Beer

I knew the beer selection was going to small when we moved here. While France isn’t known as a major beer producer, it is in the heart of Europe, surrounded by beer nations. I’m sure the shelves of the grocery store around the corner from our place in Paris must be overflowing with Belgian beer, now that I’m not there to buy them.

You can buy craft beers from Australia here, but they are really expensive. Beer is usually the one thing that I never look at the price. If I want, it I get it, but $35-$40 for a 6-pack is a bit much.

There is a brewery in Port Moresby called South Pacific Brewery and they produce 3 beers that are more reasonably priced. The Niugini Ice and Export are OK, a little generic, but fine on a hot day. I really like the SP Lager though. I normally don’t like lagers, but I discovered on my beer trip that if you get a lager that hasn’t been pasteurized and filtered to death, it could be really good.

 

I will have to save my beer tastings for when I’m in Australia and New Zealand.

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Tropical Fruit

Most things in PNG are considerably more expensive than we are used to, because almost everything has to be imported. There are a few things that are available locally though. The coffee is excellent and reasonably priced. Local fruit is also really good and cheap. I bought a couple yesterday.

The larger one is a Paw Paw which is a type of Papaya. The black seeds are edible and have a peppery taste. I only ate a few though because they overpower the actual fruit. The orange flesh of the papaya is really juicy and not overly sweet.

The smaller one is a Sugar Fruit which is like Passion-fruit. With this one, you only eat the seeds. I just scooped them out with a spoon. They taste a little like grapes but there is a citrus taste as well. I really liked both of them and it's a great way to stay hydrated in tropical heat.

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Christmas in July

Lori and I have been going through a few frustrating days lately. Nothing major, but just little things that haven't gone our way. It started with my new TV dying. We went out when we first got here and I bought a TV. Selection and price are not ideal, so you have to take what you can get. I had to settle for the floor model and it died a few day after I bought it. It took a few days, and several calls, but I eventually got it replaced. Of course, I had to take the more expensive model or wait a month for the same one to come in.

Another annoyance was getting our new dresser delivered. There was a comedy of errors associated with this transaction. The dresser was actually in the building one day, but the security guards didn't think I was home so they sent them away. It took 5 phone calls and a personal visit to the store to sort that one out.

We have also grown tired of living like students. We brought a few necessities with us so we could move into the apartment right away and not live in a hotel. We brought 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 coffee mugs, 1 pot and 1 frying pan. I'm glad we did that, but it was starting to wear us down. There were a few deficiencies with the apartment that we've been trying to sort out as well. First we didn't know who to talk to and then we couldn't get a response.

Anyway, today was the day everything turned around. It was Grand Central here. All of our stuff from Paris showed up today.

Then our dresser finally came and the property manager came to look at the issues. All of our problems seem to disappear at once and we had lots of boxes to open with little surprises in each. This is how our afternoon started.

And this is how it ended.

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PNG Facts

I must admit that I knew very little about Papua New Guinea a few months ago, and I'm still learning, but I thought I would share what I do know so far. It will be my version of a Wikipedia entry. A Dennipedia if you will.

Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. The western half of the island is a province of Indonesia.

There are 3 main cities; Port Moresby (the capital), Lae and Mount Hagen. None of these cities are connected by roads. Air travel is the most popular mode of transportation. There are 2 International Airports but there are over 500 airstrips, most of which are unpaved. This is one of the reasons the cost of living is so high here, everything has to be flown in.

English is the language of the government and one of the official languages, but there are over 800 languages. Most of those languages are limited to the village it originated from. The most popular language is Tok Pisin which is a version of Pidgin English. It is a common language used between families and villages who speak different languages.

At the height of imperialism in the 19th Century, the island was colonized by the United Kingdom under the name British New Guinea. Control was handed over to Australia in 1905 and was governed by Australia until 1975 when Papua New Guinea gained its independence. Like Canada, it remains a commonwealth country under a Parliamentary Government with a Prime Minister, Governor General and whose head of state is Queen Elizabeth.

The population of Papua New Guinea just over 7 million with about 370,000 in Port Moresby. The currency is the Kina and the conversion to Canadian Dollars is about 2 to 1.  The island is rich in natural resources. Mining, forestry and fishing are major industries and the petroleum industry is growing (which is why Lori and I are here). Rugby is by far the most popular sport. The National Flag depicts the Southern Cross constellation and the Bird of Paradise, which is the national bird of Papua New Guinea.

We still have a lot to learn and discover.

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Adjustments

Before we even touched down in Port Moresby, we knew we would have to make some adjustments to our new surroundings. Security, higher cost of living, weather and cultural differences were just a few. There have been a few others that we either didn't think of or didn't fully appreciate until we got here.

