Patterns

Once you become familiar with a place, it becomes easier to pick up on the day to day activities and patterns. This is how we, as a human species, develop routines. I have to say that here in PNG nothing is ever day to day. There are no routines. Nothing can be expected. This is why Papua New Guinea is known as the "land of the unexpected."

I have always had a great sense of wonder. I desire more than a calm course of existence. And although each day of my life here in PNG brings a new level of excitement, I have noticed patterns. Patterns I have developed in my daily activities and patterns of those in my community.

Every afternoon I walk home. It’s a beautiful stroll along the coastal road. I recognize faces and give friendly greetings. Each morning my neighbor is sweeping the leaves in her yard. Each afternoon I find the same women behind their buai stands. Like school buses, the security companies make their routes picking up and dropping off truckloads of guards for patrols.

Each day I am visiting different schools and training different groups of teachers. My spontaneous schedule isn't the only thing that keeps the action going at work. The behavior patterns in my colleagues keep things spicy. There are those who are trustworthy and those who only highlight the predominate corrupt society that seems to plague development in PNG. There are those who lie directly to my face. Those who have obvious anger and aggression issues and physically attack other staff. Those who avoid me because they feel psychologists are able to read people's minds.

The one thing that has remained constant in my life is my desire to share happiness with others. As some of you may know, I am a big fan of the high five. I have noticed that high fives aren't appreciated in PNG. I once had a roommate who loathed high fives saying they were way over rated. As for myself, I love a high five. Here when I raise my hand for a celebratory high five people flinch and take cover as if were about to give them the beating of their lifetime. Even grown men raise their arms to protect themselves from my vicious high five! Who knew?! Guess that's a pattern I will have to break.

Each Friday night the VSO vols all meet at the Lodge. This is a pattern I tend to avoid. It's not that I don't enjoy the Lodge or the individual company of the volunteers. I just find it a bit uncomfortable for a huge group of white people hanging out ordering expensive plates of food and talking about how differently they would do things here in PNG. It's not a pattern I want to develop.

Most of you would laugh at the extreme measures Marleen and I find ourselves taking to get rid of the rats in our house. Each night we meticulously set out the rat traps. Marleen has formulated a routine. It's like she counts the pellets in the trap and knows the exact angle of the box or something. She seems certain that we haven't gotten them all yet.

I enjoy the excitement and the unknown of living in a culture different from my own. It challenges me each day. Just when I think I understand someone or something, they surprise me. Just when I think I understand an aspect of the life here in Madang, my eyes are opened and I discover a whole other meaning. I am constantly being flipped, turned upside down and round and round.

So maybe this is the pattern of life as a volunteer here in PNG. This is the pattern of my life. To be ever growing, changing, evolving!