Talking about the weather

Ukarumpa felt more like the middle of a cloud than sunbeam today. My first thought when I woke up was "it's raining in the morning - weird!"

It usually rains some time during the day, but more often than not, I get to enjoy the sun streaming in through my bedroom window as I get ready for work. The rest of the day continued like the morning - rain on and off, mist, and general cloudiness the rest of the time.

It seems like I write about the weather a lot on my blog, and it's not just because I have nothing else to talk about. The weather, especially the rain, affects my life here much more than it did at home.

As I was walking over the muddy, slippery dirt road to work this morning, I remembered when I used to drive to work. I don't go home for lunch or go to the store if it's raining, because all my transportation here is on foot, and I don't particularly love walking in the rain and mud. :-)

Although rain occasionally changes my plans, it is also very important to life here... we count on rain to fill our water tanks - for drinking water, as well as water to wash dishes, clothes and bodies. If there isn't any rain, we run out of water. Rain also helps grow the food that I and my Papua New Guinean friends depend on.

So if it seems like I write about the weather a lot, I guess this explains why. :-)

What's the weather like where you are? And how does it affect your life?

The Exodus Begins

Yesterday was graduation from the high school here at Ukarumpa, and today marks the beginning of a mass exodus of families heading back to their home countries for rest and to settle their graduated seniors into college.

When I opened my curtains this morning, I saw more traffic than usual - both people leaving and their friends going to wish them a teary farewell at the airstrip. The sound of planes dominated the air as they made countless trips to Port Moresby, where families will catch flights to other corners of the globe.

When I arrived in Ukarumpa on my short term trip in 2005, I was greeted by the sight of sobbing seniors saying goodbye to their closest friends, and not knowing when they'd ever see them again. It's a tough time of year at Ukarumpa, and even though none of my close friends are leaving, I still feel it.

Rain during the dry season

I've found out recently that the name "dry season" can be a little deceiving. Despite my misconceptions that the dry season would be dry and sunny, it turns out it is really more like your typical image of London or Seattle - misty, cloudy, cool and dare I say gloomy.

It's also been raining here quite a bit. Not as much as in the real rainy season, but enough to turn the roads into a muddy mess. I had to carry my flip-flops as I walked home today, because they were so caked with mud and the roads were so slippery. Feet are a lot easier to clean than shoes anyway. The wet grass outside my front door does a nice job. :-)

Tonight I'm back to my weekly Wednesday night babysitting after being sick last week. I had a stomach bug that it took me about a week to fully recover from, but I'm better now. I enjoy getting to watch two young kids (4 and 7) every week while their parents are at a woodworking class.

That's all for now... I hope all of you blog readers are doing well and enjoying summer (if you're in the northern hemisphere)!

Sampela Toktok Long Tok Pisin

I'm working on preparing a lesson for this week's ladies' Bible study, so I thought I'd fulfill Audrey's request by posting some Tok Pisin. Keep in mind I've only been learning Tok Pisin for nine months, and I'm still learning. ;-)

With that said, I might start our Bible study like this:

Orait, bai yumi go insait long leson b'long yumi.

Nau bai yumi toktok long ol promis Bikpela i bin givim long yumi, ol Kristen manmeri.

God i bin givim planti promis long yumi, na God i no inap senisim tingting b'long em.

Olsem na yumi inap bilip strong long ol promis b'long em.


And with the sentences on separate lines, so you can see how the English and Pidgin line up, here's a rough translation:

Ok, let's start our lesson.

Today we're going to talk about the promises God's given us Christians.

God has given us lots of promises, and God can't change His mind.

So we can believe His promises.

Tok Pisin is really quite similar to English. Many Tok Pisin words come from English words (like leson from lesson, Kristen from Christian, and bilip from believe). Here are a few more examples from what I wrote above:

-yumi comes from "you (and) me," and it means "us"

-planti comes from "plenty," and it means "plenty" or "many"

-bilong or b'long comes from "belong," and it means "belonging to" or "of"
For example, leson b'long yumi literally means "lesson of us" or more idiomatically "our lesson"