt Hagen safely and was met by David, the vice principal of the college. The college is 20 minutes from town so I have to rely on someone to bring me to town once a week to get groceries and use the internet. I have my own house and look after my own cooking etc. I am now on my 7th alcohol free day and am now doing three sets of 12 push ups every morning!!! I'll be a new woman when I get back!!
The market in town has some great fresh food which is very cheap, guava, tamarillo and mandarins are particularly nice. The supermarket is quite expensive.
This is a country of low literacy rates, high unemployment and a culture of violence.
From the airport signs which request that you check in your weapons and ammunition before you get on the plane, to constant advertising about stopping violence against women, and advertising about the elections asking people not to bring weapons to the polling booths and not to intimidate other voters.
The market in town has some great fresh food which is very cheap, guava, tamarillo and mandarins are particularly nice. The supermarket is quite expensive.
This is a country of low literacy rates, high unemployment and a culture of violence.
From the airport signs which request that you check in your weapons and ammunition before you get on the plane, to constant advertising about stopping violence against women, and advertising about the elections asking people not to bring weapons to the polling booths and not to intimidate other voters.
Incommunicado
It is a strange feeling to be cut off from everyone,,,,I have no phone or internet where I am staying and have to wait for my weekly trip into town to visit the ABV office.
For a person who is very social and relies on the company of others it is an interesting situation.
There is one TV channel EM TV which has a mixture of sport, channel 9 current affairs and infotainment and loacl news. So I'm not missing out on A Current Affair!!!
For a person who is very social and relies on the company of others it is an interesting situation.
There is one TV channel EM TV which has a mixture of sport, channel 9 current affairs and infotainment and loacl news. So I'm not missing out on A Current Affair!!!
Tuesday 5 June 2007
I'm off!!!
This will be my last post until I reach PNG and get settled into my accommodation and my job. If you don't here from me again its because I can't get onto a computer!
The travel advisory has been upgraded to "Reconsider travel arrangements of you are going to the Highlands", so that that should make for interesting times! (Its election time and the tribal groups get a bit angry with each other.)
I'm a bit anxious today but that's just because I want to just get there. I've packed a couple of times trying to decide what I can leave behind. I'm only taking 3 pairs of shoes and some thongs......possibly some kind of record for me as I've been known to take 4 pairs of shoes for an overnight trip!!
So lukim yu bihain (that's pidgin for see you later) until I'm in PNG.
The travel advisory has been upgraded to "Reconsider travel arrangements of you are going to the Highlands", so that that should make for interesting times! (Its election time and the tribal groups get a bit angry with each other.)
I'm a bit anxious today but that's just because I want to just get there. I've packed a couple of times trying to decide what I can leave behind. I'm only taking 3 pairs of shoes and some thongs......possibly some kind of record for me as I've been known to take 4 pairs of shoes for an overnight trip!!
So lukim yu bihain (that's pidgin for see you later) until I'm in PNG.
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