THE GRAND TOUR

We’ve had a couple requests and questions about our home here in PNG so here is a tour ….

When we began preparing to come to PNG, we did not know what to anticipate for our living arrangements.  We were overwhelmed by the accommodations that we were welcomed by. So here is a narrative tour along with pictures so you can see how we are blessed!

Our home is a two- bedroom duplex which is located on the south end of the station area.  We enjoy the eastern sunrise into the front of our home which is the living room, kitchen and dining room and do not enjoy the western sunset on the bedroom side of our home.  It gets very hot in the afternoon and early evening with the sunshine steaming in. Our yard is covered by a large shade tree in front, with many bushes and flowers around the house and parameter of our individual yard.  We have been blessed by a “Garden Meri” (there are House Meri’s who also do work within the house, though we haven’t had one).  Gayle had a national come to the door a few weeks ago and offer yard cleaning services.  So Gayle arranged for his wife to come and keep our yard looking tidy.  We have found that it is primarily the women who do the daily work.  The national men may assist with some of the bigger jobs but the women do the daily labor.  In turn, we pay about 30 kinas for a day’s work along with a small lunch and in turn it helps the nationals with their cost of living. We haven’t had the annoyance of many bugs, flies or mosquitoes.  We have some rather large spiders outdoors and some smaller ones indoors.  We also have some friendly cockroaches.  We have found several visiting us.  Gayle has had to periodically spray for bugs.  Gayle has also learned to wear slippers in the house, especially at night.  If she gets up when the lights are out she doesn’t want to step on anything with her bare feet. 

We have three neighbors to the south of our home.  One couple is about our age who are from Montana.  They are serving as the CEO of the Kudjip Hospital and as a 1^st & 2^nd grade teacher here at the MK school. They have been here just over two years.  They will be leaving in June.   Another neighbor is a young lady missionary who teaches the MK high school students, but she will be leaving in June.  God has called her to another country where she will be teaching English as a second language to adults. Another neighbor is an older gentleman who has lived here for several years who came from Alabama.  He is the jack-of-all-trades type of guy.  A great person willing to assist in so many areas. We have neighbors across the street (street is a graveled narrow roadway just wide enough for a vehicle).  They serve as the Malaysia District Field Coordinator. They are from Fiji though their current home is here when not traveling The Nazarene church has an education/ theology adult training school within a short drive from the hospital here.  The director of that program resides close by along with his wife.  We love our neighborhood!  It is perfect with wonderful people and a plethora of plants, colorful flowers and bushes.

There is another street behind our home, though a fence separates us.  There you will find the homes of some of the nationals and their families that work here at the Kudjip Hospital.  The Nazarene Health Ministries has a program that tries to house many of the nationals that are employed here at the hospital.  There is specific criteria to be met before a house will be assigned for rent but it does allows the employees to be close to their employment.  We can hear the young and the older at all hours of day and night when they are happy and not so happy, we hear their dogs barking (frequently during the night-time hours), smell their fire and cooking aromas and enjoy their pleasant smiles and warm greetings each day as we pass each other walking to and from our destinations.

Our home has a porch overhang with a hanging swing.  We have enjoyed that several times.  As you enter our front door you enter into our living room.  If you are polite, you will immediately take your shoes off if you haven’t already done so prior to entering our home.  This is a custom here to always take shoes off before entering a home. We have wood floors throughout our home except for our bathroom which is tiled.  We have seating for at least seven people to visit.  We have a television screen though we do not have service here.  We are able to run DVD’s via our computer to the screen and enjoy some programs.  The station has a mailroom that houses a decent size library and DVD collection that can be borrowed.

Our kitchen is to the right upon entering our home.  The kitchen is fully stocked with dishes, pans, silverware, baking ware and storage containers.  We have a small apartment size gas stove with a small oven (they must be lit with a match) and a small apartment size refrigerator.  We have a water filter for all of our drinking water.  Our water supply for our routine needs come from the faucet which comes from the hydro system to our storage tank for this house.  We were brushing our teeth and rinsing our vegetables and fruits with it until Gayle become ill.  Then we got wise and became more discretionary with water use.   The hydro system for the station is relatively new.  It has been completed for about eight years and everyone has been happy with the results!

Continue through the kitchen and you will enter our dining room.  Usually there is a fruit bowl on the table.  There is always fresh fruit available here.  Pineapples, 3 types of oranges, mandarins, papaya,mangoes and 3 types of bananas are plentiful.  That’s been nice!  We can easily seat eight around our table.  The table is significant here at PNG.  It is where you entertain.  Hospitality is a HUGE extension of showing their Christ-like love for others.  We have been invited out for dinner 7 times within 10 days of our arrival and we are still being asked over for meals.  In turn, we have attempted to reciprocate but we still have a ways to go. Bob is always asking, “Is this an evening we are going somewhere or are we having someone over”?  We have met some wonderful people across the dinner tables.  People from the States, Alberta, Canada, South Africa, and Nigeria.  People who come for a couple months and people that have been serving here for several years. So many people who are serving in so many ways. We stand back in amazement as we see God directing multiple people to fulfill multiple needs.

If you turn left out of dining room, you will enter our laundry room.  We have an automatic full-size washer.  Amazing intervention!  There is no dryer.  But Bob has fixed that problem by hanging two laundry rope lines across the room so Gayle can hang laundry to dry.  It works beautifully!  Gayle typically only does one load of laundry per day due to limited line space.  Most laundry dries within 12 hours due to the warm weather and our windows always being open. There is a clothesline outdoors in our yard.  Gayle has used it but she keeps encountering too many spider webs, so she has basically resorted to using indoor lines.  We also have a small freezer that we use to place extra meat items, butter etc. since we only go to Mt. Hagen to grocery shop every couple of weeks minimally. 

You will get to our bathroom if you walk through our living room toward the back of our home.  The bathroom is very functional.  We are so happy to have running water at our disposal, a functional toilet and a shower for whenever we desire.  Running water is a blessing!

Across from our bathroom is our bedroom. Our bedroom houses a queen size bed with a huge closet and dresser.  Two bedside tables for our night-time reading convenience and to house our back up flashlights.  You never know when we may have a lapse in power, though it doesn’t last long or occur very frequently.  The bedroom was fully furnished with bed linens and comforter.  They set us up well!  Talk about bugs…  Gayle had an unwelcomed surprise while making the bed one morning! She moved the pillow to adjust the comforter and she screamed.  A small cockroach came out of the pillowcase.  She was not impressed.  Bob came to the rescue and took the pillow outside and the life of the cockroach came to an end! Needless to say, Gayle sprayed the room down and we have been good for the past several days. Plus, she keeps the bug spray within reach now.

 The spare room is just past the bathroom.  It is mainly used as our office area, set up for the ironing board and stores our luggage until our return to the States. 

There you have it!  Thanks for stopping in for a visit!  Hope you enjoyed the tour!

 

Picture 1- Outside of our home

Picture 2- Living Room

Picture 3- Kitchen

Picture 4 – Kitchen

Picture 5- Dining Room

Picture 6 – Laundry Room

Picture 7 – Bathroom

Picture 8- Our Bedroom

Picture 9- Behind our house