June 1 Monday: Got up early, had breakfast, got repacked, took another shower, used up the remaining bandwidth I had and set out to the Dive Center. I met the Australian director of the program, John, and talked a bit about options. He had a class ready to start on Wednesday and go four consecutive days ending on Sabbath. I told him the Wed/Thurs/Fri part would be fine, but I could not do Sabbath. He said that was no problem because he had another group going out on Sunday and I could do my last dives with them. So that was arranged. Next I tried to get my phone working and either PNG is on Verizon's no good list or they just enjoy tormenting me, but that went nowhere. I had instructions on depositing the remaining funds for my trek to the Ecotourism Melanasia bank account at the ANZ bank and they had said it could be done at the airport branch. That was convenient because the new place I was staying could pick me up from the airport then. So I checked out of luxury and went back to the airport.

Well the ANZ office at the airport is only an ATM, so that was erroneous information and no one was answering at the new lodgings, so I could not get picked up. But the same two girls from Airways were there again and in a few minutes had called a taxi that they trusted. They would not let me just take any old taxi. So now I have a personal taxi driver when I need one. First he took me to my new hostel, a huge step down from Airways. I got my room, dropped off my stuff, and went back to run a few errands. We went to a place to see if they could crack my phone, but they did not have the software for my model. They told us another place to try, but that had similar results. I ended up buying a prepaid cell for approx. $25. Next we went to the bank and I got the money transferred after about a 40 minute wait in line and a boatload of hoops to jump through. John, drove me by where a good internet access point would be and where the US Embassy was, then he brought me back to the Magila Hostel. He is very friendly, but on the expensive side and I do not know how much I will use him, but he is a resource.

At my new lodgings, I met Derrick, who works for the Magila club. His wife is the manager of the bar portion of the club. They have a son. They live two doors down, but are moving to another room in a couple days. Anyway, they loaned me a stove burner to cook dinner with and said I could borrow it any time. Derrick used to be a DJ (techno/reggae/local music) so we have a common bond there. He has introduced me several other staff/security in the place and says just to ask if I need anything. He wanted to know how I ended up in Six Mile and wanted to make sure I feel safe. I learned he spent five years in jail for armed robbery and still has pellets in his leg from where the police shot him. That experience taught him he did not want to continue life like that and straightened him out. He has offered to take me around the neighborhood if I want.

June 2 Tuesday: I filtered three liters of water this morning, just to have a supply. That was the most exciting thing that happened all day. Seriously.

Of course I'm kidding. The most exciting thing was watching a lady get robbed in the street by three guys less than 10 feet from me. I had been in an internet cafe for a couple hours and went down to the street just to get a flavor as I waited for John, the taxi driver who had driven me yesterday and dropped me off earlier in the afternoon. The street was crowded and I was just outside the entrance to a food counter, when people on the street started shouting and pointing. I turned, saw that they were pointing at three guys running across the street and indicating for me to go into the store. I stepped inside behind a security guard and watched through the large glass window as they grabbed a woman who was slower than the others to gather their stuff and start moving away. Two of them held her arms while the third rifled through her bag, taking a pack of cigarettes, some money and throwing a handful of the other contents down the sidewalk. I never saw a weapon. Then they ran off. Other people grabbed the things that had been thrown down the sidewalk, but did not return them to the lady. A few people checked to see if she was alright. A couple minutes later a policeman walked by, but did nothing. He could not have been more than a block away when it happened. So in broad daylight, in a crowded street, with probably 8 or more security guards within 25 yards a robbery could happen quite easily. The security guards are everywhere, but they obviously only protect what they are paid to: the things inside the stores they are watching. Just a few feet outside those doors you are fair game and should not expect help from them. The security is actually to an almost scary level on one hand, and so seemingly ineffectual on the other. To get to the ATM (which is inside the bank, not on the street itself), you have to knock on the door, which a guard unlocks, then you step into a space with a second set of doors, which will not open until the first set is locked behind you. You are on camera during this period and there are guards inside and outside the doors. Now maybe a bank could justify such a setup, but this seems to be commonplace here. I had to do the same thing at a cell phone store and another office building. Almost every other business has a guarded gate to their parking lot. But the guards themselves are from what I can see, unarmed. Guns do not seem to play any significant role in crime in this country. Perhaps they are banned and only the real police have them. Which they evidently do.

