My First Work Week

07-May-2011, 0747

When I planned for this assignment, I thought when I arrive on a Wednesday, I would at least use the Thursday and Friday to settle in, get used to, and know my immediate neighborhood and surroundings.  Or so I thought because not only did it not happen, but I also went to work immediately that afternoon to meet the country director and deputy country director of FHI PNG.  On Thursday, I had the new employee introduction to policies, guidelines, security briefings, and a more formal trip to the US Embassy.  On Friday, we discussed in great length my scope of work and job description, briefings on the 2 health centers I will be working with initially, allocated budgeting, and first office staff meeting.   Welcome to work Mark, PNG style that is!

I am still getting used to the hours of sleep in here.  At the present moment, it is about 1700 in CT, so I should be napping at this time.  The past days I have been going to bed around 2000 and getting up between 0300 or 0500, way before my cell phone alarm clock set at 0700.  I have another set of alarm clock in here, a more natural one that is – roosters!  It has been a very long time since I have seen or heard roosters crowing, so it is nice to be one with nature again and wake up to these birds exercising their vocal cords. 

FHI purchased a mobile phone and some air time for business use.  I will be travelling to remote sites of the country and visit community healthcare centers from this point forward so it was impressed to me the importance of having a mobile phone at all time for security purposes.  They also purchased an internet modem and some “user time” for me.  But because the internet bandwidth is not robust at all as I had expected, net surfing is very slow.  Currently, I am checking work and home e-mail, FB status updates, GHF communications, and other home business during my break time at the office.  Even connections at the office can be challenging at times.  Slowly, I am internalizing the differences between work in US versus work here, on the basis of the internet alone.  For instance, I tried to research online for the incidence and prevalence of HIV and AIDS in different areas of PNG.  Some of the .edu, .gov, or.png sites took a very long time to download, and then the power went off.  There is a back-up generator, but because there was a brief electricity cut-off, the internet line was also disconnected, and then I had to start all over again.  Also, before leaving US, I made sure I fully understood and knew how to do video teleconferencing via Skype.  As it turns out, I am NOT going to be able to do it here at all anyway – again, internet infrastructure is not that robust, especially at home; and, if I am actually able to, it will be a very expensive effort for only a short amount of time – airtime, megabyte use, and since Skype is a constant streaming of megabytes…you get the idea.  For now, I try to update all of you through Pfizer work e-mail, home e-mail, and FB status.  Heck, I have not been actually able to update my Twitter feed at all since May 1^st!  But for now, rest assure I will research on other ways to do Skype, hmmm, maybe when I go to Cairns, Australia for a weekend getaway, hopefully I will be able to do it.  I will have to leave the country, technically on or before 60 days after arrival because of the visa type I have: “Short Term, Multiple Entry, Business Visa”.  FHI PNG will consult with an Immigration Consultancy Agency to ask if the 60 days can be extended to 90 so that I will only have to leave the country and come back once.  If that is the case, I am anticipating traveling to Cairns, Australia at/or around the last week of July or first week of August. 

Currently, my mode of transportation is still an issue.  For now, Gideon or Alois, FHI PNG’s formal driver, comes by every morning to pick me up using the company’s truck or SUV.  One or the other also drives me home in the afternoon after work.  My allocated budget for transportation is $15 daily, M – F.  $1 is equivalent to about PNGK2.25 (PNG Kina), so transportation budget is 33.75 Kina per day, or 168.75 Kina per week.  Taxi rides from where I am staying to where the office is can cost between 20 to 30 Kina one way!  Clearly, this is not going to cover transportation expenses for work M-F, let alone going anywhere on the weekends.  There are plenty of PMVs (public motor vehicle, PNGs version of bus) and fare is about 50 toya (half of a kina).  The glaring issue is safety, the bus can probably accommodate 20 people, but there are times when 30 or more individuals are cramped inside the vehicle.  FHI PNG at least is adamant about me NOT using the PMVs at all.  It is also not of walking distance, so scratch that.  And I cannot have my Mustang shipped here either because the steering wheel is on the left side, while the whole country drives on the right.  Besides, one of the cardinal rules of Pfizer GHF is for all fellows NOT to drive on host country locations.  I am not sure of our fellows right now in TX, NY, or SC…  Next week, we are interviewing a young gentleman who has a vehicle and is looking for a job.  We can give him a job so I am hoping that we can negotiate for 100 Kina a week, M-F, AM and PM ride, and occasional weekend rides for personal errands with an additional “subsidized” payment.  From my understanding, this amount of money per week is considered a good paying job, AND a constant source of income.  So we can have a win-win situation in both sides, I just hope that he is reputable, honest, trustworthy, and time conscious.