the Lovely Life: hodgepodge

Thank you for your outpouring of love after my last post! Those hard days are hard, but wonderful when they come… but they do pass. I feel like I’ve settled here now, that this is home, and I love it.

Here's my hodgepodge sort of list of an update about what we've been up to this week. I felt like I was playing catch up all week, trying to stay on top of things around the house, and get in all of the visiting and week-ahead prep I could, since next week starts Orientation Classes and Softball.

The Kodiak as it arrived in Goroka!

Josh has been studying diligently since we arrived so that he can take his air laws tests, which is the first step to getting him flying in this country. He will be able to take his tests on Tuesday of next week! I’m so proud of the hard work that he has put in.

I have been keeping busy around the center. There are plenty of people to see and drink coffee with, and plenty of things to do if you have a bit of creativity. When I’m not visiting, crafting whatever I can find, working in my garden, or drinking coffee, I’m working in my house. Housework and meal prep take a lot longer here than in the states. Meal prep especially, because it requires thinking far enough ahead and just doing the work.

I have a hippie mouse that likes to eat my tomatoes. I think he's gone now, although we didn't catch him.

Josh took this photo of our house with his GoPro! We're the single level house with the carport.

Chicken comes in a big frozen bag of double breasts, bone-in and skin on; this means a day of thawing before you can pull them apart, and then either cooking them straight away to freeze for use later, or freezing them as-is and then doing the skinning/deboning/cooking later. Choose your battle. Veggies come from the nationals at the market. All veggies need to be washed thoroughly (some use bleach or vinegar) and then cut for easy snacking or cooking. And don’t you dare leave anything edible on the counters; or the ninja, hippie mice and/or ants will eat it in the night. The cooking here isn’t very hard; it just requires more thought and work on the front end to go smoothly later. I think I’ve finally gotten into a good rhythm, since I’ve learned that if I don’t do it RIGHT AWAY when I get home from the market, I won’t do it later.

Orientation classes begin on Monday morning. This is where we (really, I) will learn the language and culture of the area and really make PNG my home. I’m really looking forward to it!

Not sure what these flowers are, but they're lovely!