Okay, besides that I also went and saw the Parliament Building, with its intricate exterior artistry and traditional shaping and the National Museum. The museum is rather small, given that it is a National Museum, but they do have a varied and informative collection of PNG cultural and natural items. The shop just outside the museum had some beautiful wooden bowls and woven tapestries that were surprisingly inexpensive, but I have no idea what sending a package back to the US would cost. I asked about shipping and it was not an option through the store. I'll have to stop at a Post Office and inquire about rates and maybe go back to the Museum based on what I find out.

June 3 Wednesday: At just after 9 SCUBA John himself picked me up for class in a taxi. He told me later in the day that there had been a mixup with the Dive Center van. There are three of us in the class, me and a German couple. The husband is a geologist just starting the 2nd year of a 3 year project in the Highlands. His wife 'commutes' spending three months in Berlin and two months in PNG. Rinse, repeat. We started by watching a dvd presentation of the information covered in the first section of our book. Then we reviewed and took a quiz. We watched a second section and did the same with it. John had meeting with an American named Allan (whom he had trained as a diver on a previous trip to PNG) and so we broke for lunch. Allan, actually is from Laguna Beach in SOCAL so we talked for a few minutes too. Then for the remaining time I read a book I had brought along. When we reconvened, we got outfitted in wetsuits, goggles, BCD's, tanks, fins, etc and headed for the pool. We practiced setting our gear up correctly, working with a buddy to make sure both our BWRAF is all okay before we dive. In the water, we worked on remaining neutrally buoyant while swimming, what to do if our regulator is knocked out of our mouths, how to get water out of our goggles underwater, what to do if we completely remove our mask underwater, and how to handle running out of air (buddy system is there for a reason). All of that sounds complicated, but is rather easy once you have tried it a few times. We finished off the session by dismantling our gear and cleaning it off. John was going to drop me back at my room, but the van was out again, so I had a Greek salad at the resort deli and read while I waited. We talked for a bit about options of other things to do and places to go in PNG. He is a great resource and has lived here nearly all his life. He says Rabual is a must see, like a living Pompeii, it is near an active volcano and has ash fall on a daily basis. It was completely wiped out in 1994 and mostly rebuilt, was a German stronghold in WW1, a contested island between the Japanese and Australians in WW2, and recipient of frequent volcanic activity. He also said I should try and get to Goroka in the highlands. After a while he brought me back to Magila.

Tonight is a Superbowl type event in the world of rugby: the States of Origin. Queensland and New South Wales are facing off as the Maroons and Blues respectively. I watched with about 30 boisterous locals on the balcony of the nightclub attached to the hostel. More people were gathered below in the street where they could see the screen or at least here the play by play. This is really the first time I have watched a rugby match and Terry explained the basics for me and it is a rather simple game to understand. John, another VIP here in Magila, was an actual rugby player. The two of them like the opposite teams and have been swearing at each other. While the basic rules and premise are easily understood, I do have difficulty with how the try's are scored. Some are disallowed and I have not been able to really see a reason why some are and some are not. Even when they are showing the instant replays. Queensland seemed to be handling the game pretty well at half-time with a 18-4 lead, but New South Wales made it an exciting game in the second half before errors on their part (something that plagued them throughout the game) took their toll. A final of 28-18 made the Maroons fans VERY happy and the Blues fans left quite quickly, but there were no fights while I was around at least. When I mentioned that it is a Superbowl type event, they were telling me that people bet houses, cars, businesses, wives, huge sums of money on this game. People get killed every year here in PNG. This is crazy when you stop to think that it is a game between two teams from Australia and there are not even any PNG players on either team (at least this year), but rugby is a religion, much like football for significant sections of the United States.

June 4 Thursday: Happy 604! This morning John picked me up again, but this time he had the Dive Centre van. We worked our way through the three remaining sections of the book/dvd and took two written quizzes along the way. I got a mushroom pizza during the lunch break and read a book. After lunch we were in the pool. We practiced CESA (controlled emergency safety ascents) horizontally in the pool. We had our air supplies turned off and had to get to a buddy as soon as possible, communicate our problem and get help. Everything seems to be going smoothly in the course.

In the evening, back at home, I hung out outside and talked to whoever was interested, and I am quite a curiosity here. The age old dilemma is heavily present here: Undereducated people in a high concentration with little in job prospects or other options to occupy their time, so drinking, smoking, chewing betel nut, etc fill those voids. People seem to be aware of the trap, but largely helpless to resist it.