thursday throwup

when I was in papua, I couldn't blog with any regularity because getting onto the internet was 'prit near impossible. now that I am back to 'civilization' I find that life generally runs at light speed, whether you want it to or not. meetings each week, social obligations, stuff to shop for, phone calls and e-mails endlessly streaming in ... the list goes on and on. not that I want to really be a hermit, but sometimes, when I finally turn my computer on after being away for just.one.day, I feel all the stress stomp back into place (usually my neck and shoulders) that slipped off so easily while I was not "on".
... probably need counselling for that.

I don't begrudge technology, I only wish I was more efficient. I think I can tend to let things pile up too often only to feel the mountain-ness of said molehill. like tomorrow ... the fam is going away with another fam for two days then having company stay until monday. I am one of those sorts of people who, generally, does not answer the phone if I have someone over, nor will I turn my computer on unless I have something specific to show them.
this is going to be a busy weekend.
this is going to expose and test a lot of things for me.
does that prove I *am* anal?

wordless wednesday

wordless wednesday

thursday throw-out (to you)

so, yesterday, some "older" ladies from the United Church came to our house to discuss Friday's World Day of Prayer (Papua New Guinea) with me. at least I thought it was "with me"

as it turns out, oldest sat through the whole meeting, incredibly eager to share all he knew and personally experienced in the rain forest. ok, cool, but I kept giving him the "mama big eyes" when I was in the middle of a perfectly great sentence/story and he insisted on jumping in.
I know it is partly excitement on his part because, well, he was there in the heat and humidity, but, you know ...

so, the afternoon progresses with the United ladies asking us for much advice, like "here is a recipe we would like to make and serve to the people who attend the service. it is for banana sour cream cake."

... do I tell them that in order to have sour cream in papua, you would have to be willing to make your own, from scratch?

yes.

"how about this recipe for sparkling ginger ale pineapple, orange, lemonade?"

ummmm. sure. that would taste really good. (it's ok. they have never lived in the rain forest. they don't have to) I ask son "did we have ginger ale while we were there?"

ladies continue. they bring out two library books, from our wee town library, all about papua new guinea. some of the pictures look familiar, but the majority were taken in the highlands ... the place most visitors go because it is cool there, and you can get fresh vegetables and there isn't any malaria. we enjoyed looking at them together and drawing some comparisons/contrasts.
son decides now would be the perfect time to show that he can read tok pisin.

I dutifully sit back and listen as son speaks this "second" language of ours.

son: "this sentence here is saying what hours the bar is open, and when they serve beer."

huh? what is he reading? I find myself clasping my hands together in my lap and sitting up a little straighter.

one of the church ladies mentions to the other that "these boys are homeschooled".

more: "you can drink beer here, outside on the patio part, but they will only sell you this many. oh, and it tells you how much it will cost to drink the beer."

United church ladies smile, nod and express their thrill at his ability to read and translate to them.

I am simply sitting and smiling, my head cocked to the side. "mama big eyes" kind of goin' on, blinking a little quickly, and praying this meeting is over.

another proud moment in the homeschool annals.

wouldn't this have been something to see

Whale washed up in WNB
A WHALE carcass measuring between 25m and 30m long and five to 10m wide was washed onto a reef near two islands in West New Britain recently.
The carcass started to rot a few days after it got trapped on the reef but its removal proved difficult.
Fearing the carcass would cause environmental damages and bring diseases that would affect the islanders, the WNB provincial disaster officer and other relevant authorities burnt half of its body, using old tyres.
The rest of the whale’s body was washed away by strong current.
Provincial disaster office director Lieutenant Colonel Peter Baki said the whale carcass got stuck on a reef area between Vulai and Kimbe Islands in the Kimbe Bay area.
He said they were alerted about the whale by the islanders.
Mr Baki said they came up with a plan to reduce the weight of the whale so they could tow it out to deep sea.
The carcass was burnt and after a while the high tide came in and moved it out to sea.
Mr Baki said he had never seen anything as big as the whale.
It was the first time a whale was found dead in the Kimbe bay area.

~ funny, as my husband noted, that they were worried about the environmental damages yet burned the whale using old tires. yep. I LOVE Papua!

wordless wednesday

wordless wednesday

it's been a long time coming

I have been trying in vain to get on the internet since arriving in PNG. You don't realize how "Western" you really are until you suddenly find yourself catapulted back about twenty years, technologically speaking. Ok, so I exaggurate but I really and truly did not realize how joined at the hip I was to my computer until I just plain couldn't access its delights. That is kind of sad. I most certainly will not be able to blog daily, hopefully weekly though.

I want to get in as much as I can in this post in case it is some time before the opportunity arises again. Bear with me.

