I have realised that I am not talking much in my blog about what I am actually here for, and a couple of people have mentioned they have no idea what to say I'm doing, if asked. I suppose I should mention it at least occasionally… I am working on 2 projects, the first being a small research project looking at Divine Word University's role here in serving the broader community and it social responsibilities to help develop PNG, and comparing that with JCU and Australian universities generally. The other thing I am doing is looking at how the two universities can work together to build staff capacity in teaching and research, and hopefully to try to match that to some government funding. I find them both really interesting and they are both progressing nicely.
Ok, back to other stuff! I did manage to get a lift from Konie (third time lucky on spelling his name!) down to the Lodge yesterday at 1 o' clock. Not ideal timing as the gym isn't air-conditioned and it's a pretty constant temperature of hot and humid here, but beggars can't be choosers. I tried to pay for my membership on arrival but their cash swipe machine wouldn't accept my ANZ card, and the ANZ ATM on campus was down because of a system fault. This is still the case today, and as my ANZ Visa card also hadn't worked at the bottle shop the day before (and I've checked with the bank and all is in order with my accounts) it looks like the system is just not working in Madang at the moment. I still have 8 Kina ($4) though so it's not desperate yet…. I am sure I can work something out… I do have some Aussie $ but I don't fancy my chances with $50 notes down the market and I'm running out of food! Anyway, after a bit of back and forth I was allowed to make partial payment to join the gym. So by 1.15 I was ready to get into the fitness centre and get going but then I hit another slight snag… Beni, the fitness instructor (and the town's only masseuse if you remember) wasn't there and had the only key. 'Any idea when she'll be back?'… 'Oh, she's probably coming now.' So I wait. I go back after a while and ask somebody else. 'She'll be back after 2'. I decide to have lunch while I'm waiting and go down to the restaurant which is closed so I am sent to the coffee shop where I ask what snacks they have. 'Oh, no snacks'. 'What do you have to eat?' I enquire, thinking maybe there will be some cakes. 'Sandwiches'. So I took a non-snack sandwich and have added to my growing list of questions what the definition of a snack may be here. After lunch I go back to enquire of Beni's whereabouts and am informed that she never comes back till after 3pm. I have many virtues….. modesty being one, but patience most definitely is not so this is a useful lesson for me.
While waiting I made the acquaintance of a lovely couple from NZ, also vainly trying to use the gym, and I sat and I watched the clear blue sea and the beautiful tropical gardens and tried to relearn the lost art of patience.
I couldn't get hold of Konie today to go back to the Lodge but I have his mobile number now and he will not evade me forever! I have him clearly in my sights for tomorrow, for a sesh in the gym and a swim followed by a pizza with my IMR mates to end the week.
A group of music students from the University of Goroka in the Highlands has been on campus the last couple of days performing their version of the musical, Mama Mia. They also gave a free performance of contemporary PNG music at lunchtime which was sensational, and standing room only in the main auditorium. There were between 10 and 15 of them on stage at any one time, almost half on various drums and percussion instruments I couldn't name, a guitar and bass, a couple of keyboards and several singers, all male bar one singer. A kind of Melanesian world music with an edge. If they had been selling CDs I would have bought one as they were fantastic, but I still wasn't sure what to expect from tonight's show….
I turned up early (as it turns out) as there was no time printed on the ticket and the hall was almost full. The audience loved it, they were with the performers all the way and I suspect that some of them were there for the second night running. I find, there is nothing like going to see a show of some kind in a country to make me feel like I belong. It's a shared experience I suppose that binds you all. This was fascinating to watch – not just the individual great voices and a couple of fantastic dancers, or the amateur production values and dodgy sound system – but to see a New Guinea interpretation of a very western story and to see the audience reaction to it. This is a very conservative country, deeply religious and we were at a strongly catholic university yet the crowd roared approval at everything from the mother's admission of having casual sex with 3 men in quick succession and not knowing who the father of her child was, the predatory behaviour of her cougar friend, the drinking by the reunited female friends in the morning, to the 'priest' stripping off his cassock at the end and starting to boogie. They lapped it all up. What drew the biggest cheers of the night were the times when the women characters were really letting go and enjoying themselves. Perhaps a release mechanism in this very male dominated society.
I ended up sitting next to a woman with so many children I couldn't quite count them. A very friendly and smiley woman and we swapped a few laughs throughout the show. At one point I made some fairly poor joke but she loved it, laughed her head off, then rested her head on my arm. If it had happened in Australia or in most parts of the world it would have seemed inappropriate contact from a stranger but here it just felt right. Walking back to mine on campus everyone was smiling and greeting each other, including me. My jaw hurt from smiling, and I will never be able to look at ABBA the same way again.
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