Upon reaching Lamana Hotel, I
unpacked which was really ‘me’. I feel restless on travel if I don’t unpack
immediately. After organizing my stuff since this will be my home for 3 weeks,
I lied down and didn’t notice that I fall asleep and even missed the call of my
boss. Upon waking up, I took a quick shower and decided to have lunch at the
hotel restaurant. There I found 3 Filipino staff. We are everywhere!!! I did
not convert the price of my lunch otherwise I wouldn’t be able to eat. This
place is more expensive than Dili!
I had my local sim card loaded
but I failed due to network error. I contacted Fr. Gerald through a land line
and mentioned to him my issue with loading credit on my phone. He kindly volunteered
to send me credit ‘pasaload’ and we agreed that he would pick me up at 2:30PM
so he could take me around. We went to Vision City, the biggest mall to check
the shops. I was happy to see all my toiletries available. There was also
calamansi! According to Fr. Gerald, the Filipinos introduced it here. Most of
the goods are expensive but the secret like any other countries is to refrain
from converting; otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to spend. We went for a coffee
at Figaro which I heard to be a franchise of a Filipino here. Since it was
their 38th Independence Day celebration, I still found a few locals
in their traditional dress and even got the chance to have a picture with a
couple of them in Figaro. There were quite a number of locals moving around the
mall but you’ll never miss a Filipino because you would bump into them as we
were moving around.
A common sight on the grounds
outside the mall is red stains which were spit on the ground of beetle nut.
Chewing is a common tradition in PNG. Looking around, the landscape was nice
with hills surrounding the city yet it’s very warm. However, the hills are
slowly being bulldozed to pave way to infrastructure development. There is a
lot of on-going construction work. PNG is one country which is blessed with so
much and diverse natural resources. Natural gas and mining are two major
industries here.
Fr. Gerald dropped me again at
the hotel and after a few minutes, my boss came to see me to welcome me and we had
informal meeting. He warned me that lamina hotel gets busy over the weekend
because it’s a popular spot of expats for night life including a live band and
a disco house.
So far, my first impression of
the city was good by looking at it physically. Things are yet to unfold as I
start to learn PNG in-depth. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here if there
are no social issues confronting the marginalized sector of this country. Grateful and thankful to Fr. Gerald Gutierrez for his kindness on my 1st day!
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