And that wasn't even all! There were more presents of bilums and bilas, and I had trouble lifting my head and arms with all the necklaces and bracelets I was given. All decorated up, it was then time for photos - both of me with each girl, and the girls and their families, so I can post these pictures back as a thank you and a memory.



Deshey and her fmaily, including her dad, our P&C chairman

Presents and pictures, food and speeches finished, it was now malolo (rest) time, and as the girls grouped up to sit around and gossip, I joined the parents for (just slightly!!) more risque joke and story telling up the back of the yard. I gave the girls a big shock (so it seems) by joining the adults with a beer or two - when I went back to join the girls on the verandah later they just stopped and stared at me, and then one of them said "Were you drinking, Ms Conolly??!!!"
How is possible that I'm the teacher, and they're the students, and yet they were making me feel like a naughty schoolgirl?! Apparently while I was sitting with their parents with an SP in my hand, they were all gathered at the kitchen window, gasping and counting bottles!

The parents were hilarious, and I'll no doubt be seeing them again at the school's fundraising dance in November, but the rest of the night was to be with the girls, so we told stories, sang with the guitar, danced, braided hair (Symone did mine in twists, the new in-thing) and ate more icecream until late in the evening. Another round of present-giving (from the girls themselves this time), and more speeches and tears (and a song from Katie and Roberta), and then finally it was time for bed. Twenty-something girls crashed around the house, mostly just curled up on the floor, and a few hours sleep til Mr Mala came back for roll-call in the morning (!).

A HUGE breakfast where once again these girls displayed an incredible ability to eat platefuls that looked bigger than their heads, and some fun as they dived on the bagful of clothes I'd brought as part of my first attempt to cull back the gear I'm going to be lugging back to Australia. Then Katie's dad rolled up with his van again, and we did the huge round of hugs before pulling away. A big 24 hours - and fortunately I was so tired by the end of it I couldn't be too sad. It was a great party, and a lovely end-of-time celebration.

Another thing that Sam's tambu said to me when he was telling me why they chose the bilum is that there are two things that are universal around the 19 different provinces and hundreds of different cultures in PNG - they all carry a bilum or basket that is unique to their place, but a bilum none-the-less; and that in none of the 800+ different languages do they ever say goodbye. When somebody leaves, it's always "see you later"- goodbye is reserved for when someone dies.

So it wasn't a goodbye party - it was just "lukim yu gen".