Q&A About PNG

Which side of the road do you drive on in PNG?

Whichever side has fewer potholes! On a pothole free road (or when traffic is coming from the opposite direction), you drive on the left.

What time is it?

Currently, we are 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. So when I call my parents at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, they answer the phone at 7 p.m. on Saturday. We don’t have Daylight Savings, so after the clocks “fall back” in the US, we’ll be 15 hours ahead.

Do you get earthquakes?

PNG is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, so there are earthquakes as well as volcanoes in some areas. The village we stayed in during training was located across from a volcanic island. There are no volcanoes in Ukarumpa, but we do sometimes feel small earthquakes. Sometimes you feel them, sometimes you don’t.

Do they have any sort of government system on the center where you are? (e.g. policemen, mayor, any of that type of stuff?)

We have a security team that patrols the center. There isn’t a mayor, but there is a branch director and four chief officers that oversee the branch.

What do you do when you aren’t teaching? What do you do for entertainment/leisure activities?

Ukarumpa is located in a fairly rural area, with several small villages nearby and one town about twenty minutes away (driving), so there isn’t too much to do in the area. We have been on hikes, and there is a river that some people go swimming in. A few times, we have gone into Kainantu—the nearby town—to visit the cultural museum, go to the second hand shops, and have lunch at the lodge.

 

There are also lots of activities happening on center, especially while school is in session. There are a variety of groups that meet, such as Bible studies, weekly game nights, aerobics classes, sporting activities—basketball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, etc.—, and occasional women’s events with a guest speaker. When school is in session, there are often sports events to watch, concerts to attend, class presentations such as a living history fair, and weekly “hamburger nights” put on by the youth, which is sort of like having a restaurant available one night a week. They have burgers, fries, salads, and milkshakes.

Is there any TV?

Yes, you can buy a TV here or have one shipped in, so some people have TVs. PNG has a few national stations you can pick up if you have an antenna, and one of the major mobile providers just introduced satellite TV that you can pay for by the day, week, or month.

Do you have pizza?

All of the ingredients for making pizza are available (as long as the store hasn’t run out!). You can’t order a pizza, although one of the high schoolers makes stromboli to sell one night a week.