I'm used to 4 seasons throughout the year; spring, summer, fall and winter. In Papua New Guinea there are only 2 seasons; dry and rainy. We are in the dry season now. The dry season also means the windy season. At first, I was grateful for the breeze because it helps to keep us cool and comfortable, but it is constant and it is relentless. It wears you down after awhile. It also brings dust with it. I'm constantly dusting and sweeping.

Growing up in the northern hemisphere, I'm used to long summer nights. In Calgary for example, during the month of June we would have daylight until 11:00pm. Of course we would pay for that in December when it would get dark at 4:30pm. Being so close to the equator though, our days and nights are pretty much equal all year round. Sunrise is around 6:00am and sunset at 6:00pm. We are about 10° south of the equator so it does fluctuate a little, but not much. I think that aggravated our jet lag. After 3 hours of darkness it felt like it was time to go to bed, even though it was only 9:00pm.

I'm grateful to have a driver but it's an odd experience. It's a difficult city to get around because there doesn't appear to be any street names or signs telling you where to go, not to mention they drive on the left which would be a challenge in itself. I'm sure I would figure out all of that eventually, but the main reason we have a driver is for our safety and I'm glad for that, but it still feels weird to be chauffeured around the city. To me it just accentuates the disparity between the ex-pats and locals.

Anyway, we are adjusting and settling in. The pace of life is much more laid back and relaxed than it was in Paris, so that helps.

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Apartment

It will be a few weeks before all of our belongings will arrive from Paris, but we managed to bring the bare essentials with us so we can get by until then. Lori picked our new home when she was here in May and once again she did a great job. We are right on the waterfront overlooking the harbour.

The apartment itself is very nice. Unlike our place in Paris, this one is modern and spacious. The layout in the main living area is very similar to our condo in Calgary so it feels right to us. It will look a little sparse until our stuff gets here.

We have a great balcony and also unlike Paris we can have a BBQ. It's a Masport from New Zealand and I'm impressed with it.

We've been busy this week, buying things for the apartment and getting all of our services set up. I have my phone switched over and we have our TV and internet hooked up. The TV package is pretty good. It's not HD but there are a lot of channels available. Most are from Australia but there are a couple of local channels as well. We also get channels like HBO, Discovery and National Geographic. I was even watching live coverage of The British Open tonight.

The internet is a different story however. It is unbelievably slow and unreliable. Even uploading the pictures to the blog was difficult. There is not much we can do about it so we'll just have to get used to it. We'll have to go old school and rent DVD's instead of watching Netflix.

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Initial Thoughts

Lori and I arrived in Papua New Guinea safely and without incident. I posted on Facebook the other day that we were feeling good but now we are in jet-lag hell. I’m experiencing what Lori went through when she was here in May. We left Paris on Friday night around 11:30pm and flew to Hong Kong overnight. It was a 12-hour flight plus a 6-hour time difference and that flight was great.

We left late at night so we were sleepy and we had fully reclining seats, so we both slept for about 7 hours. It felt like morning to us when we landed, but it was actually early evening. That’s no problem, we are used to that. We went to the lounge to wait for our next flight and I had a bowl of Hong Kong style fish ball soup and it was fantastic. I don’t know what they put in it but I felt like a million bucks after.

What did us in was the next overnight flight. We left Hong Kong around 8:00pm for a 6-hour flight to PNG with a 2-hour time difference. After the meal service everyone else went to sleep but to us it felt like 5:00pm. We tried to sleep as best we could, but we didn’t feel sleepy until we landed. We stuck to the basic rules to avoid jet-lag: no naps, get plenty of sunshine, go to bed at regular times, but here it is 3:00am and we’re wide awake.

Anyway, we will eventually get ourselves sorted out. In the meantime, I thought I would share some of my initial thoughts on our new home. First of all, the island is beautiful. It’s a lush volcanic island in the south pacific, so what’s not to love. The people are very friendly, who smile with ease, but they are very soft-spoken. Sometimes it’s hard to hear what they are saying. Raised voices mean there is trouble.

The weather is quite pleasant. It is warm and humid but there is a wonderful sea breeze all the time. Our last week in Paris was actually more uncomfortable than our time here. Everything at the grocery store is familiar and different at the same time. It was the same when we moved to France. You can find the things you’re looking for but they have different brand names and packaging. Even the things you know from your childhood are a little different.

One pleasant surprise was to discover how much Asian food is available. The shelves were stocked with spices and sauces from India, China and Indonesia. I’m so excited to have foods with lots of flavour and spice again. French food is good, but it can be a little boring after awhile.

Anyway, we are in our apartment and once all of our stuff has arrived I will be exploring all of those wonderful spices and new products. Once we get settled, I’ll show you some pictures of the apartment.

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