This photo was taken at our house some time ago. Shortly after we moved in, I think it was. This is just inside or front door, and this is a happy photo. If you see this near your front door in Ukarumpa, it probably means that a bunch of your friends are over at your house. In this case, it looks like maybe 30 people at our house.This is one of the greatest things about living in a close community where your friends are all within walking distance. Sure, living in Ukarumpa does have its drawbacks, and sure, sometimes living there can be a pain, but there are some really good things about it as well. I guess a lot of how people feel about living there depends on them. Like so many things in life, you get out of it what you put into it, and in Ukarumpa you'll usually get a pretty good return on any effort you put into living there.
Some are probably asking, "Why does everybody take their shoes off when they come in?" It's because the roads in Ukarumpa aren't paved--they are dirt roads and int he wet season they can be quite muddy, so when you go into somebody's home, many people feel that it's polite to remove their shoes so that they don't track mud or dirt all over the place.
I'm looking forward to getting back to Ukarumpa--we leave Melbourne on the 15th, fly to Cairns and then are in Cairns until the 19th, when we fly back to Ukarumpa. Naturally, all of these plans could change if we don't get Levi's PNG visa paperwork all sorted out in time!
