Heidiz Papua New Guinea Journal

Date: 6/7/04
Location: Pacific Orientation Course, Madang, Papua New Guinea

Tok Pisin students and teachers - Dimat is in the blue hat

A bucket shower -
a turnable mechanism
with holes under
the bucket allows water
to fall through when
loosened

This morning I got up at about 5:40 to go for a 30 minute walk down the road a bit and back up with some other people at POC. The exercise felt good! Today we had our first official Tok Pisin lesson from a national man named Dimat. We learned how to follow a lot of different commands. This method was used because it is often how children begin learning a language. At lunch, we got to try a salad made with many different greens.

I started to feel a little lonely today - like I am running out of energy to keep initiating interactions with other people. But I know I must rely on God for my strength and keep serving as best as I know how anyway. As for talking to nationals, I never really know what to say - literally! I feel like I want to learn more Tok Pisin first, but I know that isn't a good strategy, because I need to speak it to learn well. My throat is a little sore tonight - I wish I had zinc lozenges with me - but I took another garlic pill at least. I pray God will cure my sore throat and keep me healthy!

It is raining out tonight, I believe, which is wonderful! I have a lot of DEET on tonight... I wonder how/if it can hurt me... I got emails from Mom and Dad and Tabitha today, which was fun . We also learned quite a bit about male-female interaction in PNG culture today - about what is appropriate and what isn't.

Pictures:

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