small beginnnings

A local NGO called small beginnings has been one of the best things about tabubil (the other being the school, and all the people and play and craft and smiles that go with it).  Here we visited a little village outside of tabubil (the only time I have left the town since arriving…!) and did a short art workshop with the kids. They did portraits of each other without looking at the paper. It was also an exchange, taking kids from the international school to this local village school. (janu was a somewhat reluctant participant...)

 

b'day!

janu's closest friend here (who luckily lives across the road) had a lovely little party - the big 5!

drains!

The best thing in janu’s world is playing drains. He asks me ‘why doesn’t Emmanuel (his mate across the road) always want to play drains?’. It is so hard to understand why we don’t all share his passion. He took AA out there tonight after dinner to show off today’s handiwork.   

card & water

Things around the house.  No shops or recycling to find treasures, so we make do from old cardboard boxes and crayons. (that's a memory game that we made, with the little squares).  A friend recently gave us a hot glue gun! Wow – I never thought I would be in that club! We made all sorts of rock sculptures, bound some books and our imaginations are still working. 

Water is a big part of life in tabubil, with rain – drenching, crazy rain – pretty much every day! That is our crazy big house (the white and red thing). Jungle is (happily) already growing up around it.

 

webs

These are amazing webs – it's hard to see properly, but a group of spiders join their webs (what a good web-site!). Sometimes things as heavy as shoes get caught up! In the old days, people used to get sticks, twist the points of them in the webs and use them as sticky fish traps.

 

mist

 this is approaching tabubil by air -

I don’t tire of watching this opaque mist tumble down. Lately the skies have cleared a bit – even some whole days pass without rain – and it’s amazing to actually see the ridge line. I am more used to a shady haze. I imagine the paths up there – people do go up to tend their gardens. I waddle down below, just imaging.

 

markets

 I took this one to show Janu the big bow and arrows for sale in the market. in case we want to shoot any birds or small animals!

 yu greasim? fry em? boil em? (don't you love that 'greas em' is to cook in that greasy coconut milk!?) still getting my head around eating this red one.  

at independence time 'hamamas (*happy*) celebration, people dress in the wonderful PNG colours. and sell dead birds of paradise for dancers to put in thier head-dresses. sigh.

don't be thinking tabubil usually has such great markets! this was a one week only special for their big hamamas day! 

the fibre used to make bilums - woven with a spoke taken from a broken umbrella (you know the thin bits of metal spokes)