Birthday boy and…

The big '47' !!

Yesterday I celebrated my 47th year on planet earth (well – this time round anyway). One of the nice things about living in PNG is that not many people know the day of my birthday, so I was therefore excused the “pain” of being reminded by all as to how old I am.

So apart from trying to forget my age. What did I do on the day ?

Firstly, I slept in as much as possible despite the “noisy” church from across the road. And secondly I was invited to Eli's place at West Taraka for a mumu (traditional PNG bbq). I managed to take a few photos of the mumu preparation which was all organised by Eli and one of her cousins : Margaret. Unfortunately : no photos of me blowing out any candles !  Sori tru.

The mumu that Eli prepared was cooked in bamboo. I have tried food cooked this way a couple of times in the past and it is absolutely delicious. Food is prepared (what ever you like) including an assortment of vegetables and meat and these are then “pushed” into a bamboo tube. The bamboo is then thrown on to fire and the food is allowed to cook to perfection.

Besides the yummie food it was nice to hang out with Eli's family for the afternoon. It is nice to belong somewhere and spending a few hours yesterday afternoon with Eli's family was the next best thing to celebrating my birthday back in Sydney with family and close friends. Eli's family have always welcomed me with open arms each time I have ventured into West Taraka.

It was also nice to get some phone calls from the family back home wishing me a happy birthday. Thoroughly enjoyed the conversation I had with John and  Lucy. Unfortunately when Yolande called  the phone line was a bad one so the  conversation had to be cut short.  Thanks guys !!   Mum did'nt call -  probably because she is currently down in Melbourne volunteering for the Commonwealth Games. Calling in and out of PNG can be very expensive so I rarely talk to the family back home. I certainly cherish it when someone does call!!  (Hint, hint…).

Just one more thing on birthdays and getting older…   have I ever told you about the calendar I got hanging up on my fridge?  Everyday – before going to sleep…  I cross off another day  and breathe a sigh of relief (Pheeewww…..).  That's one day less to go I say to myself.

Who cares about getting old and decrepit anyway?  Isn't death a passing fad anyway ??