It's an odd feeling, sitting on the brink of a survey and wondering what will happen when you plunge into a three-week long hurtle through adventures you currently know nothing about. You see, most of the surveys I've been on have been chock full of unexpected events: trucks sliding off the road, medical evacuations, robberies, con artists, rescuing stranded backpackers, nocturnal hikes and broken airplanes. After every adventure I take a deep breath and think, "Well, that was fun! Now we can get on with things as planned." But just when I'm thinking that nothing crazier than what just happened could possibly happen . . . well, something crazier does happen! I'm finding myself wondering what crazy things will happen this time . . . what new stories will I have on November 10th?
I recently told my friend Lynn that I often feel that survey trips are a bit of a battle, that the enemy doesn't seem to want us to get where we're planning to go. She replied, "Yes . . . you are the Joshuas and Calebs spying out the land he has too long claimed as his."
The cool thing is that our crazy stories of unexpected events always turn into stories of God's provision and protection as well. I don't know what will happen over the next three weeks, but I rest in the fact that I'm a part of Jesus' body, and not even the gates of hell can stand up against that! I also rest in your prayers . . . knowing you are all talking to God about our journey means more than I can say.
Come back in three weeks for the stories!
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Kodiak saves the day!
The e-mail began innocently enough:
"Four passengers have been confirmed for the flight on 21 October 2009."
"Great!" I thought, "Now everything is set for our New Britain survey." It wasn't until I skimmed down to the middle of the page that I realized what was not so great:
"We can only offer around 300 kilos for the flight."
Some quick mental math told me that our combined body weights total 290 kilos, which would leave 10 kilos of cargo for 4 people, and I squirmed at the thought of spending 3 weeks with a backpack weighing only 2 1/2 kilos (about 5 pounds), most of which would consist of my life jacket, questionnaires and recording equipment. I do enjoy trying to be hard core, but I will not even pretend to be that hard core.
I'll spare you the tense details of the next few days as we explored every possible option, from driving several hours to a city where we could catch a commercial flight, to leaving one of us behind. But commerical flights don't go to the remote areas we need to get to, and it would be really hard to get all the data we need without all of us there.
Well, remember a few weeks ago when our brand new airplane, the Kodiak #8, landed on our airstrip and cars full of excited people drove out to welcome it? I believe I may have written something along the lines of, "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." That may be true, but in this case the Kodiak is the only plane that can get all of us where we need to go! It is bigger than our older Cessna 206s, so it can take all four of us and our sleeping bags and dry clothes! But it is also able to land on the small airstrips where commercial flights never go!
"Four passengers have been confirmed for the flight on 21 October 2009."
"Great!" I thought, "Now everything is set for our New Britain survey." It wasn't until I skimmed down to the middle of the page that I realized what was not so great:
"We can only offer around 300 kilos for the flight."
Some quick mental math told me that our combined body weights total 290 kilos, which would leave 10 kilos of cargo for 4 people, and I squirmed at the thought of spending 3 weeks with a backpack weighing only 2 1/2 kilos (about 5 pounds), most of which would consist of my life jacket, questionnaires and recording equipment. I do enjoy trying to be hard core, but I will not even pretend to be that hard core.
I'll spare you the tense details of the next few days as we explored every possible option, from driving several hours to a city where we could catch a commercial flight, to leaving one of us behind. But commerical flights don't go to the remote areas we need to get to, and it would be really hard to get all the data we need without all of us there.
Well, remember a few weeks ago when our brand new airplane, the Kodiak #8, landed on our airstrip and cars full of excited people drove out to welcome it? I believe I may have written something along the lines of, "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." That may be true, but in this case the Kodiak is the only plane that can get all of us where we need to go! It is bigger than our older Cessna 206s, so it can take all four of us and our sleeping bags and dry clothes! But it is also able to land on the small airstrips where commercial flights never go!
This may be the very first time our Kodiak has saved the day, but I suspect it won't be the last! Thanks, God, for the Kodiak.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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?
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?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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 . . .
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 . . .
Monday, October 5, 2009
How to get there . . .
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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.Thursday, October 1, 2009
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!
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