Dorm Life at POC

We arrived yesterday in the town of Madang—our new “home” for the next six weeks while we attend the Pacific Orientation Course (POC).  This course was designed to teach those new to PNG about the culture and the Tok Pisin language.  It’s a long story why we haven’t done this course before, but we’re finally here!

Our living quarters consist of a 12’ x 18’ room (approximately), in a dorm with 14 other such rooms.  We share a men’s and a women’s bathroom with the other participants, and eat all our meals together in the community dining room.  I’ve learned that we’ll soon be taking turns to help prepare the food and clean up afterwards.  I’m enjoying the respite from menu planning!

Since Madang is on the coast where malaria is more prevalent, we all sleep under mosquito nets at night (see photo) to protect us from the carrier mosquitos that tend to bite from dusk to dawn.  Claire and Isaiah were a little unnerved about the tents over their beds, but soon decided they were “cozy”.  Isaiah pretended he was a caterpillar in a cocoon, so this morning we checked to see if he had turned into a butterfly.  <grin>