What do I love?
the sounds: crickets, frogs, cicadas, birds (especially Willy Wag-tails), and the wind that constantly blows through the coconut palms.

What do I hate?: sand flies. go away already ... my legs have been chewed up enough thank you very much. And bacon that tastes like fish. Ewww.

My favourite foods so far?: popo, kaukau, alpa, mouli, pinap and Tang. I know, I know. If your dishwasher isn't running as well as it once did, pour a packet of Tang in the soap dispenser and let it run. Whatever. You come live here and tell me that when the sweat is rolling down your body, a glass of cold Tang doesn't hit the spot.

My work meri starts coming here this week. Me likim work meri go long house belong me. I am still working on my pisin studies and am not finding much time to do this. Neal has been visiting and going to talk at the gate but I am teaching full time right now and so I will have to learn as much as I can when I can. Liklik liklik (little by little). Julie will help me cook and clean and I will happily pay her for her help. I will also make her a light lunch and some coffee. Mental note: learn how to make coffee before Thursday. Me tingting : em lik Tang?

What am I teaching?: Map 3 (grades 7 and 8) Sonlight Eastern Hemisphere (core 5) Language Arts (what I choose out of that), the Readers, the Read Alouds and the History part.
Daily Grams and Easy Grammar (what I choose out of those)
Music (Lord, help me!)
Art ~ gave this to Neal :)

Map 4/5 (grades 9-12) Learn to Write the Novel Way
Music

Core students, of whom there are 5, with varying learning disabiities
Analogies
Spelling
Vocabulary

I ditched the formal Spelling (so sorry Abeka) in favour of the Beechick approach. I will collect their journals each week and mark them for spelling and vocabulary errors that creep up often. This will become their personal spelling/vocabulary list to work on. Learn to Write the Novel Way has enough of this built right in and I personally fail to see how learning spelling words one never uses in regular speech helps one overcome a lack of confidence. I am at least trying this method practically for our first term. I also told my High School students to view me as less a teacher, more a coach. I reminded them they should all know how to use a Dictionary also. They are really nervous about writing a novel but I am confident that God will show them they can do it if they put their minds to it. We need a proposal for Friday.

I also told them I would attempt this right alongside them, so I would know how to empathize and also how much work it takes to complete.

what.was.I.thinking.

emi allright. em now.

yes, it's been a long time coming, but well worth the wait.

Oh, I love the things that summer brings ... and I know it is just around the corner. Bestsister has already discovered how immature I truly am so this book cover will come as no surprise to her. I own and treasure this book (along with Winter and A Fish Out of Water) as it is one of only a select number of things I chose to keep from my childhood. Lately, I have been pondering how amazing the memories of my own children are going to be. Just think how fascinated others will be, way down the road, when they speak with my two grown children only to discover they were, gasp, both homeschooled AND missionary kids in their lifetime.

I dreamt of being homeschooled before I ever knew what it was. I remember vividly the time I had mumps. No one ever gets the mumps, but I had it ... on both sides. I wasn't allowed to go to school until I had completely healed. I felt FINE. Glorious, in fact. I remember my mom being the best teacher a girl could ever hope for. She even had me go into the garage and do skipping (where I think she timed me) for gym class. I didn't know what you called it but I could have cared less if I never went back to "real school". It happened again the year I had mono. I almost failed that year in high school, but my mom was there all along, coaching me and helping me through. Then there was the summer leading up to my entering first year University. The school called to notify me that I was, actually, short one O.A.C. and needed to make it up. I don't remember how we found the online art course, but I do know I was too frazzled and neurotic to do all the assignments, so my mom drew a coffee mug and a set of spoons to help me out. I don't recall her score, but together we finished fine and I graduated with a degree after all. I find it interesting to note that all my best memories involve summer. The only exception I can come up with is my wedding. Interesting things just seem to wait until the weather warms.

All this to say that I love the things that summer brings, namely, our adventure to PNG. I cannot wait to hear, down the road, that my boys loved their time of endless summer and if they had it all to do over again, they would (and then some)

I met a woman in theatre group this year who truly blew us away with her generosity. She organized a work bee at our home on Friday and around 30 people came by in total. Here is a shot of those who were able to do the dirty work. I am still amazed.


As if that weren't touching enough, she also wrote and submitted this article to our town paper ...

Papua New Guinea is literally half a world away and in mid-July that is where a local family is moving for two years. The Neal Campbell family are selling their house, car, and most of their possessions to move to the tropical island of West New Britain, north of Australia. With its exquisite coral reefs and lovely beaches this might not sound like much of a hardship but Neal and Kristina Campbell and their sons, Jonam and Evan are expecting 36 c temperatures with no air conditioning and their arms hurt with the inoculations they are now going through in preparation. The Campbells will be traveling as Associate Missionaries with New Tribes Missions (NTM).


