See you in 7 weeks

Well, tomorrow morning I'll be up at the crack of dawn to get my flight to the Sepik. The language group is called Sos Kundi. I've got my small backpack and two small cardboard boxes packed with all the possessions I need for 7 weeks.

It's going to be really hot and humid where we're going, so that will be interesting. I will probably get a heat rash, so I'm taking talc to help prevent it, and cream to stop the itching.

We've heard that they are building a new toilet for us. That was very exciting news! It will be nice and clean and not smelly for the first week.

I think I will be able to recharge my camera batteries with a solar panel set up that we are bringing with us, so I won't have to worry about conserving the batteries, which is great.

There won't be any new blog posts for the 7 weeks and you'll get used to not checking it for a while, so write a reminder on your calendar/diary to start checking my blog again after 23rd June. I will have lots of stories to share when I get back and will be updating frequently.

Off to the village soon

On Wednesday I'll be leaving to go to the village with my housemate Elvira and another single lady, Correna. We're going to a village in an area called the Sepik Plains. We won't be right on the Sepik river, but there'll be other rivers in the area. The airport we will be flying to is called Tinboli, and that comes up on Google searches. We will be living in a village not far from Tinboli, about a 40 minute walk away.

Today I have been doing a few things to get ready for going. Firstly, I had a little panic in the shower when I thought about my Thermarest (sleeping mat). I had the terrible thought that I'd left it at Madang when I went there at Easter as I hadn't noticed it the other day when I was getting something out of the bag where I store it and I couldn't remember attaching it to my backpack when we left Madang. Fortunately when I looked for it in the bag, there it was - I was so happy!! Actually I only just realised a minute ago that I didn't even take it to Madang, that's why I couldn't remember taking it home! I must be going crazy!!

This morning I went to Correna's house to soak my mosquito net in permethrin to make the mozzies stay away from my net. Then in the afternoon I went to a nice lady's house and she sewed up and made a travel pillow for me. So I'm beginning to get my things together and organised for leaving on Wednesday.