Gone with the wind.

Holy smoke Batman Jeff Fox is there to meet me at the airport! Apparently the message that I wasn`t coming did not get through, but Tropic Air told him that I was coming the day after...now that`s good service. Jeff is a truly lovely chap - tall and gentle about 55 with a beautiful Phillipino wife Ivory who is 37 and mum to Xavier (1) and Ian (5). They are volunteers with the Catholic Mission Board so I better mind my language and anti-Catholic tirades! PG is a tiny place with a triangle for a town square, a strange grid like street plan that isn`t really grid like and lots of shacks that don`t look very wind proof (with only a few bunkers that do). Hillside is a good 5 miles outta town up a hill (odd that) and is a concrete building and a wooden `tree house` which is to be where I am to live with some Leeds medical students (Heather, Fahnaz and Rachel) wheras Emma the other GKT student is above the clinic. We also have Maureen a slightly neurotic Canadian Physio student with us but the nursing students have canceled due to fears about Felix. A rather aborted welcoming party occurs (due to lack of cake or drink) and we head to bed for our early start the next day.

We had been warned that the weather was stormy this time of year but nothing could have prepared us for that nights entertainment....the thunder (ALL night) was SO loud it shook the treehouse, lightning hit trees and felled them taking the phoneline with them, and the wind worked better than the fan to chill an otherwise steamy night. Needless to say even with earplugs and my mossie net I like the others got little sleep, leaving us unprepared for the bad news we were to receive the next day.

Monday started with Joyce the adminstrator cancelling orientation and giving us grave tidings....`Felix is coming and he is now a grade 5 hurricane. PG only has shelters that protect up to grade 3. We cannot protect you and we suggest you take steps to protect yourselves. He will hit Tuesday evening/Wednesday am so you need to be safe by then. And the airport might close.` Oh crap.