Catching up...

Ok, sorry I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth!  I haven’t forgotten about blogging, but somehow it just didn’t get done. So, a quick catch up:

 

April -> flew to Madang (north coast of PNG) for a short vacation with friends. We took an Open Water Diving course, so now I’m certified to dive to 18 Meters!  It was really fun—there are so many colorful things to see underwater here, as well as some WWII wrecks (which as an “Open Water” diver I can only view from the outside, but still really cool)!

 

April to mid-May -> Back to Ukarumpa (in the “highlands” middle of PNG).  There I worked on some formatting projects on the computer; basically typesetting a grammar paper for publishing.  I also trained a new gal on how to do the job—she was really fun to work with, but I felt a little odd to be training someone on something I’d only done once before myself (I worked on a different grammar paper typesetting job last December and really enjoyed it).

 

mid-May -> returned to Alotau (southeastern tip of PNG) to do some prep work for the multi language project I helped with back in February: re-designing the Access database of course information (participants, publications, training, etc.), gathering information and creating a songbook to print for the course participants, a week of computer training with our national staff mentors from the basics to some more advanced programs; my more experienced teammate did the advanced training, but then I was also able to learn more about those programs myself!

 

June -> our June course for the multi-language project started, and we are now about halfway through the course!  Wow!  This course I am once again the “buyer,” and thus responsible for purchasing all the supplies, managing the cooks and making sure everyone is fed.  I have added a few new recipes to the menu this module (chili, potato soup, tuna and egg salad sandwiches, oatmeal) which everyone seems to be enjoying—at least the staff enjoyed the oatmeal J—so that make me happy too!  I also am available to help out one of the language groups with their typing work that has to be done in English (even if you can speak it well, you have to admit that some of those English spellings trip you up!), and will begin to do some printing of the literacy books that are being produced next week.