Tuesday, August 5, 2014

GOING TO EDINBURGH

TODAY we had to take an athlete to Edinburgh to fix up her visa to China.
She was one of two of our weightlifting athletes who won gold medals in these Commonwealth Games.
The place was filled with tourists - I could hear people speaking French, Italian, and possibly Eastern Europe languages, apart from English.
Photo: The street that leads to the front gate into the Castle.

We bought some souvenirs in the shops along the street that leads to the Edinburgh Castle.
We did not enter the Castle due to not having enough time.

Monday, August 4, 2014

HELLOW FROM GLASGOW

HELLOW people.
I have not been posting regularly because I am on leave and assisting my country's Team participating in the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Closing Ceremony was held yesterday (August 3) in the Hampden Park Stadium.


Photo: Games Volunteer John Brisbane leading Team PNG out of the Games Village to the bus stop where they will be transported to Hampden.

The countries and territories participating in the Games were treated to a splendid night of entertainment.
I will update you on things I learned and people I met in Glasgow in a couple of days time.
Cheers.
 

Friday, July 18, 2014

PICS FROM MELANESIAN FESTIVAL OF ARTS AND CULTURE

Hellow friends. Bonjour mes amis.
Sorry for the long delay in putting up posts.
Today I share a few pics of the Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture.
I will share more on this later.
Despite complaints from locals about how well it was organised, those who attended the festival enjoyed the two weeks of performances and display of artistic and traditional skills shown by the thousands of Melanesian tribes in the Pacific.
 
 
Pic 1. Dancers from West Papua, Indonesia, beside their stall.
 
 
Pic 2. A dancing group from Bougainville, PNG, entertaining the crowd.
 
 
Pic 3. Part of the crowd that gathered in the second day of the Festival on July 7. 

Thursday, June 12, 2014

MINISTER: READY FOR 2014 MELANESIAN FESTIVAL OF ARTS ...

PAPUA New Guinea is ready to host the 5th Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture in Port Moresby.  
This was the assurance from the PNG Minister for Culture, Arts and Tourism, Boka Kondra and National Capital District Governor, Powes Parkop on June 5 during the gala dinner at the Dynasty Restaurant in Port Moresby.
The dinner was to celebrate the commissioning of the 5th Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture.

Photo: Au Kaea from Gogodala, Western province, painting a part of a traditional decorated pole for a Gogodola House at the main venue of the Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture. The picture was taken last month.

The five Melanesian states that usually participate in the event, which is staged every four years, are PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Calédonia.
However, invitations have been sent to Melanesian communities living in Torres Strait Islands (Australia), West Papua/Papua (Indonesia) and Timor-Leste.

The theme for the event is “Celebrating Cultural Diversity” and will be held on July 28-July 11.

- Part of article from the NCD Commission’s paper “City Sivarai”, June 11, 2014  

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

OTHER RESULTS OF THE BOXING BOUTS


THIS is the follow up to the last post on boxing.
Apart from Henry Umings (PNG) beating Jesse Travers in 64kg category, two other Papua New Guinea fighters who won their international bouts were Tom Boga beating Queensland champion Brent Rice in the 64kg and eager Thadiues Kato who beat Rhys Evans in the 60kg.

Photo: PNG Amateur Boxing Union President John Avira (with mic), and master of ceremony Jim Robbins, welcoming the fighters before the bouts.

The results of other bouts are: 
1. Che Kennally (Aust) beat Debbie Kaora in 69kg; 
2. Billy Lomov (Aust) beat Andrew Aisaga (TKO) in 61kg; 
3. Skye Nicolson (Aust) beat Annette Kora in 60kg; 
4. Simon Cooper (Aust) beat Peter Michael in 81kg; 
5. Luke Travers (Aust) beat Jonathan Keama in 75kg; 
6. Cherneka Johnson (Aust) beat Jacklyn Wangi in 51kg; 
7. Beipu Noka beat Mac Heari (TKO) in 56kg; 
8. Junior Kauko Raka beat Jonathan Lawas in 52kg;  and
9. Charlie Kema beat Lui Magaiva in 49kg.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

A JOURNO'S NIGHT AT THE FIGHT ...


THIS is a description of my observation of the night I spent at a hotel for an event (more like a journal entry).
I turned up at Lamana Hotel’s Gold Club, in Port Moresby, the so-called South Pacific Capital, on Saturday night, May 31.
No, I was not there to party but to report on the boxing bouts scheduled “to be fought”.
Although it was not my first time to be at Lamana at night, it was my first time to sit through not just one boxing match – but 12 separate bouts, including 9 international fights, three of those were for female fighters.
(The last night I was there was last year for the French National Day celebration.)

The fights were between some of our best national boxers and a team of Queensland/Australian champions. (I thoroughly enjoyed watching the fighters in action and appreciated the sport a bit more.)
The Team PNG Manager pulled up a ringside chair for me, just beside where the master of ceremony sat.
As soon as I made myself comfortable with my notepad and pen on the table, I started clicking the shutter button of my camera taking shot after shot of people and the fighters until the battery of that first camera died and I switched to using the second – that was probably after the 10th bout.

Photo: Queensland and Australian champion Skye Nicolson (right) in action against PNG’s Anette Kora in the women’s 60kg category.  

