Mark_Murphy Meanderings

After getting up to watch the Canadian Grand Prix at 2am and then watching Australia get done by Germany in the soccer I had a good sleep in till about 9am. I then went down to the office to prepare the reports for the students and check on the sessions for the next week. Some of the students have already achieved some of the TAA units from previous training but I have to say it doesn't show! Most of them tell me that this time around they are actually learning real things and that they now understand what training and assessment should be all about. I think that in the next two weeks they will have a good time putting together real training sessions and building good assessment instruments that will reinforce good training and assessment practices. The proof will be in the pudding I suppose but I think they will turn out to be good practical trainers. I spent some more time at the Gym yesterday evening and now I have re-discovered muscles that I forgot I had! No pain no gain! I suppose. Actually it feels good to be getting fit again. Everywhere here is up or down a hill and you walk 1k to work, 1k to the Gym, 1.5k to the Golf Club, 1 K to the Hash Harriers Club so I am getting fitter just going to and from places. When I first got here I was huffing and puffing after a short walk but now it doesn't bother me at all. Fancy me not driving at all for a month ! That would have to be a record! Some interesting features of the locals are the fact that most of them walk about bare footed and they all walk many kilometeres a day to and from work or just in to Tabubil to socialize. Their feet are as tough as tyres and I think they would need shoes with extra extra wide fittings! I know the women have to buy mens shoes as womens are just not wide enough. The PNG handshake is another wierd thing to get used to - you put one finger between two of theirs and pull back so that you make a clicking/snapping sound. If they offer you this type of greeting it means that you are their friend. The other little idiosyncrosy is that males often walk hand in hand or they hold hands while talking to each other - no its not that they are gay it is just how friends act towards each other. Male and female interaction is also not seen in public as such things happen behind closed doors. Husbands and wifes do not show affection for each other in public and when they fly out or in there is no show of relatives or friends to see them off. All that happens in the privacy of theirs homes or villages. It is all just different but interesting to observe from my Australian perspective. They also overdress most days in that they will wear a thick rugby top over a t shirt and a beanie while I am melting in just a short sleeved cotton shirt - I suppose it is a matter of acclimatisation but I would be warm in Ballarat with what they wear here. Well that will do for now, thanks for your emails etc See you soon. Gerard.