Going to Madang

Hey everyone!!!
It's so absolutely totally exciting to have Internet, be able to talk to me family, and turn on the lights whenever I want to! I don't think I ever mentioned this, but the power system in Mibu is solar powered. Since we're getting into the rainy season there, the days have been very gloomy, and we've been getting almost no sunlight, so we had to be very careful how much power we used. You can most definitely tell that Chris is feeling the difference :). In Mibu he'd get upset if we had more than one light on, and now here he's been leaving lights on everywhere! So I follow after him shutting them off :p.
I actually TALKED to my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TWICE within twenty-four hours!!! Would you believe??? Last night after talking to them for over an hour I was so hyper I couldn't go to bed and sleep, so I stayed up until about midnight then I got up at six-thirty this morning and called them again :). For another hour. It's costing me two cents a minute, but at this point I was so thrilled to talk to them at all that I didn't care what it cost me! It was so fun to be in on one of those rather dorky conversations with Abby, Andrew and Rachel (I'm sure I'll be hearing back on the "rather dorky":D).
Ok. I guess I should actually say something about my flights in. On Monday I finished packing all my stuff, and moved out of the guesthouse, so that we could clean it and have it ready for Shannon Weller who was coming in when I left. That night I slept in Jael's bottom bunk. Well...I tried to sleep anyway :P. I was sleeping fine until at about 2:30 Jael got up to use the bathroom. I woke up when she came back in. Then she started whispering (stage style) "aunt anna...Aunt Anna...AUNT ANNA!" Finally I decided she wasn't going to stop, so I said "whaaat??" i very deliberately used as sleepy of a voice as possible, hoping that she would take the hint and leave me alone. Unfortunately that was not the case. For the next forty-five minutes, she would ask a question, I'd answer, there'd be a minute or two of silence, then we'd do the whole "Aunt Anna" thing, and do it all over again. Finally I told her I was going back to sleep, and I ignored her after that. It worked, since she fell asleep before I did.
Tuesday morning, everybody was in their usual pre-helicopter dither, (it's a really BIG event there), and finally the pilot arrived. Then Chris, Mark, Sonde (Mark, and Sonde are the Mibu translation helpers for this trip), and Joey, who went to Saidor for something (I'm not sure what), took the first flight out. The rest of us spent our time scrambling around putting away all the food that had come in. The Tarts freezer died so we were having a hard time cramming their two months worth of supplies into the team freezer, and everyone else's. I was helping the kids do that since Joey and Brooke were both gone, and watching Skyler for Shannon too. Then the helicopter came in again with Brooke, and Shannon Weller on it, so I very briefly got to meet Shannon, and say hi and goodbye to Brooke. Then I said all my goodbyes to everyone and hopped into the front seat of the helicopter. The pilot is a really nice guy. I'm ashamed to admit I forgot to say thank you to him :(. By the time I realized he was leaving, he was already in the chopper, so I had to satisfy myself with waving to him. Oh, we flew in the chopper from Mibu to Nankina, and in an airplane from Nankina to Madang. When we landed the chopper in Nankina I think just about everyone in the village was there to meet us. So we shook a few hands, I tried out some pidgin, and waved goodbye. The airplane ride was cool, since I got to ride in the front seat then too.
So we are here, I've spent almost two days in town shopping now, so I haven't done anything here. I'll have to tell you about my town experiences later. I still have to do some unpacking. I'm running out of clothes from the top of my suitcase :P. Any more emails please send to my regular address: annaharry@gmail.com. I don't have access to the Mibu guest acount anymore, and Shannon might be a little surprised to get stuff from strangers :). Adios amigos!

Anna