Last Friday night the community came together to lend support to the Campbell family's dream and help them prepare. Sporting rakes, ladders and brooms the event was attended by about 30 neighbours, friends and some who didn't even know the family. Everyone commented on how much fun it was and how much they all missed this type of community spirit. The Big Give- Campbell Yard Work Party was spearheaded by Evelyn Ward de Roo, Professional Organizer/ Interior Redesigner as part of National Organizing Week (NOW). NOW is a project to give back to the community by the Professional Organizers of Canada, http://www.organizersincanada.ca/noweek/index.php. Annually they choose a charity with which to volunteer. Choosing the Campbell family as her charity, last weekend she organized this old fashioned 'many-hands-make-light-work" event at their east end home, the historic Old Fire Hall, on main street.


The Campbell's adventure of a lifetime was sparked by hearing a talk they attended at their church, Temple Baptist, in Sarnia. For sometime, Neal and Kristina have been itching to step out of their comfort zone and share their lives with others in need. A hard oiler, Neal works for Henderson Builders Limited and is currently the construction project manager for the new addition at St Philip's Catholic Church. He will be doing support maintenance. A graduate of UWO, Kristina is a home-schooling mother and curriculum writer. She will be teaching at Malango School which has been educating missionary children since 1988. Their boys and children from many nationalities, including local children, will attend the school. The school is part of a missionary compound which supports expatriates working in remote jungle villages. Jonam (13) says "God has given us an amazing opportunity."


In order to qualify for this opportunity, they must raise their own support needed for the two year contract. In preparation their home-schooling lately has been to study Pigin English and the culture of their soon to be adopted country. And they have been experimenting with some native recipes. Because the compound where they will be living is only accessible by a small airstrip, their belongings are being pared down to the basic necessities. On the weekend they participated in the town-wide garage sale, selling off a lot of their things, including a toboggan. "One thing I am sure going to miss is the snow, but I think it is going to be fun, " says eleven year old Evan.


Ward de Roo met the Campbell's through Petrolia Community Theatre's (PCT) recent play, Peril at Petrolia. "I was immediately impressed by Kristina's talent, personal integrity and dedication. The decision to move to Papua New Guniea transpired while we were rehearsing over 2 months. I witnessed them processing this huge life transition with great trust and excitement. I was moved to help them in some small way", says Ward de Roo. The entire Campbell family has been involved with the PCT since moving back to Petrolia. And recently Jonam starred as the White Rabbit in the VPP's Young Company production of Alice in Oil Town. The Campbell's were featured artists on the Lambton County Studio Tour. They are active in Lambton County home schooling association, where Kristina has served as a director for the local home-school co-op. Kristina's ebooks are published through theoldschoolhousestore.com. The family's adventure can be tracked on their Facebook group, "The Campbell Family is going to Papua New Guinea" http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid107239922


Since 1942 NTM has been mobilizing missionaries help establish indigenous churches among remote peoples in 18 countries, through the translating of the Christian Scriptures. Any one desiring to support the Campbell's may contact: New Tribes Mission of Canada, PO Box 707 Durham, ON, N0G 1R0
www.ntm.org

shakespeare on tuesday

Well, I certainly hope this post makes it it. It has been incredibly frustrating to have things to write but, seemingly, no venue upon which to post. Today, however, is beautiful in temperature, with the buds on all trees ever-increasing in size and colour. I cannot wait to smell the lilacs and watch the maple leaves unfurl in our yard, especially since I shall say goodbye to my growing garden all too soon. I love gardening and all that spring promises to reveal, slowly but surely. I will miss having a space that is truly my own; you just cannot claim the same things when your house is borrowed. I know I will have those feelings and the twinges of "I am not so sure I want to do this and all it entails" that come creeping in when I am tired and things are at a bit of a standstill. I know it is all par for the course, so I plug away. We are attempting to finish up all our lessons by the end of May so the boys can have some time off before they start at Malango School August 6. It will be such a change, and yet, at the same time, not so much. From the sounds of things, it will be like having co-op every day instead of just on Monday. That thought appeals to me in a myriad of ways. I will be tired, yes, but that healthy, "I just made the right choice and did something really good for all of us" way.

Today we finished reading through Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare. Well, sort of. I got part way through Othello and the boys both sheepishly told me they were "done." It's all good. Not everyone is as addicted to the Bard as I. If I had done my Master's it was going to be about Shakespeare. I never decided what about, exactly, just about whom. Maybe one day ... if I think I really need a Master's, I will re-visit the idea. For now, I am happy to have introduced him to my boys and that they truly appreciate him as a play-write. Their favourites include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, Hamlet, Twelfth Night. I cannot blame them one bit. They chose some of my personal favourites, too. Good genes.