BD's Travels

On the flight to Vanimo we picked up some passengers from Wewak, another coastal destination about an hour south of Vanimo.  I almost would of been stranded in Wewak if I didn’t run back to the plane as it was closing the bay door (I didn’t know the plane was going to touch down multiple times before my destination so I got off at the first stop, good way to start a trip huh?).  Once I jumped back on board, I notice a tall, straggly looking individual in the front seat who looked as if he’s been wearing the same clothes for a long long time.   Once we landed at our destination, we started chatting and he told me his name was Rhys (pronounced Reese, a 28 year old from Sydney) and has traveled here multiple times before looking for some proper waves.  This being his third time here, he was anxious to get out on the water. And what do you know…he new Matt from Walu!

Rhys ended up staying with us for his entire 3 week visit to Vanimo, which was merely a small portion of his 3 month holiday.  Throughout that time, we ended up becoming great friends, all three of us.   We played cards, surfed, drank beers, fished etc.  On his last day in the village before his return trip home, we surfed all day and shared a case a beer as the Southern Cross made its appearance in the night sky. That day I ended up spending about 8 hours in the water. Yes, I am making progress with surfing, painfully slow, but am no where near the shredding capabilities of Matt and Rhys.

As morning approached, we piled in the truck and took Rhys to the airport and chilled with him before he left.  After meeting Rhys, I now have to make it to Sydney before I leave Oz to catch up with him again.  I have learned a lot from other travelers here and it’s so fulfilling to see others living there own dream and exploiting the essence that makes them happy in life.  I learn so much from people like Rhys and feel so grateful for these experiences, for it helps me understand to a greater degree, the meaning of this life we live.

Throughout the day the kids are left to roam free around the village.  The current game being played by all the kids is a form of hockey.  They use a small stick and a piece of thong (flip-flop) cut into a circle which they hit from side to side like that on a tennis court.  The object of the game is to hit the puck back and forth having go pass the opponent or die on the opponents side.

The games here turn into trends and once one catches on, it engulfs the entire village like a sports plague.  Just before I arrived kites were the hottest thing out for the kids. Remnants can still be found in the village with a few being flown on occasion and others found in rubbish piles.  Even some of the older kids are participating in the games and giving the little ones a run for their money.  Games are played all day with the regular village break occurring from 12pm-3pm as this is when it is the hottest.  This time frame is designated as the village “nap time” as it is so incredible hot out your body becomes drained of all possible sources of energy. The only thing left to do is lay down and try to count sheep as beads of sweat roll off your body at an impeccable rate.  Maybe when I leave another game may take precedence over hockey, but I guess I will just have to wait and see.

What started out as an amazing fishing trip with my best mates turned into a horrible dismay.  Out on the water by 6am, we took a 45 minute cruise down to the river mouth on a 20 foot fiberglass outboard.  The day started off slow as we spent the first few hours looking to hunt these tropical fish.  All of sudden our quite morning turned into ungodly mayhem.  With Granger as our skipper and Rhys our fishing guru, we did work!  After 2 hours of non-stop action, we caught over 20 Queen fish, 1 Papua New Guinea Black Bass, and a Bluefin Trevally.  Matt caught 3 Queens and the Black Bass while I caught 2 Queens and the Bluefin Trevally.  Of course Rhys caught the rest…(bastard)

The downfall of the day occurred towards the setting of the sun and the welcoming of stars.  Understanding the culture I stepped into, one has to abide by the parameters set by the locals.  Child abuse, animal abuse, and female abuse all play apart in this new found untamed boundary.  Over the last few weeks we have fallen in love with the animals here.  They follow us around all the time, no matter where we go.  And we only do one thing different then the locals…show them affection.

This evening our little 6 week old kitten from next door, Goonie we called her, came and visited us.  She’s black with white feet and is small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand.  After she came to the house for the second visit, the family was heated upon her arrival.  One individual was so mad he decided to run her over with the family vehicle, destroying and breaking her back legs.  Devastated and needing to remove myself from the scene, I stormed away angry, hurt, and heart broken.  As I pondered on a washed up log on the beach, a nice pile of nasty shit was there staring me in the face.  This sent me over the edge and I almost lost it.  Once I gained my composure, I returned to the house to find Matt also walking back from a “cool down” moment.

We started looking for Goonie and found that she used her front paws to crawl her mangled body under a pile of logs that was just under the veranda.  We knew that she wouldn’t make it and if we left her, the smell of a dead kitten we loved would be to traumatic to cope with.  This was the culture shock I wasn’t ready for, no one is ready for.  We pondered whether to drown her and put her out of her misery or  leave her to die.  After much thought we took her back to her house, expressed our concern to her owners, and left her in God’s hands.

