snax beef tastes like......

Karla, thanks for bringing up that very good question. I'm sure you're not
the only one wondering about Snax Beef.

What does Snax Beef taste like? It's a hearty cracker with a whole lot of
crunch, delicately seasoned with beef flavored salt. There are four
generous crackers in one package. I can hook you up if you want.

Snax Beef slogan: Gutpela bisket, liklik prais
(good cracker, small price)

Long locks

Gone are the baby bangs.
Gone is the artifical color.

Lise: Nogat style, tasol igat pasin em stret. Traim tasol. Rait, ya!

Yardman Willy

Yardman Willy has been busy seeding grass...and it's not seed that he buys
from the store. No, it is a process that can only be motivated by love. He
hand cuts the seeding grass, strips the seeds into his seed holder (aka
frisbee), then scatters the seeds on the soil. He picks only the best time
of day for planting. The sun can't be too hot and the soil can't be too
dry. He loves to seed after a good rain in the late afternoon. Green
thumbs run in the Vanden Berg genes.

Emailing: WWII 009.jpg, WWII 012.jpg, WWII 013.jpg, WWII 016.jpg, WWII 020.jpg, WWII 022.jpg, WWII 024.jpg, WWII 028.jpg, WWII 032.jpg

There are several WWII war planes and machine guns in the Madang area.
Today we ventured out to find a Japanese war plane that isn't far from town.
We found it with only a little difficulty. You just have to ask the right
person. We stopped to ask a few people on the road and some people we asked
just gave us a blank look. You're looking for what?! In the end we had
four tour guides from a village that was very close to the plane. I have to
admit I was a little nervous just because you never know who you can trust.
Turns out our guides were very trustworthy and we even made a few new
friends. We even got one guys cell phone number because he wants to take
Andrew and Caleb (when he comes to visit) around in the bush to see more
WWII stuff like tanks and jeeps and who knows what else! Seriously, you
take Snax Beef anywhere in this country and you'll make new friends
instantly. The plane was at the end of a longish, muddy bush road. It is
an area where there is an old airstrip from the war. We even identified two
bomb marks - there were two perfectly round ponds on the side of the road
that we are almost certain were made from bombs. The plane was much bigger
than we were expecting. Our 'guide' told us that the plane was perfectly
intact until 2007 when some locals decided to cut it apart to get scrap
metal. After looking at the plane we decided to check out one more spot
where there were some old machine guns. Here we had quite the following of
pikinini (children). I couldn't stop laughing as they trailed behind our
truck - almost running faster than we were driving. Our outing was fun AND
educational.

Photo 1: Bill and Snax Beef with two of our tour guides (the 3rd one stayed
with the truck to guard it and I don't know where the 4th one went to).
Photo 2: The tail laying on the ground.....scrap metal is invaluable. :)
Photo 3: The view from the front of the plane
Photo 4: You can still make out the red circle from the Japanese flag
Photo 5: Bill trying out all the levers
Photo 6: Snax Beef getting a lift from the tour guide. It was pretty muddy.
Photo 7: See all the pikinini?
Photo 8: Checking out the machine gun
Photo 9: A propeller with a message - literal translation: Jesus got up
again

3 posts in a one night - whoa!

Hauswin project

Our Sarang boys came last week to build a hauswin for the centre. I was
absolutely amazed at how they build everything out of materials they find
from the jungle. Everything has a specific purpose. Drew and I were
lamenting that we could never build a beautiful hauswin like this in Canada.
Nogat ol samting long wokim wanpela hauswin. Last week I was busy feeding
these guys. I still can't believe how much a PNG man can eat. I would heap
their plates full and they'd finish that plus they'd eat anything that was
left in the pot. Thankfully Mama came for two days to help me!

Breakfast: coffee, package of crackers
Lunch: buns, coffee, hard boiled eggs, fruit
Supper: rice, chicken or fish, kaukau or cooking bananas, coffee

Our Papa was the bosman for the project and unfortunately he was short on
kunai grass for the roof. The guys would've finished the hauswin on
Saturday, but they ran out of materials. So they'll be back next week to
finish once we get a hold of some more kunai grass. Turns out our night
guard Max was given the task of getting some for us. His village was
willing to get some for us and they were willing to work for rice. We
bought them a 10kg bag of rice and some tin fish. I couldn't help but think
you'd be hard up to find kids in North America to work for rice. It's
really a different world here!

Picture 1: Garfield getting kunai grass ready to put on the roof - he's
using a bush knife to knock out all the loose grass.
Picture 2: Papa handing up the 'rafters'
Picture 3: Snax Beef eating Snax Beef
Picture 4: Barnabus laying down kunai grass

Once the hauswin is completed I'll make sure to post a picture!

snax beef

The new fetish: Snax Beef.

The faint scent of Snax Beef can always be found on Jester's breath. The
scent is also found in his bed, on his blanket, on his water bottle, on his
hands, in his hair. He generally smells of Snax Beef all the time. And for
only .75 t a pop it'll satisify even the worst of carb cravings. So now
I've cleverly renamed Jester to Snax Beef. You are what you eat.

Hopefully Snax Beef won't eat us out of house and home.....oh Snax Beef.

More dedication photos....

Here are the second half of some of my favorite photos. These are from the
Mineveha dedication...the second one I went to.