I observed some interesting things.
Firstly, some women there can really scream as supporters – even if their language skills are not good.
There was one at our back who was screaming really loud for the PNG fighters to “kill somebody” – at times laughing and saying “oh oh oh” really loud when a PNG fighter made some good punches.
Then all of a sudden, she said “cut the craps” to someone.
For a moment I was thinking – did she mean “cut the crap”?
But then she went on hollering nonetheless.

Secondly, a little later, there was another lady who was screaming for a relative, I think. She sounded a bit funny.
But then the swearing stuff came on – and I found it quite frightening; from the way she was going, she thought that was good.
I did not say anything because it was my first night to watch a fight at that particular place and thought such attitude was accepted.

Oh, yeah, thirdly, there was this white guy (possibly in his 50s) who was booing the Australians and saying “Come on PNG, come on PNG” – and making some of the most illogical comments. (I assumed that he is originally from Australia.)

Some of the Queensland fighters who participated were Australian champions, as well as world-class fighters. (I know at least one female fighter is world-class, possibly in the top 5 in her division in the world.)
The three PNG girls who fought lost their fights but that would help them prepare for the Commonwealth Games next month and the Pacific Games next year.
Three of our local boys won their international fights, including the PNG fighter in the main/final bout of the night, Henry Umings who beat sixteen-year-old Queensland and Australian champion, Jesse Travers, in the 64kg bout.
There were two local females close by who were observing Travers and after the fight when he took off his head guard, the women said: “Ey, look at him, he is just a kid.”

And yes, Travers is just a kid but he is the Queensland champion.
Last year when he was 15, Travers became the Australian champion by topping his weight category in the Golden Gloves tournament.
On Saturday night, Travers’ elder brother Luke fought earlier in the 75kg and won his fight.
Overall, I enjoyed the night ... hopefully we get behind our young people and get them involved in the sport too.
Cheers.  

Thursday, May 29, 2014

WEEKEND COMING UP: WRITING A PIECE IN FRENCH

I WISH you all the best for the weekend.
Students, use the days properly to catch up on work as well as study/review what you did in the past weeks.
For others, make sure you use the time wisely too.

I will be polishing up a 15-page piece I wrote in French for a competition/project in Wallis and Futuna, the French territory in Polynesia. (It was quite an exercise for me.)
Late last year a youth officer in Wallis sent the competition/project details this way and since my French tutor knew that I had just returned from Wallis, he asked me if I was interested in participating.
I said I would and I had written something.
It was quite a challenge … to do the translation of what I “thought in English” but needed to “write it in French”. (I consulted the dictionary and other resources often to come up with the lines and dialogues for that piece.)
Even then, that will be edited.

Today my tutor emailed asking if I was still interested in submitting something for the competition.
And so, this weekend, among other things, I will have to polish up and possibly add a bit more to what I wrote last year.
I will keep all of you informed on how that goes. 

Bon week-end.  

POEM FOR THE WEEK: GOING FOR A STAR


GOING FOR A STAR
You say “I want to climb that mount”
They say “Hey, that is not sound”

You say “I want to scale that hill”
They say “You’re mentally ill”

They talk often about things here
You talk oft about things there

They want the things on the land fair
You want to soar like warm air

They say “You just cannot do it”
I say “Rise, make yourself fit”

They say “No-one can go that far”
You say “Yonder is my star”

They say “All things will never change”
We say “We will make the change”

They say “We are growing older”
We say “We’re growing younger”

They say “I want the house, and car”
We say “Let’s go for a star”

You know, they want to be kings here
But we want to serve o’er there

Monday, May 26, 2014

IT WILL BE MID-YEAR SOON … EVALUATE YOURSELF

WE are almost through the middle of 2014 so, I am reminding you to re-evaluate yourself and your goals.


For students studying, it is important that you check if you are on track … getting those good marks you planned to at the start of the year.
If you have not, it is time to make the right turn – meaning make some changes. (You may be taking life for granted.)

For some of you, that is vital because you will be sitting for exams at the end of the year.
And you cannot continue to be ignorant and hope for “heaven” to help you on the day before the exams.
That is a bad way of living.
Remember also that they say something like “luck/chance often favours prepared people”.
One way of preparing yourself every week is to review the kind of marks you are getting in your tests and assignments.
Are they above 70%, 80% or 90%?
If they are not – ask why.

When you find the answers, start making some changes – and make them fast.
Remember your life is your life – if you do good, you will eat the fruits thereof; and if you mess it up, you will be the one who will walk around with the mess. (You can’t blame someone else for your mess.)
So, evaluate and aim to do better in the next six months.

For those of us who are working, we should ask ourselves how we are progressing and make the appropriate turns also.
I made some writing/learning goals at the start of the year and am plodding on slowly – but I know I will get there.
One of my aims is to learn to write code (writing computer programmes).
With a number of other responsibilities that I have, I am plodding on slowly on that.
But with the help from free lessons offered over the internet, I know I will learn a fair bit because that goal is still before me.

I end with this: Do not be distracted and always “keep the main thing the main thing”.
Cheers.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

POEM OF THE WEEK: THEY WERE BORN IN MAY ...


THIS is dedicated to all those who were born in May. (I was thinking of writing these lines for years.)

THEY WERE BORN IN MAY
They were born in May
T’was a nice cool day
That is why they are cool
Well, that is what they say

You know about May?
That’s when the fishes play
They’re plenty in the sea
The sea’s calm, the birds gay

They were born in May
No more skies grey
The rainy storms have passed
Ah bliss … and sing they may

- Written for Pacific Indigenous Writers