As I gathered myself once again, I put on my new pair of culture-shock approved goggles I’ve been issued by the amazing people at Welcome to Reality Inc.  I am here on a mission to help these people and will give it my all no matter how tough or emotional challenging the road is ahead…even if sometimes I hope for Karma comes curiously lurking and poking it’s head around the corner.

Goonie did become better by the day for the next 2 weeks, but unfortunately we never saw here after that.  We can only hope she went peacefully, which dreadfully seems doubtful in where we were living.

What seemed to start out as reminiscing on food and culinary cuisine that once consisted of a boring and dull nature is now viewed as mouth watering.  After tossing around a few ideas that would save our spirits from this mindf*%$ of the last few weeks we were having in the village (let’s just say nothing in the volunteer world was working or making sense at the moment), we became hooked on the notion of root beer floats.   It is now common knowledge to call these bad boys “SPIDERS!” since that’s what my friend Ryse who stayed with us called them. Sick name huh?

As our eyes lit up and stomachs rustled with joy, we were on the next PMV (Public Motor Vehicle, aka van) to put into action this masterpiece of a plan.  Once we asked for ice cream in a cup, the lady behind the counter gave us reasoning’s why it wasn’t possible. Fortunately, after a few minutes of bribing her we finally received the ice-cream in a cup instead of a cone, which they were so used to.  You should of seen the look on her face once we started pouring the sweet, carbonated root beverage on top of white cumulus clouds of frozen sugar.  She was giving us the weirdest looks while talking to her friends about what was happening.  We grabbed our drinks and walked outside to sit on the curb under the shade.  As we were surrounded by floods of locals and piles of red betelnut spit everywhere, the trifecta was complete.  Ryse, Matt, and I indulged in our uplifting delectable treats and we were soon floating between the heavens of the universe and Type 2 Diabetes.

This was by far the best morale booster ever conjured up while in PNG and has now become a legitimate event within our weekly routine.  We ended up having so many, they would wipe us out for hours upon hours as it was sugar overload.  However, a few days later, we were right back on the same curb with our personal chosen spider spoon in hand ready to treat ourselves again.

Spiders, the PNG lifesavers.

Hey everyone, I first want to say thank you to every single person who has believed in me and helped me get to this point; plus everyone I have met along my journey - you have all made this experience possible and for the better. Dad, Mom, Michelle, Kado, Clay, Uncle Dick, Uncle Jim, All my family,Howie, Mandy, Will and everyone, Walu and all the wonderful staff, Friends in Lido, My amazing housemates, My friends here and back home. From the bottom of my heart to you and everyone I have forgotten on this list, but not in my heart, Thank you!

With that being said, I have been away for a little bit and promise to make it up. I arrived here in Perth April 1st after my volunteering experience in PNG.  I recently acquired a job at Perth International Airpot as a Storesman along with being apart of the Little Creatures sampling team (sampling out Oz’s best beer!).  Since I had limited internet access while in PNG, i had no way to make posts.  Luckily, I wrote down some of the more meaningful experiences and will be sharing them with you now.  The future posts  will be titled with the day I wrote them to give a look back into what I was getting myself into.  Please feel free to contact me about anything.

Enjoy

G’day Mates.  Just arrived in Cairns, Australia and this place is amazing.  The airport backs right up to a lustful green mountain side and I’m now getting the feeling of being surrounded by tropical rain forest.  And as my description should entail its hot as HELL here, but honestly the beauty makes up it tenfold.  Im going to be here in the airport all night waiting for my flight to Port Moresby at 7am.  In that time I’m going to take some photos, drinks a few pints, and enjoy the last little bit of this yuppie atmosphere before I head out.  I will try to be on Skype (and the internet) tonight around 12 am, which is about 10am EST. So if any of you want to chat it up, I’ll be here.

So my first week here in Brisbane was amazing.  The concert was phenomenal and all the people here  are great.  What made the trip was staying with Mick and his family.  They are the nicest people in the world with personalities few can match.  Today, I am going to hop on a scooter and drive into town to try and buy a bingo set for Walu.  I fly to Cairns this afternoon and sleep overnight there until PNG in the morning.  I couldn’t be anymore stoked for what is about to come.  Ok, off to town then back to pack and take the train to the airport, just have to remember LEFT SIDE while poppin wheelies today. Cheers

Just landed at LAX and have a few  hours to kill before my first ever flight to Australia.  The road to departure came with its hardships and tears, but I know it will all be worth it as this adventure plays itself out.  Flying to Brisbane will beat out my trip to Moscow by 3 hours making this the longest 16 hours of my life in the air.  As I sit here trying to imagine what’s around the corner, it still can’t be conjured up.  I will soon land on a new continent, meet my favorite band Incubus backstage, then proceed to live with indigenous people for months in the most undiscovered area in the world.  And yet, that is potentially only the start to an epic journey that will take me all over the world.

