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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