Another visit to a local dentist !! But lucky me, to a private dentist this time. Two previous vists to the dental clinic at the local public hospital was enough. 140,000 people living in Lae and only 1x private dentist !!! Something I don't understand…. I have asked many PNG adults : When was the last time you went to the dentist ? And guess what ? I haven't met one adult PNG national yet that has been to a dentist. Some of them have “stuffed” teeth but others, that have never sat in a dentist chair, happen to have pretty good teeth. I think I've worked out that it must be a diet related thing. PNG nationals are not really into sweets and do not consume much sugar (if any at all). Anyway, I am one tooth down. The dentist man ripped it out !!! Just like that. Took about 10 mins and he did'nt even have to stand on the chair to leverage the grip on my tooth with his pliers !!! I remember going to a dentist once, on Macquarie St, he had to stand on the chair to get the leverage so he could pull my tooth out !!!
Friday afternoon and close to knock off time. Just getting a quick blog in before heading off to my little house on the prairie. (The one without the white picket fence). What's in store for the weekend ? Well, some shopping tomorrow with Peter. And yes, there is a “Flea Market” on campus tomorrow morning which I will go and check out before heading into town. Tomorrow evening I am meeting up with Jane (another AVI volunteer working in Lae) and we are off to the Lae International (hotel) for a bite to eat. There is supposed to be a piano player in one of the bars at the hotel. So I think we might go and have a listen after dinner. Been a long time since I have seen the inside of a piano bar !! I suspect that they haven't changed that much really. One grand piano, a bar with plenty of grog, a couple of pretty barmaids and a few people sitting around the piano singing along to tunes of the piano man/woman. Anything for a weird life !!
Goasa got back yesterday from his village near Kerema (Gulf Province). His Mum passed away two weeks ago so he had to head off for the funeral and to be with his family. There are no roads or airports at Ihu (his village) so it was the banana boat on the way in and to get back, Goasa and his brother walked from Ihu to Kerema, where he caught the balus (aeroplane) back to Lae. The walk from Ihu to Kerema took about 1.5 days all along the coast and beaches. Apparently the sea has been really rough of late, so the banana boat on the way back was out of the question. One of the local customs when people return to the city from their villages is to bring back food. I dropped in to see Goasa and family last night and got a glimpse of the produce that Goasa brought back with him. The prize item was a 1m long Tuna fish. Whole and wrapped in plastic. When I touched the fish it was still partially frozen. After dinner, Goasa and one of his sons chopped the tuna up into steaks before storing them in the freezer inside the house.
Over the next few days I will be making a change to my blog. I want to restrict certain parts of my blog to certain people. Example, the Schilt's Photo Album. I will restrict this album so that it can only be viewed by those people that have my “approval” (me bos man). Also, from time to time I might like to write “stuff” that I don't want 1.5 billion people to be able to see. I will still allow for anonymous comments. When I make this change I will supply information on how to “subscribe” to ma blog.
Interesting statistic : In the past month there have been 555 unique visitors to my blog !!!
Get a life Rob…..
tingting bilong yu…
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