So, as I arrive I have the wonderful Ms. Freeman meeting me as she is flying in from Perth.  We will then get scooped up by some of the local rugby boys and I can only guarantee that the rowdiness is bound to hit unfathomable new heights.  Then its Incubus the next night and whatever we feel like for the following 5 days.  So as Im ready to leave and embark on this trip, I leave you with words from the book Switch which I’m reading for my volunteering ahead:

“What you don’t need to do is anticipate every turn in the road between today and the destination.  It’s not that plotting the whole journey is undesirable; it’s that it’s impossible.  To think that you can plot a turn-by-turn map to the end, like a leader’s version of Mapquest, is almost certainly hubris”  Chip Heath & Dan Heath - Switch

Tomorrow will be exactly one week before I leave on my trip.  Everyone thinks that I must be getting anxious or nervous about going and the honest truth is…..nothing has really hit me yet. I’ve spent today cleaning up, packing 95% of my belongings in bags to which Im going to donate to charity, and trying to sell my furniture online.  You would think during this process I would all of a sudden stop, look around, and say “Holy Shit! Am I really doing this!?”  This last weekend was the last weekend I spent out with my closest friends and it still feels like its just another day.  Im betting this weekend, with my family reunion on Sunday, its going to hit me that night.  And I I feel the hardest part of my future endavor will be taking place on the following Monday.

Monday evening I must take my best friend in the world over to my friends house to be watched while I’m gone.  And yes, my best friend is my two year old Chocolate/Silver Lab named Kado.  That day will be the most devastating of all. His sighs and anxiety as I close the door behind me will be ingrained in my brain forever.  However, I could not have asked for a better family to take care of him while I’m away.  Thus, I would like to extend a Brobdingnagian thank you to Kurt Maisel and the Maisel Family.  I am forever indebted to you.

So, with my last week left I have to sell a lot of furniture and figure out what I am actually going to save.  Donating my goods will help me start this journey on the right foot as well as making keep my focus on what lies ahead of me.  Too much do people drive while fixating on their rear-view mirror, rendering them useless in the moment as focus is elsewhere.  As my inspiring Uncle Jimmy has told me, “Keep your eyes fixated out that front windshield.  We all have baggage, but it’s how we carry ourselves’ on the road to tomorrow that matters.”

Its crazy to think that this coming up weekend is the 2nd to last weekend I will be having in the States for quite a while. With that roaming in the back of my mind, I still can’t fathom what I am actually getting myself into. There is still so much that is unknown…Will problems keep arising in PNG with this whole election ordeal and ruin my experience? Will I find a job in Perth? How will I make it to and around each country? When will I be back home? Will I find a new home? All these uncertainties lie just around the bend and I honestly can’t wait to meet them head on.

So many people want their lives planned out for them, neatly packaged by a social construct that is nailed into everyone’s head at a young age. That is to get a degree, choose a career with a great salary, and raise a family in middle-class, white picket fence suburbia where the only way to prove yourself is to buy bigger TV’s, faster cars, flashier jewelry, and other non-sense materialistic good. Just to go through the motions to finally realize somewhere down the line you’ve missed something. A feeling lying deep within making you reflect on everything you’ve done in your life. Then you begin to think about what you haven’t done. And it finally it hits you…you don’t know what it’s like beyond the picket fence.

For me, I choose to live my life by the moment and embrace everything I can to the fullest. I believe there is good in everything and I want it all. This trip will help me realize all this and more. I know there is more to other countries and cultures than what we’ve been taught and I want to understand it. I want culture shock to smack me in the face, knock me off my feet, and have it do whatever it wants with me. The world is too big and too beautiful for me to just go through the motions and let it pass by. I’m not embarking on this journey to find the meaning of life or to come back with a nice resume booster. I’m neither that naive nor cynical. To put it into better words, I’ll end with a quote that has stuck with me.

“I wonder what we look for when we embark on these kind of trips. There is a pat answer that you tell the people you don’t know: that you’re interested in seeing a place, learning about its people. But then the trip begins an the hardship comes, and hardship is more honest: it tells us that we don’t have enough patience yet, nor humility, nor gratitude. And we thought that we did. Hardship brings us closer to truth, and thus is more difficult to bear, but from it alone comes compassion. And so I’ve told the world that It can do what it wants with me during this trip if only, by the end, I have learned something more. A bargain, then. The journey, my teacher.” - Kira Salak, The Cruelest Journey