April 19, 2010

Hitching a ride

This moth was over 8 inches across, and was perched on the passenger door of my carpool driver's car.

April 11, 2010

Sometimes I think our time here will be defined by  random events...like today.  Today a Papuan came to my door and gave me a bag of rocks.  He even said that he had come by here two other times to give us these rocks and our maid had told him that we were on vacation.  And he then placed them on the bookcase in the livingroom, and then he left. 

If I have nightmares tonight, we'll know they are cursed rocks.  If not, well, I guess we have new, shiny pet rocks that any geologist would be happy to have in their home. 

April 8, 2010 

We are now back home in Papua after a Starbucks- and Chipotle-filled vacation in the US.  Clearly the first sign of being back was at the resort in the lowlands when we walked into the pool area to eat lunch. The Papuan kids in the pool announced our arrival, “Mama!  Ada Buleh!” That literally means, “Hey, Mom!  There’s a gringo!”  By now, (to me anyway) this is the equivalent of, “Hey!  There’s a purple giraffe running around Chicago!” 

Within two hours of being back at our apartment, I’d already given away a pair of shoes and a watch.  And last night my art dealer, Pius, came by to say hi, and we gave him the Polaroid that he’d asked us to buy for him.  He was like a little kid opening Christmas presents.  He squealed and laughed as we ripped it open and put the film in to try it out.  And now out there in the jungle of Papua is a picture of me and Eric in our jammies.  Sometimes the simplest things here totally make my day.