Author: Tom

To Market, To Market

To Market, To Market

Almost everyday, boats from our island make the short trek over relatively calm water to our local market. This market which is a mere thirty minute boat ride from our house is located in our nearby provincial capital. Our island friends go there to sell their fish, which is their specialty in a market dominated […]
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A Very Good Place to Start

A Very Good Place to Start

Maria was right. The beginning is a very good place to start. “Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do” were the first musical notes the Vontrap family children needed to master to become the talented group of singers they would later become. In the classic film The Sound of Music, Maria knew that before […]
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These Are A Few of My Favorite Truths

These Are A Few of My Favorite Truths

When you walk into our home, the first thing that might catch your eye is the large painting that greets you upon your entrance. Beth painted it several months ago and it serves not only as decoration for an otherwise boring wall, but as a vital reminder to us about what is most important in […]
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Party Line!

Party Line!

One aspect of village living that I particularly love is our radio. 😀 Even though our houses are only about 100 feet from each other, going over to our partner’s houses if we need somethings is not always the best option. You see..we just like each other too much! One “little” question can become a […]
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Check it.

Check it.

For the last month or so we had been making frequent jokes with our Tigak friends about the impending “TEST” that was coming up for us in our language study. We were able to make our friends laugh as we jokingly talked up being “terrified” of how we would do when our Culture & Language Acquisition […]
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Coconut Culture

Coconut Culture

Its tempting to look at our time in language and culture study as mainly about getting the Tigak language. Culture study seems less tangible and less impressive than speaking a new language. However, we firmly believe that language should be learned in the context of culture, therefore, our language & culture study among the Tigak […]
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Great(er) Expectations

Great(er) Expectations

Beth and I enjoyed some small talk with our premarital counselors Todd & Ruth Ann. We were still a couple of months away from our wedding, and each session of premarital counseling brought us closer and closer to the big day. We had asked them to do our counseling since we had observed their marriage […]
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“Wearing A Laplap” for Dummies

“Wearing A Laplap” for Dummies

All the women and a lot of men in our village can regularly be seen wearing an article of clothing called a “laplap.” A laplap is a wrap around skirt, roughly five and a half feet long and about three feet wide. Locally, it can be purchased in our provincial capital at the main market […]
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My PNG Cookbook: Crunchy Cabbage Salad

My PNG Cookbook: Crunchy Cabbage Salad

Lettuce is a bit hard to come by here in the islands of PNG. I suppose those lovely crisp green leaves are not too fond of scorching sun and hot sand. When we are able to buy lettuce it is a far cry from what awaits you in a grocery stores fridge. Once I realized […]
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Normal.

Normal.

I’m sitting at our table clicking away on my laptop and I just watched two of our neighbors walk by carrying huge branches on their shoulders slung with dozens of coconuts. Yes it’s true, life here is “different.” We’ve shared a lot about the differences of our lives now that we live in a village […]
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