The Niigata ALT Charity Musical, Alice in Japan finished yesterday, with two shows back to back in Nakajo and Niigata. It’s somewhat of a relief, having accomplished the run of shows successfully, but it’s also sort of an exciting end, because it means that the trip to Papua New Guinea is now only a week away. I am already taking my malaria medication, and starting the packing process, including a ton of sunscreen and bug dope, snorkel and goggles. I also gathered an enormous amount of school supplies to take down to the village that we will be visiting. Our project this year is to build an elementary school in an area that doesn’t currently have one. We leave from Japan on the 22nd, and return on April 6th. I am looking forward to it immensely. While hopping around as a late rabbit, socializing with other ALTs, and involving myself in the community and in my schools through the musical has been fun, the real hook for me was the Papua New Guinea trip. We will be visiting the Waria Valley, in Morobe Province, on the southeastern coast of Papua New Guinea. The specific tribal area is know as Zia (gee-ah) and this term applies to the people as well as the language. While English is an official language of PNG, so is Tok Pisin, which is used as the primary lingua franca in the country. This common language is necessary in addition to English. According to SIL, Papua New Guinea is linguistically the most complex nation of the world. Over 800 languages are spoken in the country, of which Zia is one. I’m looking forward to experiencing the place and the people and the culture and the geography. I’ll be taking lots of pictures, but you can check out pictures from previous years here.
