Oh, how I love the phone!

I think I mentioned that we'll be doing a fair bit of boating on this next survey. Yesterday I called someone in the area to find out a bit more about the boat situation. Since Tok Pisin is my second language, and English is a lot of people's third language, the language barrier always makes phone conversations an interesting challenge. Yesterday's went something like this (I've translated the Tok Pisin bits into English . . . at least, based on what I think was being said):



Me: Yes, hello, I was wondering how much it would cost to take a boat from Gasmata to Apalik?

Boat Guy: Well, it will take 15 gallons of fuel.

Me: OK, but we don't have a boat. We want to hire a boat.

Boat Guy: OK, well it will take 15 gallons of fuel.

Me: OK, but how much will it cost?

Boat Guy: From Gasmata to Apalik? Yeah, that will take 15 gallons of fuel.

Me: But if four people just want to hire a boat, how much will they need to pay to hire the boat?

Boat Guy: Ohhhhh . . . you can't fit in one boat. You will need at least two or three. Probably four. Yes, four boats should be fine.

Me: Oh . . . how many people can fit on one boat?

Boat Guy: About ten people.

Me (wondering where I went wrong): OK . . . well . . . there are only four of us.

Boat Guy: Yes, so you will need four boats.

Me: But we want to go in one boat. There are only four of us.

Boat Guy: Oh! There are four of you! I thought you said there were forty! Oh, yes, you can easily go in one boat.

Me (back at square one): OK, so how much will it cost for four people to go in one boat from Gasmata to Apalik?

Confessions of a Book Hoarder

One of my biggest fears about living in PNG was not having enough books to read. Maybe that's a silly fear, but I love books, and I love to read them, and the thought of having a whole ocean between me and the nearest public library or Barnes & Noble sent shivers down my spine. So I stuck secret stashes of books in the bottoms of my two trunks and may or may not have paid a small excess baggage fee to get them here.

And I now say, "Ha! How naive I was!" For honesty compels me to confess to you that I currently have no fewer than 40 unread books sitting on my shelf, 32 of which I have acquired since coming to PNG. You see, apparently other people had fears similar to mine, and stuck similar secret stashes into the bottoms of their trunks, and when they finish reading them, or when they leave the country, they give or sell them to people like me . . .

And really, who needs Barnes & Noble when you have The Wanted Board. On our intranet message board, under the "wanted" section, all you have to do is post "Green Eggs and Ham" (or whatever literary delight you happen to be craving) and some kindred Dr. Seuss lover who secretly stashed it will be sure to write and tell you that of course you can borrow it for as long as you like. Maybe someday I'll try that when I actually finish all the books I already have . . .

How to get there . . .

Right now I'm working on planning a survey on the island of New Britain for the end of October. One of the trickiest parts of survey planning is figuring out how to get there, and the trickiness becomes even trickier when you're trying to get to an island (other than the one you live on, that is). Unfortunately, you can't just go to www.flightstoremotevillagesonsmallislands.com, type in your date of departure and pay with Visa or Mastercard. Sometimes I feel a little bit like a detective, hunting down remote airstrips, questioning people who have traveled in the area before, making "optimal travel hypotheses" and then scrapping them when a new piece of evidence shows that they will be suboptimal, if not impossible. For example, first I planned for us to fly into one area, hike around and survey it, then fly to a second area and survey that. But then I discovered that we could take a boat from the first area to the second area, which would save us several days of hiking because we wouldn't have to hike back to the first airstrip. What a brilliant plan! Yeah, I thought so until I discovered that the first airstrip was closed down and there was a house built on it. Oh well. Maybe we'll helicopter into the first airstrip. Or maybe we'll fly into a third airstrip, take a boat to the area around the first airstrip, then take another boat to the area around the second airstrip, and have a plane pick us up there. Confused yet? Yeah, me too. But it's all part of the adventure! We always get there in the end, somehow or other.

Romeo and Juliet

My friend Correna works in the Soskundi language in East Sepik Province. During a visit to the language area she met a guy named Romeo. Jokingly, she said to him, "Oh, where is Juliet?" With a straight face, Romeo replied, "Well, she decided to stay at home today." Yes, there really was a Juliet, and yes, she was actually married to Romeo. Neither of them had ever heard the classic story. I guess it didn't end so tragically after all!

Picasa Web Albums - PNG Survey

Picasa Web Albums - PNG Survey

Kodiak #8

The rumble of the chattering crowd suddenly gave way to breathless silence as we heard it: the faint hum of the approaching airplane. All eyes were fixed on the sky as the plane came into view, and the crowd broke into cheers and applause when the wheels touched unpaved airstrip, raising a cloud of dust as it quickly came to a stop.


It was finally here! The Kodiak serial number 8, our shiny brand new airplane! Last Friday flocks of Ukarumpa residents made the bumpy 10 minute drive out to the airstrip to watch this new plane land in Papua New Guinea for the very first time, celebrating its arrival with music and donuts and thanking God for bringing it here. Why is an airplane so exciting, you might be asking? Yes, I had the same thought. To me, a plane is a plane, and as long as it gets me where I need to go I'm not too bothered about what kind it is. However, even I am aware that this plane is an awesome addition to our aviation department for several reasons: first, it's specially designed to be able to take-off and land on very short airstrips . . . and we have a lot of those in PNG! Also, our other airplanes that are able to function on short airstrips require a particular kind of fuel that is quite costly and becoming even more costly. The new Kodiak can run on a standard jet fuel that is much cheaper and easier to come by! Thank God for this gift that will allow us to bring His words to people in remote areas safely and so much more efficiently!


If you want to know more technical details about the Kodiak, check out this article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS237443+09-Jan-2009+BW20090109


If you just want to see pictures of the cool new plane, have a look at the slide show!
(All of the Kodiak pictures were kindly and skillfully taken by Michael Johnson.)

Successful Saut Manda Survey

In 2006 (before my time!) the survey team did a survey of the Saut Manda language area. Now Ryan and Crystal (the picture on the left shows them during their commissioning service) have decided to live with the Saut Manda people and help them translate the Bible into the Saut Manda language! It was very exciting for us to be able to give them survey reports to read through and hear that they had chosen Saut Manda! Here's a picture of the village in Saut Manda where they'll be living.