Is That Mold and Is It Possible to Keep My Shirt Dry?

We have been rushed through many different things these past 4 weeks; we arrived into the country later than expected, we had a week of modules, we spent over 2 weeks at our main base to get acquainted and know our co-workers and our support staff, and now we “officially start” language learning…or do we? We have a few more modules to better understand the language/culture and then it is language and culture learning full-force!

We were blessed for the past 2 weeks and enjoyed NOT sweating. The base we were at for orientation in Goroka (Lapilo) has a beautiful climate, warm and yet cool. We did not need fans over our bed when we slept, that was a nice. Now we are back in Madang (sea level) it is always hot and continuously humid, it is almost impossible to keep your shirt dry. We left for just 2 weeks and we found mold on a backpack, a book, and a couple of other items that were in drawers; that is humidity to the fullest!

Tok Pisin is the national language; English and other Indo-European languages heavily influence it. Understanding basic nouns and verbs is pretty easy for any English-speaking individual. But just because something is similar does not mean they are the same. Take for example the name “Seth”, fairly simple, one vowel and a consonant cluster, basically just one syllable… simple right? Well, in Tok Pisin they do not have the “Se” sound in their language, they have a “Sh”. They also do not have the theta sound or the “th” sound, but they do have a “t”. So, when we go out and share our names in the village they say “Shet” instead of “Seth”, and half the time the vowel sound changes, so what we thought was an “easy” word in a language that is so similar to our own, it actually comes out and sounds more like a profane word in our English language (which in Tok Pisin is not an actual word they use). That is the beauty of language for you, it is too late we wish Seth would have introduced himself as “Isaac” (his middle name), but the name has spread already throughout the village, so now we go around just correcting vowel glides when people say Seth’s name 🙂

Thought that would be a fun and interesting tale to share, so a name is not so simple and a shirt is never dry here in Madang. Please contact us anytime! We are getting use the Internet here, and sometimes it is non-present, but we will get back to you asap! Feel free to iMessage us at nicolestokes22@gmail.com any time! We love you all and covet your prayers!

 Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes

Amelia One of Our Language Helpers

Our Ride to Goroka