Hi everyone,

I’m writing this on Word and then pasting to the internet, so please forgive any overlap in Q&A…

It’s 9:30 a.m. on September 13th (Wednesday, I think). We had an interesting day yesterday. We went along the hauslain (houseline – where the extended family lives) and recorded some stories from women and men who live there. They talked about what they grow in their gardens, how many children they have, wives they’ve lost, etc. One man even sang two songs – he’s written one for each of the six women who have left him. My aunt, Fis Meri, talked about the bilas (costumes people wear for special occasions like Goroka Show) and billums (the bags that women make all over PNG). My namesake, Sivirito and two other old men and women sang one singsing too.

The low point of the day was the accident that happened when we finished going around and came back to the house. There are three dogs that look out for the property, and one of them ran in front of the car and got hit. He went and laid down, breathing heavily. It was obvious he was dying. Everyone crowded around him. I just pet him and “shhshhd”. They fed him a little water, but he eventually stopped breathing. I cried. Then Aka and Jerry, my two cousins, buried him in the garden. I recorded and took some pictures.

At night I cooked some spaghetti and sauce for the extended family. I don’t think they like it every much. Then I gave the t-shirts, trousers, and necklaces I’d brought to all my family members. I think they liked those a little better. They’re all going to wear them on Sunday when they go around at the Goroka Show.

When I woke up, the mother of the P/deKs was at our house. She had heard we visited Meteufa and wanted to talk a little bit into my microphone. I took a picture. Then the homestay father of the C/S family in Minnesota happened to come to the house. I took a picture of him, passed on the baby news and gave him their address.

Today we went and dropped off some of the extended family members at the bik wara (big water), where they’ll wash the bedding. We’re going to Delta’s hauslain, Ifiufa, this afternoon to gather more stories.

That’s about it from here. I haven’t seen a newspaper in days. I have no idea what happened on the September 11th anniversary. I have no idea what’s going on anywhere but in my hauslain, and that’s kind of nice, for a change.

I hope you’re all happy and healthy. I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks. I’ll write soon with more news…

S.