What I'll miss...

Fresh Papaya For Breakfast

I was first introduced to papaya in Mexico, by Paul's mum. She taught me how to eat it by sprinkling some sugar on it, and squeezing lemon or lime juice over it. I loved it.
I still enjoy papaya, though I don't need the sprinkling of sugar anymore. We have several papaya trees growing around here, and Paul often checks them to see if there is ripe fruit ready for the picking. There is nothing like fresh papaya with a squeeze of lemon juice first thing in the morning - Yum.

from the tree to the table...

What I'll miss... The View from Here

One of the first things that comes to mind when I think about what
I'll miss when we leave PNG is the view from our dining room/living
room windows. It is spectacular, awesome, stunning. Our house is
situated on a ridge, so a few feet from the back of our house, the
ground drops off for hundreds of feet. Growing up from far below are
trees covered in vines with purple flowers. Beyond the drop off are
hills springing up out of the rainforest, some with villages on the
top with 360 degree views. Further yet is the town of Madang and the
ocean. And on a clear day, beyond the Madang Bay, you can see the
Finisterre Mountains.
This is the view we get to enjoy each day, and it hits me almost every
morning as we look out during breakfast what a beautiful place we live
in. I will sure miss this view...

What I'll miss...

These days it is easy for me to spend a lot of time wishing I was back
home in Canada already. Especially since we've made our decision to
return home and made travel plans, I can hardly wait to get back.
It's too easy for me to focus on all the things I'm going to be happy
to leave behind here in PNG: being sweaty and stinky most of the time
due to the hot weather and high humidity; the bugs and pests in the
house; the mould and having clothes that smell of it, even when
they're clean...

But Paul challenged me today, asking me how we can make the rest of
our time here in PNG meaningful, instead of just being a "waiting
period" of days until we can get back home.

So - this got me thinking, and I realized that he's right. There are
some great and wonderful things about living here, in this country so
far from what I have known for most of my life back in Canada. So my
goal is to concentrate on the positives, on some of the things I'll
miss about living here in PNG.