My 1st Dinner Guests!

Catherine & Luke were staying in Hagen waiting for a plane to be fixed so they could head back home to Rumginae in the Western Province, they were supposed to be here for a couple of days but it ended up being over a week so they agreed to come and brave my slightly experimental Stirfry!

Luke is a MAF Pilot and Catherine is a Speech Pathologist (Therapist) who works in the hospital near their base and helps in the local bush community. 

Domestic Goddess - My 1st Loaf!

With the help of my inherited Bread Maker, I successfully made a loaf of Soda Bread.  It might look a little flat, but it turned out to be just right and rather tasty, if I do say so myself! 

Before:

After:

Then I experimented and made a loaf of Sunflower seed bread, which tasted great sliced with cheese & tomatoes on top!

The next thing I need to do is figure out how to made a loaf rise. And don't say add yeast, I did that in the Sunflower loaf, but it still came out mostly flat and rather dense. 

Down the Garden

"Mi go long gaden bilong Kimy long kamautim kaukau."
I went to Kimy's field to dig up sweet potatoes.

Kimy & friends

As part of my Tok Pisin classes I was taken to see how PNGs grow their vegetables.  The veg market in Mt Hagen is the best in the country, everything looks and tastes delicious and it very cheap as things grow easily in the rich soil and warm, wet environment of the Highlands.  The vast majority of the veg is hand-grown by families using traditional methods.  It's backbreaking work, especially in the heat of the day.

Kimy very kindly allowed me to dig up some of her sweet potatoes (kaukau, pronounced cow-cow), but I managed a hand-full in the time it took her to dig up a sack-full!  Kimy then carried a large sack of sweet potatoes (Over 40Kg) on her head for the hour's walk home.  I helped by carrying a small sack of corn (Less than 10Kg!).

Shiv digging kaukau in the gaden

My latest Newsletter is hot off the press!

This Newsletter (Snapshot below) has been sent to my close friends, family and the wonderful people who have asked to keep in touch.  My Newsletters will be coming out approx. 4 times a year. 

If you would like to receive my complete Newsletter via email, please let me know.

Email - YellowShiv@gmail.com

Driving Test Passed!

I was taken on a MAF driving orientation this morning. I drove around Hagen town and up to Kagamuga Airport where my office is. Thankfully I passed so I'm now allowed to drive the rather attractive MAF busses! :-)

My 1st walk, alone!

I just went on my 1st solo walk into town and it felt great.  I told a friend where I was going, just in case, and walked to the other side of town and back, stopping in to a few shops along the way. 

It might sound like a small, almost silly thing, but it felt great to have the confidence & freedom to go out alone.  I felt safe and everyone was really friendly.  Two thumbs up for feeling right at home!

In other news, my neighbour's guineapig had 3 babies this afternoon. :-)

My Heroes!

All you want on a Sunday afternoon is a cuppa!  I lit the gas stove, as we were in the middle of a 36 hour power cut, and the little flame quickly died, alas, no more gas.  Thank goodness it wasn't a power leak, that got fixed on Thursday!

My compound family quickly came to the rescue.  They located the spare gas bottle, moved it under my house (weighing approx. 100kg), disconnected the old and connected the new. Voila!  Thank you all, my heroes!