My friends at the airport when I left. It was rather emotional to leave them there and go for the departure gate. It rather like going to my own execution. But when I met up with the other volunteers the feeling soon subsided. We had such a long flight in front of us.
In heathrow we teamed up with the other two VSO volunteers Maggie and Amlyn. Maggie from London and Amlyn from Wales. Just to be clear, Amlyn is a guy. Amlyn is going for year to Kundiawa to teach disabled children to play music. Maggie is going to be a physiotherapist in Aitape. Maggie is wearing the red blouse.
I thought I would be a volunteer in the most secluded and poor areas in PNG. But as it seems I’d still have some decadencies. For instant if you get delayed in Port Moresby, because the plane is experiencing technical difficulties. We where send to a very nice hotel in Port Moresby. The next day we where flying to Madang.
Arrival at Madang!!! Finally after 3 days of travel we arrived at our destination. In Port Moresby we met the sixth volunteer, Michel. He’s from the filipines. People from the VSO program office came to pick us up with Kulau. Fresh coconut from the tree cut. They cut it open and you can drink it with a straw.
First time I saw these animals I thought they where big birds, but as it turned out it where bats. Flying foxes they are called. They are flying all over Madang.
We are staying at Madang lodge at the moment to receive our training, before we go to our placement. Madang lodge is just like paradise. One picture of the garden and one of the see.
Our first breakfast. An awsome experience. Cereal, toast and a great selection of fruits. Banana’s, guava, pineaple, papaya and strawberries.
As part of our training we went and did a village stay. The village belonges to one of the VSO workers at the program office. It was really great. It was really nice to see how locals in the coastal areas live and work. We where able to join them in cooking and fishing. The see was two steps away from the village so we plunged in regulary. And as you can see it has an wasome sight.
This is Willie. He is one of our Tok Pisin teachers. A great guy, who’s really patient in explaining everything in Tok Pisin.
The children from the village. Amlyn na mi go long nambis plia pukpuk long pikinini. Translated it means, Amlyn and I went to the beach with the children and played crocodile and tried to catch them.
Some of the friends we made in the village. The left guy is the husband of Maryanne, she is the one who works in the program office. I went spearfishing with him. He also gave me bandaids everytime I hurt myself.