Yesterday I was at the aviation department saying goodbye to a friend. While there I saw a Papua New Guinean friend and I said hello to her.
In tok pisin the conversation proceeded:
me: Hi, are you leaving?
her: yes to port moresby
me: ah, why are you going?
her: to get Kero
now I think to myself "kero is short for kerosene here, but if she's buying kerosene she must be buying it in bulk because air fare is costly... so I figure she has to be buying a lot, or I misunderstood, so I cleverly figured out how to verify"
me: Kero?
her: yes.
me: How much?
her: this much (she shows me with her hands about the height of a 55 gallon drum)
now I think (1 drum? that's it?)
me: That's not much.
her: huh?
me: That's a long way to go to buy kerosene
her: not kerosene, CAROL! my daughter, her name is carol, you don't know my daughter's name?
me: I guess I don't.
her: Carol, my daughter has been in the U.S. for 5 months going to school.
I laughed out of embarassment but she wasn't laughing. Around here, everyone knows everyone and their entire family. It is the PNG way. But I am horrible with names and faces and so I had no idea she had a daughter nor what her name was. I didn't want to tell her that 5 months wasn't a very long time to be in school in the U.S. But I've also found that those who do come back from the U.S. often have learned a LOT in a short time, enough such that they can become quite successful at interacting with ex-pats. Which goes to show, the people of this country are intelligent. They seem to grasp things very quickly that we often overlook.
Second story:
I was driving around in our department vehicle when a man came up to me and said,
(again in tok pisin)
him: I see you are driving this vehicle, so I waited for you.
me: okay, how can I help you? (knowing this might be an interesting conversation)
him: I have a camera that won't flash. CTS will charge me 90 kina to fix it.
me: Yes they will.
him: all I need is someone to fix it, and I don't have 90 kina.
(at this point I know this is one of those broken devices that will not go away. Often times people throw away items that will no longer work nor are repairable, and CTS can end up wasting all kinds of time on these things. Which is why when we get one, we don't throw it away, we dissect it into parts we can use to repair other things. There's nothing worse than working to fix something that you think is important to someone else, that they picked out of the trash, and then keep bringing it back. It really wastes a lot of time, especially since the item was already deemed 'unfixable'. You'd be surprised how much electronics these days cost more to fix than to replace. At this point, I recognize that the 90kina number was a 'this is unfixable' rate, intended to deter people from trying.)
me: I can't fix it, I am not an electrical engineer, I fix computers
him: but you drive this car.
me: yes I work for CTS
him: oh... will you fix my camera?
me: I can't fix your camera
him: do you know anyone who can?
me: I know 1 guy who might be able to.
him: who?
me: He works at CTS.
him: but they will charge me 90 kina to fix this.
me: no, they will charge you 90 kina to TRY to fix this, they may not fix it.
him: can you fix it for me? I don't have 90 kina.
me: I can't fix it. I don't know how.
him: oh... okay.
Now, to you, it may seem like he wasn't getting the point. But he was. There were two cultural aspects at play here. First, was the tendency in this culture to repeat oneself. In fact to get the idea across and be sure that someone fully understands, you should repeat yourself several times. Second, the 'no harm in trying' concept we call 'traim tasol'. If you find a camera in the trash, and can also find someone to fix it for free, why not try? No harm done.
Next time I'll not drive the dept. vehicle. (-;
Back on the repeating something. This is something it takes a bit of getting used to here. But it is important, because if something is important, it bears repeating. This culture does not tire of repetition. They can hear the same story over and over and over.
Whereas in the U.S. you rarely enjoy watching a re-run. You have more important things to do with your time. Which is why if I said,
"Be sure to check that the oven is off before you leave. Before you leave, be sure that the oven is not on. If you leave, and the oven is on, that is bad, so check that the oven is off."
But here, that is perfectly appropriate and if you were to only mention the oven offing once folks might think 'well it can't be that important'.
Which is why, when discussing things of import, like Christ's redemptive blood, you repeat it. So you can imagine... given that it takes twice as long to say most things in tok pisin as it does in English, that a quick sentiment like 'check the oven' could turn into a ten minute conversation.
This is partially why a lot of the South Pacific areas feel like a slower pace than the rest of the world. You take time to stop, talk to people, repeat yourself, tell them the same story you've told them a million times, they'll laugh as if they've only just now heard it, and eventually you get around to business.
And while it is one of the HARDEST parts of adapting to the culture here, the slower pace... makes you feel as if you're wasting time... it is also why we love this place so much during Christmas.
