This is the second long weekend in a row. Last one I spent in Katherine, this one in Ngukurr. And it’s been alright. I’ve been able to relax to a significant degree.
I didn’t get back from Hodgson Downs til 7pm on Friday and I just crashed out. Saturday morning I watched Rage and did my best to avoid humbug, ignoring the phone right-out. how rude! Well, I’d already been humbugged the previous day so at Midday I picked up old N and JBJ and went to pick up a washing machine for them and get their medicine from the clinic. After that, I snuck off to K’s… my only humbug free zone. Had a coffee, watched Degrassi and then we put on some music and turned her place into a mid-afternoon nightclub. Seriously! We danced non-stop for an hour and a half in her living room. It was quite therapeutic and put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.
Saturday nite I was invited to a munanga party. I still find munanga parties here a strange affair. You see, there are about 30 munanga living here at Ngukurr and there’s quite a social scene. I’m just not into it. It just strikes me as odd… I think because I don’t really have too much in common with most of the munanga here, and I’m not about to start being friends with someone just because there’s no other munanga around to be friends with. Well, anyway, I went to the munanga party and it was fine, but nothing terribly exciting. I was in the mood for dancing to r’n’b after my dancing session that afternoon but most of the others were into sitting and chatting and later on, fire twirling. Haha, that might be the other reason I’m not into the munanga scene here… because there’s quite a few hippie-types and I’m not much of a hippie. Um ah, that’s a terrible generalisation… sorry.
Sunday I did a few jobs and got humbugged to go an outing to get firewood. So my mami N, JBJ, old D and two of my favourite little kids from Hodgson Downs, N and M – we went to Mission Gorge. We got a bit of paperbark, collected firewood (snappy gum) and old N got some bush medicine – gulban. It was actually a lovely outing. We saw lots of brolgas and drank billabong water. It was nice to get out. On the way back, old D spotted a bush turkey (or bustard (or Jambirrina) on the road. But with no shot gun or boomerang there was little chance to hunt it down. But old D still had a go. He got out of the truck with a stick and a rock and ran up as close as he could then hurled the stick at it. He didn’t get close and we all had a good laugh. It was worth a try.
Monday I watched a DVD and cooked a lovely dinner for K: risotto with lemon and sweet potato served with lemon and rosemary grilled chicken. I really don’t get into cooking but I can still cook a nice meal if I put in the effort. And this was my first ever risotto and it was alright!
And that was my weekend. That’s about a standard weekend at Ngukurr but it was nice that this one went for three days. Oh, and Brisbane Lions won again finally.
And you know what happened? I actually got sad about the thought of leaving here soon. As hard as it is here, I’m still gonna miss it when I leave. Damn this kreisi komyuniti.
I didn’t get back from Hodgson Downs til 7pm on Friday and I just crashed out. Saturday morning I watched Rage and did my best to avoid humbug, ignoring the phone right-out. how rude! Well, I’d already been humbugged the previous day so at Midday I picked up old N and JBJ and went to pick up a washing machine for them and get their medicine from the clinic. After that, I snuck off to K’s… my only humbug free zone. Had a coffee, watched Degrassi and then we put on some music and turned her place into a mid-afternoon nightclub. Seriously! We danced non-stop for an hour and a half in her living room. It was quite therapeutic and put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.
Saturday nite I was invited to a munanga party. I still find munanga parties here a strange affair. You see, there are about 30 munanga living here at Ngukurr and there’s quite a social scene. I’m just not into it. It just strikes me as odd… I think because I don’t really have too much in common with most of the munanga here, and I’m not about to start being friends with someone just because there’s no other munanga around to be friends with. Well, anyway, I went to the munanga party and it was fine, but nothing terribly exciting. I was in the mood for dancing to r’n’b after my dancing session that afternoon but most of the others were into sitting and chatting and later on, fire twirling. Haha, that might be the other reason I’m not into the munanga scene here… because there’s quite a few hippie-types and I’m not much of a hippie. Um ah, that’s a terrible generalisation… sorry.
Sunday I did a few jobs and got humbugged to go an outing to get firewood. So my mami N, JBJ, old D and two of my favourite little kids from Hodgson Downs, N and M – we went to Mission Gorge. We got a bit of paperbark, collected firewood (snappy gum) and old N got some bush medicine – gulban. It was actually a lovely outing. We saw lots of brolgas and drank billabong water. It was nice to get out. On the way back, old D spotted a bush turkey (or bustard (or Jambirrina) on the road. But with no shot gun or boomerang there was little chance to hunt it down. But old D still had a go. He got out of the truck with a stick and a rock and ran up as close as he could then hurled the stick at it. He didn’t get close and we all had a good laugh. It was worth a try.
Monday I watched a DVD and cooked a lovely dinner for K: risotto with lemon and sweet potato served with lemon and rosemary grilled chicken. I really don’t get into cooking but I can still cook a nice meal if I put in the effort. And this was my first ever risotto and it was alright!
And that was my weekend. That’s about a standard weekend at Ngukurr but it was nice that this one went for three days. Oh, and Brisbane Lions won again finally.
And you know what happened? I actually got sad about the thought of leaving here soon. As hard as it is here, I’m still gonna miss it when I leave. Damn this kreisi komyuniti.
Comments
It is annoying and tiring, but there are some benefits, somehow you end up getting quite close to the people that humbug you all the time...
anyone else wanna offer their thoughts?
even if i 'leave', i'll still be back. i don't want to leave, i just want to recover.
i agree with what bulanjan says about humbug. for some reason i get less humbug from people i work closer with. or maybe it is that i mind less because they are teaching me so much. of course there is also personality differences to add into the equation.
i have begun to feel entirely comfortable with (indirectly) saying no to people i don't now particularly well even if they cite how close our classificatory relationship is.